It was a very good year at Georgia Tech
Some random thoughts before I get on the plane to West Coast, where it is warm and sunny:
1. It’s been a very good year at Georgia Tech. While last night’s loss to Iowa in the Orange Bowl was a disappointment to Georgia Tech and its fans, at some point today it will be time to put it into perspective with the rest of the season. Georgia Tech ran into a big, athletic defense that had had over 40 days to prepare. When quarterback Ricky Stanzi was healthy, Iowa was the best team in the Big Ten and would have likely gone undefeated if he had been available for the Northwestern and Ohio State games.
In just two seasons Paul Johnson has made Georgia Tech a player again on the national stage with an ACC championship, a BCS bowl, and a win over Georgia. While it can’t be a great year unless you beat the state rival, this was a very good year at Georgia Tech.
2. Time to give the Big Ten its props. The Big Ten has gotten beat up during bowl season lately, going 1-6 last year. Iowa was the only Big Ten team to win a bowl last season when it beat South Carolina. But this season the Big Ten has posted four pretty impressive wins: Ohio State over Oregon to snap the Big Ten’s six-game losing streak in the Rose; Penn State over LSU in the Capital One; Wisconsin over what was supposed to be a faster, more athletic Miami in the Champs Sports; and finally Iowa over the ACC champs in the Orange. Northwestern had several chances to beat Auburn in the Outback before losing in overtime.
3. Kudos to Rich Brooks. The former Falcons assistant coach has decided to step down at Kentucky after seven seasons. One of his goals when he took the job was to leave the program in better shape than he found it. On that point he was a huge success. The program was devastated by NCAA probation when he got there and after struggling (9-25) in his first three seasons there were a lot of people who wanted to get rid of him. But athletics director Mitch Barnhart and President Lee Todd stuck with Brooks, who then took the Wildcats to four straight bowl games, something never done in the football history of the school. I will never forget Kentucky’s upset of No. 1 LSU in Lexington in 2007. In fact, that season I went to Lexington three times to watch Kentucky play and saw three great games, including a four-overtime loss to Tennessee which put the Vols into the SEC championship game over Georgia. Brooks turns the reins over to offensive coordinator Joker Phillips.
4. Bama looking for first win over Texas. There is a lot of history that says No. 2 Texas can beat No. 1 Alabama in tomorrow night’s BCS championship game. The two storied programs have met eight times in history with Texas holding a 7-0-1 mark:
Year———————Winner
1902———————Texas, 10-0 (Regular season)
1915———————Texas, 20-0 (Regular season)
1922——————–Texas, 19-10 (Regular season)
1947——————–Texas, 27-7 (Sugar Bowl)
1960——————–3-3 Tie (Bluebonnet Bowl)
1964——————–Texas, 21-17 (Orange Bowl)
1972——————–Texas, 17-13 (Cotton Bowl)
1981——————–Texas, 14-12 (Cotton Bowl)
I’ll be in Los Angeles on Thursday where I will give you my five burning questions about the BCS Championship game.
5. Urban Meyer wasting no time. For a guy who was supposed to be taking a leave of absence, Florida’s Urban Meyer has been a busy boy this week. He has lost four assistant coaches since the end of the regular season—Defensive coordinator Charlie Strong along with assistants Kenny Carter and Vance Bedford are all headed to Louisville. Offensive assistant Billy Gonzalez left before the bowl game to go to LSU. He has been replaced by Zach Azzani of Central Michigan. Meyer and interim coach Steve Addazio have hired former Gator assistant Stan Drayton, who left for Tennessee with some hard feelings in 2007 saying that he wanted to coach in a more conventional offense. Drayton is a good recruiter and Florida needs that to hold this class together. D.J. Durkin, who coached the past three seasons at Stanford, has been hired to coach the linebackers, which was Strong’s position. We’re still waiting to hear on the defensive coordinator’s job although published reports say that current assistant Chuck Heater has a shot.
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588 comments Add your comment
guess who sucks!?!?!?
January 6th, 2010
2:08 pm
Yech, as a fan of all Georgia schools and programs, I just want to say that you are such an embarrassment
Gnarls
January 6th, 2010
2:08 pm
Ok, when will the FIREPAULJOHNSON.COM website start?
Joe
January 6th, 2010
2:09 pm
Well I will be a fool Kevin but I dont want my team to simply have a perception that they are good or a perception of being good based on how good other teams in the conference are but instead want them to be considered good by what they accomplish on their own! Your program is best remembered for what you accomplish and not for what others in the conference do. Im not going to play that whole we be VA Tech who beat UT who beat UGA who lost to Kentucky who lost to Clemson who lost to TCU who lost Boise who beat Oregon who lost to Ohio ST who lost to USC who lost to Stanford who to OK who lost to Texas. Bottom line I want my team to beat who they play and a playoff!(is that too much to ask?)
