ACC 2022 Schedule - Jan 31 7PM

[RamblinWreck92]

This schedule absolutely suxs! 4 Saturday home @BDS! Are you kidding me? And one is Western Carolina. Ole Miss is our marque game and they are absolutely going to boat race us. Talk about a miserable tailgating season. How the hell do you sell a season ticket package with a schedule like this? The product on the field is poor and now the schedule blows too. I can't find more than 3 wins next fall and that is assuming we beat Puke at home which is 50/50. I may have reached the end of my 35 year season ticket holder career. With the portal, NIL, and $10 million/year coaches salary benchmark, College Football as we knew it, is dead. This schedule makes it nearly unbearable. Collins can't survive this year and then we start all over again with a new coach and 3 more years of rebuilding. This will be an entire lost decade of Tech football. It is hard to comprehend how far we have fallen. I am primarily an optimist but I can see no plausible scenario where GT Football will contend for an ACC Championship, a major bowl birth, much less a playoff spot in the next 10 years. In fact, getting to .500 seems an improbable feat at this point. How does one justify the continued emotional, time, and financial investment in this? Pure love for all things Georgia Tech has its limits and my love for college football is waning as the sport continues its rapid transformation into the NFL minor league. As an alumnus, booster, season ticket holder, and rabid fan who has spent thousands of hours following the Jackets for nearly 40 years, I feel like a "boat a drift" in a terrible storm praying for the Coast Guard to come save me and I don't even have a radio. Damn this suxs!

Agreed - this looks like the worst home schedule in the modern era. Vagina on a Thursday and Da U ain't puttin' asses in seats. Ol' Piss is but it'll be a home game for them. 4 of the last 5 games are away? 1 single home game in the month of November?

Gambling is increasingly the only reason to pay much attention to college football.

 

[etc79]

Geoff Collins is probably thinking "Should I just quit now?"

 

[GTCrew4b]

We have Western and Duke at home in the first six. That should be two wins. Ole Miss at home, Clemson in the Benz, UCF in Orlando and a road trip to Pitt - you have to pick up one win from these four. If we are improving at all 3-3 is quite possible.

At 3-3 halfway through we should get two more wins - out of UNC and FSU on the road and UVA and the U at home. At 5-7 or better we are improving. Collins gets to continue. 4-8 is the record where you would have a lot of questions. 3-9 or worse and we should make a change.

Wrong. We were improved this year (or else you just didn’t want to see it) and bad luck kept us from 6-6. We should be 7-5 or better this year for any reason to keep Collins. If we aren’t contending for the ACC Championship it’s a bad year.

 

[GTCrew4b]

With the trajectory we had 4 years ago, I would guess we would be 0-12 against this schedule.

Then you’re an idiot.

 

[WracerX]

I would be interested as to how Wake Forest fans saw their schedule last year. Surely they saw loses where wins ended up. Same with our 2008 season. We did not see that record coming and also beating butt sniffers in Cesspool after fumbling 40 snaps at the Spring game.
So why not us? How many single digit loses did we have in 21? A stop here or there could turn out to be Wake in 22...

I’m guessing Wake fans were expecting 8 wins and came up +3.

We could have easily won NIU.

What worries me is that I think we had a lot of breaks go our way in the UVa, Miami, and Clemson games.

I’m hoping our O can sustain drives consistently this year giving our D fewer chances to get beat.

 

[GTLiebs]

I would be interested as to how Wake Forest fans saw their schedule last year. Surely they saw loses where wins ended up. Same with our 2008 season. We did not see that record coming and also beating butt sniffers in Cesspool after fumbling 40 snaps at the Spring game.
So why not us? How many single digit loses did we have in 21? A stop here or there could turn out to be Wake in 22...

The thing is this situation isn't really very comparable to those examples. For the 2008 team, we didn't see that record coming because everything about the offense was a giant unknown for everybody (including opposing coaches). We may have a different OC but by all reports his offense isn't so radically different from the last guy that we can't take a guess at how it will turn out.

Wake was coming off a mediocre season following some good ones and I decided to look into what the WF fans did think of the schedule and they saw it as pretty favorable and thought 8 wins was reasonable. So yes they did better than they expected but they didn't end the previous season questioning everything fundamental about their team like we area. A 22 year comparative to the overachieve of Wake 21 would probably put as at 5-6 wins though our OOC schedule is notably harder.

As a complete aside, what a weird thing last year for them having UNC as an "out of conference" opponent. I didn't even know you could do that.

