Opposites set to clash in Orange Bowl

By Brian Heinemann
For The Herald

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. ----- It’s hard to imagine two teams more fundamentally different than those squaring off in the Orange Bowl.

That’s part of why the Iowa Hawkeyes and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are here. The Orange Bowl Committee is interested in unique matchups, and it can’t get much more unique than two teams that are polar opposites of one another and that have never played each other before.

“We’ve played pretty well all season long, but we haven’t faced a challenge like this one,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. “It’s really unique. They put a lot of pressure on you in a lot of different ways. It’s so foreign to what we’ve seen, not only in terms of style of attack but in the way they put pressure on you. There haven’t been many teams too successful in shutting them down, so we’re just going to do our best to try to contain them.”

Stopping the Yellow Jackets has been nearly impossible this year. Containing them hasn’t been much easier. They’ve averaged over 34 minutes of possession per game, tops in the NCAA. They’ve averaged 307.2 rushing yards per game, second in the nation only to Nevada. They are second in third down conversions at 53.5 percent.

But if anybody can slow down the spread/triple-option offense Georgia Tech runs, it would be the Iowa Hawkeyes, who rank 11th nationally in total defense – Tech is 11th in total offense – and 10th in scoring defense.

Both Georgia Tech’s offense and Iowa’s defense face challenges in dealing with each other’s strongest units though.

“We really can’t tell too much over film because they haven’t ever faced an offense like us,” said Georgia Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who has accounted for 28 touchdowns this year. “We really have to wait until game time to see.”

“On tape, we're seeing it at game speed. On the field, we can't,” said Ferentz, referring to his defense going against the Iowa scout team that tries to mimic Tech’s offense. “There is absolutely no way. We could take our starting offense, it wouldn't be close. We just don't have that kind of personnel. We certainly don't have -- nobody can be Nesbitt. We don't have a Nesbitt on our team. We don't have a (Jonathan) Dwyer, and we certainly don't have a (Demaryius) Thomas.”

Dwyer, Georgia Tech’s b-back in their option system, rushed for 1,346 yards and 14 touchdowns this year. Thomas, despite playing on a team heavily slanted toward the run, is one of the nation’s most productive and game-breaking receivers.

He enters the Orange Bowl with 1,154 yards receiving and eight touchdowns on only 46 catches, for an incredible 25.1 yards per catch. He has nine catches of 50 yards or longer and four of over 70.

Dwyer – and several other Tech players – said that Iowa doesn’t really do anything on either side of the ball that they haven’t seen already this season, but he knows that Iowa has some talented defensive players in their front seven ¬– A.J. Edds, Adrian Clayborn and Pat Angerer, to name a few – to oppose him.

“We’ve seen a lot of professional players, like Ricky Sapp and Da’Quan Bowers at Clemson and the defensive linemen at UNC and Miami,” said Dwyer. “It’s pretty much the same, except the guys are a little bit bigger than the guys we’ve faced before.”

For as difficult as it will be for the Hawkeyes to slow down the Yellow Jackets, it has been quite a challenge for Georgia Tech to stop anybody on defense. The pass defense has been much maligned this year, intercepting only five passes and being torched frequently.

Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson joked that the pass defense has improved late in the season because opponents haven’t had to pass much. The Tech defense was shredded on the ground by Georgia and Clemson to end the season to the tune of 662 yards combined.

“We’re deficient in some areas, there’s no question about that,” added Dave Wommack, Tech’s defensive coordinator. “The kids play hard and they work hard, but there’s been some deficiencies with our defense this year.”

Injuries have been a part of that, as the losses of three players forced a switch to the 4-3 after an early season loss to Miami. The Yellow Jackets have switched schemes from the Nickel to the 4-3 to the 3-4 this year.

Iowa’s biggest advantage against the Tech defense will come from their offensive line. Yes, Ricky Stanzi should have opportunities in the passing game, but Wommack said the biggest matchup, between Iowa’s offensive line and the Yellow Jackets’ defensive line, will be key.

“I think they look really good,” Georgia Tech defensive tackle Logan Walls added. “The front five look really good as far as technique and athletic ability.”

The Hawkeyes will want to use that size advantage on the offensive line to open up holes for their two freshmen running backs, Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher. Keeping Georgia Tech’s offense off the field for as long as possible is of paramount importance to the Hawkeyes in the Orange Bowl.

“We’re going to try to take a little bit of what Georgia Tech likes to do and that’s control the clock,” said Iowa center Raphael Eubanks. “Going into any game that’s what we want to do, and we want to do that by establishing the run.”

Both teams know how important this game is. Both teams want that signature bowl win.

Both teams know that they have the television viewers all to themselves as the only game of the night.

“This is obviously a bigger platform, a bigger stage,” said Stanzi. “That makes it a little more difficult, a little more pressure involved for everybody. As far as, when it gets down to it, when the ball is kicked, it’s just a football game again. We’ve just got to do what we have to do on offense and our defense will do what they always do. If we play our best, play our hardest, things usually take care of themselves.”