Thumbs-up for Georgia Tech special teams
Greetings-
Funny the difference a week makes and some kudos to BigTimeTechFan, who last Monday predicted “Yellow Jackets in a blowout.” He was a little more on the ball than Dawgfan, who prophesied that “CLAMPSUN WILL DESTROY THAT STUPID YOUTH FOOTBALL OFFENSE.”
A couple thoughts and I’ve got to get moving.
1. After taking a lot of heat, special teams gets a pretty big assist for its role in Saturday’s win. Clemson’s starting field position on its seven kickoff returns – the 28, 26, 50, 28, 30 and 11. Considering Sammy Watkins had been averaging 28.9 yards per return (24.6 if you factor out his 89-yard return) and Tech’s kickoffs were landing around the 10, that’s pretty good work. Jemea Thomas had one good stop and I think wasn’t credited for another. Watkins also ran into one of his own players and was downed on another. When that happened, it made me kind of think it was going to be Tech’s night.
Sean Poole and the punt team netted 44.0 yards on three punts. Tech had to, at least, play Clemson’s special teams to a draw, and the Jackets did at least that. (Clemson’s initial kickoff went out of bounds and Chandler Catanzaro missed a field goal from 40 yards in the second quarter.)
If Poole can develop consistency, he can be a valuable weapon.
2. I’m not a fan of repeating cliches – I am, however, a fan of Sushi Yoko, a Japanese restaurant in Doraville – but I’m going to go with “You’re never as good as you think after a win and you’re never as bad as you think after a loss,” if that’s the proper phrasing. Please don’t read this as “Georgia Tech got lucky,” because the Yellow Jackets were clearly the better team Saturday.
I think running back Andre Ellington being out was a pretty big break for Tech. I’m not saying it made the difference, but he would have given Clemson more of a chance. I’m sure if you go to a Clemson message board, you can find more “if only’s,” but that was a pretty big one.
It’s the same line of thinking, mind you, that the Tech-Miami game could have turned out differently had Roddy Jones not gotten the facemask call and Zach Laskey had avoided the punt inside the 10-yard line. Tech played pretty poorly, but the Jackets weren’t as bad as they showed that day. The result made it easy to think that Tech couldn’t beat Clemson (unless you’re BigTimeTechFan). Likewise, beating Clemson doesn’t mean the Jackets will beat Virginia Tech. Or Duke, for that matter (which could have easily beaten the Hokies Saturday).
I can think of plenty of reasons why both may happen, but I also had a lot of reasons why they would beat Virginia and Miami. I’m not saying it won’t happen – I’d say chances are more favorable it will – but banking on it is probably not wise.
Saturday was just a reminder of how much this game rests on the emotion and intensity of post-adolescents. A week after beating Oklahoma, Texas Tech lost at home to Iowa State 41-7. The Cyclones had lost their first four Big 12 games by an average of 24.3 points. I’m going to guess that the Texas Tech players’ (and maybe coaches’) heads were in the clouds all week. Same with Michigan State, which got drummed by Nebraska a week after upsetting Wisconsin in about the most euphoric manner imaginable.
“It’s hard to explain why we weren’t on top of our game, knowing we’re going to get their best shot,” Tommy Tuberville told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “But we weren’t. We just had no emotion — coaching or playing.
“It was kind of like, ‘Hey, it’s going to happen. We beat somebody last week. It’s going to happen.’ But no matter who you’re playing, they also have a football team. They also play hard, and they’ve got good players, and they’ve got good coaches.”
Paul Johnson, last week: “I expect to win every game, I want to win every game. But the reality is the other teams have 85 other scholarship players and they pay their coaches and they try to win, too. That’s why you play the games.”
Links
Game story, notes and Monday follow story from the Charleston Post and Courier.
Stories putting Clemson loss in perspective Anderson Independent Mail. The first has a funny detail. Writer Greg Wallace tweeted awhile ago that an Orange Bowl berth would be a great accomplishment for Clemson, and some fans responded that that statement was insulting. A whole bunch of more posts from the game.
