AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2006 > October > 03
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Gailey looks at big picture
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Greetings.
Kinda pressed for time so I won’t babble as much as usual, but I thought it was interesting today that Chan Gailey spoke of the big picture. What’s interesting about that? Well, he’s been talking to players about the big picture. That’s rare, but can you guess why he’s brought it up?
Clue: It has something to do with the payoff for winning at Virginia Tech, or how that payoff could be mangled with a loss.
Clue 2: It helps break up the monotony of all the game-week speeches, which generally sound very similar from one to the next.
Give up?
Here’s the deal: Winning at Virginia Tech, which is in Georgia Tech’s division and a challenger for that side of the league, won’t mean as much if the Yellow Jackets lose at home to Maryland. As Gailey said, “If you keep winning, you don’t throw it back to tiebreakers at any point [when deciding the eventual division champions].”
Tie, you say? Well, a lot would have to happen, but Tech could end up in a tie for the division if, for example, Miami and Clemson beat the Jackets, Virginia Tech beats Miami and somebody else upsets Virginia Tech to leave all three with two losses. This is certainly not the only way there could be a tie, and I’m not getting into how the tiebreakers would work because I haven’t researched them and we’re early into the ACC schedule anyway.
But to make the point in another way, or to make the point coaches try to make with their players every week in convincing them the only game that matters is the next game … if Tech loses to Maryland, the big picture could get screwed up. It’s not exactly reverse psychology, but a somewhat abnormal way of conveying what is the normal message every week: this game is most important one right now.
Chan said it better: “I think that you have to be able to see the big picture. So often we talk to these guys about, ‘Don’t worry about tomorrow. Learn from yesterday, but forget yesterday, really, and let’s talk about today.’ This is one of those cases where you say early in the week, ‘Look at the big picture. Now, what do we want to invest in preparation.’ “
FYI: Calvin Johnson, Greg Smith and Tashard Choice aren’t expected to practice today beause of injuries.
