gt6828d
Varsity Lurker
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2014
- Messages
- 173
I would like to endorse the spirit of the thread opener. Obviously sports is a results-oriented endeavor and losing stinks royally, especially in the fashion that Tech lost this game. With that said, I felt very tepid about the football team coming into this season. My excitement level was probably a 3 on a scale 1-10, and I expected this team to scuttle its way to a very mediocre 6 to 8 win season in a rebuilding year once Mills got dismissed. They entered this game replacing one of the school's better QB's ever (JT) and best game breaking threat, arguably their best player overall (Mills), and with their best A-back very questionable from a health standpoint (Lynch). My expectation was for the offense to really struggle throughout this campaign, especially early on in the year, and for the defense to make fairly modest improvement. When I left that game last night, as frustrating as the result was, my excitement level for the season went up to about an 8 or 9 out of 10, and were it not for one very limiting factor (which I'll touch on later) I might even go so far as to predict that this team will win the ACC Coastal.
Georgia Tech's offense requires a level of savvy and ball handling from the QB and such an intricate about of blocking that it's really difficult for the 3O to be good right out of the box in week one of any given season. When you combine that with the fact Tech's academic standards mean the school takes mostly 3 star kids that the coaching staff has to really coach up hard to reach their potential, you can see why in the past Paul Johnson has been scheduling lesser opponents on the front end of the schedule. As I explain to people, Tech's first 3-4 games of any given year are usually about getting kids coached up and getting the timing and blocking right for the ACC schedule, and it isn't really until the 10th or so game of the season they start to reach the peak of what they can be in any given campaign. Every year is a building process even more so than for a lot of programs around the NCAA.
What we saw last night was arguably the most polished offensive performance from Georgia Tech in any opening game of Paul Johnson's tenure. True, they've crushed scrubs like Elon 70-0 in the past, but if you watched those games carefully, that was more due to a talent disparity than precision in the way the 3O was being run. Last night, Georgia Tech looked to be playing at game ten efficiency in game one of the season, which begs the question of just how good they might be once we get ten games into the year and the staff has a chance to coach them up even more. Marshall looked like he'd been running this offense his entire life, much to my amazement. Based on his limited play and Spring Game appearances, I didn't have a lot of enthusiasm going in for his candidacy as a starter. I did not see last night coming. 249 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns against an SEC blue blood (no matter what you think of the current state of said blue blood's program) in a QB's first ever start is eye popping. At B-back, KirVonte Benson may be every bit as good, if not better, than Mills. He's not as big as Mills and maybe can't take the sustained workload Mills could, but he's quicker and he has really sweet feet. His agility and vision to find little pockets and creases and get those hidden yards up the middle was on full display in the first half last night, in particular. And the offensive line and perimeter blocking were in peak form right out of the gate, too. For whatever you may think of Tennessee, the fact is they're loaded top to bottom with athletes, and their front seven were getting blown 3-4 yards off the play on every single snap of this game. Tech physically dominated Tennessee's defense in a way that every Tech fan should be extremely proud of and it really appears this may be the best O-line of Johnson's 10 years here. I really can't say enough kind things about the way they played last night. They whipped Tennessee's defense's behinds all night long.
Defensively, there's a ton of room for improvement. They played very well in the first half as far as their run fits and tackling and it all went straight to pot in the second half. Guys stopped wrapping up and guys started taking bad angles on quite a few plays. Also, though, Tech had DB's in good position some of Tennessee's athletes just made plays on some jump balls. That happens. Ultimately the biggest disappointment was the lack of a pass rush, and it looks like the team will once again without be any edge rushing presence like every year since Attaochu left. The D-line has the longest way to go as a unit, but I think there's some pieces there. With all that said, though, the D did make enough stops to give Tech not just a chance to win this game but four distinct chances to win this game.
Hit any one of two reasonable-range kicks last night, Tech wins the game.
If JJ Green doesn't put the ball on the deck in the fourth quarter, Tech wins the game.
On the 2 point conversion, if Marshall just cuts outside and runs for the pylon, Tech probably wins the game.
It sucks that they didn't make that one more play to get over the top, but I still walk away from that eager to see them get right back at in on Saturday, because they do have the potential to be a very dynamic and very entertaining team. They just can't allow themselves to go out hang-dogging and feeling sorry for themselves headed into a pretty nasty little trap game against Jacksonville State on 3 day's rest. They gotta get their heads on straight and I really believe that if they get through Saturday they're going to be good the rest of the way. Other than Clemson, nobody on Tech's schedule scares me. You can't tell me there's a huge difference between Tennessee and Georgia. I really think there's not. And, Miami's breaking in a freshman QB, as well. They can compete with anyone on that schedule, possibly even Clemson under the right circumstances.
If it weren't for the fact Georgia Tech has nothing resembling a competent kicker, I'd be swearing before all of you they're the favorite to win the Coastal Division right now. Unfortunately, they've got trash for place kickers and they're probably going to cost us another 1-2 close games before season's end. Someone texted me after the game to ask why Tech didn't put in the freshman kicker instead. Anybody who watched warmups before either half knows the answer. They're both terrible. The warm ups before the second half were obscene. I don't think either kid made a single kick. Short, long, left, right, or middle: they pretty much missed them all. In warmups. It was horrible. I think there's a solution to the kick off problem. From what I've read, they have had Harvin practice some at taking kick offs. The kid's obviously got a big leg. I'd be having him take kick offs from here on out, because he should be able to get pretty good at it. The place kicking, though? I don't see a solution to it. I've never in my life seen kicking this bad. Never. That Bulovas kid really screwed them over by flipping at the last minute. It's frustrating, and there may be no way to fix the problem until next year.
