Georgia Tech will go 8-4, and here, game by game, is how
One losing season was quite enough for these folks. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Paul Johnson has had two losing seasons as a head coach. The first was in his maiden voyage, so to speak, at Navy. The second came last year at Georgia Tech. A year after they went 2-10, his Midshipmen went 8-5. Don’t expect Tech, which went 6-7 in 2010, to improve by six victories — that would put the Jackets back in the Orange Bowl — but do expect a bounce.
Thursday, Western Carolina, 7:30 p.m.
The Catamounts were 2-9 in 2010. That would seem to make them the ideal opening opponent. Expect the Jackets to rush for their usual 500 yards and fumble the expected half-dozen times in this Thursday night tilt. Expect Tevin Washington to look good at quarterback. Expect freshman Vad Lee to look good enough to make people wonder how long it’ll take him to become the starter.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Sept. 10, at Middle Tennessee, 7 p.m.
The trip to Murfreesboro could be scary, and not because of the traffic on I-24. The Blue Raiders just graced the GoDaddy.com Bowl, which isn’t to be confused with the granddaddy of all bowls (which would be the Rose). Then again, MTSU finished only 6-7, beating nobody of consequence. A school from a BCS automatic-qualifier league has to be wary when it travels to play an opponent of lesser pedigree, but there’s still a difference in talent.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Sept. 17, Kansas, 12:30 p.m.
The worst loss of a not-very-good season came in Lawrence last September. The Jayhawks won only twice more. (Though they did beat Colorado, which beat Georgia.) Kansas has a skilled coach in Turner Gill, but his is a tough task. His team could well finish last in the Big 12, but that’s a bit misleading: The league is down to 10 schools.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Sept. 24, North Carolina
The Tar Heels couldn’t beat Tech last season in Chapel Hill, and that was with Butch Davis still in place. He’s out now, having been fired ahead of an NCAA committee-on-infractions hearing. Defensive coordinator Everett Withers is the interim coach, and he’s a rising star. That said, Carolina is in its second season of major flux, and there’s not yet an end in sight.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Oct. 1, at N.C. State
Quarterback Russell Wilson threw for 368 yards and three touchdowns at Bobby Dodd Stadium last season. The bad news for Tech: Wilson is still playing college football. The good news: He’s doing it at Wisconsin, having transferred after being released from his State scholarship. The Wolfpack still should be pretty good — they went 9-4 in 2010 — and there’s a good chance they will enter this game undefeated.
Prediction: Jackets lose.
Oct. 8, Maryland
The Terrapins finally got around to firing Ralph Friedgen, but not before dithering so long that coach-in-waiting James Franklin left for Vanderbilt. The new head Turtle is Randy Edsall (left), who was once Tech’s defensive coordinator and who took Connecticut to the 2010 Big East title. Given time, Edsall should do well in College Park. But coaching transitions are never seamless, and this one was messier than most.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Oct. 15, at Virginia
Mike London eventually will break through in Charlottesville, but to do it in Year 2 seems optimistic. The Cavaliers won only one ACC game last season, beating Miami — but losing to Duke. Virginia’s early schedule isn’t overly daunting, so there’s a chance it could have worked up some momentum by the time Tech arrives. But the Jackets will arrive having won five of six, so they’ll be riding pretty high themselves.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Oct. 22, at Miami
Here we pause to take stock — it’s not yet Halloween, and the Jackets have reached last season’s victory total. Can world domination be far behind? Alas, the schedule stiffens here. Miami fired Randy Shannon, whose teams never seemed well-coached, and hired Al Golden, who worked wonders at Temple. Because of ongoing NCAA investigations, these Hurricanes will have vacillating results. For the “U,” this will be a good day.
Prediction: Jackets lose.
Oct. 29, Clemson
The Tigers are thought to have recruited well. Still unclear is whether Dabo Swinney (left) is a real head coach or the ACC’s version of Ron Zook. Last season the Tigers were good enough to take Auburn to overtime at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but unfortunate enough to finish 6-7. This is something of a prove-it year for Dabo, and his team might still be a year away from ripening.