AlanW
January 6th, 2010
2:11 pm
Actually, I am very pleased that Tech had a great season. I am very happy for the players, the coaches, the students, and most of the fans. My comments here were directed at the chuckleheads who, year in and year out, insist that Georgia Tech’s football program is superior to Georgia’s. When people point out the overall series record, the Techies dismiss it. When answering for Tech’s 2009 loss to UGA, they insist that Tech has a superior football team because they ended the season with a better record and higher ranking. Last year, despite UGA’s better record and higher ranking, they insisted that Tech’s program was superior because they won the game in Athens by three points. Bottom line is that many of the Tech fans here so badly want their team to be THE premier college football program in the state, that the end up contridicting themselves at every turn. And when all else fails, they make cracks about Techies being smart, and Dawgs being stupid. Yep. They are sonsumed by their envy of UGA’s football program.
fuplup
January 6th, 2010
2:14 pm
Need to get work done — enjoyed following the conversation. Let me close by saying that any time either TECH or UGA beat one of the big three schools in Florida, I’ll have a smile on my face. Now that’s a state that deserves every smackdown it gets. (Of course, Texas and Oklahoma are states in the same boat!)
Honey Hater
January 6th, 2010
2:15 pm
Tech’s loss does not define it’s season – can I have some of what your having? Tech wins the ACC – backing into it, and loses to a runner up for the Big 10 – Oh defines the season it does!
Will Hill
January 6th, 2010
2:21 pm
To the Dawgs trashing Techs season lets bring ya’ll back to reality : A 5 loss season, most likely next years QB willl have not played in a game in almost two years come September against high schoolers, and you took another beatdown from daddy down in Jacksonville. 41-17
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
2:24 pm
Will Hill – But the good news is we own TECH!!!!!!!!!!! 30-24!!!!!!
The man is right
January 6th, 2010
2:24 pm
A poster above was correct about dawg fans delighting in Tech’s loss. As long as Saban is at Bama, Meyer is at UF, and even Johnson at Tech the dawg fans will be tormented. You won this year but Tech will win their fair share of games against UGA in years to come. And forget about competing in your own conference against Bama and Florida. You will be in the shadow of those 2 programs for years to come. Get used to it. You’re 2nd tier status in your own conference and that’s what you’re really angry about.
GTGuy44
January 6th, 2010
2:24 pm
The jackass that uses the very mature name of the 6th Grade Team has to be the most immature jerk on any blog I have seen. Tech is so bad we beat some pretty good teams in Virginia Tech, Clemson(twice), North Carolina,and Mississippi State. We beat two SEC teams (Vandy & MSU) and lost to one this year. We beat Auburn the last two times we played them when they had Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown (now pretty good pros). We would be very competitive in the SEC and would certainly not beat Alabama, Florida or LSU year in and year out. We are 1 and 1 with Georgia under Johnson. No one will argue that the ACC is the equal top to bottom of the SEC. That does not mean however that Tech could not be very competitive in the SEC. Finally, Iowa is the best team in a very good Big Ten this year. They would beat either Ohio State or Northwestern today having Stanzi.
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
2:32 pm
The man is right- so if we are a 2nd tier team in the SEC but we beat the ACC Champs that would make us a 1st tier team in the ACC correct?
Joe
January 6th, 2010
2:36 pm
No it only means you beat an ACC team that day
macrotech
January 6th, 2010
2:36 pm
To the Iowa fan questioning “The Old Fashioned Hate” rivalry…. I hear you…. I blame it on the internet where ANYONE can be 6′5″ and weigh 250 pounds of solid muscle (when sitting behind a computer)…. sadly, the internet is easily attained and the moronic speak…. from both sides! You guys have a great team….congrats on the win! Hopefully, we’ll get our defense up to speed and things will turn out better for us in the near future!
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
2:37 pm
GTGuy44 – After last nights game I would probably be saying a bunch of stuff to try and make myself feel better about Tech football if I was a Tech fan too. Nobody blames you!
LoL
January 6th, 2010
2:38 pm
Ahhh… another year, and another season ends with GT getting bent over by UGA before crapping the bed in a bowl game. Some things never change…
LoL
UKAT
January 6th, 2010
2:38 pm
Let me see now June, Dawg fans insist that Tech is a high-school level team and yet they think that beating them is reason to crow and entitlement to smack? Love the way Dawg minds work. As I said, pathetic.
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
2:40 pm
Joe- actually it means we manhandled an ACC team that day who happened to be the ACC Champs!
6′5″ 250 pound man of muscle!
January 6th, 2010
2:41 pm
macrotech – it won’t happen!
