Georgia Tech opened their season on Wednesday when they welcomed new D1 member West Georgia to the Flats. The Yellow Jackets won 85-62 and had control the entire game which is what I was looking to see.

There was not a ton of surprise to me in the lineup and usage. I had the starting lineup correct (Nait George, Javian McCollum, Kowacie Reeves, Luke O’Brien, and Baye Ndongo) and all of the backups played basically as much as I expected them to. There were two minor surprises for me. First was that Stoudamire went with a looot of three guard lineups. All four of the guards have good ball handling which is great for getting into transition quickly and all but freshman Jaeden Mustaf have proven to be good offensive shooters and a threat from deep which helps the offense a ton. But I’m worried about the defense. None of the three veterans are notably good defenders and that will give up a lot of size against bigger teams. The other surprise was that I don’t think I saw any lineup with both Baye Ndongo and freshman Doryan Onwuchekwa. I was hoping that getting Onwuchekwa on the floor would sometimes let us move Ndongo down to the 4 and go with a bigger lineup. Instead Onwuchekwa just spelled Ndongo. That will limit his playtime this season as I expect Damon Stoudamire to try to keep Baye on the floor.

The offense was mixed, which is weird to say about a team that put up over 50 in the first half, but you have to consider opponent. Shooting was suspect. The team shot just 25.9% from deep on what was mostly pretty good looks. Kowacie Reeves and Luke O’Brien are supposed to be 3-and-D wings, but combined for just 1-9 from deep. Onwuchekwa shot a couple of threes, but missed both. Javian McCollum had the best day hitting 3-6. The ball movement was really good. The team had 20 assists on 33 field goals (61% assist percentage is pretty good). George and McCollum led the way with 7 and 5 respectively, but Ndongo added 4 from the center spot. They also rebounded like crazy. Onwuchekwa and O’Brien both looked really good on the boards. They should dominate a team like this on the boards, but I mostly liked the way they looked while doing it. Ndongo kept poking the ball away from West Georgia on rebounds and I’m not sure that works as well against better teams, but we’ll see.

There were some concerning things. First is Duncan Powell’s hair. His game looked good, but I’m not sure why he seems to be emulating Drew Gooden’s hair choices. There was also the turnovers. All in all 12 turnovers is not bad, but only forcing 8 against a much inferior team is worrying. Especially with a team who has such potential in transition it’d be nice to make that easier.

The freshmen all looked a little bit rough around the edges at first, but grew into the game. Jaeden Mustaf looked tentative, but got more aggressive as the game went on. He was first off the bench so Stoudamire trusts him. Onwuchekwa was a little more assertive, but looked a little lost at times. Darrion Sutton came in later in the game and he really looked tentative and never really grew into the game. I don’t think he’s an immediate contributor, but as the season goes on he could grow into a role.

All in all a solid first effort. The next game is against North Florida at McCamish at 1 pm on Sunday which was supposed to be another warm up game. However in the Ospreys’ first two games they’ve upset South Carolina and blown out Charleston Southern. The team will have to be on their game for game #2 or they’ll fall victim to North Florida as well.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – Jonathan Dean understands the power of having power and that’s why for over 10 years, he’s helped turn the lights on in Georgia communities.

Now, Dean works as a technical training instructor at Georgia Power, teaching others how to be linemen.

On Thursday, Dean told Atlanta News First what the job and the training beforehand looks like.

“We’re teaching them how to climb. We’re teaching the material and how to identify the work they’re going to do every day when they go into the field,” he said.

It is called line work and consists of what you see when you look up at the overhead power lines or the underground boxes in your neighborhood, according to Dean.

Dean said each job that is done is aimed at bringing the customer their power back. That might be power lost due to a fallen tree on a windy day or because of a significant weather event.

Most recently, Dean and thousands of others responded to the hardest hit areas of Georgia after Hurricane Helene, which affected 12,000 utility poles in the state.

“This was the most destructive storm we’ve had,” Dean said. “A lot of our employees that are also in those areas are affected as well, so it hits home for us, too.”

The former lineman reminds people that their job is not an easy one.

“You can’t just jump right into it,” he said. “You have to think about the safety of the community, the safety of the workers and the most efficient and safest way to restore power.”

After a power outage, many communities often wonder about the timeline of restored power. In response, Dean told Atlanta News First he understands the concerns and knows that it takes the power of a team of linemen to make it happen.

“There’s nothing that we do that does not take power nowadays, so when people lose that, their whole world is turned upside down and we understand that,” he said.

Copyright 2024 WANF. All rights reserved.

Time continues to drift away as kickoff between the No. 16 Ole Miss Rebels and No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs draws closer.

The Rebels (7-2, 3-2 SEC) need an upset win on Saturday to remain in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth while the Bulldogs (7-1, 5-1 SEC) are trying to stay in position for a first-round bye in the CFP. Both of these teams are talented, despite some slip ups earlier in the season, but what do the numbers say about Ole Miss and Georgia?

Let’s look at some of the key stats below.

READ MORE: How To Watch, Betting Odds: Ole Miss Football vs. Georgia Bulldogs

PASSING GAME

Ole Miss: 377.11 YPG, 23 TDs, 3 INTs, Sacked 19 times

Georgia: 299 YPG, 17 TDs, 11 INTs, Sacked 10 times

The two quarterbacks in this game (Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart and Georgia’s Carson Beck) bring some expertise to the table in their respective offenses, but you can tell by the numbers that the Rebels have relied more on the air attack than the Bulldogs so far this season. Even so, Dart’s three interceptions are a much better number than Beck’s 11 in 2024, and taking care of the ball will be a storyline to watch on Saturday.

Where Georgia does have the numbers advantage, however, is in pass protection. Dart has been sacked nine more times than Beck so far this year, and if Ole Miss wants to have a shot to pull off the upset, it will need to keep its quarterback upright this weekend.

RUSHING GAME

Ole Miss: 178.3 YPG, 4.7 YPC, 24 TDs

Georgia: 132.3 YPG, 4.5 YPC, 15 TDs

This could come as a surprise to some, but from a pure numbers perspective, Ole Miss’ rushing attack has been slightly better than Georgia’s this year. Some of the Rebels’ biggest issues on the ground, however, have come in conference play, so this year-long look doesn’t exactly tell the whole story.

It certainly doesn’t paint a full picture of the current state of Ole Miss’ running back room. Henry Parrish Jr. is sidelined with an injury he sustained late in the first half last week against Arkansas, and the Rebels continue to look for a consistent answer in the backfield, something that will be critical against Georgia this weekend.

DEFENSE

Ole Miss: 82.2 rushing yards per game (2.3 per attempt), 41 sacks (256 yards)

Georgia: 108.1 rushing yards per game (3.3 per attempt), 20 sacks (167 yards)

I wanted to highlight these two defensive stats in particular because I think they will play a large role in telling the final story of this game. Both Ole Miss and Georgia boast some talented defensive fronts, ones that have smothered opposing rushing attacks and gotten to the quarterback throughout the year.

Establishing a consistent run game will be critical for both teams as will keeping the quarterback safe on pass plays. If these defenses can cause the offenses to be one-dimensional, we could be in for a low-scoring afternoon in Oxford. Watching these front sevens work will be one of the main storylines in Saturday’s game.