Tag Archives: Josh Nesbitt

>Independence Bowl

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>Georgia Tech vs. Air Force

   If you like running attacks, this is the game for you.  Georgia Tech and Air Force are the nations No. 1 and 2 teams in terms of rushing, with the Jackets rushing for 327 ypg, while the Falcons rush for 318. The teams combined for 299 pass attempts.

   The Yellow Jackets, however, could be without their most versatile threat. Quarterback Joshua Nesbitt broke his arm against Virginia Tech on Nov. 4 and it’s uncertain if he’ll be ready to play. Sophomore Tevin Washington has filled in, but he hasn’t been as productive.In nine games, Nesbitt, a first-team All-ACC selection last year when the Yellow Jackets won the conference, is second on the team with 737 rushing yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns. He’s also passed for 674 yards and seven scores.  Washington, meanwhile, rushed for 289 yards and three touchdowns while passing for 292 and two scores.

   Luckily for Georgia Tech, running back Anthony Allen has stepped up his game as of late, averaging over 138 ypg the last four games.  He has rushed for 1,225 yards and six scores on the season.  Regardless of who starts at quarterback, the Yellow Jackets will be without leading receiver Stephen Hill, who was one of four players declared academically ineligible. Hill had 15 receptions for 291 yards and three touchdowns.

   Unlike Georgia Tech, Air Force seems to be peaking at the right time. The Falcons have won three in a row by a combined score of 125-65. They closed the regular season with a 35-20 victory at UNLV on Nov. 18.

   Air Force is led in rushing by junior Asher Clark, who ran for 1,001 yards and five touchdowns. Quarterback Tim Jefferson has a team-high 15 rushing touchdowns and 769 yards on the ground.

   The Falcons also could have another threat if Jared Tew is be cleared to play. He suffered a broken fibula against San Diego State on Oct. 16 after rushing for 540 yards and three touchdowns in seven games.

>Weekend Observations

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  • The Michigan-Illinois game (132 points) is the highest scoring game in FBS this season and the highest scoring game between two Big ten Conference opponents all-time.  Roy Roundtree who finished with a Michigan school record 246 receiving yards.  65 points by Illinois is the most allowed in Michigan school history. Illinois’ 65 points is two shy of FBS record for most by losing team (9th-most points scored in school history). Michigan: allowed 40+ pts in back-to-back games for 1st time in school history.
  • Army threw its first interception of the year against Air Force. That means every FBS team has now thrown an interception this year – Army was the last team alive without one.
  • Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 435 yards and three scores and Oklahoma State set a new school mark for total offense for the second time this season by gaining 725 yards. Baylor has not won at Oklahoma State since 1939. The Cowboys improved to 11-1 against the Bears since 1999. 
  • Damaris Johnson moved into first place in the Conference USA record books for career kickoff return yards. 
  • Kansas scored 35 unanswered points after trailing 45-17 early in the fourth quarter. The 35 points are the second-most scored in the 4th quarter by a team to win in FBS History.  The 35 points in the fourth quarter were the most in Jayhawks history.
  • North Carolina beat Florida State for the second time (2-15-1 all-time).  The win made the Tar Heels bowl eligible. They’ve qualified for a bowl every year under Butch Davis.  T.J. Yates threw for a school-record 439 yards
  • Boise State extended the FBS’ longest active win streak to 22 games and 33 regular-season games.  Kellen Moore threw for a career-high 507 yards and three touchdowns, which gives him a school-record 85 touchdowns.  The team rolled up a school-record 737 total yards
  • Navy beat East Carolina 76-35 on Saturday, setting a school single-game scoring record and most since 1919.  With the win, Navy qualified for a bowl game for the eighth straight season and will play in the Poinsettia Bowl against an opponent from the Mountain West Conference on Dec. 23.  It was the most points scored by either East Carolina or an opponent in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, while Navy’s 521 yards rushing were the most by an opponent here and the second-most allowed by the Pirates ever. It was also the second-most points ever allowed by East Carolina, trailing Guilford’s 79 points in November 1932.
  • Joe Paterno joined John Gagliardi and the late Eddie Robinson as the only coaches in NCAA history with 400 wins and is the only FBS coach to do so.  Only two other coaches have more wins. Robinson had 408 with FCS school Grambling State, while Gagliardi had 476 entering the weekend with Division III St. John’s, Minn
  • Colin Kaepernick had 320 passing yards and five TDs as Nevada beat Idaho for the sixth straight time. Nevada had 844 total yards of offense, a school record. It was the most offense by any FBS school since 2004. Nevada had three players run for over 100 yards.
  • James Aho kicked a 38-yard field goal as time expired to lift New Mexico to a 34-31 victory over Wyoming and end a nine-game losing streak on Saturday.  UNM had lost 23 of its last 24 games
  • Texas A&M broke a seven-game losing streak to Oklahoma. Texas A&M won its third straight overall and beat the Sooners for the first time since 2002.  Oklahoma lost on the road for the second time in less than a month. Texas A&M earned its first win over a ranked team since defeating Texas in 2007. 
  • Arkansas beat South Carolina for the fourth time in the last five games between the two schools. Since Bobby Petrino became head coach, Arkansas has thrown for at least 300 yards in 17 of 34 games.  South Carolina had its six-game home winning streak stopped and it was just the Gamecocks’ second loss in 15 games in Columbia.  
  • Stanford matched its win total from last season and snapped Arizona’s five-game road win streak. Stanford RB Stepfan Taylor ran for four TDs, outscoring Arizona by himself. Taylor hadn’t scored more than two TDs in a game in his career. Arizona allowed at least 30 points for the first time this season.  
  • The Longhorns, who played Alabama last season for the national championship, lost for the fifth time in six games and fell below .500 for the first time since losing their 1999 opener. They will have to win their last three games — home against No. 19 Oklahoma State, Florida Atlantic and Texas A&M — just to match Brown’s lowest victory total since going 7-5 at North Carolina in 1995. Also in jeopardy is Brown’s string of taking 18 consecutive teams to a bowl.  
  • Ronnie Hillman became the third San Diego State freshman to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season, joining Marshall Faulk (1991) and Lionel Hamilton (1994).
  • With two rushing touchdowns Thursday, Josh Nesbitt ties Jonathan Dwyer for the 2nd-most rush TD in Georgia Tech history with 35 for his career. Robert Lavette leads with 45. With Nesbitt’s 86 yards rushing Thursday, he passes Woody Dantzler for the most rushing yards by an ACC quarterback. He entered the game needing 42 yards to pass Dantlzer. Nesbitt now has 4 50-yard rushes this season. Since 2004, only Joe Webb (UAB) with 5 in 2009 has more in a single season by a quarterback.

