Georgia Tech fourth in the ACC Coastal? Sounds low to me
Crafty PJ plans to coach this season from the center of the field. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
The media assembled in Pinehurst, N.C., picked Georgia Tech to finish fourth in the ACC Coastal Division, which includes six teams. Me, I’d bump the Jackets up one spot. But maybe that’s just me.
My rationale: There aren’t many (if any) unwinnable games on Tech’s schedule. The Jackets don’t play Florida State, which stands to be the ACC’s best team. The toughest conference game — against Virginia Tech — will be played here on Nov. 10, which is a Thursday night. The second-toughest figures to be against Miami, and the Hurricanes are in transition yet again.
The ACC media picked the Coastal this way: Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Virginia, Duke. We can all agree that the Jackets, who play Duke in Durham, shouldn’t lose that game anywhere. Carolina remains under a cloud and has lost a ton of talent, some of which was ineligible last season. I like Virginia coach Mike London, but his team won one ACC game — against Miami, a result that shoved Randy Shannon out the door — last season.
I know what you’re saying: Georgia Tech isn’t exactly brimming with talent. You’re right. It’s not. But here’s where I’m guessing Paul Johnson’s system makes a difference. PJ in Year 4 should be able to outcoach a lot of ACC folks. I’m not suggesting Tech will crack the Top 25, but I can’t see another losing season, either.
Me, I’d say the Jackets will run third in the Coastal (ahead of Carolina) and finish 8-4 overall. But again, maybe that’s just me.
By Mark Bradley
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195 comments Add your comment
T3
July 26th, 2011
2:11 pm
GT Offense will CLEARLY be 1 TD better in each game in 2011, than it was in 2010.
GT Defense will CLEARLY be 1 TD better in each game in 2011, than it was in 2010.
GT Offense will gain 1 more TD per game. GT Defense will allow 1 less TD per game.
A similar 14 point “difference” in 2010, and GT would have been 9-3,
with added wins over Kansas, Clemson, and UGA.
In 2011, GT could go 10-2, with losses to Miami and either NCSU or Clemson.
Perhaps Miami and Clemson in back-to-back losses.
In 2010, only losing Nesbitt kept GT from DESTROYING VT in Blacksburg.
and mopping the field with UGA in Athens.
I’ll stick with my forecast.
Brave Hokie
July 26th, 2011
2:18 pm
T3: “Amy Winehouse WILL be going to rehab, and TOTALly rehabilitated within a mere matter of DAYs”
Animal Control
July 26th, 2011
2:23 pm
I am always amazed at how little comments (if any) are made on the UGA blogs by Tech fans, and how MANY are made by “Dawgs” on every single Tech article. If we Techies are so insignificant quit treating us like we are the only team you have ever played against. All your ignorant comments are why you receive no respect amongst the football community. It’s all bark and no bite!
Stinger2
July 26th, 2011
2:26 pm
Pre-season picks by the media are totally meaningles. I
don`t care where any team is picked…it means absolutely nothing when it lines up on the field. If people like to see pre-season rankings just so they can debate about them then that is fine. I will spend my time reading the blogs when practice starts and follow the Jackets as close as I can. If they have a good season fine, if not so what, they have been my favorite team since 1951.
Thomas
July 26th, 2011
2:26 pm
Animal Control– uh, because we actually work-
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Spike 80DF
July 26th, 2011
2:36 pm
@animalcontrol, 9 out of 10 is plenty of “bite”…
@t3
July 26th, 2011
2:36 pm
So a defense that lost it best db’s and playing the same front that’s been getting there butt kicked for 2 seasons is going to be better? LOL.an offense that is one dimensional as one dimensional that has 1 player that is d-1 quality gets better? you win the optimist of the century award. Losses will come hard and fast after week 3.
ACCFan
July 26th, 2011
2:43 pm
with tech’s chop blocking and illegal motion on the offense, they should challenge for another title. oops. wait. they have no title lol
DawginLex
July 26th, 2011
2:44 pm
Really Thomas?