No practice today, so this should be it for Monday. Thanks for reading. Happy Halloween!
Please follow on Facebook and Twitter.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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419 comments Add your comment
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
2:41 pm
Supersize, anyone that obsessed with high school athletes to the point they contact them via social SO MUCH the recruit tells them to stop it is sick. That’s just a step away from something you’d see on Law & Order. That UGA fan and his buddies are pathetic hacks who suck at life in general. I never really had a problem with any UGA fans until I saw that site.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
2:42 pm
IL Jackets, I believe until 2015. Then everything gets renegotiated. Big East will most likely end up losing their BCS bid. Maybe a playoff by then?
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
2:43 pm
tp jones, the site should probably be reported to both the Tech and UGA athletic departments, if it hasn’t been already. I didn’t look at much of it, but it appeared to be a pretty old site. Is it still in use? If it is, then I would certainly think something could be done about it.
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
2:45 pm
IL Jacket I seem to remember reading that it was good till 2015, not sure though. What I find funny is that Slive and Swofford were pushing hard for a playoff system and the other conference presidents oppose it.
Nerd Herd
October 31st, 2011
2:47 pm
It’s Geritol Guys not squad…..Come on get it right.
carolinajacket
October 31st, 2011
2:50 pm
I thought he was. Either his or one of the others wives was having some health problems. Hope she is well now.
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
2:50 pm
What is funny about that site is the twitter page. It is WNE talking to himself the whole time for the most part. Most kids are smart enough to see it for what it is like Vad and realize it’s a DB running the page. Now I do think this guys friends and family need to run not walk to the nearest probate court and get some commitment papers so this guy can get the help he desperately needs. This has become a sick obsession and stalking is what this has come down to and that can lead to some dangerous roads.
Nerd Herd
October 31st, 2011
2:51 pm
ND to the ACC? Come on, your better than that. You know there is no way in Hades ND is joining the ACC but dream on.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
2:54 pm
Supersize, WnE used it as little as 8 days ago to twitter stalk our offensive linemen after the loss to Miami. The REALLY sick part (as if this wasn’t bad enough) is that the UGA grad running it (one of them anyways) has a graduate degree from UGA. W T F. That is a sick individual and even though it was written a year ago during a hard season for us (even though uga had the same awful record we did, despite superior talent), I really do think the people involved with that need to be outed and reported for their sick behavior.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
2:55 pm
carolinajacket, if I remember right, it’s his daugther. She has some kind of permanent condition.
Nerd Herd
October 31st, 2011
2:56 pm
I thought the man breasts comments were directed at your coach and not Tech fans in general? Believe you me, many a coach takes a beating on these blogs.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
2:56 pm
tp jones, I thought WnE might have something to do with it. What a POS that jerk is!!!
yellowsnow
October 31st, 2011
3:02 pm
So that MUST make it alright then to stalk athletes and recruits via social media then right oldtimer? You, and the rest of your UGA loving fans are pathetic. Get a life. I hope the owner of that blog and everyone who helped him, along with everyone in their family develops cancer and other incurable diseases….it was a real treat for him also to put something about HIV as the logo too. Classy fan base you guys have.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:03 pm
Supersize, yeah you can see WnE’s feed in the bottom left. Vad Lee’s response to him was “God Bless” after he kept harrassing him LOLOLOLOL
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:04 pm
tp, it’s not worth my time to go back and look at it again. But Lee’s comment IS priceless.
TampaDawg
October 31st, 2011
3:07 pm
sorry for the absence Super. In response to the football question first. My gut would say let’s bring Auburn over and make either Arkansas or LSU the perm west opponent and Bama be an on and off game. I love when we play LSU though. That rivalry has been very back and forth the past 10 years.