>Football Previews: Georgia Tech

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>   The 2009 season was one of firsts for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.  It marked their first-ever BCS appearance, first outright ACC title since 1990 and their first-ever win in Tallahassee against Florida State, amongst other feats.  Despite losing some key pieces to the team, the Jackets will be looking to make it back to the lofty heights they did last season.

   Offense – The Ramblin’ Wreck has adapted to Paul Johnson’s spread option offense by producing the highest rushing totals in school history the past two years.  Half of that outstanding duo, quarterback Josh Nesbitt, returns after running back Jonathan Dwyer left for the NFL.  In fact, their 295.4 rushing yards per game was the highest in the ACC and second-best in the nation.  Their total offense (442 yd/g) and scoring offense (33.8 ppg) totals were both best in the ACC and 11th best in the nation.

   Nesbitt returns for his senior season after rushing for 1,037 yards in 2009.  His rushing total was the highest for a quarterback in Tech history and second highest in ACC history.  His 2,069 career yards rushing make him the most prolific rushing quarterback in Tech history and ranks him second in ACC history.  Despite only attempting 162 passes and completing 71, Nesbitt threw for 1,701 yards and 10 touchdowns.  Combining his rushing and passing totals, Nebitt accounted for over 2,700 yards and 28 touchdowns.

   Despite losing their leading rusher in Dwyer, the team does return some experienced backs in Anthony Allen and Marcus Wright, each of whom played in all 14 games last season.  Allen returns from last year’s spot at the A-back position after rushing for 618 yards and six touchdowns.  Wright was Dwyer’s main backup and rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns.  Allen will look to combine with Nesbitt to become the second consecutive Jackets to each rush for over 1,000 yards after Dwyer and Nesbitt did it last year.

   Unfortunately for Nesbitt, his favorite target in 2009, Demariyus Thomas, left for the NFL, leaving a very young wide receiver core for the upcoming season.  Last year’s second and third-leading receivers return, but they combined for only 14 catches and two touchdowns.  The coaches feef that Stephen Hill has to be a star.

   Defense – The defense got a major overhaul in the offseason, bringing in three new coaches, including defensive coordinator former Virginia head coach Al Groh.  Groh brings in a new system however, as he favors the 3-4, so it will be interesting to see how the team reacts to the change.

   The linebacker and defensive back units comes back as the strongest parts of the defense.  The linebackers are led by Brad Jefferson and Steven Sylvester, who finished first and eighth in tackles, respectively.  Jefferson racked up 95 tackles, including eight for loss and had two forced fumbles.  Sylvester was in on 40 tackles, four for loss and three sacks.

   The defensive backfield returns three of four starters from last year squad, including both cornerbacks.  One of those corners, Jerrard Tarrant, was a pain for opposing receivers after coming up with 58 tackles, which was fourth on the team.  He also added a tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries, two interceptions and a team-high six passes broken up.  His partner across the field, Marcus Butler, wasn’t far behind him in all of the stat categories either.  Butler finished with 45 tackles, four and a half for loss, two interceptions and three passes broken up.  Mario Edwards returns at one safety spot after starting the last five games of the year.  He contributed to the cause with 36 tackles and two passes broken up.

   The defensive line also returns three starters, including both tackles, Ben Anderson and Logan Walls, as well as end Anthony Egbuniwe.  Walls led the returnees with 25 tackles, three for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble.  Egbuniwe was right behind him with 19 tackles, two and a half for loss, one and a half sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.  Anderson was in on 15 tackles, five for loss and two sacks.

   Recruiting – The Yellow Jackets bring in 18 kids in this year’s signing class, including 14 from Georgia.  They bring in a bunch of studs of defensive studs, including two linebackers and a defensive back.  Jeremiah Attaochu had a monster senior season where he had 118 tackles and 14 sacks.  They stole Quayshawn Nealy out of Florida after he had 121 tackles (85 solo), 25 tackles for loss, two interceptions and five sacks.  Corner Louis Young comes in after being ranked in the top 20 of cornerbacks nationally by both scout.com and rivals.com.  One offensive player to keep an eye on is Tony Zenon, who finished his senior season with 2,264 yards and 27 rushing touchdowns.

   Schedule – Georgia Tech starts the season with a home game against South Carolina State before going on the road for consecutive games at Kansas and North Carolina.  Three of the next four games are as home as they host N.C. State, Virginia and Middle Tennessee State.  They travel to Wake Forest between the N.C. State and Virginia games.  The team’s next five games will most likely be their toughest stretch as they travel to Clemson, Virginia Tech, host Miami and Duke, before finishing the season with their annual rivalry game against Georgia, this time in Athens.