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August 2008
Jacksonville State Impressions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Its a little past midnight and I just rolled into the driveway and snuck into my basement without waking up my wife. We’re supposed to hit the road first thing in the morning, for a weekend trip to Savannah, but I wanted to get a few things down in the blog while they were still fresh in my head. I’m going to brain dump a bit, so bear with me…
It felt great to be back on campus for a tailgate. Its funny how easily I can fall back into “guy mode” and talk trash with the various characters who have made up our tailgate the last several years. While eating fried chicken and sipping off the keg several of us suddenly looked around and smiled. Someone commented, “Man this feels good, I’d forgetten how much I missed it.” Everyone agreed and then went back to talking more trash and drinking more beer. Good times.
Once we got down to the stadium I thought the crowd was pretty good for a Thursday night tuneup game without alot of hype beyond checking out the new coach.
Speaking of the coach….that’s what we have now folks…a COACH. The team came out and looked focused and motivated and crisp. The staff was constantly working with the players constructively in alot of situations and when someone made a bonehead penalty or a mental lapse, they got chewed a new one. On at least two occasions Coach Johnson was personally reaming a guy who made a late hit or a personal foul. I think we’ll see better mental preparation and less stupid penalties than we have seen in past and that is a GOOD thing.
The offense started a little slow but then hit its stride. We ran inside, we ran outside, we pitched the ball, and we threw it down field. Its hard to argue with 41 points built on 484 yards of total offense. The guys on the radio said we had 8 plays that went for over 20 yards. This is an offense you must pay attention to. If you look away you might miss a big play…they can happen at any time.
We only threw the ball 15 times, completing 8 of them. But then we averaged about 17 yards per completion? Yeah…17 yards per completion. And it could have been more except for a few narrow misses to receivers who were open and running loose.
There were rushes of 37, 49, 34, 43, and 22 yards…all by different guys. 8 players got rushing yards and 4 of them scored TDs. My personal favorite was a beautiful 49 yard option pitch to Roddy Jones. He took the pitch got a few blocks and was gone.
Overall…considering this was our first live action with the new offensive scheme, I was very pleased.
Defensively we looked pretty good as well. Perriloux is a great individual talent and he made some great individual plays today to get yardage in a few situations. He made some good throws as well. You know a guy like that is going to make plays.
Morgan Burnett snagged a couple of INTs and the defensive line was able to generate enough mayhem and distraction to limit Perriloux’s opportunities and hold the Gamecocks to a total of 258 yards and 14 points that were derived from a muffed kickoff return and a late “trash” TD against backup defense.
It was kind of nice to have a defense that played smart and disciplined and wasn’t a frenetic blitz fest like we’ve seen in the past. All in all this defense isn’t as flashy and athletic as some of Tenuta’s have been in the past but you get the feeling that its very fundamentally sound and capable to getting the job done and carrying the load in the next few games while the offense comes around and gets on track.
In closing, before I pack it in for the night…I only have two real concerns right now.
1) The kicking game is lack lustre with both missed field goals and a missed extra point.
2) Can the offensive line get the job done in short yardage situations?
We can’t leave points on the field against BC and VT coming up. We have to convert those field goals. And we’re going to be facing defensive lines in our next two games that are going to be tougher to move around. The OL has some work to do.
All in all though…a great night. The team has a ton of film to study now and they know they can execute at full speed. Boston College is going to be tough and Virginia Tech tougher yet again.
I’ll check back in after Labor Day. By then we should have a little more info about Boston College and what we’ll be facing next weekend.
Go Jackets!
THWG!
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What If You Ruled the NCAA?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On the eve of the college football season, there isn’t a whole lot more to say about Georgia Tech. The offense and defense are going to be completely different than what we’re accustomed to and the incoming competition is less than thrilling. Most fans, like myself, are just looking forward to getting into the stadium and seeing some live football…we’re curious as much as we are excited.
While perusing the message boards earlier this evening someone asked a pretty good question.
If you ruled or owned the NCAA what would you change about college football.
Several improvements jumped out at me right away and still others took some thought. Below is a brief list of the first things I’d do.
1) There would be no polls or rankings until early October. This would do away with alot of the early season bias that puts surprise and potential Cinderella teams behind the curve and in the nearly impossible position of climbing into the true mix for the national title.
2) There would be no exclusive TV packages at the individual team or conference level. If you think NBC is sickening as a shill for Notre Dame football, just wait until ESPN starts pimping out the SEC in an effort to enhance their investment.
I say this in spite of the fact that I think the next ACC hoops / football deal will be huge and likely dwarf the ESPN / SEC joint venture. As big as SEC football is, ACC hoops will bring more games and larger viewership and advertisement dollars…in better TV markets.