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
2:45 pm
UKAT – we actually only take joy because of all the smack talk we had to hear from you guys over the last year. Before you guys 3 point win in 2008 beating you guys wasn’t a big deal it was looked at as just another win over Tech. You guys made your bed know you have to sleep in it!!!!!!
UGA Rules GA!
January 6th, 2010
2:51 pm
Hey Tony, try leaving your bias at the door. Isn’t that what objective ‘journalists’ are supposed to do? You’re really incapable of calling it what is was…a hugely disappointing end to what blind loyalists like yourself would refer to as a once hopeful season. Let’s face it, GT stunk up the joint! Their ’scheming’ can be figured out, and when it is as it was last night, they’re a horrible team. Their defense is full of holes, their coach is incapable of making adjustments, their quarterback couldn’t hit the water if he fell off a boat, and their fans are the epitome of ‘band wagon’ fans. I use the term fans loosely. Put away your car flags or return them to the store you only recently purchased them from and go back to your online gaming nerds! Hey Tony, why don’t you join them?
The Grinch
January 6th, 2010
2:53 pm
macrotech
January 6th, 2010
2:36 pm
Hey, macrotech, how have you been doing? Good post, and it hit close to home, but you short changed me just a bit. Actually, I’m 6′6″, 265 lbs of chisled, but I do have a bit of a gut. BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
GTGuy44
January 6th, 2010
3:01 pm
Youbetcha I said what I said because it was simply a statement of facts. We beat two decent SEC teams and lost to one other. We lost last night to a better team pure and simple. Iowa was 9 and 0 before Stanzi got hurt and was out for nearly two months. I agree with Tony that they would have beaten Northwestern and Ohio State with Stanzi. As poorly as we played we were only losing 17 to 14 after stopping their fake field goal and there was 6 minutes and 52 seconds left. I really thought we could drive it down and score like we did against Clemson in the ACC Championship game. We were not blown out and lost to a very good team that will wind up ranked 5th in the country. Nothing to be ashamed about or apologize for.
Demaryius "Butterfingers"
January 6th, 2010
3:01 pm
YAK YAK YAK LAUGH IT UP TECHIES ON THE SHREVEPORT BOWL BUT LETS FACE IT, GEORGIA HAS 3 BCS APPEARANCES AND THAT WAS YOUR FIRST. AND YOU DROPPED A BIT FAT DEUCE IN IT! YA’LL ARE SO DESPERATE TO PROVE YOUR DOMINANCE OVER US. HEY, GREAT JOB GETTING TO A BCS BOWL, MAYBE NEXT TIME YOU’LL ACTUALLY WIN ONE.
WHAT’S THE GOOD WORD? 30-24. 73-66.
Joe
January 6th, 2010
3:06 pm
No it still means you are 5th or 5th in the SEC no matter how you spin it. It would be like saying Ole Miss should have been National Champs last yr since they beat Florida. Until you play in the ACC you cannot say you are the conference champ. Which by the way Tech has won the ACC & SEC
YOU EARNED THE RAZZING
January 6th, 2010
3:22 pm
Tech’s season was defined as follows:
1. 11 wins… five patsies on the schedule: Jax State, Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forrest and Miss. ST.
2. Lost to worst UGA team in 13 years
3. Empty seats to see the best tech team in 20 years
4. A swiss cheese defense
5. A one deminsional offense
6. Blown out by a mediocre Miami team
7. Second win EVER over a down Florida St. team
8. Needed OT to beat a non-bowl eligible Wake Forrest
9. 5th bowl loss in a row… CPJ is 0 and 2.
10 Dropped out of top ten after domination by Iowa
For Tech fans anything better than a Chan Gailey season is great. Winning the A-She-She is like being the tallest pigmy.
30 to 24 maggots, 24 to 14 maggots, 73 to 66 maggots, 8 of 9 and 60/39..
Glad it hurts so bad
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
3:27 pm
Joe – Oh I see but did we whip up on the ACC Champs or not?
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
3:29 pm
GTGuy44 – Do you feel better now or is reality starting to set in that you guys are not a very good football team?
Joe
January 6th, 2010
3:31 pm
No you won by 6 points. And be honest with yourself when UGA missed the field goal and Tech had the ball you were worried. Anytime you are worried about losing game with 3 minutes to go you didnt dominate. Im sure this is where start with game stats but last I checked it was who hs the most points and in the end UGA won but the score is all that mattered. If you want to see a history of scores of getting whipped look at the last 20 yrs against the Gators
YOU EARNED THE RAZZING
January 6th, 2010
3:31 pm
GT GUY 44… is that your age or the year you graduated? If it’s the year you graduated you were around when Tech was pretty good… However you are now rationalizing… woulda, coulda, shoulda… Miss St and Vandy were neither bowl eligible… you wanna brag about beating the bottom of the SEC barrel? And that somehow says tech would be competitive in the SEC.. There are at least 5 teams better than UGA and they lost to UGA…
Iowa did not win the Big Ten and the game with tech was not as close as the score.. Iowa dominated… Tech has no defense and a very one dimensional offense. They are simply not that good outside the ACC.