As for the other stuff, you’re right, the stupid remarks go on for sure, but as I mentioned, just look over on the UGA blogs at this very moment. You got people over there who post as “auburn” fans but seem to mysteriously have no idea about the significance of the rivalry. Those are usually, not always, but usually, tech fans posing. And it’s every day. To be honest, I started posting over here not that long ago because the troll count was lower, and I figured I could bring some civility to the blog. I am ok with trolls coming on UGA blogs, but for the love of a two-humped camel, keep it football related and let’s have a reasonable debate. But they can’t (and certainly not just tech fans, there were legitimate UF fans on last week who knew ALL about the rivalry but were still just mud slinging on there). SO I started coming on here to have an actual DISCUSSION and it is much more tame here.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:09 pm
Tampadawg, you seem like a reasonable lad. Sorry other members in your fanbase ruin it for you. Even worse, the guy that started that blog is a UGA grad from your graduate school. Institutional fail on his part. I advise everyone I know not to go to that school for that sole reason.
Back to football though….
TampaDawg
October 31st, 2011
3:14 pm
Carolina Jacket – “All this to say, we can live and die with our teams, but we can do it with at least a little bit of class.”
You have exhibited that class in a monumental way. Keep at it and your welcome on a UGA blog again anytime.
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
3:17 pm
Anybody think Carvell will do a piece touching base with the recruits that were at the game? I know Stargal loved it and he posted that other recruits were impressed.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:17 pm
Tampa Dawg, the only times I have visited the UGA blogs have been just to read the original writeup, not the posts made by anybody. I have no interest in taking part in a discussion on those blogs. The fact that you have an interest in making legitimate posts on ours is fine with me though. There are a few other dawgs who also do. But the trolls totally tick me off, and I sometimes use some of the terms you listed in reference to them. However, I also sometimes include a disclaimer which differentiates the dawgs like you and Lex, among others, from the mutts.
TampaDawg
October 31st, 2011
3:18 pm
I wouldn’t advise people not to go to ANYTHING based on one person. UGA is a fine institution and has millions of dollars worth of research going on every year. Ground breaking stuff so to speak. One or two people are hopefully always the exception not the rule. Every school has it’s faults. In fact, I honestly believe that a college degree is in no way guaranteed success no matter what school it’s from. The majority of those that many consider successful didn’t have a degree from some big school or even a degree at all. Fact is, getting a degree is like getting a hunting license for a job. And a job is in now way a guarantee for a successful life.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:18 pm
Ramblin Man, do you think it is “legal” for him to do something like that? Obviously no representative of a school can say anything like that, but can a journalist do it?
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
3:19 pm
Super where are you going to meet for the VT game? I am going to try and get there early, but I may get screwed and have to leave work so late I would not get there till KO or later.
TampaDawg
October 31st, 2011
3:19 pm
ummm, thanks Super. I wear the mutt button proudly .. like a badge of honor, lol.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:20 pm
TampaDawg, my diploma was a piece of paper that got me a job. My job put bread on the table and built up my savings account so I could enjoy my retirement, which I am happily doing now. LOL
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:22 pm
And the people said Amen.
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
3:23 pm
IL Jacket – ESPN has the BCS TV contract from 2011-2014. ABC has a separate TV contract for Rose Bowl hosting of the 2014 BCS championship game
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:24 pm
Ramblin Man, some of us will be meeting at UOAD’s tailgate location, just outside the stadium on Techwood. It was originally going to be a fish fry, but they decided to do that last Sat because of time constraints. UOAD said they will still have dogs and burgers though for the VT game. Other than that, there is really no way to meet other than stopping by somebody’s seat at halftime. Where are your seats?
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:24 pm
that’s what I was thinking Delbert. Wonder if Boise & another are left out with a perfect record if that will warrant a class action lawsuit and finally force the hand of the BCS. AJC needs a chat thing like ESPN has.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:25 pm
TampaDawg, from what I have read, you are NOT a mutt. lol
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
3:26 pm
Super, There is nothing technically legally wrong with what he is doing. If he were to write something that damaged somebody’s character that could be proven false then he could be sued for libel in civil court. Vad Lee or anybody else on twitter could try to press charges for harassment if they asked him to stop contacting them as it is mainly a phone device and most states have several laws covering phone harassment. This would be interesting as I have not heard of such a case being brought forward. CPJ is a public figure though and things get murky when soembody uses what could be said is a medie or public information outlet. I would also think nobody in the GT orginization would want to give the guy the free press, though they might be warning recruits about WNE and his actions on social networking sites.
