What are the tossup, swing games for this year?...

B

bugboy

Damn Good Rat
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Man, the wait is excruciating. So, I came up with another thread to keep us focused on football.

When I think of Swing games, I think of conference games that could go either way. Theoretically, outside of Dook, they could all go either way. But I've narrowed it down to the following games:

Clemson
UNC
NC State
MD
UVA

It's unreal when I look at these 5 games and realize that 4 of them are on the road. That's a bad omen, folks. We have the talent and coaching to win all 5 of these. But these games will be tough. I'm gonna predict that we will win at least 3, maybe 4. If we win only 2 of these, this could be a rough year for us...considering our yearly beating from FSU and that we must go to Athens.

For now, I'm gonna count Clemson as a true-blue tossup. I have no idea how that game will go, based on recent history. I'm gonna count UNC and UVA as wins. We'll get our revenge on the Snobs and we'll beat UNC because they lost so much talent. NC State and MD will be tough and I think we'll lose one of those games. So, I'm predicting 3-1 with a tossup at Clemson. It'll be tough. That's for sure.

This was mentioned in another thread, so I'll bring it up again. Our schedule is too lopsided. We have so many tough conference road games in even years. We need to smooth it out a little and not have Wake/Dook at home in the same year.

Comments?
 
Still Clemson for me. Man, did we ever miss our opportunity last year! The scheduling was perfect when reflecting on the home games last year.

sigh!

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Good thread,

Clemson
Although they've got some real good players,
I think we have at least a little better talent than Clemson overall. I'm also not sold on Bowden. I think we should win a very close one (say by 3 points?) even though it is up there.

UNC
They lost too much on defense. We've broken the Chapel Hill jinx. We should beat them there.

NC State
O'Leary pretty much owned the pack. But O'Leary's gone. I love Chan, but I think this is a loss.

MD
Maryland had their best team in years last year. We gave up 6 turnovers, one returned for a TD. We made several mental mistakes such as not staying in bounds to run the clock. We had scheme problems in that we played the last series not to lose rather than to win. And it still took the best kick (by far) of that kid's career to tie the game and force OT. We literally gave that game away on a silver platter. We should win this one.

UVA
Speaking of giving games away...they won at their place to keep the tradition alive...this one is at BDS@HGF...'nuff said.
 
Here are my picks for the swing games this year...

1. Clemson--I agree with GTg*er (or however you spell it) that this is the biggest conference game for us every year. Traditionally, a win against Clemson means good things for the season. They are good, but don't think for one second that Gathers, Wimbush, Muyers, and Smith don't want a little payback for Dantzler's last second TD. FWIW, I too am not sold on Bowden as a coach.

2. Maryland--In the past, we've looked at the Terps as a near automatic win, but Vanderlindin is gone. I have a feeling that Ralph's teams will always be tough.

3. NC State--These guys are always tough, and I'm sure that Rivers will want to atone for his performance last season

Obviously, we want to go 3-0 here, and we can. I think 2-1 is probably where we end up. I predict we'll lose to either Clemson or Maryland (both on the road). We'll beat NC State (call it a hunch). 2-1 will be pretty good, but a 1-2 record or worse means we're having a pretty rough go of it.
 
Clemson. If win again in Tiger Town for the 3rd straight time, our (fans and players') confidence in the new coaching staff will be sky high.
 
The TWO games most everyone seems to take for granted are probably the two that scare me the most.......UNC & BYU.

College football is as much mental and being up for the game as it is about talent. Clemson? We are most always "up" for these guys (what happened in '95?) and I know the guys will not look past them. Nor will they look past Maryland (10-2 last year) or NC State (loss up there in '02). But it's UNC that we have beaten four straight and BYU that scare me.

Our talent will be better than UNC, but that is still a huge swing game and a more telling indicator of the coming season than Clemson, IMHO. BYU can put a scare into anyone and it turns into a regional/religious/conference motivation for them. Believe me, they'll be sky high when they come to BDS@HGF. They play southern teams tough to prove that the rocky mountain area, conference and religion can play some football. The scoreboard operator better be ready for that one ;-)

Anyway, those are my opinions on this topic for what they are worth.
 
It is evident, any team can beat another in today's college games, but we might have a slight edge on North Carolina and BYU.

We now have NC's defensive coach, which I believe to be much better than the defensive coach they have. Also, we have some excellent players on the defensive side of the ball.

If I am correct, BYU lost a ton of players off last year's team and we play them at BDS. I feel fairly confident of those two games at this time. If we perform as well as I suspect in the first three games, I will be quite confident going into the NC and BYU games.

Again, the Clemson game appears to be the one that will foretell the remainder of the season.

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Interestingly, I feel more confident about us beating Clemson than UNC at the moment, though I do believe Clemson to be the better team. Clemson will be our first real test and I expect the guys to be jacked up and ready to play, especially after last year. I just don't like where the UNC game falls on the schedule. This may all change once the season starts.
 
Here's my take on this season:

Gimmes: Duke, UConn, Vandy, Wake (they play at BDS), UVA (play at BDS)

The rest:

Clemson: It strikes me as funny how the so called experts expect big things from Clemson yet they rate us well below them. Let's look at the facts... Clemson is starting a new QB, new RB, does not match GT in defensive talent nor wide receiver. Funny we are doing the same yet our possible #1 QB has played in some very tough conditions already. Tech wins this one...

BYU: What was the Achille's heel of the COugars last year? DEFENSE! Yep... they are small, slow, and often lost the mo! Tech wins!

NCSU - What a joke. These guys have no line depth what-so-ever! No wide receivers, new RB... and it sure is hard to throw an accurate pass when your on your back all day. Tech wins this one too.

UNC - no defense & no running game. Next

Maryland - New QB, Perry overrated, however Maryland will be solid defensively. Look for Tech to win 27-17

FSU - We have the talent to play with them and win. Don't know if we will but if we don't get them this year might be a while before we get another chance.

UGA - ahh the slobberin mutts think they are MNC material as always. Must be nice to leave through 1980 Rose colored Glasses all your life. Anyway IF they can find a running game they will score lots of points. However, their defense will give up lots of points. Reminds me of GT in '98. Also they have a great O-Line but they aren't deep. How many SEC teams have you seen win the SEC and MNC with no depth on their line?? ZERO.

So GT can win every game this year. CAN is the key word. I honestly think we go 9-3 in Chan's first year and I am looking forward to him being our HC for a while.
 
Bees, I like your optimism. I HOPE we go 9-3 this year, but it's gonna be VERY tough for us. O'Leary used to talk about character quite a bit. It's going to take a good deal of character to win the majority of the tough road games we have this year. I just can't see us being lucky enough to win ALL of the following on the road:

Clemson, NC State, UNC, Maryland, AND Uga.

We're gonna have to have alot of heart, chemistry and yes character to win 4 much less five of those tough games. If we do it will say alot for our players and yes our new coaching staff!

This year will be interesting to say the least!!

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