By Burdell's Brother

May 7, 2007 4:07 PM | Link to this

Strong streak!

By Jack

May 7, 2007 5:12 PM | Link to this

You wonder whats missing—why cant they get over the hump with all those winning seasons

By Gunn

May 7, 2007 5:19 PM | Link to this

The difference between the 2 streaks is the yellow jackets consistently make the post season in baseball, win their region, and are playing at least in the super regional. That mean GT is consistently in the top 16 for baseball programs. Now throw in 3 CWS visits and playing for 1 NC. The beesball team has had huge success, either under Morris or Hall.

With the exception of a couple of seasons, the bowl game streak has not led to the same sucess. We consistently are not in a bowl where we would be included in the top 16 teams and have not even had to chance to play for the NC. Now there is no playoff in football and maybe this would be different if there was. But we do not have the ability to finish strong during the end of the regular season and unless we change this pattern, the football team will be average to good at best.

By Erk

May 7, 2007 5:29 PM | Link to this

Quarter century of winning and never brought home a trophy from Omaha. Fine tradition. New motto for Georgia Tech athletics: We win enough just to be mediocre.

By Hood

May 7, 2007 5:35 PM | Link to this

I’m a UGA fan and I am impressed by this. Winning the CWS is one of the hardest things to win in college sports. Any team can get hot at the right time. Look at Rice in Houston, Texas…Anyteam can get hot and win..But to consistantly win 30 games or more for that long..That is very impressive..

By hiveredtech

May 7, 2007 6:06 PM | Link to this

If 10 consecutive bowl appearances is so easy these days…why have only 6 schools out of 119+ been able to do it??!!

By 3 Rivers jacket

May 7, 2007 9:01 PM | Link to this

Tech fans are amazing. the bowl record is something to be very proud of. Yes some were so called minor bowls but you would rather be in one that sitting home. Anyway the bowl record will continue in 2007 and it should be anothe New Years Day bowl. The baseball record is great. This year is down but over the years there are not many who would not love to have our program. Tech fans are so negative. We are going to be really good in football and basketball especailly if the 2 guys who declared for the Nba draft come back. Just to balance out the negativity I will predict undefeated teams in football and basketball. How is that for irrational exuberance?

By Ty

May 7, 2007 10:35 PM | Link to this

I agree with Gunn…. the fact that the baseball team consistently has a strong team, national ranking, and performs well in the post-season is a credit to a quality program. Keep in mind that when you take the number of bowls now, NOT making a bowl-game is an indication of TOTAL failure of the program that season rather than a representation of success.

Similarly, in basketball, you must keep in mind the number of eligible teams vs. the number of slots. Making the NCAA tourney IS an achievement. However, advancing a round or two defines a good season.

Give me Tech’s b-ball programs every year and I’m happy…. give me 7 bowl games each resulting in a bittersweet season ending and I’m canceling my season tix…ooops, already did that!

By gojackets

May 7, 2007 10:50 PM | Link to this

I think both the football and baseball streaks are reason to proud of GT sports, especially compared to where the programs were 25 years ago.

Tech’s football gteam has probably been top 15 3-4 times in the last 15 years. GT’s baseball team, unlike Gunn’s assertion, has finished in the top 16 7 times or so. however, most of those finishes came with home field advantage in regionals.

Also, there are many great football schools with built-in advantages GT does not have. Due to the demographics of college baseball, the East Cobb factor, the Hope Scholarship, etc. GT baseball has perhaps achieved relatively speaking about the same as the football team. The baseball team has had quite a 3 year run though but that 2005 loss to UGA hurts a lot.

So, I’m proud to be a GT fan and am proud of both teams but do wish the baseball team had a national championship trophy. The 94 team was the best team in the country but couldn’t win the one game it needed to.

By Salty Dawg

May 8, 2007 12:37 AM | Link to this

A streak of 30 win seasons are nice but you need a streak of championships - ACC, ACC Tourney or multiple CWS titles (not necessarily back to back to be impressive). Good teams can make their records look more impressive than they are simply by scheduling patsies for the early part of the season.

However, it is much more impressive than the 10 years Bowl streak.

By surfrider

May 8, 2007 1:43 AM | Link to this

Sounds kind of like the Atlanta Braves of College Baseball the last 15 years or so. That means good sometimes very good and sometimes winning a playoff game/series. The football team at Tech will be a lot different under this new OC and QB. It will remind fans of the Friedgen era to some degree yet have Tenuta’s defense. We still have Gailey though but maybe he will just walk the sidelines and let his coaches coach.

