Tech versus Georgia: This year it’s the duel of the dual duds
Georgia's Ben Jones after the upset of Tech last season. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
Call this the season of dual lead balloons. Georgia was ranked No. 23 in the preseason Associated Press poll, dropped from the Top 25 on Sept. 12 and hasn’t received a vote since. Georgia Tech was ranked No. 16 in the preseason poll, dropped from the Top 25 on Sept. 12 and received its last votes on Sept. 19.
Add their records together and you get 11-11, which is the essence of mediocrity. Add their conference records together and you get 7-9. Add their road records together and you get 3-7 (or 3-8 if you count Georgia losing in Jacksonville, which was technically Florida’s home game this year).
Total the records of the teams they’ve beaten and you get 44-76, and that’s skewed by the 9-2 of South Carolina State, which Tech defeated on Sept. 4 and which will face Georgia Southern in Round 1 of the FCS playoffs today. Together, Tech and Georgia own victories over two FBS bowl-eligible opponents, and both North Carolina and Kentucky are 6-5. (And are, not to put too fine a point on it, basketball schools.)
And yet … all duds are not created equal. Our friends in Las Vegas favor Georgia, which has a losing record, by 13 points over Tech, which has a winning record, if just. Strange as it sounds, that line seems about right: To see Georgia play is to wonder how it lost six games; to view Tech is to wonder how it won that many.
Tech is 61st among 120 FBS teams in points scored, 59th in points yielded. It’s first in rushing offense, next-to-last in passing offense. Georgia has scored more points and yielded fewer and ranks 18th nationally in turnover margin and 36th in penalties — the Jackets are 54th and 87th in those key categories — but it has lost five times to Tech’s six. Part of this can be explained by noting that the SEC is stronger than the ACC. Part, but not all.
Georgia’s closest victory of the season was 44-31 over Kentucky. Tech has won four games by a narrower margin. Georgia clearly has better players — and Tech has been without its best man, quarterback Joshua Nesbitt, since the second quarter of the Virginia Tech game Nov. 4 — but the Bulldogs have developed the distressing habit of losing every losable game. You can say, “That’s just bad luck,” but is it luck when it happens all the time?
Two weeks ago Georgia led the nation’s No. 2 team by two touchdowns on the road. Auburn rallied to tie 51 seconds before halftime, whereupon the Bulldogs ran a draw play and let the clock expire, secure in the knowledge they’d get the ball to start the second half. Whoops. Auburn perpetrated a slick onside kick and took the lead without Georgia touching the ball. From 21-7 ahead, Georgia would lose 48-31 on a day when it didn’t turn the ball over. That wasn’t bad luck. That was bad coaching.
This will be Mark Richt’s 10th game against Tech; he has lost only once, wasting a 28-12 halftime lead in the wink of an eye two years ago. That was the game that made Paul Johnson the toast of Georgia Tech, the new coach having done in Year 1 what Chan Gailey couldn’t manage in six tries — he beat Georgia. But Richt upset the Jackets last season when Tech was ranked No. 7 and bound for the ACC championship game, and now there are questions about Johnson, too.
That ACC title was achieved largely due to the production of five Gailey signees, four of whom left early for the NFL. The fifth is Nesbitt, who’s a senior. Before the season Johnson hailed this as the deepest of his three Tech teams, but what the Jackets added in numbers they’ve lost in high-end quality. And early recruiting returns for 2011 aren’t glowing. (Scout.com has Tech 38th; Rivals.com doesn’t list the Jackets in its top 50.)
As we approach our latest installment of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate, so much is murk. It’s unclear if Richt, who has presided over three consecutive seasons of diminishing results, can again maximize Georgia’s resources. It’s unclear if Johnson, who has fallen from a conference championship to 6-5, can again find enough players to win big. Likewise unclear is when, or even if, this proud football state will again matter nationally.
