Jackets take win in defensive showdown

Tech stopped their slide and defeated No. 13 Clemson at home last Saturday, 13-3. The victory marked Tech's first conference win and also their first win against a ranked opponent.

Tashard Choice returned to form after struggling in the last two games, rushing for 154 yards on 32 carries. The star running back is still recovering from a hamstring injury.

"It was absolutely hurting me to watch my teammates struggling like they've been. All the hard work you put into the season, to not be able to be out there fighting with your teammates is hard. This game I was only about 80-85%, but it was good enough to play and stay on the field," Choice said.

Many did not expect him to play as well as he did during the game. The coaching staff made a concentrated effort to put less strain on Choice and split carries between all the running backs.

"We were trying to not push [Choice] when he got tired, to get him out so he didn't have to push that leg. And the plan was to put him in more, and we just could never get it done. We plan to play him more as time goes on," said Head Coach Chan Gailey.

While the running game performed well, the passing game struggled to play on the same level, leading to some offensive troubles throughout the game. Quarterback Taylor Bennett finished 7-for-15 and 67 yards. He also threw an interception, his second on the season.

Where the offense struggled, the defense and the special teams thrived against the Tigers.

The defense held Clemson to just 228 yards on offense, limiting their running game to 34 net yards. Tech stopped Clemson's rushing tandem of James Davis and C.J. Spiller. Davis rushed for 64 yards on 13 carries and Spiller rushed for just 13 yards on nine carries.

"If you stop the run, then you gain a tremendous advantage....They caught a couple of underneath things and ran it, but I thought we stuck their running game," Gailey said.

"They like to run the ball up the middle, and we knew that. We focused on that and were able to clog up the middle and kept them going outside," said Philip Wheeler, senior middle linebacker.

The Jackets limited the Tiger's efficient passing game as well. Clemson's quarterback Cullen Harper was 17-for-39 and 194 yards and one interception.

He was terrorized and pressured all day by the defense, and the squad accumulated six sacks. The total included two and a half by Wheeler.

While Tech's defense played well overall, they had difficulty stopping the pass on third down. The team allowed several large yardage plays on third down and allowed eight-of-20 for the game.

Tech's best performance came from the special teams. The squad blocked one punt that helped set up the game's only touchdown

"(Assistant Coach) Charles Kelly has done an outstanding job with our special teams this year and we've got some guys on there that are hungry and fighters and hustlers....The coverage guys and knocking the ball loose, things like that, it was outstanding today. I thought the special teams gave us a big winning edge today," Gailey said.

Placekicker Travis Bell added to the team's lead with 48 and 41 yard field goals. He has found the consistency and success he had during his freshman campaign after struggling for the past two seasons.

"I haven't had any major injuries keeping me off the field. Being healthy is part of it, but it also means so much to get reps with the same guys. I had three different holders in my first three years, and this year we didn't have to get used to a new holder or snapper and we got 1,000 reps in together and it's a big difference," Bell said.

Tech also benefited from Clemson's poor play in the kicking game. Their place kicker, Dean Bucholz, made just one of five field goal attempts. He missed from distances of 47, 30, 50 and 48 yards.

"We've had two blocked punts and some missed field goals. We've got a good field goal kicker. We're asking a lot of [Bucholz] right now. The last three or four weeks, he's had a [soccer] game on Friday night, then getting up here late. I've got to make sure I'm doing good with his schedule and time management," said Clemson Head Coach Bobby Bowden.

Tech now begins a road trip that will go through College Park and Miami. Their next home game will be Homecoming against Army on Oct. 20.

"We've had confidence, we are just finally getting our swagger back. We've been a dominating defense, we just have not been playing like it lately....we're just coming back to being us," Gailey said.