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
IL Jacket
October 31st, 2011
9:31 pm
Must be curfew for trick-or-treating.
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
9:44 pm
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
9:25 pm
Winning at home is always encouraging. Too bad they don’t have bowl games at our stadium. Looks like we’ll have to expect another blowout loss in a few weeks. Thanks, Coach Johnson.
What TOILET circling UGA TURD posted this?
HAVE the BALZ to use your own name.
IL Jacket
October 31st, 2011
10:00 pm
5150, you don’t mince words do you. LMAO. I don’t know why the AJC doesn’t go to a registration system like a lot of blogs. Then you could use only one name to post. They must like it to appear there are more unique “visitors” than there actually are.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:00 pm
Thanks, UOAD. You obviously called it right. That was definitely not me
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:01 pm
IL Jacket, I totally agree. I don’t know who that jerk is, but he shows up every few days using my name. UOAD is a personal friend now, so he is astute enough to immediately recognize the fraud
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:02 pm
IL Jacket, you are also right about UOAD not mincing words. Gotta love that in a fellow Tech fan
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:04 pm
Hey, I just saw that cross-dresser held up a bank in Marietta. Wonder if he told them his name was Steve.
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:06 pm
http://www.ajc.com/news/forsyth/forsyth-raises-big-buzz-1214005.html
Fans please read this and sent the DUMB ARSE a note that BEEs are GREAT for the local neighborhood.
I have kept bees off and on for years. UGA’s Keith Delaplane is a great asset to the Ga. beekeeper society. and I respect that DAWG a lot. Please send a note that you don’t mind bees in your neighborhood. They are there already and a person keeping them is an asset to the Food and plant production in your neighborhood.
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
10:08 pm
Re the phony posters using others names….I sent an email about this in the past week…I got a reply that said this problem would be resolved in the not too distant furure….so be patient and they should have their system set up to block the phonies
fuzzybee78
October 31st, 2011
10:09 pm
Where is he now?????
IPTAY
October 24th, 2011
4:01 pm
@Bigtimetech-whatever, you my friend will get a dose of reality saturday nite. If you think your jackets looked bad last weekend. Just wait. I’m thinkin more like 60 – 10. The tigers are gonna destroy the popeye’s chicken eatin coach and his staff. Good luck with Duke
Lord I hope he drove down for the “dose of reality”!!!
Lookin forward to the Ramblin Wreck over the Turkey Neck!!!
GO Jackets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:11 pm
Who was the mutt who last week predicted something like 55 – 10. I bet he doesn’t log in under whatever name he used again.
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:14 pm
Steve only has a SMALL caliber weapon. Nobody would give him money after seeing that thing.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:14 pm
1 4 GT, we can only hope they do something. It’s really gotten ridiculous.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:14 pm
LOL UOAD
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:16 pm
SUPER many dawgs were saying a 14 or 2 score win over the GATORS. They were LUCKY to ESCAPE by 4. I guess the BOOK IT crowd feels good but not as big as they wanted. The DAWGS are now Begging ARKANSAS to beat USCleast to help the DAWGS get to the DOME.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:16 pm
ok, the filter has gone berserk tonight
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:17 pm
I still think the mutts will lose to Auburn. Hell, I bet Kentucky gives them a scare
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:18 pm
SUPER check the AJC front page link I sent. A fool don’t want BEES. I guess he don’t want to eat either. I guess he don’t want trees for shade and oxygen too. I may take a Swarm to his house next Spring just for fun.
Tech Fan Plus
October 31st, 2011
10:19 pm
Let’s hear it for the defense. Been giving them the devil for most of the year. Recently, they have really stepped up. Let’s give due credit to “Coach Groh. His efforts are really showing up now.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:19 pm
UOAD, I’m sort of ambivalent on the bee issue. I hear what you’re saying, but I have a plague of carpenter bees every spring, and this past year some of them somehow managed to get inside my house. I know carpenter bees are not the same as honey bees, but ……………..
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:20 pm
PLUS, the D has been improving each week. They finally put it all together Sat, and it was awesome
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:21 pm
HONEY BEES allow us to LIVE and feed ourselves. Without them and Clean water the human population would be down to nothing in less than 10 years.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
10:26 pm
OK, I’m going back to the TV again to try to catch up on some of my recorded programs. I’ll be back in about an hour
GT-UT
October 31st, 2011
10:33 pm
Guys…said this on the other blog…great to see the usual suspects here. Makes me feel at home away from home.
5150, 100% correct on the bees…how’s that virus going? Any resistance seen yet. Pretty scary stuff.
Go Jackets!
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
10:34 pm
Super – The carpenter bees I’m familiar with look like bumblebees. They will fly up and stare you in the face and then move on. I had some problems with some individual bees drilling into the pressure treated floor supports for the back porch several years ago when the wood was fairly new. The arsenic in the wood probably took care of them.
Name Callin' Ned
October 31st, 2011
10:36 pm
Okay, let’s all agree on this – all Tech fans are nerds, all UGA fans are rednecks. Now, can we at least develop new insults for each other instead of these pathetic retreads?
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
10:37 pm
51 – Is that article on the nest abandonment/colony collapse problem?
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:42 pm
GT-UT the Colony Collapse Disorder is still much a mystery. There are NO DEAD BODIES in the Hive to examine. Pesticide are believed to be the cause but no TRUE culprit has been discovered.
