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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Jackets proclaim new trend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Blacksburg, Va. — A year ago, the schizophrenic team that was Georgia Tech traveled to Miami and, with the backdrop of a maligned head coach, a worn down athletics director and an infuriated fan base, stunned the Hurricanes.
What happened Saturday was bigger.
It’s one thing to end a winning streak of a traditional national power. It’s another for a team to extend its own winning streak and act like that’s the norm. It’s one thing to ruin the week of a favorite. It’s another to set a new direction.
What happened Saturday at Virginia Tech was bigger because this wasn’t merely about an opponent falling back. It was about Georgia Tech stepping up. The biggest victories don’t come late in a relatively lost season, after you’ve already lost to N.C. State and Virginia. The biggest wins set a tone early.
The Yellow Jackets scored 21 points in the first 11 minutes Saturday against a team that pounded them 51-7 the year before in this same death trap of a stadium. In doing so, they numbed an entire state and maybe a conference.
The 38-27 win over the Hokies banged a tone seldom heard on The Flats.
This makes four straight wins since the season-opening loss to Notre Dame, a game that told coach Chan Gailey as much about this team as any that have followed. He remarked in the aftermath Saturday how impressed he was that the Jackets hung with the Irish in a physical game on national TV.
“We didn’t win, but I told our guys after that game, ‘You gained respect,’?” Gailey said. “Now what you do with the respect depends on the rest of the year.”
It follows that Georgia Tech’s season depends on how it handles success. Suddenly, it’s up the Jackets. There isn’t an opponent on the rest of the schedule they can’t beat.
Yes, it’s bigger than the Miami game. It’s the biggest win in the Gailey era. It’s a win that enables a team to look ahead with possibilities. Late-season upsets only let you look back with regret.
“This puts us in the lead of the conference,” linebacker KaMichael Hall said. “At the same time, it’s bad because now you know everybody in the ACC will be gunning for you.”
Teams gunning for Georgia Tech. That may take a while to sink in.
Gailey had struggled against the conference powers at Tech. He was 0-2 against Virginia Tech, 0-2 against Florida State and 1-1 against Miami. This game possibly ignites a program makeover.
It was an unusual week leading up to the Virginia Tech game. Gailey said the “rah-rah atmosphere” (his words) that preceded the Notre Dame game was absent. Things were more businesslike.
Certainly, the Jackets acted Saturday like this is where they were supposed to be. They led 21-0 after 11 minutes. As plots go, this one was unfolding as fantasy for the Jackets, horror for the Hokies and absurdity for everybody else. The Hokies had outscored Tech 85-27 in two previous ACC meetings. As a general rule, teams that get outscored 85-27 don’t take early 21-0 leads, at least not without hallucinogens.
If the Jackets wanted to make a point, they did so early. On the first play of the game, Reggie Ball completed a 59-yard pass to a non-Calvin Johnson (James, the other wide receiver). Four plays later, Ball connected with the more famous Johnson for a 3-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.
Virginia Tech was 51-7 at home in the last 13-plus seasons. Usually, it’s the visitor that suffers the meltdown. But consider what followed. Virginia Tech’s punter shanked a punt 16 yards. Moments later from midfield, Ball ran play-action and completed a short toss to Calvin Johnson, who broke loose for 53 yards and a 14-0 lead. (This makes two weeks in a row Johnson scored twice as a “game time” decision. Ah, the wonders of medicine — and fabrication.)
Johnson’s second score was followed by a blocked punt. The blocked punt was followed by another Tech touchdown. On the sideline, Hall wondered if he was in REM state.
“It was a crazy feeling,” he said. “I looked up and thought, ‘Dang! We’ve got 21 points. And they don’t have any!’ It says a lot that we could do this.”
It’ll say even more if it continues.
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Better team won in Ryder debacle
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Kildare, Ireland — From the moment their very first shot was struck (Tiger Woods’ tee ball found water) the 36th Ryder Cup was on the way to becoming an American disaster. The final score was a repeated embarrassment, but it would have been worse had not Paul McGinley, the amiable Irishman, generously conceded a 20-foot putt to halve the 18th hole with J.J. Henry, a stern finishing hole commonly known as the “Hooker’s Graveyard.” Chris DiMarco left his last two fairway shots in the water there.
After lengthy review and much probing analysis, some conclusions became obvious: That the better team won; that the Americans just don’t bond like the Europeans; that the Ryder Cup is of deeper meaning to the Europeans than to the wealthy, spoiled Americans; that the President’s Cup is a fly in the American ointment, strange though that the USA has a better record against the World team than against the Europeans; and, Larry Nelson, thank your lucky stars you weren’t the captain of this team.
No reflection on Tom Lehman here, God knows, he did everything but warm their bottles and tuck them in each night. Captains don’t win Ryder Cups, nor do they lose them, and I cite Hal Sutton and Ian Woosnam here. Sure, Sutton paired Woods and Phil Mickelson at Oakland Hills, but instead of putting forth one for the team, they paired like contankerous brats. As for Woosnam, don’t give the little Welshman too much credit, for he is hardly a psychological giant. Who can forget the front-page pictures of him the morning after with champagne spouting out his nose? The spirit of the European team was centered around the three Irish members, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley, though the ranking Harrington, hometown son, found himself on the defensive after his half-point performance.
Once upon a time there was a notion projected that the competition should be tour vs. tour, Euro vs. USA. That’s outdated now because the tours are so intermingled. So scratch that one. One point of confusion arose on the second day when the Americans showed up in blue shirts. Blue is the Euro Union colors, so you had confusion at times, trying to determine which was which. No explanation was ever made, and the switch of hues brought the American side no change of luck.
The question of Tiger Woods, yes, he finally improved his Cup performance. Yet, at times, it was almost as if he was captain without portfolio. Lehman gave him the privilege of choosing Jim Furyk as his partner, and neither of the rookies were given a chance to pair with the No. l. Furyk carried Woods in the Friday four-ball, then they lost two of the next three matches. On Sunday, pure luck of the draw, Woods drew Europe’s weakest player, Robert Karlsson, the Swede. In the end, you wondered what had Brett Wetterich or Vaughn Taylor, or Zach Johnson or Henry in common with Woods, except golf is their job.
Tell you one thing, if ever there was any doubt, the Irish proved they know how to put on a party. This Ryder Cup was beautifully done, daily crowds of 45,000 managed smoothly, the water-logged K Club in professional condition in spite of the fractious weather, and if there was any unrighteous behavior, it never made print. This gave The K Club a boost unimaginable. The Irish Independent reported Wednesday that in the 36 hours since the tournament, $250,000 worth of bookings had been made at the course.
There was one other mellow piece of conjecture doing the rounds, and broadcasters were speaking of it in terms of fact: That the next two captains will come from the broadcast booth, that Abbott and Costello team of ABC, Paul Azinger to lead the USA and Nick Faldo to lead the Europeans. Sounds like a promotional natural, though the PGA of America quite often appears to take delight in shooting down the brightly conceived obvious.
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