Georgia Tech fans who enjoy the tradition of Thursday night games at Bobby Dodd Stadium may have to be patient for the next one.
In submitting scheduling requests for the 2014 season, Tech’s first priority is that it not have a Thursday night home game. Thursday night’s game against Virginia Tech will be the 19th at home, making Tech the most frequent host of ESPN Thursday night games of any team in the country.
Further, ACC athletic directors accepted recommendations from a scheduling subcommittee that its ESPN-contracted Thursday night, Friday night and Labor Day games be spread evenly among the member schools over the next five years.
Tech associate athletic director Ryan Bamford, who was on the subcommittee, said that the school wouldn’t mind if it received more than most other ACC schools, but said “I just don’t want us to be in it five years in a row and somebody be in it two.”
While the Thursday night games may be popular among many fans and provide teams with a unique national platform, they disrupt teams’ routines and can be logistically difficult to coordinate on campus.
In its multibillion dollar contract with ESPN, the ACC is required to participate in nine non-Saturday games annually, according to Bamford. That means that if the games were spread evenly, each school would have roughly two such home games every three years.
That the proposals were accepted by the athletic directors does not necessarily mean it will happen, however. ESPN has considerable influence over the schedule and presumably will not be eager to use its Thursday night programming on a weak ACC team.
Start fast: While there are no teams anywhere that want to start slowly, the Yellow Jackets definitely want to start faster than they have in the past two games. Against North Carolina, Tech fell behind 13-0 before rallying to a 28-20 win. Against Duke, the Blue Devils put together their strongest drive of the game on their second possession before the Tech defense stiffened.
“Hopefully we can get that right mix, the correct mix of emotional excitement but also focus, where we can maximize opportunities early, and it doesn’t take us into the second quarter or the second half to finally get into a groove,” A-backs coach Lamar Owens said.
In both games, quarterback Vad Lee was off target at first before finishing strongly. Coach Paul Johnson said Lee let his emotions get the better of him at the start of the North Carolina game.
“He’s got to come out more focused, that’s all,” quarterbacks and B-backs coach Bryan Cook said.
Hot streak: Dating to last season, Tech is 8-3 over its past 11 games and has won six consecutive ACC games. Only 14 teams from BCS conferences, including Florida State and Clemson, have a better record over their past 11. The six-game conference winning streak is tied for the second longest in school history. The 2009-10 teams won seven in a row, a mark the Jackets can tie by beating the Hokies.
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