Joe
January 6th, 2010
3:32 pm
Simply put Tech should have lost to UGA last yr and should have won this yr and neither happened. I can sleep at night knowing that.
SEC Fan
January 6th, 2010
3:38 pm
Yep, GT got on the national stage again this year only to fall flat on its butt. What a disgrace! 3 points against LSU and 7 offensive points against Iowa. What a great year. Maybe GT can play the #3 team in the MAC next year and score more. Then again, probably not. That Coach Johnson is a real genius. Ha!
DOUBLE G
January 6th, 2010
3:39 pm
Geez, let’s give it a rest fellas. No one’s happy when the insects start blogging on a Dawg page. Now, all I read are my UGA brethren making dumb remarks on a Tech column. Give it a rest, already.
DawgBuzz
January 6th, 2010
3:39 pm
You guys have got it all wrong. Tech plays tonight against Troy, right? I didn’t see anything that resembled a triple option last night.
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
3:47 pm
Joe – when a team allows another team to rush for over 300 yards, the team who gave up the 300 yards got manhandled! Those are facts my friend!
GoJackets
January 6th, 2010
3:48 pm
According to UGA fans losing by 6 is being dominated. Losing by 10 after a late TD by Iowa is also being dominated. We had the ball, late in the 4th quarter with a chance to win in both of those games but apparently we got dominated. Thats good logic.
kelly
January 6th, 2010
3:48 pm
Wow. The ACC’s best team can’t beat the SEC’s 6th best team, or the Big 10’s 3rd best. What a joke
hehe
January 6th, 2010
3:49 pm
GoJackets,
Yes, it is. If losing by 3 points two years ago was a “beatdown,” then losing by 6 and 10 are even worse!!!
GoJackets
January 6th, 2010
3:54 pm
hehe
Any Jackets fan who said last years win was dominating or a beatdown is an idiot. It was a close win.
hehe
January 6th, 2010
3:56 pm
Hmmm….for some reason I suspect you were one of those idiots. Too late to clean up your spilled milk
Disappointed Jacket
January 6th, 2010
3:59 pm
It’s time to clean house!!! Johnson is obviously overrated and his offense is only good against D-IAA teams the ACC. He can’t beat the big boys. And our basketball program is even worse. We have even more talent on our basketball team than UGA does in football, yet we lose to them every other year? Changes have to be made.
Joe
January 6th, 2010
4:06 pm
Its not based on yards, its based on points.
YOU EARNED THE RAZZING
January 6th, 2010
4:10 pm
The score does not always indicate the domination… 1st half tech’s offense didn’t scoe and had like 35 yards total… Second half they looked better but when it got close Iowa shut the door.. They won in every category… score, time of possession, yardage, fans…. everything… That is domination.
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
4:11 pm
Joe – just admit your team is horrible and I will let you be!
Stinger
January 6th, 2010
4:11 pm
I’m as big a loser as my YellowPhaggots are. We’re all total failures
TECH GOT OWNED!!!
January 6th, 2010
4:13 pm
THE TUESDAY NIGHT MASSACRES IN MIAMI AND ATHENS WERE BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!
YOU EARNED THE RAZZING
January 6th, 2010
4:13 pm
Joe, you obviously didn’t play football and know very little about the game if you think Tech wasn’t dominated last night.
Joe
January 6th, 2010
4:18 pm
The day standings are based on Yards and first downs VS who scored the most points then I will worry about it. Based on that theory did UGA fans feel good after losing to Kentucky because they had better stats just less points? Whether I played or even play football has nothing to do with how I view a game. Tech was dominated from a stat standpoint but 10 points or 3 points or 6 points are not quite dismantlings
Joe
January 6th, 2010
4:20 pm
Here is the best way to determine in the state of GA what football team had the best season. Who played the latest in the year? last year it was the Falcons, this year it was Tech and 2 years ago it was UGA.
Youbetcha
January 6th, 2010
4:22 pm
Joe- any Kentucky fan would admit that we dominated that game but lost. It happens all the time. You can also dominate a game and only win by 6 points i.e. UGA over Tech 30-24.
Joe
January 6th, 2010
4:26 pm
And its about wins and losses. There are no moral victories at this level. Did you guys want to have a party like my kid does at the end of baseball and everyone get a trophy for a great effort?