You want to go down that smug little arrogant road of “we went to Tech so we are smarter than you”??
Have you checked the unemployment stats lately?
Engineers and architects are at the top of the list percentage wise because of the dropoff in the economy.
BehindEnemyLines
July 26th, 2011
2:47 pm
At this point 4th would seem like maxing out their potential, 5th seems more likely. More tellingly I’m afraid, they seem much more likely to be 6th than 1st.
GTPhenom
July 26th, 2011
2:51 pm
So, first, I will say that I am not predicting some crazy, huge championship winning team. We are not at that level yet. But honestly people, listen to yourselves. If you think this team will be as bad as last year please get off of your high horse. Look at the schedule first of all. As much as some of you will argue, every game on the schedule is easily winnable. VT? Breaking in a new defense and QB. Miami? Brand new coach and not much continuity there. Clemson? Last I checked they went 6-6 just like we did. UNC? If the NCAA is fair at all the hammer they drop on them will be crippling. I can keep going with every team, but my ultimate point is this: We can easily win nine games this year. Not saying we will, just saying we have a good shot at going at least 9-3.
Punch in the Mouth
July 26th, 2011
2:51 pm
Tech will surprise a few, but the missing impact of a few outstanding players from the Gailey era in the Paul Johnson offense will be more evident than ever. Nesbitt was incredible in the system, limiting turnovers and constantly getting positive yards when most QBs would take a loss. On the rare occasions when he did throw it, he just needed to get within 10 yards of BeBe.
THE DUDE
July 26th, 2011
2:52 pm
personally i think it is a wee bit too high. i think 6 or 7 is about right. who cares..
GTPhenom
July 26th, 2011
2:53 pm
Agreed DawginLex, going down the job road is ignorant and childish, although to correct you a tiny bit, Biomedical Engineering has been the fastest growing job in the past ten years
Tech Fan Since 1950
July 26th, 2011
2:54 pm
“High School Offense” continues to be the number one rushing offense in the country and Tech completes two more passes per game. Top that with a better defensive line and overall defense (the main downfall last year and even the last few years) and Tech will win the Coastal and “will RUN THIS State” again too. The concern is special teams. Coach Johnson will get those kickers and tacklers ready. You heard it here first.
The Ugly Truth
July 26th, 2011
3:02 pm
No one will know how many games Tech will win this year even after the season is over.
Tech fans will have to wait to see how many wins will be forfeited by Tech due to their use of ineligible players before ascertaining how successful the season really was.
Life’s tough when you have to play by the rules too, isn’t it?
It’s a good thing that Tech lost the Orange Bowl. Otherwise they would have had to return the Orange Bowl Trophy too.
The only way Tech could ever really improve their record would be to move from the ACC to the Sunbelt Conference. The NCAA doesn’t care about the Sunbelt Conference.
Joey
July 26th, 2011
3:02 pm
Jackets 2011 – so you are in FY mode, or your hairs on fire? LOL.
I’m a UGA fan, but like it when both programs matter.
DawginLex
July 26th, 2011
3:03 pm
i think it speaks to the situation that exists at UGA and GT when we are both counting on freshmen to come in and play right away.
Marshall
Swann
Drew
Mitchell
Crowell
Vad Lee
UGAg
July 26th, 2011
3:07 pm
…………and the dawgs want to talk about some other school “cheating”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Half the team cannot spell UGA much less stay out of JAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BigTechFan
July 26th, 2011
3:09 pm
This will be the first season I actually just try to enjoy the games. After winning the ACC Championship (or at least playing in a meaningless game eh hem) the 2010 season was so frustrating to watch and heartbreaking for Nesbitt.
I don’t have any expectations this year other than watching some new faces begin their legacies at Tech and enjoying some football!
JoeV
July 26th, 2011
3:14 pm
@GTPhenom
Clemson? Last I checked they went 6-6 just like we did.
And, cough, beat you.