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:45 pm
DELBERT D the fun thing we would do to the city boys was GRAB the Carpenter Bees out of the air and shake them up if you could catch them. then watch as the city boys grab the Bumble Bees without the white faces and get the crap stung out of them. Bumble bees have a 3 prong like a pitchfork stinger and it hurts. LMAO
GT-UT
October 31st, 2011
10:47 pm
5150, just hope the future pesticides that will thwart mosquitoes will not impact the bees. There is some wicked stuff coming in the future.
NCNed…I can think of many more…
I want to lend my congrats to the special teams. More yards are determined by special teams every game than the O or the D. It often goes under the radar…but guys play their hearts out. Jamea is one of those guys. You guys on ST…tighten up, bow up…take your shot!!
Go Tech!
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
10:56 pm
It doesn’t matter to me. I’m nerd because I enjoy studying scientific stuff more complicated than light bulbs, and I guess I am a redneck, but my mountain fore-bearers were probably called peckerwoods, and I’m a former high school jock. My kids’ grandparents on the “good” side of the family, that is to side, my wife’s side were all northern European 20th century transplants, thereby being educated and so forth and settled in the big city of Chicago. No label fits all.
dis n dat
October 31st, 2011
10:57 pm
couple a 3 things……
ken i have been reading the ajc now wrt gt now for nigh on 30 years give or take a few. imo you are the best beat writer we have ever had cover the jackets. from the calling out of the blog procrastinators, to the links you supply for more non ajc coverage and the even handed way you handle the blogs. your the best. the dawgs writers especially bill king couldnt carry your jock strap. keep up the good work.
TIME FOR YOU TO ASK FOR A RAISE !
just remember jackets that we have the youngest team in the country aside from auburn. i like the way we are being built and the coach doing it. he is demanding both athletic and ’scholastic’ excellence unlike the last regime, if any of you have been following recruting cpj is now attracting interest from the bigger players…. as in hosses. we aint there yet but we are on our way.
i have been watching the jackets since 78 and i cant think of a better d backfield than what we have now. keep in mind that are missing one of our starters due to injury. AND they are all young!
something i didnt expect to see from another teams publication any time soon…. ‘gt has a good defense’.
koodos to coach groh. seems as if he is building a great d at gt. i think that not having to deal with the duties of a head coach has done wonders for his ‘coaching’ skills on the d.
’selah’
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
10:58 pm
Delbert D now you just B’n modest.
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
10:59 pm
I wonder how many know the origination of the term”redneck”?
Buzz 2011
October 31st, 2011
11:00 pm
Thanks CPJ , we must have the best high school offense in the ” world”. Note, our
defense may be in the top five high school defenses in the ” world”..Thanks Al Groh..
5150 UOAD
October 31st, 2011
11:00 pm
Halloween is just like my Sex life. The Spookier the more entertaining. I just don’t know how long I will survive afterwards. Boooooooo Boooooooo. I love it with a Ghoul. LOL be safe and have fun.
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
11:00 pm
51 – Yeah, I sat on one accidentally when I was about 6. We used to do the catch and shake thing with what I assumed were bumblebees on the cotton flowers across the road from my grandparents’ place. bumblebees don’t seem to be interested in people, same as honeybees.
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
11:02 pm
?I just thought of something….you don’t wanna mess with a nest of yellow jackets!!!!
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
11:04 pm
I read recently in Discover magazine about some genetic engineering stuff that is going to be designed to affect the females of the mosquitos that transmit malaria.
dis n dat
October 31st, 2011
11:04 pm
that is embarrassing hehehe said ‘blog procrastinators’ and meant ‘blog prognosticator’ . oops
also recruting = recruiting. think that catches the worst of em.
dis n dat
October 31st, 2011
11:05 pm
id like to see the players enter the stadium from a tunnel like real yellow jackets.
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
11:06 pm
especially yellow jackets that nest underground….they’re MEAN
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
11:09 pm
yeah dis n dat….that would be so cool if they had a tunnel they could set up where the team comes out onto the field with a LOUD buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz coming over the PA system
Delbert D.
October 31st, 2011
11:12 pm
I think they do look like yellow jackets coming out of a tunnel. We had a yellow jacket nest nest a few years ago behind stacked creosote railroad ties that form a wall for the driveway. That hole sure looked like a tunnel in a wall.
BS Patrol
October 31st, 2011
11:14 pm
Unless I am mistaken only one of the carpenter bees stings. I never can get the little buggers to hold still so I can check the sex. By that time it’s too late if I guess wrong.
Buzz 2011
October 31st, 2011
11:14 pm
The Dawgs could not be blowing over that win against Florida..It seemed that the Florida quarterback was limping the entire game.. He stiill looked better than the little uga qb..
Florida didn’t have any runninh backs either. The game at Jax was boring as there is no offense and little defense…
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
11:15 pm
once had a swarm come out after me when I went over their hole with my Snapper….saw em and kicked that sucker in hi gear, ran up against the house, left her running and ran inside just in time
GT-UT
October 31st, 2011
11:19 pm
Guys…underground Yellow Jackets are the worst. I got stung a couple times and it took over 2 weeks the heal…we’ll sting em all…
1 4 GT
October 31st, 2011
11:24 pm
GT-UT you mentioned Vegas and a track the other day. Did you go to NASCAR track for their “driving experience” (Petty)? If so, how fast did they let you go? Been thinking about that myself. Think they got 1 in Atlanta.
Supersize that order, mutt
October 31st, 2011
11:25 pm
Yeah, UT, those underground jackets nests are the worst when you’re running a mower. You don’t know it’s there, and then BAM, you’ve hit it and you run for your life