Sep 5, 2007, 16:13 GMT
Atlanta, GA - After completely dominating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in last week's 33-3 season-opening rout in South Bend, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets find themselves heading into this week's action as the 21st-ranked program in the country. Chan Gailey's troops will put that new ranking on the line as they open up their 2007 home slate against FCS foe Samford. The Bulldogs opened their 2007 season with a win as well, topping a tough West Alabama team at home by the score of 23-21. It started the Pat Sullivan era, as the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner was named the new head coach on December 1, 2006. Samford is no stranger to ACC opponents, holding a 3-13 all-time record against the conference. The Yellow Jackets have played Samford on seven prior occasions, winning all seven, including last year's 38-6 decision in Atlanta. Chan Gailey served as head coach at Samford in 1993, going 5-6 in his only season there.
The Bulldogs had a solid offensive game in the season-opener, amassing 140 yards on the ground and another 240 through the air. The team took a 20-14 lead into halftime and held on for the 23-21 victory in front of the largest crowd in Seibert Stadium history (10,483). In his collegiate debut, freshman tailback Alex Barnett was solid, rushing for 80 yards on 14 carries. A pair of seniors balanced things out as QB Jefferson Adcock completed 16-of-38 passes, for 240 yards and two TDs, while WR Joe Jones hauled in four balls, for 88 yards and one TD.
Samford's defensive effort was a bit inconsistent. On the surface, the 55 yards passing allowed was impressive, but that was due in large part to the fact that West Alabama ripped up the Samford defense on the ground to the tune of 260 yards. The Bulldogs forced a solid four fumbles in the game, showing their aggressive nature on this side of the football, although it resulted in just one recovered fumble. Senior LB Jay McCurty and junior LB Rodney Shepherd were all over the field, combining for 21 total tackles, McCurty, finished with 11 stops, including eight solo tackles and Shepherd amassed 10 tackles, all of the solo variety.
Tashard Choice is one of the ACC's top tailbacks and showed it against Notre Dame in week one, as he shredded the Irish defense for a career-high 196 yards and two TDs. Choice, who led the ACC in rushing a year ago (1,473), eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the eighth straight game, dating back to last season. With Choice and the rest of the ground game (265 yards in all) dominating, all QB Taylor Bennett had to do was not make mistakes. He was successful in that vein, completing 11-of-23 passes, for 121 yards with no touchdowns, but more importantly, no interceptions. With receivers like Greg Smith (6-3, 195) and James Johnson (6-0, 190) on the outside, Bennett certainly has the ability to put up big numbers in the vertical game. A big reason for Choice's big season- opener was the outstanding play up front, led by junior tackle Andrew Gardner, who has named the ACC's Offensive Lineman of the Week. In 61 snaps against the Irish, Gardner recorded 11 knockdowns.
Notre Dame kept their starting quarterback a secret, but it didn't matter to the Tech defense, which completely dominated from the opening kickoff. Georgia Tech stifled the ND ground game, holding the Irish to -8 yards rushing, while allowing just 130 yards passing. The 122 total yards of offense by Notre Dame speaks volumes about Tech's aggressive defensive play in week one and has set a tone on this side of the football that could carry this team into ACC play. The tempo was feverish upfield for the Yellow Jackets, and although they didn't record a single turnover, they did amass a whopping nine sacks in the game. Senior safety Jamal Lewis led the defensive charge with eight total tackles, including one sack. Senior end Darrell Robertson and senior DB Avery Roberson finished with six tackles apiece and combined for five TFLs. Robertson added 1.5 sacks to pace the team in that category.
© 2007 The Sports Network
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