Truth on North Avenue
July 26th, 2011
3:20 pm
You Dawg fans who keep repeating Tech-Georgia scores enjoy yourselves all you want. The thing is… Tech alumni and fans have lives that don’t depend entirely on what a bunch of kids does on Saturday afternoons. College sports are fun to follow, but the biggest reason for going to college is to get an education.
UGA fans don’t seem to care about anything but football, and they don’t care if their players are enrolled in silly majors that no parents who are paying the bills would send their kids to UGA for. The very few football and basketball players who graduate have no job opportunities and end up unemployed or working in menial jobs that hardly require a college degree.
Georgia Tech is a real school with serious academic standards, and that includes scholarshipped athletes. UGA has a long history of being a drunken party school, where parents send their kids for an easy degree, even if the degree itself is worthless.
Jan Kemp exposed the obscene crap going on at UGA with athletes being enrolled in courses a ten-year-old kid could pass. That was almost three decades ago, and nothing has changed. If anything, the abuses are more blatant today. Way too many illiterate goons are being recruited, and the very high arrest rate shows clearly that Richt does not care if his players have any morals or character.
The bottom line is that most Tech fans have very good jobs and productive lives that don’t depend on Tech’s football record for their happiness in life. It would be great to beat UGA more often, but when you put scholar-athletes up against moron-athletes, it’s usually no contest.
So keep on posting your scores all you want, especially since you’re home with plenty of time on your hands. I wish you well, maybe you’ll get lucky and get your old job back at the Waffle House before your unemployment checks stop coming.
Podunk Offense
July 26th, 2011
3:21 pm
Carolina is deep in talent and GT is not. Tech’s last two recruiting classes have been fair to good but has fallen behind UVA. 4th place might be generous. 7-5 looks probable and 8-4 would depend on GT beating UGA which looks doubtful. Don’t be surprised if Virginia stuffs Tech this Fall.
John
July 26th, 2011
3:21 pm
PJ – good coach, poor recruiter. Tech will be good on offense, at least running the football. They will be lousy on defense and special teams. 6-6 at best, and they will NOT win at Virginia and Duke.
Truth on North Avenue
July 26th, 2011
3:24 pm
You Dawg fans who keep repeating Tech-Georgia scores enjoy yourselves all you want. The thing is… Tech alumni and fans have lives that don’t depend entirely on what a bunch of kids does on Saturday afternoons. College sports are fun to follow, but the biggest reason for going to college is to get an education.
UGA fans don’t seem to care about anything but football, and they don’t care if their players are enrolled in silly majors that no parents who are paying the bills would send their kids to UGA for. The very few football and basketball players who graduate have no job opportunities and end up unemployed or working in menial jobs that hardly require a college degree.
Georgia Tech is a real school with serious academic standards, and that includes scholarshipped athletes. UGA has a long history of being a drunken party school, where parents send their kids for an easy degree, even if the degree itself is worthless.
Jan Kemp exposed the obscene crap going on at UGA with athletes being enrolled in courses a ten-year-old kid could pass. That was almost three decades ago, and nothing has changed. If anything, the abuses are more blatant today. Way too many illiterate morons are being recruited, and the very high arrest rate shows clearly that Richt does not care if his players have any morals or character.
The bottom line is that most Tech fans have very good jobs and productive lives that don’t depend on Tech’s football record for their happiness in life. It would be great to beat UGA more often, but when you put scholar-athletes up against moron-athletes, it’s usually no contest.
So keep on posting your scores all you want, especially since you’re home with plenty of time on your hands. I wish you well, maybe you’ll get lucky and get your old job back at the Waffle House before your unemployment checks stop coming.
Duvey
July 26th, 2011
3:29 pm
Tech alumni and fans are legitimately proud of their school.
On the other hand, the athletic history of UGA is full of so many sordid, sleazy incidents – dating back to Vince Dooley and continuing through Mark Richt – that it’s impossible to overlook. The school has come to stand for drunkenness and lawlessness, coddling of illiterate athletes who should never have been admitted to college, and rampant cheating by coaches.
