Looking ahead to Georgia Tech-Clemson
Greetings-
Sorry for the delay. Anyway, I was trading texts after the game with my buddy Stewart, a Tech alumnus who flew down for the Miami game, and the last text he left me with was, “Got to wonder where we go from here.”
Kind of the question of the week, unless he was asking for suggestions about where he and his crew should party Saturday night. It doesn’t look great for reasons easily enumerated, starting with the cold front that’s swept over the Tech offense and the special teams that continues to underachieve. I wrote a story for Monday’s paper pointing out that Clemson scored more last Saturday than the Jackets have in their past three games.
I think the Jackets have a chance Saturday. Not a great one, but as much of a chance as Virginia had against Tech a few weeks back or Texas Tech was given against Oklahoma.
It’s something of a commentary on the season that I dust off this quote from Paul Johnson from two weeks ago that its intent is to offer hope for the Jackets against Clemson rather than provide caution against inflated expectations, which is how it would have been read when he said it two Mondays ago. It was in response to a question about Florida State’s struggles.
“That’s the nature of the game. The game is so fragile. It’s not as cut and dried (as you’d think). There might be three or four teams in the country that are just so talented (they can’t lose), but most of the teams aren’t that way now. On a given day, most anybody can beat anybody. You get three or four turnovers or something happens or somebody has an off day or somebody has a hot day. That’s why you play the games.”
On the to-do list for Tech this week:
1. Clean up execution issues on offense. Tech’s best shot is to hold onto the ball for 35 minutes plus and use those minutes productively. That won’t happen, obviously, if the recent problems clearing holes and not getting playmakers in space with the ball persist.
The fact that Clemson’s defense doesn’t inspire terror (378 yards per game) suggests that this could happen, but it didn’t help in Miami, which, coincidentally, averages 378.6 yards per game.
Clemson’s defensive line, including defensive end Andre Branch (ACC-best eight sacks this season) and tackle Brandon Thompson (41 tackles, likely first-round pick), is not to be trifled with.
2. Infuse some confidence into Tevin Washington. He’s in a funk.
3. Get some special teams answers. Clemson is pretty much the last team that needs a short field to score points. Two very important people this week are kickoff specialist David Scully and punter Sean Poole. Also on the list are the 11 gentlemen on the kickoff return team. Tech’s 19.56 yards per return average is 103rd in the country.
4. Decide how much to put Tech’s cornerbacks on an island. Cover-2 pass coverage will limit Clemson’s big-play potential, but will make it harder to pressure quarterback Tajh Boyd. Playing man against wide receivers Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins frees up more possibilities to blitz Boyd, but, obviously, leaves the Jackets more vulnerable to big plays out of single coverage.
5. Hope that Clemson’s players busy themselves reading and hearing about how great they are. It seemed to work for Virginia.
Links
Anderson Independent Mail stories on Waktins, the Tigers’ breadth of playmakers and Dabo Swinney’s insistence on focus.
Swinney isn’t spending much time thinking about the BCS rankings, says the Charleston Post and Courier.
Game stories from the Palm Beach Post, the Miami Herald and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Quote from Hurricanes running back Mike James in the Sun-Sentinel story: “I mean, who holds Georgia Tech to seven points?”
Thanks for reading. I’ll have notes up after practice around 9:30.
Please follow on Facebook and Twitter.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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240 comments Add your comment
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:57 pm
19, thanks, but I was only gone yesterday. Too many trolls, and I didn’t want to get into it with them
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:57 pm
what is with the damn filter?
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
8:58 pm
19, I was only gone Sunday. I didn’t want to put up with all the crap being posted by the trolls
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:02 pm
Filter update—the word which we use to signify the day that comes before “today” is apparently not considered an appropriate word now. Let me see if this works instead — yesrday
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:02 pm
yep, guess I was right. Somebody really needs to work on the damn filters
Donnie Davis - Arena Football Legend
October 24th, 2011
9:05 pm
Super, when I played football it was called a chop block….not an illegal chop block and not a cut block……..I am not saying the OL uses illegal chop blocks as a matter of practice…..just an old timer.
19
October 24th, 2011
9:08 pm
PROOF!!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:08 pm
ok, Donnie, but the trolls pick up on that and try to claim we cheat, when in fact the cut blocks Tech uses are 100% legal
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:10 pm
So the filters won’t let us use the name of the day that comes between Friday and Sunday, and possibly not even the name of the day that comes before Friday. And now it won’t let us use the word to describe the day that comes before today. SHEESH
19
October 24th, 2011
9:10 pm
Lets see video please. It’s called proof.
