Our athletes vs. the competition....

[B]

I would like your opinion on the following. Upon looking back at the last 2 weeks, I did not see a sizeable difference in the athletic talent between us and Miami and Uga. Am I the only one who shares this view? Perhaps the only difference is at the 2nd and 3rd team level which would show up on special teams, which along with continual poor execution at the qb spot was the difference in last night's game.There is a thread below that suggests we are where we are record-wise due to the inability to recruit top level athletes.I disagree somewhat although I do know we are limited in recruiting vs. the Miami's, Uga's of the world.Your thoughts on this (specifically talking about the talent gap, or perceived gap, between GT and our last 2 opponents)? thanks.

 

[texstinger]

It has, for the last 30 or so years, always been about depth and the QB position. But if you can go toe to toe with 2 teams like UM and ugag 2 weeks in a row, then, yes what you say has a lot of truth to it.

That is why, as much as anything, GT coaches must be superb recruiters.

 

[76jacket]

I agree special teams is where we hurt. In the NCST game missed field goals. Make those and we aren't talking about pass to CJ. Miami game; fumbles on punt returns and missed field goals. We miss and they miss on field goal attempts in UGA game. However; we lose out on punt returns to UGA till finally they have a short field to run.

 

[albanyjacket]

Boy that is a tough one. I think the talent gap is there but not to the extent that we have seen in the past. You want to talk about a talent gap? In the 70s and 80s we were plainly outclassed.
Such is not the case today though others may point to the ubiquotous ratings of the experts and claim there must be. Last night was only the second time I have seen Georgia this year. Quite frankly, they are not as good as I had been led to believe. I really thought they would line up in the second half last night and blow us off the ball with that huge offenseive line. Didn't happen.

 

[B]

Albany, I agree with your assesment....

most of the time in the 70's and 80's there was a noticeable gap.Pepper had a few big-time athletes (ELI, Drew and Kent Hill, Lucious, etc.)but we did not have many of them. In that regard, the Tech job may actually be slightly easier due to scholarship limits spreading the talent wealth. Of course upgrading our facilities from what they were back then has helped as well.

 

[pocket_watch]

Re: Albany, I agree with your assesment....

I agree with B that scholarship restrictions have helped us greatly.
With the exception of skill players on STs, we are either woefully undercoached, or we have zero D-1 talent.

Regarding the defense, its obvious that we have enough athletes to give us more than a shot every week.

Screw all this! If we had a D-1 QB we could have scored points on nearly anyone this year.
If this is taken as a slam on RB, its not meant that way, but so be it.
He is a college football player, but not a QB. He plays like a Charlie Rogers or a Hines Ward in emergency mode.
To help this team, RB needs to be in the role Charlie Rogers executed so beautifully.

We may not have as much talent overall, but there is only one football in play. Good coaching can create winnable matchups on offense.

IMO, we lost again because M Richt and co. understands RB better than our coaches.

 

[Bogey]

I have been watching Tech footbal since the early 60's when Dodd was there. It was the same then, UA, AU, LSU, etc. always had more good atheltes than we did. When we went to 2 platoon football, Dodd forecast the playing field would not be level because of our recruiting and acadmeic requirements, the same as it is today. He accurately predicted we would not be able to recruit the numbers required for 2 platoon football to enable the success we had in the 50's and we would also lose the edge that our SA's were smarter and could learn 2 positions mpre easily than our competitors. Yet we compete, and that is what we should all be proud of. That is why I support Chan Gailey. He has accepted our limitations and we are geting better. I do think he needs help with an OC, not to say he still shouldn't call the plays. If we had a more accurate quarterback, I can see us whipping the dogs easily with his play calling. This is the most depth I have ever seen at Tech. To hell with the buzzoffs that expect us to be perennial 9-10 game winners every year. We have never been that and we do not want to sacrifice our academics to get there. Braine was right on when he said that but he was Braineless when he said that in front of a reporter.