 

[Diseqc]

Geoff Collins is probably thinking "Should I just quit now?"

He’s thinking about what he’s going to do with his big payout. He’d be a retart to quit.

 

[Diseqc]

I’d put the expected win total next year around 5. I think the new OC was probably a good hire if he had a little more time. Keeping Thacker will be the end of Collins’ coaching tenure.

 

[WracerX]

I’d put the expected win total next year around 5. I think the new OC was probably a good hire if he had a little more time. Keeping Thacker will be the end of Collins’ coaching tenure.

I think we get 5 as well. WCU, Duke, UVa, Miami, and UCF. But really pick 3 from the probable loss group. We’ll end up getting blown out by two of those, blow one out, and 3 toss up games.

 

[77GTFan]

What number will Vegas set? My guess is 2.5.

 

[TechRush]

Well damn, now I know how Duke fans must feel looking at a schedule. I'm trying to figure out were the 4th win will come from. I've never felt so unenthusiastic about Tech football as I do right now looking at this schedule. I can see Tech starting 1-4 and totally cratering. I hope I'm wrong. Just damn, this is not a good feeling.

 

[ScionOfSouthland]

After reading more of this thread I retract my statement where I said I like this schedule

 

[TechRush]

Hopefully Tech will find their mojo this off-season.

 

[wesleyd21]

The schedule is fine. Our program is the only thing that sucks.

If we were top 25 everyone on here would be excited about it.

 

[BeeProudBeeLoud]

I’m guessing Wake fans were expecting 8 wins and came up +3.

We could have easily won NIU.

What worries me is that I think we had a lot of breaks go our way in the UVa, Miami, and Clemson games.

I’m hoping our O can sustain drives consistently this year giving our D fewer chances to get beat.

Me too. This team needs to play with nothing to lose. We demoralized so many teams during the Option years with death marches and going for 4th and 4. Their D stayed in the field and was wore down. See Miss State and Dak Prescott in the bowl.

KEYS: a QB who is always a home run threat and a def line that avg 3 -4 sacks a game

 

[covingtonjacket]

Wow. ST is now just a circle jerk of self-hatred and hatred of GT football. In every thread.

 

[OptionJacket]

The schedule is fine. Our program is the only thing that sucks.

If we were top 25 everyone on here would be excited about it.

This! In no world is this a juggernaut schedule. Sure, we face 3 high quality teams (UGA, Clemson, Ole Miss) but look at any teams schedule and they’ll usually have at least 2. But the rest of them are just at a higher level of mediocre than where we currently are. With decent OLine play and Sims playing much better we will be right there with all the other mediocre teams. Now, if our OLine continues to suck and our QB continues to be inconsistent then our defense will have no chance and we’ll win 2 or 3.

 

[jacket67]

Wow. ST is now just a circle jerk of self-hatred and hatred of GT football. In every thread.

I can understand people being disappointed and upset about the W-L records for the last 3 years. I don't get the apparent personal hatred that posters express for the coaching staff. There is actually not much "self-hatred", just arrogance from people who really don't have any actual insight into what is happening in the program. Here's my personal TLDR assessment for what it's worth:
1. The roster inherited by CGC was mostly high-character guys who were not P-5 caliber athletes. CPJ was a great offensive coordinator who could get bowl-eligible most years with players who would otherwise not play for a FBS program. He knew the recruiting was a serious problem that was getting harder to adjust to, so coaching wasn't fun anymore and he retired. Year one under CGC reflected that.
2. CGC's first recruiting class arrived for the COVID season with minimal spring practice and lot's of restrictions and a shortened season. This was unfortunate timing for bringing freshman recruits onboard and transitioning to new systems.
3. Last season could have been better, despite not having good OL and DL, which is probably the slowest developing elements of improved recruiting. The "big uglies" are still growing and putting on weight, and new recruits usually don't make an impact for a few years in the system. Nevertheless, a few fortunate breaks could have resulted in at least 5 wins.
4. A head football coach is primarily a chief executive, who does lots of administrative jobs, interacts with the AD, the boosters, the media, and oversees coaching and recruiting. Most head coaches let the coordinators take over the day-to-day coaching and strategy preparation. If the coaching is a problem, the coordinators have to take responsibility and the head coach should be given an opportunity to make changes. The special situations with the program transition made it harder to identify the problems. CGC is a young head coach dealing with a bunch of unique factors, and deserves a fair opportunity to make adjustments.
5. Maybe Tech will continue to be mired in 3-win seasons and end up firing CGC, and if that happens, a new coach might end up being worse, the same, or better; who knows? I'm still a little optimistic that recruiting is the key to consistent success, and CGC is doing well with that despite the wins and losses. If the wins increase, recruiting should take the program to a new level.