Delbert D.
October 24th, 2011
9:12 pm
Super – Just use yestiddy. That’s the way it was pronounced where I grew up.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:15 pm
Delbert, thanks. I tried my best to come up with a substitute, and couldn’t think of one. I actually SHOULD have thought about that; you’re not the only one to have pronounced it that way. LOL
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:16 pm
Delber, BTW, you have mail. Nothing important though
19
October 24th, 2011
9:19 pm
“yestiddy, I’ll my troubles seem so far away”
Go Jackets!!!
Delbert D.
October 24th, 2011
9:20 pm
Super – So do you. I’ll foloow up tomorrow when I get it figgered out.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:21 pm
thanks, Delbert
Delbert D.
October 24th, 2011
9:31 pm
19 – The way they speak English in the UK doesn’t sound like it reads, either. Liverpool has it’s own special accent and dialect. When I worked in England in the ’80s, coordinating a multi-disclipinary working group on the unstable British electric grid, we had engineers from Pittsburgh, PA, Wales, Scotland, North Yorkshire, the East Midlands, the Cotswolds and “Cockneys” (folks born withing the sound of Big Ben), and 2 fellows who had Cambridge accents (very precise.) They often couldn’t understand each other, so I also acted as translator. “Reginald, what Gwyllm actually said was…”
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:49 pm
LOL @ Delbert
Supersize that order, mutt
October 24th, 2011
9:54 pm
I’m outta here, guys. hope you all have good nights. GO JACKETS !!!
Southern Man
October 24th, 2011
10:07 pm
The game was over after the first play not because of the INT, but because Finch went out of the game. McRae blocks about as well as an 80-year old grandma. Too many times he was ten yards downfield instead of taking out an LB. He’s out of the play against a team that can’t protect the middle (Miami) and that means we can’t take advantage of that. Add in the fact that we can’t hold off second/third string DTs and you have a recipe for disaster. And Sean Spence is probably one of the best LBs in the country. Someone should have had the sole job of blocking him every play but instead he ran around relatively untouched taking us out on the perimeters. All in all, a recipe for disaster due a lot to one key injury. Plus, Tevin has lost all confidence that he had early in the season. Watch for his pause step to know when he’s decided to keep the ball for himself and then attack the heck out of him. He didn’t play like that in the first couple of games. I guess a few good hits from the better teams took it out of him.
clempson struggled with Wofford's attack
October 24th, 2011
10:48 pm
the terriers put up 399 yds rushing and over 25 pts on the tiggers, with only 2 passing attempts!
GT should be able to replicate these results at least!
Highland Phil
October 25th, 2011
12:34 am
How did one of the most productive offenses in the country go flat all of a sudden? ANSWER: Competition. Welcome to the downhill slide. Not enough talent on that team to beat Clemson. Probably will make it a nailbiter againts UGA, but UGA beat themselves every game anyway.
Tech Forever
October 25th, 2011
1:39 am
I read the headline “Looking Ahead to Georgia Tech – Clemson” and I literally thought “do we have to?”
mowreck
October 25th, 2011
6:51 am
Yes, I think Zenon IS in the doghouse. You could tell by the splinters in his butts after the game. BUT, he won’t be in it next year if he learns to block … he will start at one of the A backs. I would like to see more of Perkins at B back also. I also think it will be a good game. Don’t forget we are at home. We NEVER play a good game away. We may play “away” just good enough to win. Look at Kansas game last year. Also, all you fans that think the Duke game is a gimmie, better think again. One more thing, I think CPJ has too many plays. He should write down what he thinks will work and stick with it. I think he forgets what worked 2 games ago. I realize you adjust by what the defense is doing, but just throwing play after play out there gets old. How come TW was pitching the ball great at the first of the year and now is trying to run it every time?
goldblood
October 25th, 2011
10:31 am
Academics and demographics play a huge role in Techs recruiting ability. I went to Tech and can attest to the academic difficulty. It takes a tough individual to weather the academics and athletics at Tech. The vast majority of young great athletes seek a college where they are kings and the girls are a plenty. Tech does not provide for that. A Tech student-athlete has to be very disciplined and tough and those Kids are not plentiful.
