Tech to finish third in the ACC Coastal? Sounds about right
Derrick Morgan and Morgan Burnett play on Sundays now. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
I may be crazy — folks, there’s your opening — but on one issue I’m not alone in my nuttiness. Earlier this summer I picked Georgia Tech to finish third in the ACC Coastal Division. On Monday the conference media assembled in Greensboro picked Tech to finish …
Third in the ACC Coastal Division.
Like me, the ACC voters have Virginia Tech and Florida State winning the league’s divisions. Unlike me, the ACC voters had Miami finishing second in the Coastal, with North Carolina fourth. I had it the other way around. (Although Carolina now has agent issues, which is no small consideration.)
My rationale, such as it is, on the Jackets: They’ll be good, just not quite as good, and the Coastal will be better. (I see the Coastal as the roughest division in college football. This includes the SEC East and the SEC West.) Georgia Tech must visit North Carolina and Virginia Tech this fall, and those are two games the Jackets won at home en route to the 2009 ACC championship.
And the effect of the four juniors lost to the NFL cannot be overridden in one offseason. Tech was a fine team last season but not an especially deep one — except at running back; the Jackets have lots of those — and even if Anthony Allen is nearly as good as Jonathan Dwyer I see no one on this roster who can do as Derrick Morgan and Demaryius Thomas did.
But I could be wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time. (That’s yet another opening, folks.) But at least on this issue I’m not the Lone Ranger. I find this oddly comforting.
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172 comments Add your comment
God forbid if you favored GT
July 27th, 2010
6:50 pm
God forbid you or anyone else from AJC have any faith in Joshua Nesbitt either. Jump on the Ponder bandwagon. Btw, what was Ponder’s excuse the last time FSU played GT? Ponder was healthy in that game. Oh yeah that’s right, Bobby Bowden who coached over 30years all of a sudden doesn’t know anything. My bad. NESBITT FOR HEISMAN and shame on you AJC sportswriters for not saying so. But you all will jump on the bandwagon as fast as you can to promote anyone else in the ACC as long as they are not on GT’ team. Just fyi, this years Heisman winner, Ingram, what exactly did he do in the Sugar Bowl loss to Utah? Nothing..so I do not want to hear how you are judging Nesbitt on the Orange Bowl performance. No one can ever give GT credit for a d@mn thing but you would think the hometown newspaper would but God forbid.
supersize that order, mutt
July 27th, 2010
6:55 pm
P City, you wish. Keep dreaming, bubba
P City
July 27th, 2010
7:03 pm
Actually, Mark & Jeff have made the case that Richt’s 6 top 10 finishes and 2 conference championships, and #2 finish, and #3 finish, will not keep Richt off the hotseat unless he has a great year in 2010.
So, using the same line of thinking, yes, CPJ is on the hotseat in 2010, and fired in 2012.
You can’t have 1 standard for Richt, and grant CPJ a pass.
If Richt’s hotseat is warm, CPJ’s is flaming.
supersize that order, mutt
July 27th, 2010
7:30 pm
P City, once again I say, dream on, bubba.
GT Fan...
July 27th, 2010
11:18 pm
To “Wonder dawg” and “F-105″ from page 1 …. FYI, Paul Johnson was Erk Russell’s offensive coordinator with ole Hamm-bone.
Tech Stinger
July 28th, 2010
1:11 am
Tech will beat georgia like a rented mule—Ga’s offense will be terrible with murray, who is not even 6 feet tall! Ga may not win 8 games this year. But richt will somehow keep his job since he’s nice and reads the bible a lot.
Tokyo jacket
July 28th, 2010
2:58 am
Mark, you did a great job listing the potential pitfalls for GT. But, what about the plus-ups:
1. More offensive linemen. Granted we lose three starters, but we gain more total bodies and have the same seniority on the line as last year. We also get bigger players this year and players that were recruited for this offense coming into the picture now.
2. CPJY3. Look at the leap we made from year 1 to 2. This year, a lot more passing is the talk. Might the offense be even harder to stop from an execution and scheme standpoint? Could there even be more overall talent on the field this year on offense with increased age/wisdom of our players? I say they learned to walk the first year. They learned to run the second year. This year, they’re going to learn to fly!
3. Returning starters. Coop is back. So is Jackson. Roddy Jones wasn’t really himself last year due to the wrist. You did a good job at listing the impact players that weren’t coming back. We actually get an infusion of talent this year. Maybe it cancels out?
4. CAG. If Al Groh could have gotten us one, only one, more punt per game on defense last year, it’s arguable even probably that we would have beat UGA (since we didn’t punt) and Iowa, finishing the year at 13-1. I’m VERY confident that CAG >>> CDW.
5. As good as The U and UNC are supposed to be, the only teams that have proven anything in the ACC Coastal are GT and VT. In five years of ACCCG play, ONLY VT and GT have represented the ACCC. GT has two appearances, VT has two appearances, and a roughing the scrambling passer has an appearance. All along the way, UNC and UM have been recruiting top classes with nothing to show for it. The road to Charlotte historically goes through Blacksburg and Atlanta, so it will be again.
Eh, history shows that when you guys pick us low, we do better than you pick.
P City
July 28th, 2010
7:52 am
There’s a reason NO NFL exclusively runs the triple option.
P City
July 28th, 2010
7:57 am
CPJ has won games with another coach’s recruits, so no credit until 2012. He has to earn wins, with his OWN recruits.
Can’t go .500 against his top 4 rivals.
Can’t keep losing every year in the Bowl game.
Can’t keep getting wins off another coach’s recruits.
GT Fan wears Red Panties
July 28th, 2010
8:45 am
Hey GT dimwit… Joe Hamilton was 5′ 10″ . By the time Murray get to the tek game he will be well seasoned.
