Rambling Thoughts of An Old Tech Fan

ramblin57

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Even CPJ's harshest critics acknowledge his offense works. Nobody questioned his offense. The problem I had with CPJ was the other parts: defense, special teams and (especially) recruiting. To see our talent level reach new lows every year just drained the excitement out of the program. Every team looked like an NFL team next to us. Once Duke athletes became superior to ours, that was the line crossed with me. We could do better but the system would not attract anything but guys with lower level FBS offers. It was time for a change and I do salute CPJ for honorably stepping down. I will forever be a fan of the triple option as long as I'm watching some other school run it.
You said
" I will forever be a fan of the triple option as long as I'm watching some other school run it."
I really like that, it sums it up for me, plus I like the rest of your post.
 

ramblin57

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I'd say all the people that met the Collins hire with doubt are the people that did not know him or know what he was up to the first two times he was here.
Hell, even my barber who's a dawg fan says CGC's going to recruit really well and be very successful at GT. If my barber says it you know it has to be:).
 

ramblin57

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Techbert, absolutely love your posts, but 15-10 at Temple against same level of competition with a program that had been turned around in a big way by his predecessor, speaks volumes to me. We can all be optimistic, but the reality of Tech football weighs heavily on said optimism. Personally, the 2021 season will settle things for me. By season, I don't mean recruiting rankings---I mean Ws---see CBR.
I hope you're right about 2021, but that may be one year too early, the second recruiting class will be freshmen in 2021. definitely think we will be seeing it coming together before season ends if they can coach.
 

BrentwoodJacket

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I believe with a bit of knowledge, that both Gif and CGC are great recruiters. I also believe CPJ was one helluva game day coach and CGC has yet to demonstrate he is on CPJs level. Which is not to say he won't develop into said level. We will know come mid October where he stands currently, and know definitively come November of 2020 (not from a W-L standpoint, but how we are competing). "Coaching" should be evident by 18-20 games.
CPJ was a great offensive game day coach.
 

byteback

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You tell me we just got a first down on the three. Have a big offensive line. Mike Cox at fullback. PJ Daniels at tailback. Old college rules so clock rules so clock is already stopped for a first down. NC State's DL is having trouble even getting downfield to get in position for the next play. They are gassed. Reggie is calling the team up to get a snap off to drive a stake through their heart. I turn to my buddy and say "ballgame, we got this"....and then......before the snap.....Pat Nix calls a timeout.
I go ballistic. We don't need to waste that timeout. Get to the line, hand it to PJ, we win. I turn to my buddy and say "we are going to ööööing pass the ball to Calvin, öööö". NC State is subbing players. Their DL has taken a knee and are getting some Gatorade and catching their breath. I am pissed. A minute before, they could hardly walk.
No, we did not need to pass the damn ball from the 3. Run the ball. If you don't get it, run it again, if you don't get it call a time out, throw on 3rd, if it is incomplete, 4th down is the entire playbook - run/pass. Nix was an idiot. He blew that game and he blew the UGAg game.
I'm surprised the Swarm didn't throw stuff at Nix as he slinked off the field after that game.

The crowd was very subdued walking out of the stadium that night..was like..."What in the hell just happened??!!"

I said in a very loud voice..."WE HAVE BILL LEWIS BACK!!"

GO JACKETS!!
byteback
 

GTRules

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And Collins is the only candidate that wants to be at Georgia Tech and has a plan to succeed at Georgia Tech. Others may have wanted the gig, but they didn't have a vision for specific success at this particular (and unique) school. Nobody, and I mean nobody, conjured up a strategy to use our excellent educational offerings as a positive attraction for INNER CITY ATLANTA athletes. I am pumped. Even if we go 4-8, we are changing the paradigm about "can't learn calculus and play winning football." In five years, you won't know the place.
Who are you and what did you do to our Negative Nancy?
 