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403 comments Add your comment
kral
November 26th, 2010
10:31 pm
Hey year of the dog your right..but we live in the age of blogging and reality tv,,hope the second one disappears
wiggy
November 26th, 2010
10:32 pm
Yes I did it may be you need to read a little closer. His hatred for Tech really shines. If for some reason you guys should loose to Tech, i would not want to be in your shoes for the next year. Hey pal it could happen, your team has not blown the socks off anyone but divison II teams. Where have all your 5 star athletes been this year?
kral
November 26th, 2010
10:40 pm
you are so right need we compare seasons and opponents..which is not really fair for either side..but if you want to go there feel frisky
kral
November 26th, 2010
10:44 pm
Enter your comments here
wreckmaniac
November 26th, 2010
10:44 pm
If it wasn’t for losing to UGA occasionally, our superiority complex as Techmen would be obnoxious.
Thank you, trailer trash, for trying to keep us humble but, in my case at least , it really dosen’t work.
wiggy
November 26th, 2010
10:51 pm
Where is the real “m”?
kral
November 26th, 2010
10:53 pm
I can not actually use a direspectful name for you maniac,,you would not get it anyway…but the trailor trash comment is tolly absurd..although he sucked your last gov… was a UGA grad..and I doubt he will ever live in a single wide..you sir are now on my farthead list keep it up and while I’m here I’ll probably put on a couple of more lists that will be totally appropriate for your very narrow minded vision of UGA grads
kral
November 26th, 2010
10:56 pm
Ain’t sure but if you read the post tonight you might think for some reason he left the building wigglie
The rabblerouser
November 26th, 2010
10:58 pm
Aint no doubt. The UGA Tech game is a joke compared to the bigtime football going on next door where defending national champion Bama and unbeaten no. 2 AU went to the wire. Big time football exists in Bama- not in Georgia.
kral
November 26th, 2010
10:59 pm
i think he or she may have left the blogg..I do not know why read the bloggs a see if you get a clue
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:01 pm
One of the best games I ever saw, but you will have to admit when it is your rival in state records do not matter..rouser
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:07 pm
oh..rouser memories are so short these days..I wonder if it is the drugs ..that is for the joke comment
wiggy
November 26th, 2010
11:09 pm
Hey kral. you need to talk in complete sentences so people can understand what you are trying to say. I am assuming you are talking about the Auburn, Alabama game.
I hire c students anyway
November 26th, 2010
11:12 pm
Who cares I hire the c students they are the well rounded kids with more heart than the nerds that play wow and live in moms basement signed UVA grad and your boss
BoWeevil
November 26th, 2010
11:16 pm
MCG DAWG
November 25th, 2010 2:22 am
“BOWEEVIL….Can’t wait to see you on the Blogs Friday night after Alabama puts Auburn on their rear-ends…SELAH!”
MCG DAWG
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:18 pm
I guess your going to be like M&m and try to teach me some english or punct, or grammar..go ahead do take on the job of cleaning up what I write but I’ll stand by the fact that content means far more than..grammar..sorry I do not have and editor..you are welcome along wth m&m to eddit anything I try to type needs a wig
BoWeevil
November 26th, 2010
11:18 pm
November 25th, 2010 2:22 am
“BOWEEVIL….Can’t wait to see you on the Blogs Friday night after Alabama puts Auburn on their rear-ends…SELAH!”
MCG DAWG
BoWeevil
November 26th, 2010
11:19 pm
“BOWEEVIL….Can’t wait to see you on the Blogs Friday night after Alabama puts Auburn on their rear-ends…SELAH!” MCG DAWG
Told you so
November 26th, 2010
11:20 pm
“BOWEEVIL….Can’t wait to see you on the Blogs Friday night after Alabama puts Auburn on their rear-ends…SELAH!” by MCG DAWG
Old Boy
November 26th, 2010
11:21 pm
I love the academic argument that Tech fans always try to make. Tell me again how many Rhodes Scholars Tech had this year. And before they try to pull that engineering school not liberal arts school argument, I am pretty sure MIT had one.
