Up with the White and Gold

There is a difference between a cut-block and a chop-block. Cut-blocks are legal and used by offenses at every level of football. Some quick research will show you that many leagues are discussing the rules around cut-blocks, including the NFL. Chop-blocks are illegal. Yes, Tech does get called occasionally for chop-blocks. Obviously these are not intentional, but sometimes happen when multiple players confuse blocking assignments or the defensive player does something unexpected that throws the timing of the play. It's a 15 yard penalty and rightly so. The analysis in this article from Harralson is pretty good. I assume he doesn't watch Tech football every game like I do, so I was impressed with the review. I'll tell you Johnson is a good at in-game adjustments. He thrives on defensive players skipping their assignments because they "know" where the ball is going. If this happens, it will result in big plays. Every year season with Johnson, Tech is usually near the top in the number of 20+ yard plays. I expect the speed of the UT defensive athletes to present a big challenge for the new Tech QBs (I predict two QBs will play). Whether or not the QBs can think quickly enough to distribute the ball to the right man will determine how well Tech moves the ball. I saw some comments about the size of the Tech OL. They are typically smaller than average because Johnson recruits more speed than girth. He's look for OL that can move quickly and as mentioned before deliver legal cut blocks. You'll see them struggle with pass protection against larger defensive fronts. The Tech defense is usually average but often opportunistic. Ted Roof does a good job with the unit. The DL will be undersized against the UT OL. With a new QB, I expect UT to run the ball often to take pressure off the QB and to use their size advantage up front. I'm looking forward to the game and already have my tickets secured. This is a great match-up and a non-conference game both fan bases can get excited about. Go Tech!