 

[GTLiebs]

I can understand people being disappointed and upset about the W-L records for the last 3 years. I don't get the apparent personal hatred that posters express for the coaching staff. There is actually not much "self-hatred", just arrogance from people who really don't have any actual insight into what is happening in the program. Here's my personal TLDR assessment for what it's worth:
1. The roster inherited by CGC was mostly high-character guys who were not P-5 caliber athletes. CPJ was a great offensive coordinator who could get bowl-eligible most years with players who would otherwise not play for a FBS program. He knew the recruiting was a serious problem that was getting harder to adjust to, so coaching wasn't fun anymore and he retired. Year one under CGC reflected that.
2. CGC's first recruiting class arrived for the COVID season with minimal spring practice and lot's of restrictions and a shortened season. This was unfortunate timing for bringing freshman recruits onboard and transitioning to new systems.
3. Last season could have been better, despite not having good OL and DL, which is probably the slowest developing elements of improved recruiting. The "big uglies" are still growing and putting on weight, and new recruits usually don't make an impact for a few years in the system. Nevertheless, a few fortunate breaks could have resulted in at least 5 wins.
4. A head football coach is primarily a chief executive, who does lots of administrative jobs, interacts with the AD, the boosters, the media, and oversees coaching and recruiting. Most head coaches let the coordinators take over the day-to-day coaching and strategy preparation. If the coaching is a problem, the coordinators have to take responsibility and the head coach should be given an opportunity to make changes. The special situations with the program transition made it harder to identify the problems. CGC is a young head coach dealing with a bunch of unique factors, and deserves a fair opportunity to make adjustments.
5. Maybe Tech will continue to be mired in 3-win seasons and end up firing CGC, and if that happens, a new coach might end up being worse, the same, or better; who knows? I'm still a little optimistic that recruiting is the key to consistent success, and CGC is doing well with that despite the wins and losses. If the wins increase, recruiting should take the program to a new level.

For myself at least, the reason for not seeing much hope is in the defense. Everything you posted does not explain us having a bottom 20 in all college football (not just P5) defense. In particular with that, there is your number 4, where despite our defense performing unreasonably bad we have not made any fundamental changes there, only swapping out position coaches. And speaking of DL and development there, losing one of your most promising ones that you will likely have to play against next year is pretty demoralizing.
On top of that, recruiting is definitely now being harmed by the wins and losses, we've had a few of our top commits drop us for other teams. It's hard to see any reason to be optimistic about taking the program to a new level when we haven't seemed capable of reaching the old level. MAYBE the horrendous yards per completion we were giving up was Entirely due to the departed secondary coaches, but it's hard to feel confident in that when the defense is going otherwise be run in exactly the same way by the same people.

 

[1982Jacket]

Very Probable Wins: WCU
Probable wins: Duke
Probable losses: UNC, Miami, FSU, UVa, VT, UCF
Very Probable Loses: Pitt, Clemson, Ole Miss
Near Certain loses: uga

That is expert level analysis right there. Only fault I have with it is that maybe there should be a "toss up" category into which I would place UCF and UVA - especially at home. Regardless, expected wins would be at about 4.

I know there are a bunch of rosy-glasses posters here are looking at this and saying that we could beat UNC, Pitt, VT and/or FSU and go 7-5 or 8-4.

Yeah. But the thing is, Duke and even WCU fans are looking at us on the other hand, and our three straight three win seasons, and are saying the exact same thing about beating us. If you're WCU and you see last year's NIU game, you don't think you have a shot to beat Tech?

I don't think the schedule is terrible, except maybe for attendance. Would have preferred to see South Carolina Cow College at BDS, but supposedly this gets us more money (?). Ol Miss will prolly sell tix. Attendance for WCU could be embarrassing - especially if Tech plays poorly in the first game, at MBS. The attendance problem is getting more TECH FANS in the seats. Otherwise, you are either playing some other strong program which will bring fans and will also probably thump you, or you play some lackluster team you might beat but which won't bring their fans to fill our seats.

I would love nothing more than to be wrong and see them flip a switch and max out with 8 or even 9 wins. But right now . . . it is hard for me to see that.