And red panties.
St richt
July 26th, 2011
3:32 pm
Yeah, joev, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then… Clemson was long overdue last year after being OWNED by us over the last decade. Clemson had to do something to make it a rivalry again. And yes, much like we need to do w Georgia.
Athens redux
July 26th, 2011
3:33 pm
Think about the football team UGA puts on the field. 80% of the players are academically provisionally accepted, with Richt and his cronies knowing full well that they will use up all their coaching and tutors and elligibility and then have their asses kicked out on the street and soon be pushing grocery carts around Atlanta looking for a warm place to sleep. What a pitiful way to run the State’s flagship university.
St richt
July 26th, 2011
3:36 pm
JoeV, maybe yabba dabba dabo will break out the fatigues against us this year. His schtick won’t last much longer w the delusional Clemson fan base. The Clemson fan base probably has a more delusional, lofty sense of self than the Dawgs.
skip bayless is senile
July 26th, 2011
3:55 pm
Tech third in Acc, UGA wins easr, sec and national championsip. Too much coach, too much talent. This the the first of a string of many. Perhaps a program that will surpass even the John Wooden days at UCLA. GO DAWGS!
RxDawg
July 26th, 2011
4:06 pm
It’s hard to say. One thing I know is never count out coach PJ. I guess one of the main things is how well the Tech defense can play under the old VA coach. The rest is hard for me to comment on as I just don’t know enough about the ins and outs of Tech’s prgram. But I feel like if they jumped up and played in the ACC title game that would be a surprise and probably considered overachieving. Never the less, good luck in the ACC this year.
WnE...
July 26th, 2011
4:15 pm
5th in the coastal… 3-5 in conf. 5-7 overall….
CPJ WETS THE BED, (yes I do, really)
July 26th, 2011
4:23 pm
CPJ…“I wasn’t aware of what was happening because I wasn’t involved in the [voting] process. I knew they had [voted] but once again, I had no idea what was said what was going on. We knew all along [they suck and would be voted probably last in the conference]. As far as we were concerned, we just went with the attitude that until somebody told us differently [we will continue to suck]they were playing. Dan came in on Tuesday afternoon and said [we're gonna lose to those damn DAWGS,...AGAIN]. “
BuzzKill87
July 26th, 2011
4:25 pm
we will destroy both conferences this year and UGA. GATA TECH!!!
Aaron Murray
July 26th, 2011
4:33 pm
I am really scared of this Jacket team. Facing Al Groh’s fierce Jacket D makes me cry my self to sleep every night. Our D on the other hand, has no idea where the ball is in that precision offense. Can’t we just forfeit?
GTFan
July 26th, 2011
4:42 pm
I love how the Dawgs fans talk crap about us, yet their team keep losing players left and right! People talking smack and the season hasn’t even started yet.
retired engineer
July 26th, 2011
4:46 pm
re engineering employment for DoginLex…http://engineering.jobs.topusajobs.com/
Icepack
July 26th, 2011
4:46 pm
I like ol’ Coach Johnson. I lived in Newland NC, home of the Avery County Vikings. I wonder if coach johnson is one of those Avery County Johnsons. Any way, I first became a Tech fan in 1952. I have been a Tech fan through some remarkably bad football times. Not long ago I went to Tech for a while. Coach Johnson coaches for a school that puts a premium on training engineers from all over the world at the expense of deserving American students by having priorities on those students. Americans who go to Tech do so only at their own risk. Not many Asian or Middle Eastern Countries give the first flying flip about football. Hard to recruit Tech menz. Chan sure could recruit, couldn’t he?
“You remember, the team which produced Johnson, Burnett, Morgan, Dwyer, Nesbitt, Jones, etc. and finished tied with Virginia Tech for the Coastal division championship.”