GT FAN IN PA
October 31st, 2011
3:26 pm
@ Tampa- Are you sure you are not a Tech Man? LOL- always a pleasure to talk good football with any fan and of course out of the love for our teams we always thank the team we pull for is better than any other- that is what makes us fans right?
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:26 pm
I would LOVE it if there were only 2 unbeaten teams left at the end of the season, and one of them was Boise State.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:26 pm
+1 supersize, you can actually string together coherent sentences and don’t pose as a tech fan, when you’re really not. That and coupled by the lack of stalker tendencies make you alright in my book : )
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:28 pm
Supersize, you think it would be better if there were just 2 undefeated teams w/ boise being one of them? I always thought the best case scenario was the one in which there are 10 undefeated teams causing the BCS commissioner to cr@p kittens.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:29 pm
Ramblin Man, when I said “legal,” I didn’t really mean in the true legal sense of the word. I meant could somebody get the NCAA involved as a recruiting issue? If somebody from one school is deliberately trying to thwart kids from signing with another school, even if the somebody is not an actual representative of the school, couldn’t the NCAA still consider that illegal recruiting techniques?
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:30 pm
tp, thank you…..I THINK. LOL
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
3:32 pm
My brother in got them for me and I think he said they were in 201.
TampaDawg
October 31st, 2011
3:32 pm
Sooo, I just checked out the firecpj blog that is being talked about on here. My honest assessment; the guy needs to get a girlfriend or even a daum pet for that matter.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:32 pm
OH. no I was talking about TampaDawg, he’s actually a good rep for UGA, as opposed to the dude who wrote the HIVe blog wanting to firepauljohnson.
The legal implications are curious. The funny part to me is that the guy who wrote the blog is a working professional…if his identity were revealed it would more than likely destroy his career.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:34 pm
HAHA a pet. That’s good stuff. I think true chaos would ensue if Alabama were to beat LSU, then lose to UGA in the SEC Championship. If you’re left with an undefeated OK State team & Boise, does a 1 loss SEC jump one of them? I think yes.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:35 pm
tp, somebody should do that. would serve him right
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:36 pm
Ramblin Man, that’s upper West. Several of us are in upper East, at least one is in lower East, and there are a few in lower West. That’s why the best way to meet will be before the game. Have I given you my temporary email address?
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:38 pm
tp, a one-loss SEC team probably would jump them, but there would be hell to pay if they did.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:38 pm
tp, what if it were to come down to the winner of the LSU/Bama game and Boise State as the only unbeatens? What do you think would happen then? That’s actually a more likely scenario
TampaDawg
October 31st, 2011
3:39 pm
@GT FAN IN PA, lol, but no. I was born in Atlanta so there is a soft spot for the techies. I even have the coke bottle still, purchased in 1991, from the GT NC in 1990.
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
3:41 pm
Super, Good question. I would guess if he is a boaster then it may as it would be improper for him to have contact with a UGA recruit. I would also guess though that unless it was shown that UGA was directly involved then there is nothing the NCAA could do. Remember the NCAA has no real power outside of the programs it regulates. That is why the Cam Newton case never had a chance and rested on somebody coming forward on thier own. Most recruits would see this for what it is, though it could sway some. I was serious though in saying that a family member really should get a probate order for a mental evaluation as his obsession is far beyond a normal fan and these kind of people take on the literal meaning of fan in fanatic.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
3:41 pm
Tampa, I have a six-pack of those bottles—-never opened
Ramblin Man
October 31st, 2011
3:42 pm
super, no I did not get that.
tp jones
October 31st, 2011
3:42 pm
If they are the only unbeatens, I think they play for the NC…but Stanford just hopped Boise, so anything is possible. I still think a completely chaotic turnout is what’s needed to reform the BCS. I was (very slightly, kind of) hoping Clemson would run the table, which would result in about 5 or 6 unbeatens by the end of the season. That would (and should) spell the beginning of the end for the BCS.