By Salty Dawg

May 8, 2007 2:27 AM | Link to this

But, the Braves won 14 Division titles, 5 NL Pennants and 1 World Series title. So, you cannot compare them. I kow Tech has to have some ACC titles and I seem to recall an ACC tourney championship, but they do not have the same string of conference championships as the Braves. Now, if the Braves had 15 years of Wild Card appearances, you could make the comparison.

A change at QB might make the difference. However, I see fundamental flaws in the coaching. For example, in 2004, with time running out against NC State, Chan Gailey wasted several timeouts needlessly. Then, after a timeout, Calvin Johnson lines up on the wrong side of the field. Every freaking coach Tech had was going ballistic and yelling for Cj to move to the opposite side of the field. He did, the defender now knew exactly where the ball was going, interception, game over. Now, if I, a mere spectator at the game saw that, do you think the NC State D did also?

And, the year prior, you have the infamous throw away on 4th down. I mean, you can blame the kids but I think those errors go to fundamental flaws in game time coaching.

Finally, have you ever really seen a kid improve during a season or over a career under Gailey? Why was UGA and others so capable of covering CJ? And, UGA did it with single coverage. So, the question becomes this - is it the players or the coaches?

If it is the players fault, you have hope. If it lies with the coaching staff, you need a change at the top.

By gt

May 8, 2007 9:22 AM | Link to this

To Salty Dawg: Over the 30-win/season streak GT has either won the ACC regular season or ACC tournament or both 10 times (‘85, ‘86’,’87,’88,’93,’97,2000,2003,2004,2005). That is very impressive if you ask me, especially the most recent success.

People like to disregard the bowl streak because some of the bowl weren’t very big, but I think only 5 or 6 schools have a 10+ years bowl streak going right now. Just off the top of my head I can think of several schools who haven’t been to a bowl recently (Tennesee, So. Carolina, Clemson, Maryland, NC State). Tech fans just like to have something to complain about, but there are many big-time programs that would like to trade with our sports programs.

By Yada Yada Yada

May 8, 2007 11:15 AM | Link to this

I thought it was “A Quarter Century of Whinning.”

By gte578e

May 8, 2007 11:49 AM | Link to this

Wow, to even ask the question of whether or not this is an amazing task is really surprising. It’s similar to asking whether or not the Braves’ division title record is impressive. Of course these streaks are impressive because they represent a well above average level of play for a very prolonged period of time!

Are Marino’s statistics any less impressive because he didn’t win a Superbowl? Was Mattingly not a good baseball player because his team only made the playoffs once in his career?

I’ll give it to you that neither the football team nor the baseball team (though almost for baseball) have performed to a truly great level of performance. But to take anything away from their accomplishments would be undeserving and simple.

By gte578e

May 8, 2007 12:01 PM | Link to this

Hey GT, some other notable teams not in that 10+ season bowl streak:

Notre Dame USC UCLA Miami (of Florida) Ohio State Texas Oklahoma Nebraska Penn State LSU Alabama Auburn

If getting to a mediocre bowl game is so easy, why haven’t these powerhouses been able to do it for 10 years in a row? Surely these schools have more money, larger recruiting pools, and more sway than us nerds?

The teams that have done it:

Florida Florida State Georgia Georgia Tech Michigan Virginia Tech

What makes that even more impressive is that all but Michigan play two teams a year that are on this list (good job UGA, UF, FSU, and VT). So, GT has gone to a bowl game for the past 10 years while playing 2 other consistent performers.

By gte578e

May 8, 2007 12:06 PM | Link to this

One more thing Salty Dawg, so Chan Gailey never coaches up players, right? How is it that you all have only barely edged us for 3 years now with recruiting classes ranked in the top 10 with ours around 50 or so?

More importantly, we’ve put about the same number of players in the NFL for the past three years. Again, how do you explain that given that Gailey can’t upcoach players and you all are pulling in top 10 classes to our 50th ranked classes?

It’s one thing to say I don’t like GT. But to make what looks like a thought out arguement with no basis in reality is deceivingly stupid!

By old gold engineer

May 8, 2007 12:30 PM | Link to this

My impression is that the baseball team does very well each year until the major league draft. After the draft, the team seems to lose focus and make a fairly quick exit from postseason play.

By Dave In Tampa

May 8, 2007 12:36 PM | Link to this

Though I bleed Red n Black I have to say that is an outstanding accomplishment. Congrats to the GT baseball program.