The option as coached by Paul Johnson from Newland is tough if you don’t have to see it every year. If you have to see it every year and Tech is as sloppy as they were all of last year it can be managed, negated and marginalized. (See “Clemson”, “Georgia”) Mainly, if Tech can get ahead they can hang on to the ball and work that option. Passing looms large in quick strike plays that feed off the running. If the pass is not available, you stuff the gaps with meaty dudes.
Talent for the option isn’t coming forward. I think Coach Paul Johnson is waiting on Coach Moore to retire at Appalachian State. Avery County bumps into Watauga County not for from Boone NC. I hear Newland NC now has more than two redlights. All the old values are changing.
Until China starts developing wide receivers and option backs I’m afraid ol’ Coach Johnson is SOL at GT. Newland ain’t that bad. I’d go back in a minute.
JoeV
July 26th, 2011
4:49 pm
@St richt
Football
27-13
Basketball
87-62
65-56
Baseball
4-2
3-1
I think GT can pretty well shut up concerning Clemson and the 2010 season.
JoeV
July 26th, 2011
4:54 pm
@St richt
maybe yabba dabba dabo will break out the fatigues against us this year.
You do realize it was Military Appreciation Day, don’t you?
DAwg Prop
July 26th, 2011
4:54 pm
paul johnson doesn’t have chan gailey’s recruits any more and can’t win with his own. Tech may not win 7 games. UGA—SEC East champions—mark it down!
Smarty Pants
July 26th, 2011
5:07 pm
Every assessment I’ve seen has both Ol and Dl at UNC as being 1st or 2d in ACC, and most assessments have there DL as one of top 2-5 in country. There WRs, led by Dwight Jones, is also arguably best in league. The QB, an elite-11 QB outplayed TJ Yates in Spring Game, leaving most UNC observers to think he is much more talented than TJ. Ryan Houston is a load at RB; he sat out last year but ran over VaTech in B’burg in 09 when Heels beat them. Unc could very well have beat GaTech last year even while playing their 2d string. Pure logic says UNC has a superior team. And if sanctions are handed down and UNC is already 6-0 when they play tech, does that mean the team is going to lay down. Matter of fact, the sanction predicted by the LOA prob will not amount to more than probation and possible minimal losses of scollys. Why would this impact the team in any measurable way? They already expect this.
ATL4Life
July 26th, 2011
5:08 pm
Tech will be fine this year. We have a talent in all the offensive back positions and i think Tevin Washington is a bit underrated. The only problems I see is defense. The triple option will score no matter what kind of talent is on the field, our defense on the other hand was the reason why we did not return to the ACC championship game last year.
ACC Forever & FSU Rules
July 26th, 2011
5:09 pm
Has crack been legalized or are you Techies just delusional?
Duke is the only gimme and I might change my mid on that one soon.
ormewood
July 26th, 2011
5:28 pm
Smarty Pants, Tech and UNC play in Sept, so the teams will have played two or three games. UNC DL will indeed be stout. We’ll see about their OL. I think the Jackets will go 1-1 at best versus UNC and @ NCST. Jackets will, however, improve dramatically as the season progresses.
Smarty Pants
July 26th, 2011
5:44 pm
I’ve seen many “experts” predict that Unc can contend for ACC championship; Other than in the AJC, I’ve not seen such a prediction for GaTech.
st richt
July 26th, 2011
5:44 pm
JoeV, as a clemson fan, the 2010 season is about all you have to hang your hat on in “our rivalry” of late. Pretend the previous games didn’t exist.
st richt
July 26th, 2011
5:46 pm
Dabo is a clown too. Reminds me of John Edwards…
David
July 26th, 2011
5:56 pm
I’m so baffled by Paul Johnson’s claim to being some mastermind coach. “Coach PJ will outcoach people!
Because he runs something different? Explain the “genius” tag, please?
In case you haven’t been paying attenttion, his “briefly effective because it’s different” scheme is being caught up to by D1 defenses. And his “never effective because it stinks” defense has been pummeled by D1 offenses.
Oh, and his “not even close to effective because he has no charm and his offense would suck to play in because you have to dive at ankles all day unless you are a running back” recruiting is simply terrible….