Take Tech over Georgia right now in the long run

The Jackets have issues, but Jonathan Dwyer created positive foreshadowing in last game.

Sometime today, Mark Richt and Paul Johnson will speak at their weekly news conferences and assess for the world their respective football teams to this point. And if either has actually figured them out, that puts them ahead of the rest of us.

I’ve covered two Georgia games (Oklahoma State, Arizona State) and two Tech games (Clemson and Miami). I saw most or all of the other ones on TV. Both teams leave me thoroughly confused. Also somewhat dizzy.

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Tech has extended its personality changes from half to half (vs. Clemson) to game to game (awful vs. Miami; great vs. North Carolina). So I guess that’s progress. At least it leaves a week between games for therapy and makes for easier billing with the insurance company.

The Dogs can’t seem to figure out what they want to be: a solid defensive but offensively inept team  (Oklahoma State, Arizona State), which makes it easy to dump on Mike Bobo or Joe Cox (or both). Or a relative video game (South Carolina, Arkansas), built for thrills and maybe the WAC, which makes it easy to dump on Willie Martinez.

Bottom line: Both have issues. Neither  looks like a BCS bowl team. But if I had to take one over the other right now, I’ll take Tech. Here’s why:

♦ The Bulldogs are too erratic, too sloppy (minus-nine in turnovers) and still take too many penalties  to lead me to believe they have any shot at beating No. 4 LSU this week, or certainly upsetting Florida. Two other games that once looked like gimmes — Tennessee on the road and Auburn at home — now look like potential landmines. And Tech has to be favored to win the last game of the season at Bobby Dodd.

♦ For Tech, I’m assuming the Jonathan Dwyer we saw before the North Carolina game was an aberration, and the one from last week is the norm. The defense is not great and probably won’t get a lot better. But if the Jackets run the ball, that keeps opposing offenses off the field. Further, Tech doesn’t have a can’t-win game on the schedule. The toughest opponent is No. 6 ranked Virginia Tech but that game is at home in a few weeks. The next most difficult game on the schedule is at Florida State, which just lost to South Florida.

The Jackets could always blame fatigue (three games in 13 days) on their worst performance of the season at Miami. I’m not sure what Georgia blames its worst moments on, other than just not being very good. (If Cox had the flu in Game 1, what did he have in Game 4?)

Right now, it’s looking like Tech will be the better team at season’s end. Agree or disagree? I’ve put up a poll if you want to vote, as well as comment.