Sam P
October 25th, 2011
10:33 am
GT has not played with the desire to win , they make too many mistakes, they always seem to let the other team back in the game, I’ve been a GT fan for a long time, and I haven’t seen them seem to give up like they do now, looks like they don’t have the heart,or winning attitude. WE NEED SOME FIRE UNDER OUR _ _ _!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
David
October 25th, 2011
10:46 am
Enter your comments here
David
October 25th, 2011
10:48 am
Georgia Techs offense will get back to how it was in the beginning of the season, Ga Tech wins 52-35
Norht Ave Killer Beez
October 25th, 2011
11:20 am
We just are not going to out ATHLETE everyone like the first few games. CPJ calls it blown assignments, but thats smoke and mirrors for the other team just being BETTER. If we are going to beat anyone else besides DUKE, he may want to throw in a few trick plays, or incorporate a passing game DUH!
Is Shreveport a dream destination this year for GT?
October 25th, 2011
12:11 pm
GT’s record is getting worse and worse. CPJ’s first year, CPJ wins with Chan’s boys. GT makes the Urange Bowl and gets stomped by slow German, corn fed, farm boys. Man, they were slow. Since that year, GT has slid down the middle of the pack bowl game charts.
Shreveport will be GT’s DREAM BOWL destination in 2011, as GT and their middle school triple option is worthless vs squads that play athletic, fast D. Look at GT’s record. Heck, the UGA game was won only because UGA laid down. THAT pathetic FLUKE is the ONLY BIG WIN in GT’s 20 year+ history and certainly under CPJ. THAT was years ago.
Everything predicted about GT under CPJ with his triple option is coming true. All he did is to inspire other decent ACC teams like Va Tech and Miami and FSU and Clemson to get more athletic d players that can run And TACKLE. Apparently Virginia’s Cadavers got the message too. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAH,AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHHAHA
Clemson will pass GT silly, then when they accomplish that …………. they will grind on GT all afternoon long. Final …………………Clemson 34-GT 12.
Over heard at the GT waffle House
October 25th, 2011
12:13 pm
The GT Trust boys were heard at the Waffle House saying CPJ is on the hot seat.
Nothing significant in his era has happened. NOTHING.
blackprix
October 25th, 2011
4:21 pm
I can’t stand these ‘next year’ comments. Nobody pays to go to games (with high ticket prices) to hope for next year!!
jock strap
October 25th, 2011
9:16 pm
This will be an old fashion ass kicking by the Tigers!!!!!
GT is a 4th rate high school team
October 26th, 2011
12:57 am
GT fans are not only going downhill with their football team but sliding down into the SEPTIC TANK. LOL
Thomas Brown
October 26th, 2011
7:05 am
NCAA federally mandated graduation success rates are out. Georgia tek men’s basketball 27 percent; UGA men’s basketball 43 percent. Georgia tek football 55 percent; UGA football 65 percent. Georgia tek women’s basketball 73 percent; UGA women’s basketball 77 percent. Overall all sports, Georgia tek 77 percent; overall all sports UGA 79 percent.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/newmedia/public/rates/index.html
The same as every year. And, you LOSE in every one of these sports to us, as well to add insult to injury.
ATLER (Ramblin Wreck)
October 26th, 2011
9:20 am
We can win if we stick to the game plan and execute our freakin plays. The players have to make plays also.
The Truth
October 26th, 2011
10:15 am
Why we continue to let teams cheat with loading the box, I will never understand (the UVA safeties sat back and cherry picked flying to our runners – we failed to adjust and burn them with the pass). We had so much open space with the nice option/pass blend over the first four games. Looks like we have a bad case of amnesia.
The Truth
October 26th, 2011
10:27 am
Hey TB, get a life dude. A reality check would reveal that GT doesn’t offer “athletic curriculum” like Harrick’s Basketball 101 so even the densest block of wood can reason why there would be such a difference in the results between GT and uga.
Check out uga’s final exam questions for Basketball 101…you guys are pros!
http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/quiz/_/id/600
The Truth
October 26th, 2011
11:01 am
Clemson will pass themselves to a loss…GT’s offence awakens and becomes it’s defense. This game has GT’s name all over it…this is the prototypical GT key win scenario…you heard it here first.
Thumbs-up for Georgia Tech special teams | Georgia Tech
October 31st, 2011
10:06 am
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