texstinger

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You tell me we just got a first down on the three. Have a big offensive line. Mike Cox at fullback. PJ Daniels at tailback. Old college rules so clock rules so clock is already stopped for a first down. NC State's DL is having trouble even getting downfield to get in position for the next play. They are gassed. Reggie is calling the team up to get a snap off to drive a stake through their heart. I turn to my buddy and say "ballgame, we got this"....and then......before the snap.....Pat Nix calls a timeout.
I go ballistic. We don't need to waste that timeout. Get to the line, hand it to PJ, we win. I turn to my buddy and say "we are going to ööööing pass the ball to Calvin, öööö". NC State is subbing players. Their DL has taken a knee and are getting some Gatorade and catching their breath. I am pissed. A minute before, they could hardly walk.
No, we did not need to pass the damn ball from the 3. Run the ball. If you don't get it, run it again, if you don't get it call a time out, throw on 3rd, if it is incomplete, 4th down is the entire playbook - run/pass. Nix was an idiot. He blew that game and he blew the UGAg game.

Nix was NEVER the true OC. CCG lied out his azz about all that.

CCG was the sole person responsible for that game, the ugag game,and the ACCCG.

He was an egomaniac.
 

JJacket

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Yep, that magical 8 minute, 4th qtr death march vs puke (When they were up 21 pts) was truly something to behold.
It was frustrating to watch us attempt to change into throwing the ball. It looked like kids making up plays on a playground.
 

AmpuTECHture

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Yep, that magical 8 minute, 4th qtr death march vs puke (When they were up 21 pts) was truly something to behold.
For sure man. I have no idea why anyone would bring up any of those offensive moments like the 2008 uga game or even the entire 2014 season including Orange bowl win, when that one drive in that one Duke game where we fumbled 3 times with 21 points against, showed the true offensive proficiency of CPJ.
 

JJacket

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For sure man. I have no idea why anyone would bring up any of those offensive moments like the 2008 uga game or even the entire 2014 season including Orange bowl win, when that one drive in that one Duke game where we fumbled 3 times with 21 points against, showed the true offensive proficiency of CPJ.
We were damn lucky to have NFL players in 2008. In fact, 2009 is an embarrassing loss to UGAg.
We were also damn lucky JT5 decided on GT over Alabama
 

AmpuTECHture

Drain Lake Powell
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We were damn lucky to have NFL players in 2008. In fact, 2009 is an embarrassing loss to UGAg.
We were also damn lucky JT5 decided on GT over Alabama
Ah that's right. I totally forgot we won all those games on talent alone and not due to scheme/execution.
 

JJacket

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Ah that's right. I totally forgot we won all those games on talent alone and not due to scheme/execution.
Without Richard Samuel helping us along, 2008 may turn out differently. However, I was expecting us to win that game anyway, even if Chan had stayed aboard.

2014 we got to see Justin put on his Superman cape and Butker show why he earns millions in the NFL now.

CPJ himself has said you can't outscheme physical superiority. The last time we approached that was 2009 against UGAg - although JT5 was, by far, the best option QB we had.
 

GoldZ

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Without Richard Samuel helping us along, 2008 may turn out differently. However, I was expecting us to win that game anyway, even if Chan had stayed aboard.

2014 we got to see Justin put on his Superman cape and Butker show why he earns millions in the NFL now.

CPJ himself has said you can't outscheme physical superiority. The last time we approached that was 2009 against UGAg - although JT5 was, by far, the best option QB we had.
No way Chan wins that game.
 

BigMaconDawg

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I know this is very long. It contains no news, just rambling thoughts of an old Tech fan. If you don't like that kind of thing, just quit reading it right now. You've been forewarned.

I liked Coach Johnson a lot. I never doubted that he knew exactly what he was doing. I knew that he hated losing as much as I did. I believe that he gave Tech the best chance to win, with the recruiting disadvantages we have.

I did get frustrated with him some times. His coaching decisions about going for fourth downs, when they failed and led to quick TDs by our opponents, were very easy for me to second-guess. And his decision to go for the two-point conversion in OT against Tennessee in the first game of the season is something I still haven't gotten over.

