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Monday, November 17, 2008
Thoughts from the Off Weekend
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TAMPA: The Jackets are still in the mix for a trip to Tampa. Sure…the odds are long, but there’s still something to play for in the ACC. The Miami game looms large and there is no reason to slack off or play it safe in preparation for the rivalry game at the end of the month. A 5-3 ACC record going into the upcoming weekend would be huge and would put immense pressure on conference rivals to also take care of business.
FOCUS MIAMI: The Hurricanes are playing well and are sitting on a five game winning streak. And yes…three of those five wins were against UCF, Duke, and Wake Forest…just don’t forget that Miami has recently defeated a pair of teams from the state of Virginia that comprise two of the Jackets’ three losses.
The ‘Canes needed overtime to defeat Virginia and barely nicked the Hokies 16-14 but that’s better than the Jackets did against those two opponents.
The ACC Coastal is INSANE: Maryland and Miami lead their respective halves of the ACC with 4-2 records right now. If Tech defeats Miami this coming Thursday night, then we’re looking at five ACC Coastal teams….five…that have three ACC losses going into the weekend.
With a win on Thursday night all GT fans will become defacto supporters of NC State (playing UNC), Clemson (playing UVA), and Duke (playing Virginia Tech). It would serve the Jackets well to see UNC and UVA pick up conference losses before the final weekend during which the Jackets would then pull for UVA to defeat the Hokies.
That turn of events would give UVA, UNC, and VT their fourth conference losses while GT would own the tiebreaker against Miami head to head…thus resulting in a trip to Tampa.
The SEC is Struggling: The SEC East is comprised of Florida and UGA…with Vandy a distant third. Florida is dominant right now but Vandy is just happy to be bowl eligible at 6-4 while UGA is winning close games with smoke and mirrors after blowout losses to Bama and Florida.
Speaking of Bama…they dominate an even less impressive SEC West that features LSU a distant second at 7-3 after narrowly coming back to beat…Troy!
Consider that only four teams in the entire SEC have a record better than 6-4 right now…Tennessee and Auburn are woeful and aren’t even bowl eligible. They are a combined 8-13 this season.
This is the worst SEC performance in recent history but UGA has been unable to capitalize…letting Alabama and Florida relegate them to the kiddie table with LSU and Vandy.
Hoops is here! I honestly have no idea what to expect from this season’s squad. Losing Clinch to academics and Bell to injury removes a significant veteran presence and means the Jackets will only have about eight scholarship players available for much of this season.
The next game will be on the road at Mercer…who recently took Alabama to the wire in a 72-69 loss. This isn’t a game that the Jackets can sleep on. Its likely to be a tough game against a team that knows it can play with the big boys.
Wear White for Miami! I picked up my white sweatshirt at Tailgater’s Alley this past weekend. Have you? UGA and FSU lost when they had their “black outs”. Just remember…good guys always wear white!
Go Jackets!
THWG!
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