2006 ACC Championship: Georgia Tech
vs. Wake Forest
By Doug Kroll
11/30/06 12:25 pm est
If anyone predicted this matchup during
fall practice, they would have been laughed at until last Saturday
when this game took shape. Wake Forest (10-2) won the Atlantic
Division last weekend by defeating Maryland on the road, while
Georgia Tech (9-3) has had the Coastal Division wrapped up for
a couple of weeks. Of the two, Wake Forest is the team that people
are shocked about.
Demon Deacons head coach Jim Grobe has led his squad to a 6-2
record in the ACC, including a blowout at Florida State this
year, a place where they hadn't won in eons. The biggest game
of the year up to this point will be Saturday at 1pm in Jacksonville,
as the Deacs will try and get to a BCS Bowl game with a win.
Also with a win, Wake Forest would win the ACC for the first
time in 36 years. It was its first and only ACC Championship
to this day.
Wake Forest has been decimated by injuries, but they have been
able to get things done somehow. The new starting running back
was a wide receiver at the start of the season, as Kenneth Moore
had his biggest output of the year last week against Maryland
carrying the ball 27 times for 165 yards and a touchdown.
It will be the 28th time the two teams will meet, and the Yellow
Jackets lead the all-time series 20-7. The two teams did not
meet this season, and Georgia Tech has taken the last two meetings
in the series. In an interesting twist, they will not meet again
in the regular season until 2009.
Georgia Tech might be reeling after a really tough loss to rival
Georgia last week, 15-12. The Yellow Jackets do have quite the
weapon on offense, Calvin Johnson, who was named the ACC Player
of the Year. Johnson has 13 receiving touchdowns this season,
and might have more if not for the inconsistent play of senior
QB Reggie Ball. Ball does have 20 touchdown passes this year,
but has only completed 45 percent of his throws and has thrown
12 interceptions. Tashard Choice has been consistent for the
Ramblin Wreck, averaging exactly 100 yards per game this season,
and finding the end zone ten times on the ground.
Georgia Tech's defense may be too much for Wake Forest to overcome,
but the Demon Deacons have been able to get it done nearly every
week this year, some how, some way, so why not again this week?
Douglas
Kroll is an independent contributor to College Football Poll.com. |