Georgia Tech's offense requires a level of savvy and ball handling from the QB and such an intricate about of blocking that it's really difficult for the 3O to be good right out of the box in week one of any given season. When you combine that with the fact Tech's academic standards mean the school takes mostly 3 star kids that the coaching staff has to really coach up hard to reach their potential, you can see why in the past Paul Johnson has been scheduling lesser opponents on the front end of the schedule. As I explain to people, Tech's first 3-4 games of any given year are usually about getting kids coached up and getting the timing and blocking right for the ACC schedule, and it isn't really until the 10th or so game of the season they start to reach the peak of what they can be in any given campaign. Every year is a building process even more so than for a lot of programs around the NCAA.
What we saw last night was arguably the most polished offensive performance from Georgia Tech in any opening game of Paul Johnson's tenure. True, they've crushed scrubs like Elon 70-0 in the past, but if you watched those games carefully, that was more due to a talent disparity than precision in the way the 3O was being run. Last night, Georgia Tech looked to be playing at game ten efficiency in game one of the season, which begs the question of just how good they might be once we get ten games into the year and the staff has a chance to coach them up even more. Marshall looked like he'd been running this offense his entire life, much to my amazement. Based on his limited play and Spring Game appearances, I didn't have a lot of enthusiasm going in for his candidacy as a starter. I did not see last night coming. 249 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns against an SEC blue blood (no matter what you think of the current state of said blue blood's program) in a QB's first ever start is eye popping. At B-back, KirVonte Benson may be every bit as good, if not better, than Mills. He's not as big as Mills and maybe can't take the sustained workload Mills could, but he's quicker and he has really sweet feet. His agility and vision to find little pockets and creases and get those hidden yards up the middle was on full display in the first half last night, in particular. And the offensive line and perimeter blocking were in peak form right out of the gate, too. For whatever you may think of Tennessee, the fact is they're loaded top to bottom with athletes, and their front seven were getting blown 3-4 yards off the play on every single snap of this game. Tech physically dominated Tennessee's defense in a way that every Tech fan should be extremely proud of and it really appears this may be the best O-line of Johnson's 10 years here. I really can't say enough kind things about the way they played last night. They whipped Tennessee's defense's behinds all night long.
Defensively, there's a ton of room for improvement. They played very well in the first half as far as their run fits and tackling and it all went straight to pot in the second half. Guys stopped wrapping up and guys started taking bad angles on quite a few plays. Also, though, Tech had DB's in good position some of Tennessee's athletes just made plays on some jump balls. That happens. Ultimately the biggest disappointment was the lack of a pass rush, and it looks like the team will once again without be any edge rushing presence like every year since Attaochu left. The D-line has the longest way to go as a unit, but I think there's some pieces there. With all that said, though, the D did make enough stops to give Tech not just a chance to win this game but four distinct chances to win this game.
Hit any one of two reasonable-range kicks last night, Tech wins the game.
If JJ Green doesn't put the ball on the deck in the fourth quarter, Tech wins the game.
On the 2 point conversion, if Marshall just cuts outside and runs for the pylon, Tech probably wins the game.
It sucks that they didn't make that one more play to get over the top, but I still walk away from that eager to see them get right back at in on Saturday, because they do have the potential to be a very dynamic and very entertaining team. They just can't allow themselves to go out hang-dogging and feeling sorry for themselves headed into a pretty nasty little trap game against Jacksonville State on 3 day's rest. They gotta get their heads on straight and I really believe that if they get through Saturday they're going to be good the rest of the way. Other than Clemson, nobody on Tech's schedule scares me. You can't tell me there's a huge difference between Tennessee and Georgia. I really think there's not. And, Miami's breaking in a freshman QB, as well. They can compete with anyone on that schedule, possibly even Clemson under the right circumstances.
If it weren't for the fact Georgia Tech has nothing resembling a competent kicker, I'd be swearing before all of you they're the favorite to win the Coastal Division right now. Unfortunately, they've got trash for place kickers and they're probably going to cost us another 1-2 close games before season's end. Someone texted me after the game to ask why Tech didn't put in the freshman kicker instead. Anybody who watched warmups before either half knows the answer. They're both terrible. The warm ups before the second half were obscene. I don't think either kid made a single kick. Short, long, left, right, or middle: they pretty much missed them all. In warmups. It was horrible. I think there's a solution to the kick off problem. From what I've read, they have had Harvin practice some at taking kick offs. The kid's obviously got a big leg. I'd be having him take kick offs from here on out, because he should be able to get pretty good at it. The place kicking, though? I don't see a solution to it. I've never in my life seen kicking this bad. Never. That Bulovas kid really screwed them over by flipping at the last minute. It's frustrating, and there may be no way to fix the problem until next year.