3) Regular season schedules would be reduced to 10 games and would start in early / mid August. I’m sick of all the BCS schools padding their schedule up to 12 games with cupcakes and lower division teams. And I’d need a few more weeks to accomodate a playoff.
4) The BCS would be used to seed a 16 team playoff that would tie games in with the existing bowls. The additional play off games would be offset by reducing the regular season to 10 games. And the playoff games would be played in neutral “bowl” locations so that there wouldn’t be any perception of the top 16 teams getting richer from a longer schedule with more games. The playoff revenues would go into an bucket that would be shared amongst all the conferences proportionately.
5) Officiating crews would be mixed and not aligned with specific conferences. Officiating is horrendous lately and there are always allegations of favoritism from the refs. Creation of mixed crews from the various conferences would negate the perception of bias.
6) Pay the refs more and hold them to a higher status. The NCAA football season generates millions of dollars. Pay the refs well enough to ensure that you have highly skilled and reliable people making the decisions on game day.
7) Mandatory redshirts for all true freshmen. Graduation rates stink and make a mockery of the term “student athlete”. Allow true freshmen to focus on school as their priority while settling into campus life and determining which course of study they’d like to pursue.
What say you, fellow football fans?
If you could mandate the rules and laws of college football, what would you do?
Obligatory GT prediction: Jackets 38, Gamecocks 13
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One Week until Toe Meets Leather!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Peri…who?
This time next Thursday night I should be enjoying a little triple option while watching lots of second and third team guys get playing time against Jacksonville State. I know…I know…they have Ryan Perrilloux at quarterback and our offense is going to be a work in progress. Yeah…sure…whatever.
The truth of the matter is that Perrilloux isn’t going to have the offensive line he needs to make a difference in this game. Vance Walker, Michael Johnson, and Darryl Richard will kick off a set of senior seasons on one of the best defensive lines we’ve seen at Tech in decades. All three of those guys will play in the NFL and odds are good that more than one of them will be selected in the first day of the NFL draft.
Perrilloux will make a few plays, the guy is a super athlete, but he’s going to be running for his life more than a little bit. Jacksonville State’s best chance at scoring will be taking advantage of a Jacket turnover or a special teams blunder. Or maybe against our reserves late in the game.
No disrespect to Jacksonville State. Honestly. It just the way things will be.
Up with the White and Gold!
By now, everyone should have seen the new uniforms. There’s been plenty of banter back and forth on the message boards. The overall impression seems to be favorable with a few diehard opponents that babble on about tradition and etc as if we’re somehow Penn State or Michigan or Notre Dame or one of the schools with long time uniforms that haven’t changed.
News flash people…our uniforms change every season! They always have. Its just that this time we’ve combined a little modern look and graphics with the old school gold from back in the “golden” days of GT football. I’m quite content to see the washed out, yellowish “Vegas” gold replaced with a darker gold like we see on the new uniforms.
I think the gold tops and white pants will be really sharp. I’m also curious to see where the rumored white helmets and blue tops may show up. Perhaps at the Homecoming game? Not to mention rumors of a possible “white out” against Mississippi State to open the real home slate, wearing white tops and white pants with the gold helmet.
Honestly, Tech fans needs to “sack up” and quit looking for things to complain about. Its not like we’ve tried something as earth shattering and innovative as black jersies! Can you imagine the novelty that would have been. What horror…what madness…
One of my season ticket and tailgating buddies had the right reaction when he first saw the pictures and responded, “Those will look great in our opponent’s endzone!”
That’s all that really counts and I concur!
Go Jackets!
THWG!
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Season Tickets Arrive!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There are few things quite as exciting as those UPS packages that arrive in mid August, containing season tickets and media guides. Mine arrived today and I was able to quickly verify my seating assignment. (I moved slightly this season since my buddies and I have consolidated a few seats from our old block arrangement…)
The first thing that jumped out at me was how slick and nice the media guides are this year. Whoever put them together deserves a pat on the back. They are very well done and are a wealth of information packed into 208 pages of pure unadulterated Yellow Jacket history and tradition.
The tickets themselves look nice. Instead of player photos or images, they all feature pictures of past and present Georgia Tech coaches. The seven coaches that were chosen are Heisman, Alexander, Dodd, Rodgers, Curry, Ross, and Johnson.
At first I did a double take and thought to myself, “Man, they just backhanded Chan Gailey by leaving him out like that.” But then I realized that I didn’t see a George O’Leary ticket either.
Some people may argue that there were motives to leaving those two coaches off the tickets. I would argue that there simply wasn’t enough room for them when you look at the coaches that were chosen.
Heisman, Alexander, and Dodd were giants at Georgia Tech and heroic figures to Jacket fans.
