Technical Tidbits 11/11: Jackets head to Blacksburg for top-25 matchup

My mind nearly exploded when I read the title “Jackets improving on third-down” on this AJC piece, but that momentary bit of confusion was quickly settled upon the discovery that the offense, not the defense, is the unit showing more signs of life during late-down counts. Phew, they had me for a second there. It’s completely true that Paul Johnson’s offense has done a much better job on third downs this season than they did during the injury-plagued 2015 campaign, converting at a rate of 55.6% over the last three games after narrowly missing the 30% mark over the three games prior. Part of that has to do with the quality of defenses that Tech has been facing — Pitt, Miami, and Clemson are much tougher up front than GA Southern, UNC, and Duke — but the improvement has been critical as far as keeping the defense off of the field for as long as possible. Any time the offense is clicking, there’s a chance at winning. That chance decreases significantly if the team doesn’t get a single stop on the other side of the ball, but putting up points is a good starting place.

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