Tek broken stinger….. may I remind you….. 30 to 24…. 60-39-5 CPJ looks like a rented mule with boobs
roughrider
July 28th, 2010
8:48 am
” I see the Coastal as the roughest division in college football. This includes the SEC East and the SEC West.) ”
Mark: Under your theory, you should see a Costal team playing for the national championship.
YJ
July 28th, 2010
8:50 am
red panties
BG
July 28th, 2010
8:55 am
Did the Tech player that beat up his girlfriend get kicked off the team?
Lee
July 28th, 2010
9:21 am
Funny how the cynicism of Mark & Jeff dissapear when it comes to Georgia Tech. What’s up with that?
Ga Tech, #3 in ACC, when pros predict #6? #3 is WAY too optimistic, even for Tech grads.
Hayseed Dixie
July 28th, 2010
9:57 am
Georgia Tech doesn’t have to replace anyone. At all.
Mark, these are the questions you should be asking:
Will the running game lose production this year? Absolutely not, they’ll execute better and Allen can break open the big play as well as anyone in CFB.
Will Groh’s defense be an upgrade? Someone elsewhere said all Groh has to do to be successful is get us two more possessions per game. That sounds scary when you think about it.
Can they cobble together a reasonable passing threat? I have no evidence either way. But Tech fans who suffered through the Iowa games have to believe that that was foremost on CPJs mind as they entered the offseason.
If you can say yes to all three of those, Tech has the conference, hands down.
JCH
July 28th, 2010
10:06 am
ACC is as Rough a Division as the SEC…..???? Bradley why do you continually Post these Idiotic Insane blogs…. that Only Irritate people who are Intellegent enough to Ignore such a mundane Statement… Nobody in the ACC Could Compete in the SEC , otherwise they wouldnt be in the ACC Pansie Division.
Crow H
July 28th, 2010
10:21 am
Mark – your wrong. GT Beat VT with arguably the worst defense among the top 25 teams last year. Tyrod Taylor is not Michael Vick and that stick figure down in Miami is always one good hit from being snapped in half. UNC wont survive the NFL Agent Tsunami and wont live up to the hype – once again. S. Hill is faster than Bebe was, and can catch the ball. There will be a little drop off there but make no mistake, Hill will be near 1000 yards receiving by the time we get to the ACCCG. Anthony Allen will fill the BB spot perfectly.
And one more thing… WE HAVE ONE OF THE PREMIERE DEFENSIVE MINDS IN THE COUNTRY!!! couple that with the offensive genius of PAUL JOHNSON and you have a championship caliber group of guys… AGAIN! Oddly enough I’m feeling more and more comfortable with the thought of running the table. We’ll probably have 1 slip up. But the Yellow Jackets are repeating ACCCG and more. Bank on it.
Shane
July 28th, 2010
12:54 pm
Did the Tech player that beat up his girlfriend get kicked off the team?
I doubt. Pretty soon they will be using ineligible players again.
Question how long will tech put up with CPJ embarrassing them big time on the National stage?
Eagle-Jacket
July 28th, 2010
2:36 pm
Year 3 for CPJ always brings improvement. I know the big 4 leaving is reason for concern but with Nebit at QB, the Jackets will compete for the title.
SEC Defender
July 28th, 2010
8:12 pm
Yeah…right. If I remember correctly, those top 3 teams ALL lost to their SEC Eastern Rivals last year.
UF crushed FSU, SC crushed Clemson 34-17 and UGA beat GT. Clemson will no tbe as good as they were last season. They lost Spiller, Ford, and Palmer, their top 3 weapons on offense. Tech lost Bebe Thomas, The ACC POY at RB and way too much on defense to be a contender. FSU will be better under Jimbo, no doubt, but they cannot stack up to UF, even minus Tebow. UF has recruited better than all three ACC teams combined.
UF will have Brantley and a stable of 4 and 5 star receivers
UGA has a bigtime redshirt freshman QB, AJ Green, a stable of backs, and one of the top OL’s in the country.
SC has a veteran QB, a stable of WR’s led by Alshon Jeffery, the best TE in the SEC in Weslye Saunders, and the top HS back in America-Marcus Lattimore, not to mention a top 15 Nationally ranked defense returning in tact.
ACC better than the SEC East? Not a chance. And the SEC West is better than the SEC East.
If you really believe that Mark, then I have seriously underestimated your football knowledge and overall intelligence level.
Bama, Ark, Auburn, LSU are all top 15 teams nationally. Ole Miss will rebound and MSU is rising under Dan Mullen. Don’t sleep on the SEC. It is the best conference in America.
wesleywhatwhat
July 29th, 2010
2:25 pm
mb, congrats on correctly picking georgia tech to win the acc in 2009.
but with this prediction, i don’t think u can claim to have nailed it exactly:
“This time I’m picking Georgia Tech …To take the ACC championship. I believe Paul Johnson when he says his stylized offense will be ever better, and I note the key game on Tech’s conference schedule — Virginia Tech on Oct. 17 — will be staged at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Because I think there’ll be some days when the Jackets fumble 10 times or it rains or something, I’m guessing they’ll lose twice. (At Florida State and, believe it or not, at Vandy.) But they’ll go 10-2 and beat FSU in a rematch for the ACC title.”
anyone who thought georgia tech could lose to vandy in 2009 probably WOULD pick georgia tech to finish 3rd in the acc in 2010.
so please continue picking against georgia tech, as heather dinich of espn continues to do. i think it helps our chances.
Hairy Dawg
July 30th, 2010
11:39 pm
A few weeks in football season and pestky bugs will be just like Dukies and hoping for basketball arriving.