Re: I\'m thinking 6-6 is likely...
Perception can change in a hurry. I am copying and pasting a post made earlier by myself in a thread a couple of months ago.
I will go with a positive approach instead of a negative one at this time. This was posted prior to grade-gate, but here goes:
Before anyone jumps to the wrong conclusion, I am not stating we will be favored in these games, but whether we have a fair chance of winning the game. I think we have a fair chance of winning every game on our schedule if Gailey is as good as his past history indicates.
If the trend is the same as last year, all bets are off. If our new offensive coordinator is Nix, and Tenuta shores up the pass deficiency, we could reach the expectations I had envisioned for last year.
With this in mind and some rumored changes of a new wide receivers coach, and a new emphasis on the special teams coaching, I offer these comments.
We have better material than BYU and should beat them at their place in the first game. If we lose this game, it could become a rough season, and the expectations for the remainder of the season would quickly fall.
Since we have Auburn in our back yard and a win over BYU in Provo, the team should be up to the challenge. It will be a renewal of a great past tradition, and the stadium would probably be packed with Tech fans. It will be a tough game, but it will be a winable game if we have already beaten BYU.
With two wins under our belt, we could possibly win our first game against FSU since they joined the ACC.
Our team confidence should be high at this time, and we would have just played against a strong opponent (Auburn) which should have us prepared for FSU. Another factor, Florida State's program is beginning to crumble and their fans and team are not as confident as several years ago.
With Clemson at our house and three good games under our belt, they should be ours for the taking. I really think Clemson is having some internal problems and this could be Tommy's last year if they do not fare well.
Vanderbilt will probably be a tough game. If we win the first four, it would be easy to get overconfident, and Vanderbilt could be one of those dangerous games on the road. We need to keep an eye on them early to see if their second year with the new coach brings better results in their early games. It is a game we could win, but a very dangerous one.
If we beat North Carolina State at their house with Rivers, we should be able to beat them at our house with a new and improved offense. If we are undefeated at this point, this could be a war, but we have the capability to win it.
Last season should be enough of a factor to ensure that Tenuta prepares correctly for the WF offense. With an improved offense, we should beat Wake Forest at their place. We are still their superior in talent. We will see if our coaching can overcome their's.
Since I hold Friegden in high esteem, I believe things can only get better at Maryland. It is not within the realm of impossibility that Maryland could win them all this year. However, we do possess the talent, and hopefully with a newly revised staff, have the ability to knock them off at Boddy Dodd Stadium. Another big game to test our mettle.
If we have won all the games to this point, or at least lost only two, we should beat Duke there. Duke may be improved this year, and we would be foolish to be too overconfident, but it is our game for the taking if we want it bad enough.
Even though North Carolina has recruited very well in the past two years, we should beat them at home.
Virginia has proven, up through the end of this past year, they are headed in the right direction. If their trend continues, they will be an extremely tough opponent. If we are undefeated or have only a couple of losses at this point, this could be a war of epic proportions at their place. They could be the favored team, but we should possess the ability to upset them there. It would take a very well coached game and a game of few errors, but we could win there.
If all goes well through this schedule and we are undefeated or lost only a couple, We beat Georgia at home and send Richt back to Athens with his first defeat. Make no bones about it, we will have to have a very good offense to beat UGA. Georgia's greatest asset this past year was its defense. They appear to have a good defensive coordinator. However, we can beat them with a well-coached team as shown in the recent past with three straight victories.
This year is similar to O'Leary's last year when we had a tremendous advantage in the teams we played at home. We play some of the weakest teams on the road and some of the strongest at home where we have the home field advantage.
Since this year is eerily similar to GOL's last year, it should be a good comparison to this year's team.
Talk about gold colored glasses!
