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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Fine, but how ‘bout Dogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
If last week was about shutting people up, this week is about changing perceptions. A win doesn’t signal the turning point in a program any more than a loss does.
Lose to Duke, beat Miami. Same, same? In some respects, yes (save the postgame party). The win only becomes more significant than the loss if it’s the start of something, not the finish line.
This week, Georgia Tech plays Georgia.
Got gumption?
“I don’t want to leave here without saying I beat Georgia at least once,” Tech linebacker Gerris Wilkinson said Tuesday. “It’s a respect issue. You can win 10 games a season, but if you can’t beat your in-state rival, you’re never really going to get the respect that you want. … The Miami game is the biggest win since I’ve been here, but it’s not going to mean that much if we don’t come in here and beat Georgia.”
That’s the prevailing viewpoint of a fifth-year senior who has witnessed four consecutive losses to Georgia. But this week is about far more than that for Tech. It’s about the direction of a program.
The Jackets’ 14-10 win in Miami was a high-water mark in the Chan Gailey era. The fact it came just as the athletic department was taking on water merely added to the drama. The win also ensured Gailey’s first winning record in the ACC (5-3) and that the Jackets wouldn’t end the season with three straight losses (Virginia, Miami, Georgia), as seemed apparent.
But college football teams generally are defined by two things: 1) Consistency; 2) Results against its rival (usually in-state). Suddenly, Gailey has security. What he doesn’t have is a record for success in Nos. 1 and 2. This week presents a double opportunity.
Beating Georgia would do more for increasing Gailey’s popularity with Tech supporters than the win over Miami did, if for no other reason than the fact it comes the week after the Miami game. Even losing to Georgia but competing at the level of a week ago would smother detractors. It would the send message, “We’re not going away.”
But lose 48-10 — then what does the Miami game mean? Little to nothing.
Gailey said of the rivalry with Georgia, “You live with it 365 days a year.”
He has lived with it worse than others. George O’Leary lost to the Bulldogs in his last season (31-17), but he had won the previous three. Gailey was hired in 2002, and his introduction to Georgia was a 51-7 loss. When the Jackets followed that up by losing to under- manned Fresno State in the Silicon Valley Bowl, the fan base started having Bill Lewis flashbacks. There have been two more losses to Georgia since, though by shrinking deficits (34-17 and 19-13).
Consistency also has been an issue. Under Gailey, the Jackets have had a tendency to follow leaps with splats. It’s easy to identify the high: The Jackets are one of only two teams to have two wins against schools currently in the top 10 (Auburn and Miami). The other is top-ranked Southern Cal (which has defeated Notre Dame and Oregon). The downs haven’t been quite as pronounced this season, but a home loss to N.C. State and a defeat by Virginia — the Cavaliers suspended four players two days before the game but jumped to an early 17-0 lead — unnerved the fan base.
Gailey believes this year’s team is less prone to letdowns and has been unfairly associated with the previous two. “You assume things that are going to happen, but that’s really better reading than it is reality,” he said.
But Wilkinson has seen it too often. “We have a big win, and then we have a letdown. It hurts the growth of the program,” he said.
After this year, he’s gone. But Gailey will be back, and how he and the program are perceived next season will be based largely on what happens Saturday. Because there is a difference between shutting people up and winning them over.
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The bright side of the Tuesday Countdown
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
10: The front of the AJC sports section Tuesday depicted Jim Mora’s face on the body of the “Operation” game. It could be the first in a series of such graphics. Nominees for next week, pending the results in Detroit, are “Sorry,” “Trouble,” “Trivial Pursuit” and “[Get A] Clue.”
9: Seriously, Mora has really let himself go in the “bread basket.”
8: If you noticed in the Miami game, Reuben Houston played in mostly nickel and dime-bag packages. (Thank you very much. Tip your waitresses.)
7: Here is why you should care what decision comes down in the Terrell Owens case: If Owens’ four-game suspension is upheld, it will undercut every potential future prima donna athlete who believes that the guaranteed money in his contract is guaranteed income and can’t be taken away, no matter what stupid thing he does off the field. If Owens is forced to lose four weeks pay, and possibly some signing bonus money, knuckleheads are in trouble.
6: Is the Falcons saying, “We wanted to get younger” another way of saying, “We goofed by letting go of Ed Jasper and Travis Hall”? What has happened this season isn’t merely about underachieving players and some potential coaching decisions. Some personnel decisions have backfired on Rich McKay.
5: Steve Shields starts in goal tonight for the Thrashers. Over/under on his exit is the six-minute mark.
4: Georgia coach Mark Richt suspended a freshman player a game for a DUI charge. The good news: I guess this means running steps for punishment is passé in Athens.
3: In case you’re wondering, I ran into Dave Braine in the Georgia Tech cafeteria Tuesday, and he didn’t throw his soup on me.
2: If the Hawks win the rest of their games, they will finish 73-9, which would be a franchise record, and likely clinch home-court advantage through the playoffs.
1: I’m all about looking at the bright side.
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