LakeDawg
November 26th, 2010
11:23 pm
“Likewise unclear is when, or even if, this proud football state will again matter nationally.”
That’s a scary thought.
wiggy
November 26th, 2010
11:23 pm
Hey pal, go to bed. You are embarrassing your dogs. There is no longer any content, only gobble gook. No one understands what your are trying to say.
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:24 pm
i am so happy that you have now inspired me to come up with a derogatory name for you…needs a wig is pretty juvenile I know,but if your going to call me out like my hs..english teacher I just can’t resist Please feel free to edit any mistakes I have made need’s a wig
StingerSplash
November 26th, 2010
11:25 pm
OK, MB, you say there are questions about PJ.
List ‘em. Let’s see what you think those questions are. You say “there are questions.” OK, you threw it out there. Back it up. What are they?
(Don’t pull a Mariotti-like move, wherein you cast aspersions and throw stones and never back it up, his MO to never venture into a locker room, because he just might get his backside kicked. That’s not your play, since you have demonstrated your willingness to go into the lion’s den. And what self-respecting woman would ever go out with that buffoon? But I digress…)
The SEC is 3-0 against the ACC so far this year. One of those losses was Auburn, No. 2 in the nation, needing Clemson, which is middle of the pack in its own division in the ACC, to miss a field goal in overtime at Jordan Hare Stadium. Another was LSU needing to rally to beat a North Carolina team — also in the second division of its own ACC league — that was minus more than half a dozen starters.
The other was Bama steamrolling Duke, which played out as everyone expected.
The ACC may not be setting the world on fire. But is the SEC? Does Auburn really want a piece of Oregon in a BCS title game? Or Boise?
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:28 pm
Gobblty gook.. very impressive did you watch a classic disney movie tonight with the kids..you are saying nothing I say makes sense..wonderful read the post 5 times and the you will comprehend
wiggy
November 26th, 2010
11:32 pm
kral, as a matter of fact I have a full head of hair although white it is still my own. Wiggy is short for my last name. I suspect you are bald headed, live in a trailer park and never attended any college.
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:35 pm
Oh.. dang my gobbly gook reference did not go in..I thought maybe you just watched a classic disney movie with the kids a picked up and adjective or adverb you had never used..without a wig
wiggy
November 26th, 2010
11:41 pm
One thing my father always said and taught me was to never argue with an idiot because they had no ability to reason and you would never win. So with you kral, you fit all the requirements. Take another drink and go to bed.
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:42 pm
I do love you without a wig actually retired..taugtht spec. ed for 29 years..you better be careful dude you arre leaving yourself open for more ridicule..do not snap to judgements just because you have grey hair it does not make you wise.. keep me up and I will embaress you.. already seen your post know what I’m dealing with,but it is late and I hope will meet again
icedawg
November 26th, 2010
11:52 pm
Yawn. Dawgs should win this one. As usual the Dawg’s offense scores enough points to win, the outcome is dependent upon how few points the defense can keep the Bees from scoring. Story line of the season. Hopefully between now and next September something good happens to the Dawg defense. Otherwise 2011 will be another ho hum season. You gotta hate it for the offensive players. We’ve got 1/2 of a team.
kral
November 26th, 2010
11:52 pm
Here’s what you got to learn without a wig..somebody is always better than you at something and somebody is going to smoke me one nite and I am going to have to eat humble pie,but it want be you or yellow pizz,or MM feel pretty safe in saying that could be wrong..man enough to admit it..Good nite all read “Death to the BCS” please
DAWG 555
November 26th, 2010
11:54 pm
@wreckmaniac
Occasionally? Not in this decade. Humble? Never. Obnoxious? Always.
And as I sit here in my American Coach Tradition “trailer” enjoying the beautiful campus of my alma mater, I may consider letting you take my trash out. Heck, I’ll even throw in a cold one. That superiority complex of yours is going to need it when tomorrow’s done.
Go Dawgs!
