AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 16
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Five & One and Looking Forward…
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So the Jackets are sitting at 5-1 with their toughest games still ahead.
Lets take a look at each game based on where the teams are today…
October 18 at Clemson - The Tigers have disappointed this season, just had their coach removed, will be starting a freshman quarterback, will be missing CJ Spiller, and are extremely soft on the offensive line. They’ll come out fired up and emotional but once again I think we’ll see Tech’s defensive line dominate.
October 25th hosting Virginia - The Hoos looked woeful in their first four games, scoring a combined total of 20 points while giving up over 150 points on defense. But then in their last two games they’ve come out on top with two wins by a combined 66-20 score. Are the Cavaliers settled down and for real after a rough start? We’ll learn alot when we see how they play against UNC this coming weekend.
November 1st hosting Florida State - I just watched the FSU / NCSU game and while the Noles notched a win on the road I was not overly impressed with their offensive line. This is a game that GT can dominate defensively up front. FSU hasn’t beaten anyone with a winning record at this point and Ponder will be running for his life when he makes his first trip to Atlanta.
November 8th at North Carolina - This game will be huge and I predict it will have a large impact on the ACC title hunt. The Heels are legit and the Jackets will have to go on the road to face them.
November 20th hosting Miami - Miami is down this year and I predict they’ll be even lower by the time they visit Bobby Dodd Stadium for a Thursday night nationally televised game on ESPN. I’m really curious to see how Duke plays them this coming weekend.
November 29th at UGA - Clean Old Fashioned Hate. Not much more to say there. I’m not going to make even the smallest prediction on this one yet. We need to see how GT plays against FSU and UNC. We need to see how UGA plays against the Gators and LSU. Its entirely possible that one or both teams could come into this game solidly in the mix for their respective conference championships. If the Jackets and Dawgs are both 9-2 or better coming into this game…look out!
Realistically I think we’ll probably be 8-3 coming into the UGA game with a chance to make a statement and secure a Gator Bowl bid. That would be outstanding in the first season under Coach Johnson and an immediate improvement over the status quo of 7-5 from the previous regime.