By Seth

May 8, 2007 1:52 PM | Link to this

The baseball streak shows that Tech is one of the best if not the best baseball programs in the country. The fact that there is no championship is very tough to take because we clearly had the best team in ‘94 but lost the game in the national championship which was the first loss in the CWS for that team. That rule has changed now as far as the format of the national championship. I was just saying at work yesterday that Tech is having a down year in baseball but if 30-17 and tied for fourth in the best baseball conference in the country is a down year then I can live with that once every 7 or 8 years.

The football streak is one that is very impressive but not as impressive because the lack of the breakthrough to a BCS bowl or national championship game in the streak. There are a good number of teams who would like to be on that list but have the one hiccup year where they are off. Tech has not done that which is impressive considering what we have had at QB the last 4 years!!

By Salty Dawg

May 9, 2007 12:49 AM | Link to this

To gte578e,

Thanks for the personal attack. I make a well thought out, well reasoned argument and you just stoop to calling me stupid because you do not like it. That’s really nice and, unfortunately, what I have come to expect from many -not all - Tech fans, students and alums.

The number of players drafted has little do with the coaches ability. I don’t know if you have heard about it, but there is this little thing called the NFL combine during which players who enter the draft are timed and perform other skill tests. Some players even arrange for personal workouts with teams. The NFL drafts based on the size and the skill test numbers and rarely looks at college performance. I did not say the NFL never does. But, size and combine performace are paramount. That is why Troy Smith, the Heisman winner, gets drafted in the 5th round and Chris Leak does not get drafted at all. Yet, a host of no name players from no name schools get drafted in the first three rounds. BTW, you only had two selected in the draft this year.

You also should not put so much faith in recruiting rankings. Recruiting geeks rate college recruiting classes. Coaches do not. I don’t place any stock in them - and niether should any fan - especially since players do not qualify, or the fail out or get injured before ever making it to the field. Here is proof for you. The recruiting geeks rated Jasper Sanks higher than Jamal Lewis.

You really want to argue that Chan Gailey is a good coach because he took the 9 win, Coastal Division Champs and came away with a close loss, giving up a 4th quarter lead, to a 6 win (at the time) UGA team that had losses to Vandy at home and UK. That seems more like an argument every Tech fan, alumni and student would use to convince people that Radkovic should fire Chan. Moreover, Tech was ranked at the time and UGA was not. This is the ONLY time an unranked UGA team has beaten a ranked or more highly ranked Tech.

Fine. Keep 55-7 Chan. He’s the man.

And, do you really want to defend Gailey after the ACC

By Salty Dawg

May 9, 2007 12:54 AM | Link to this

To GT,

Nice stats on the baseball team. I can see that you were thinking.

I am more impressed with the combined 1985 through 1988 and 2000 through 2005 streaks of scattered regular season and tournament championships than the streak of 30 win seasons. Like I said before its nice, I am not taking away from it, but a trophy is a true accomplishment. Any trophy. It does not have to be the CWS trophy, like the one that resides in Athens. The win streak can be manipulated by the quality of opponents played prior to ACC play and during the middle of the week when conference play begins.

By Salty Dawg

May 9, 2007 1:53 AM | Link to this

Correction: UGA had 7 wins going into the Tech game. I had forgotten about, yawn, the win over I-AA Western Kentucky.

By gdawginkalamazoo

May 9, 2007 11:27 AM | Link to this

A great accomplishment. Impressive is all one can say. As said above everything has to fall in place to get the NC trophy. Consistency year in and year out is one part of the foundation.

Regarding Gailey coaching his players up. The man has NFL experience so he knows what it takes to get the players ready. That is why you have mid level recruiting (I am not knocking it) and play very well. So IMO Gailey does a great job of coaching players up.

By M. Bagwell

May 9, 2007 10:58 PM | Link to this

Tech could’ve been in that elusive BCS bowl last year had not our head coach been so set to play R.B.

By scooter11

May 10, 2007 9:05 AM | Link to this

…but still can’t win the annual series.

By REGGIE BALL

May 10, 2007 1:52 PM | Link to this

Yech has a baseball team. I should have played for them. Can someone spare some change?

By gary

May 13, 2007 8:05 PM | Link to this

They could win 50 every year and still cant beat ga. why do the gt coaches choke against uga? Wait til football when Gomer Gailey will be intimadated by richt again. I’m a Jacket thru and thru, but GT has really been shaken every time we play uga in any type sport