Tech growing more confident

By Doug Roberson

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Right now, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson says it’s all about the mix.

The mix is the scrum of two-loss teams that the Yellow Jackets are one loss ahead of in the ACC’s Coastal Division. And the mix is the gaggle of one-loss teams the Jackets are among in the BCS.

To improve their chances of playing for the ACC title, and to stay among the nation’s best, the Yellow Jackets (8-1, 5-1) must defeat Wake Forest (4-5, 2-3) in their 3:30 p.m. game today at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

A Jackets’ victory will set up a game that few predicted would decide the champion of the ACC’s Coastal Division: Tech vs. Duke in Durham on Nov. 14.

“We still have to finish out,” Johnson said. “I tell the guys everyday, we haven’t accomplished anything yet. You have to finish, just like a drill in practice. Our main goal this week has to be to beat Wake Forest, and if we do that, then we’ll be closer to finishing. It’s still way too early for all of that to make a difference.”

And Tech’s improving confidence will go a long way toward helping them finish. The Jackets have won six consecutive games since a 33-17 loss to Miami on Sept. 17. One more win would match Tech’s longest streak since 2000.

Johnson said there’s no question that winning breeds winning. His players say it also breeds humility and accountability.

A-back Anthony Allen said no player wants to be the one to cause Tech to not only lose, but also to potentially waste a chance to play for the conference title and a spot in a BCS game, likely the Orange Bowl.

“It also brings some humility to the team, as well, because we’re not there yet,” Allen said. “We still have four or five games to go and a lot more to prove.”

Johnson said he has seen this before. When he was at Georgia Southern, his players didn’t want to be the ones to snap the Eagles’ home winning streak, which eventually reached 39 games. At Navy, his players didn’t want to be the class to snap the Middies’ five-game bowl streak.

But first Tech must beat the hard-luck Deacons. Wake has lost its past three games, including last weekend’s heartbreaker that saw Miami come back from 13 points down in the fourth quarter to win 28-27. Three other losses this season were by three points, including one to Navy that was played in a driving rainstorm that neutralized Wake’s passing game.

Wake coach Jim Grobe said he doesn’t think his players are caught up in the bad luck they have had this season, but at the same time they have had six games go down to the wire, winning only two of them.

“Some of the tough loses we’ve had, the danger is that even when you’re playing really, really good, you’re kind of expecting something to go wrong,” Grobe said. “Even though we have guys who have been part of some pretty good football teams here, you still have a concern, especially when you’ve lost as many games late as we have, you start to wonder a little bit if you’re capable of winning.”