However, when he made the same type decisions and they worked, I was ecstatic. And, when I look back on his decisions when they didn't work, I can see that he probably made the call that gave us the best chance to win in those cases, too.

When I'm going to court as a lawyer, I often have to choose between doing what will leave the least room for me to be criticized if my client loses, or doing something that gives my client the best chance to win a tough case, even though it is so unorthodox that I will be criticized by the client and his or her family if the case is lost.

I think Coach Johnson was is a similar situation. I waver sometimes, but usually end up doing what I think gives the client the best chance to win, regardless of how bad I look if the case is lost. I think Coach Johnson did the same thing, even though I would get really mad at the time when he took one of these strategic chances and failed.

For instance, in retrospect, he probably did make the correct decision to go for the win in OT against Tennessee. The reality was simple. The odds are against making two-point conversions. But, the reality is that the offense had a better chance of winning the game right there than the team would have had of winning, if he had tied the game up and relied on our defense to stop Tennessee in subsequent overtimes.

That was the basic problem he had, while he was at Tech. He had a great offense, but he had to ask it to do more than it could in big games to make up for the weak defense. I think the reason for this is that he had the football mind and the offensive system to get the offense to play above our recruiting level, but he didn't have a similar magic to make up for our recruiting disadvantage on defense.

He reminded me of General Robert E. Lee ordering Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. Lee was a great General and the Army of Northern Virginia was a great army. But, the Confederacy was at such a big disadvantage compared to the United States that Lee always had to take desperate chances to find a way to overcome the odds and win.

So, even though I got frustrated by him sometimes and criticized him at times, I was a big fan of Coach Johnson. I knew he hated to lose, he knew what he was doing, and he was willing to sacrifice himself by leaving himself wide open to criticism in order to give Tech the best chance to win. Therefore, I was sad, when he resigned. And, I'll never forget his big wins against Georgia, Clemson, FSU, Virginia Tech and others. Never.

Still, in his last season, it was obvious that he realized he was never going to be able to raise Tech to the elite level that he spoke of at his introductory press conference. Plus, he got a little defensive, talking about our recruiting disadvantages and implying fans should be realistic and compare our record with Tech's average record since Bobby Dodd's time.

Therefore, I think he did the honorable thing, when he decided to retire. I think he realized that he couldn't achieve his lofty goals at Tech. I also think he thought nobody else would be able to do so, either. And, I pretty much agreed with that, to be honest.

Then, along comes this guy that I had never heard of. "We're getting the head coach from Temple? Man, things are bad." When Coach Collins had his introductory press conference, I thought, "He can talk the talk, but I can't really believe him." I didn't think he was lying. I just didn't think he knew what he was getting into.

But, as time went by, and I saw the staff he put together and how relentless he was in recruiting, I changed my mind just a little. I started thinking, "This guy will never get this done. But, damn, he's trying so hard, and he's got this great staff that's working themselves to death." I decided to buy into what he was doing. As long as he and his staff keep believing Tech football can be great again and keep working like hell to make that happen, I'm going to be in his corner.

So, here we are, not far away from fall practice. I expect we'll win between zero and five games this year. But, that's not important. It's like Bobby Ross's first two years, when he didn't win a single ACC game. If the coach and staff can stay positive and don't let what happens on the field discourage them, they may turn the corner in season three and pop into national prominence in season four.

That's what I'm choosing to believe. But, I and all Tech fans have two things we've go to do, too. We've got to stay patient and supportive. If we do, our coach has got an outside chance to bring Tech back to the glory days. If we don't, I don't think it can be done.
PJ was solid. But he was still trying to sell watches in an age where nobody wears watches because everyone has a cell phone. And he didn't have the resources to make cell phones to sell.

Subjective speculation, but I think Collins has a better chance to win more games the next 4 years than Paul Johnson would have.
 
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