Pepper Rodgers (Class of ‘55) and Bill Curry (Class of ‘65) both played football at Georgia Tech before coaching here. They are legacies regardless of their records.
Bobby Ross won the National Title at Tech in 1990 and is a no brainer to grace a ticket.
That leaves one ticket…for the new head coach…Paul Johnson.
In just under two weeks we get our first peek at what could be another legacy in the making. Is it too premature to hope that one day we’ll mention Paul Johnson in the same sentence with Heisman, Alexander, and Dodd? Maybe it is…but its still fun to dream!
Go Jackets!
THWG!
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T-minus 14 days and counting
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
That’s right…only two weeks until toe meets leather. Only two weeks until we get our first chance to tailgate and crack open an adult beverage with our old college buddies, tailgate partners, or random white and gold clad brethren who know the response to “What’s the Good Word?”
My parking passes arrived earlier this week and I have a UPS tracking number for my season ticket delivery. All of my tailgate gear is sorted and piled up in my garage for easy access. And early plans for fried “gamecock” are already being discussed by our resident tailgate chef/keg tapper.
The message boards are starting to heat up as people receive their ticket and parking pass details. It seems like more folks are being squeezed out of the east campus areas and are opting for the west campus lots and green space. The annual land grab before the first big home game will feature some new faces again this season. Our crew will have our area staked out and tents erected by sunrise on the morning of the Mississippi State game. Most of the people with RVs will have rolled into their spaces the night before.
I’m looking forward to this season. Much has changed on the Flats. By all accounts we have potentially one of the best all around coaching staffs we’ve ever had at Tech. The offense and defense will be completely different from what we’ve been accustomed to. Option pitches, slant routes, and screen passes from the offense? Bump-‘n’-run, man coverage, and defensive ends lined up wide to rush the QB on defense? All stuff that has been sorely lacking for a long time. Offensive adjustments at half time! This stuff sounds like crazy talk and fantasy fiction foisted on us by rival fans.
This will be an interesting season with some highs and some lows and I intend to write this blog as a fan. That shouldn’t be hard to do, since its a “fan blog” and I’m a “fan” rather than a “journalist” or a “writer”. We’re always going to have some mutts sniffing around here. I liken it to times when I take my dogs for a walk in our neighborhood. They like to wander into various yards and sniff around. Every now and then they’ll squat and mark territory. Sometimes, when they think I’m not paying attention, they try to leave a little “delivery” behind. That earns them a jerk on the leash and a swat on the nose.
Like my dogs, some of our visitors here will sniff around and generally play nice. Others, the ones I consider strays, just don’t know any better. They’ll try to make a mess and then roll around in it to create a spectacle. When that happens, just roll up your newspapers and remain patient until Nov. 29 … that’s when we’ll smack them on the nose and teach them to heel.
Go Jackets!
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Cheer! First peek at gold and white
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just got back from Fan Photo Day down on The Flats. Let me tell you … it was hot!
But you can’t let the weather or heat index warnings get in the way when you have a 4 year old who is bound and determined to go meet the cheerleaders. So my oldest daughter put on her GT cheerleader dress and white shoes and we piled into the car and headed down to campus.
Dan Radakovich has made significant improvements to the Fan Day logistics since he arrived here. Everything seemed orderly and controlled and this time there were tents (complete with easy to read signs) set up around the sidelines of the field.
The center of the field was reserved for a poster station and lots of room for kids to run and play and have fun. It was significantly better organized than the past few events and my only disappointment was that there weren’t more cheerleader posters … for my daughter, obviously!
After a few aborted attempts and shy retreats, I finally promised my daughter that she’d get a Frozen Orange from the Varsity if she posed with the cheerleaders and smiled so we could take a picture for mommy. That seemed to work like a charm … no surprise.
Beyond the random details of my daughter’s behavior, the biggest piece of news during this event was the unveiling of the new GT uniforms. I sort of like them and think they’ll look good stretched over pads. The pants are a dark gold now and closer to the color we used for the throwback jersies a few years ago. The tops have a little more graphics than we are used to and look kinda sporty while also featuring “Georgia Tech” across the chest in blue letters. I’m sure pictures will be all over the various GT message boards and the AJC by the time you read this blog. So there should be plenty of visual evidence.
Right now, I’m extremely curious to see if the helmets this season match the gold in the pants. I’m seriously doubtful that the helmets will be the same gold we’ve grown accustomed to in the past … it just wouldn’t match those pants. Who knows … we might even see white helmets … might be fun!
All in all its very obvious that Radakovich is working extremely hard to revamp and freshen up the GT program and its appearance.
You’ll see more blogs from me in the coming weeks and days, as we get closer to football season and I start getting more geeked up about tailgating and game day plans.
Go Jackets!
THWG!
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