I hire c students anyway
November 26th, 2010
11:58 pm
Yellow fuzz let’s see u are trash talking bringing up one win in ten years u have just proven where the dumba–es go to school dawgs trample nerds
Stinger
November 27th, 2010
12:00 am
Hey kraul, I think you got really smoked tonight. You made no sense in your comments. In fact they were pretty stupid. Why don’t you invite us all down for a fishing trip in your big lake.
Stinger
November 27th, 2010
12:03 am
Hey, kral. You did get smoked tonight. Nothing you said made any sense. Why don’t you invite us all to your plantation for a fish fry?
NOBODYYOUKNOW
November 27th, 2010
12:08 am
Its one of those “WHO CARES?” games. UGA hasn’t impressed anybody this season and Tech NEVER impresses anybody.
haters are skaters
November 27th, 2010
12:24 am
it’s sad but true……….this in-state rivalry game will carry less nat’l. interest than the in-state battles in MS and SC. when was the last time that happened?
Hairy Dawg
November 27th, 2010
12:40 am
Ben Jones aint a chep shots artest. He just protecting his QB from thugs like Fairly who is the real cheap shooter. Jones smashed bugs out of game to dominates last year and doing it again this year as Dawgs smashed mouths running over bugs for 200 rushing yards. We can’t be stopped in air also with likes of Green, Durham, Murray with SEC speeds. We told you we was unloading the whooping can big times.
bugsquacher
November 27th, 2010
12:47 am
hey tech, come on down, time for your yearly beat down…….. nerds
William
November 27th, 2010
1:03 am
Let’s get back to football. Neither team is very good. Either can win. Mistakes will tell the tale. Whichever team has the fewest turnovers will win the game. It’s a shame both teams are so awful. Georgia in a close one, 42-35. Go Dawgs. THWGT.
BradleyisaBulldogHomer
November 27th, 2010
2:02 am
Hey Bradley, Thanks for showing the picture of the Thuga player who chopped blocked and punched Nick Fairley after the play was over. What a moron.
I hope Tech beats the Thugs like a drum and 49 – 31 and 28- 27!
BradleyisaBulldogHomer
November 27th, 2010
2:03 am
Hey Bradley, You are still a Bulldog Homer! Thanks for showing the cheap shot chop block artist Ben Jones. I hope Tech cleans his clock!
Marie
November 27th, 2010
2:11 am
Bradley+AJC=DUDs!
GO DUCKS!
BradleyisaBulldogHomer
November 27th, 2010
2:12 am
Ben Jones is the chop block artist.
BradleyisaBulldogHomer
November 27th, 2010
2:14 am
Hey Thuga fans, don’t forget to wear those Red Panties to the game. Get them on sale at Walmart. One size fits all. Saint Mark will wear them and wants the Thuga Nation to wear them to support the Thugs. Ben Jones will wear them and run to midfield and stomp on the logo while Soldier Boy is cranked up. Its The Thuga Tradition…..
Ron Hyatt
November 27th, 2010
2:20 am
Dateline Atlanta, 2020: Georgia State Advances to National Championship Game; Dawgs, Jackets Watch on TV
bugsquacher
November 27th, 2010
3:38 am
In the words of the great Larry Munson…….. Man oh Man are there going to be some bugs squashed tonight…..
bugsquacher
November 27th, 2010
3:39 am
In the words of the great larry munson……..Man oh Man are there going to be some bugs squashed tonight…..
mash a bug
November 27th, 2010
3:40 am
In the words of the great Larry Munson….. Man oh Man are there going to be some bugs squashed tonight
GTBob
November 27th, 2010
4:25 am
I agree with a lot of this blog, but this line is just dumb:
To see Georgia play is to wonder how it lost six games; to view Tech is to wonder how it won that many.
It’s pretty glaringly obvious why GT won 6 games (weak competition) and why UGA has lost 6 games (they aren’t very good). No need to pretend either one of these teams are better then they have played this season. They will be two of the worst teams to make bowl games.