Moving to a new location
AJC blogs are moving to a new technical platform. So check out Terence Moore’s new blog home and bookmark it.
Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > November > 28
Friday, November 28, 2008
Emotional Tech will beat Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia has more football talent than Georgia Tech, but not enough to rank slightly beyond a touchdown favorite for Saturday’s game in Athens. Consider, too, that the great equalizer in rivalry games is emotion. Tech has more of that regarding the Bulldogs than Georgia has of that regarding the Yellow Jackets.
So Tech will win. That’s because emotion will be as potent for the Jackets as all of those triple-option plays.
This isn’t to say Georgia will spend the afternoon yawning at the sight of Buzz shaking his tail between the hedges. Said Georgia wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, a Charlotte native, who was indoctrinated into the rivalry after his six catches helped the Bulldogs whip Tech as a freshman in 2005: “It’s a very special game, and it’s different than the others, because they share the same state as you.”
Added Georgia fullback Brannan Southerland, who grew up in the Atlanta area, “It’s not an SEC game, but it’s huge. If you lose, you’ll never hear the end of it at church and stuff like that.”
Here’s the deal, though: Losing to Georgia often produces the lowest of lows for Tech players. Beating Tech rarely produces the highest of highs for Georgia players. While the Bulldogs have Florida, Tennessee, Auburn and Tech to dislike, the Jackets just have Georgia.
Tech is obsessed with Georgia. You hear it in the Jackets’ fight song (“Up with the white and gold, down with the red and black …”). You see it on the video board at Tech home game when players end their taped messages to the crowd by saying, “To hell with Georgia.” You also can tell as much, because senior defensive end Michael Johnson frowned while recalling every detail from Tech’s losses to Georgia during each of his past three seasons.
“I mean, you’ve got to hear about it all year from people who didn’t even go to Georgia,” said Johnson, with the deepest of sighs. “I’ll ask them, ‘So did you go there?’ And they’ll say, ‘Nah. I’m a fan.’ And I’ll say, ‘Uh-huh, well, OK.’ They’re probably just (sigh), I won’t even go into it.”
Johnson clenched his teeth, before adding with another sigh, “How badly do I want to beat Georgia? As bad as ever.”
He isn’t alone. Tech senior defensive tackle Darryl Richard said, “Everybody has a misconception about Georgia Tech, which is that we shouldn’t be able to compete with people. So we want to set the record straight. We have athletes here, just as other teams do. But for some reason, since we have people who are serious about getting their education, as well as playing football, we’re supposed to be inferior.”
You know, inferior to You Know Who, which Richard isn’t buying. “We hear right now that we can’t compete with a team like Georgia, and we’re taking that to heart every day,” said Richard, of his 8-3 bunch compared to 9-2 Georgia. “It’s time to go to work. That’s our mentality. I think that since we have guys that are serious about doing that, we can definitely compete against that team from Athens.”
There also is this: The Jackets’ rising triple-option offense will face a Georgia defense that reeked during its first and only exposure to an option offense earlier this month at Kentucky. Tech first-year coach Paul Johnson is a whiz in rivalry games (his Navy teams were 6-0 against Army). Plus, the Jackets are due to beat Georgia after dropping seven straight.
Oh, and Johnson won’t allow the Jackets to lose. That’s Paul and Michael.
Services »