Prediction: Jackets win.
Nov. 10, Virginia Tech, 8 p.m.
The Jackets will enter with a chance to climb atop the Coastal Division. As Johnson is forever noting: “The winner of this game has won the ACC every year since I’ve been here.” But this figures to be the first year the talent gap is so pronounced. (Even last season, the Jackets had Joshua Nesbitt — for the first half of the game anyway.) It’s hard to see G-Tech beating No. 13 V-Tech anywhere anytime soon.
Prediction: Jackets lose.
Nov. 19, at Duke
A get-well game. A solidify-your-bowl-destination game. The only conference road game any ACC school actually relishes. Duke at Duke. The only issue here is whether David Cutcliffe, who has been fighting the uphill fight since 2009, will have had enough by the time the Jackets arrive. (He’s 12-24 over three seasons, pretty good by Duke standards.)
Prediction: Jackets win.
Nov. 26, Georgia
If Georgia has had a tepid season, this could be Mark Richt’s last bow. The belief here, however, is that the Bulldogs will have won the SEC East and will be playing twice in Atlanta in the span of eight days. The game at Tech will essentially be the same as we saw last season in Athens: The Jackets gaining lots of yards, the Bulldogs prevailing on weight of numbers. That outcome would put Tech at 8-4, which wouldn’t be half bad.
Prediction: Jackets lose.
By Mark Bradley
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137 comments Add your comment
Dude
August 27th, 2011
10:21 pm
Johnson won’t lose 3 in a row to ugla. Tech goes 9-3 and i already bet the house on the 6 win total which is the biggest no brainer bet ever.
TomB
August 27th, 2011
10:24 pm
Wrong on Miami Mark, otherwise not bad. If Tech’s defense is even marginally better this year, they will beat UGA at home. Defense or lack thereof is the only reason they lost last year.
George
August 27th, 2011
10:30 pm
Mike – Paul Johnson recruits as well, if not better, than Chan Gailey:
http://coachesbythenumbers.com/the-paul-johnson-recruiting-myth/
NovaJacket
August 27th, 2011
10:30 pm
You overrate NC State, and the”U” is about to implode….
Rockies lose to Dodgers 7-6 in 11 innings – Atlanta Journal Constitution | CgPage
August 27th, 2011
11:00 pm
[...] Georgia Tech will go 8-4, and here, game by game, is how [...]
Tech Engineer
August 27th, 2011
11:11 pm
Tech should win 8 games with the easy schedule. With this schedule, it would be a shame not to win 8. Watch out for Duke. Over the years, Duke has had some upsets of Tech, and they will have a good passing attack which could cause problems for Tech’s young defenders.
Hey Wake up folks
August 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
If UGA had GT’s schedule they would likely run the table. If GT had UGA’s schedule they would be lucky to win 3 games.
One more thing – the TO is H.S. ball. I don’t care if you gain 1,000 yards a game – it sucks. Don’t believe me look at the record when teams have more than a week to prepare.
GT GRAD
August 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
All I know is that I agree with Coach PJ……..the GT football team is currently undefeated and I hope they remain undefeated!
Try to win ‘em all and let’s just see what happens.
Whopper Dawg
August 27th, 2011
11:34 pm
With a nothing OOC schedule excepting UGA and playing a woefully weak ACC conference, if Paul “The Genius” can only summon 8 wins, he should be summarily dismissed.
If the Dawgs played that schedule, the only game that would cause a moment of concern would be VaTech. The remainder of the schedule is a joke.
GIVE ME A BREAK
August 27th, 2011
11:51 pm
8-4 isn’t bad, but 9-3 would be sweet. Pick up the ninth win over UGA. ” GO JACKETS “
Saban
August 27th, 2011
11:58 pm
Tech will have a great year. Just the beginning.
Dawgs, well after the Boise State beatdown and South Carolina putting no. 1 in the hospital, Richt will be throwing his purse at everyone, and Grantham will eat himself to death with krispy kreme`s.
GT Fan
August 28th, 2011
12:37 am
MB, what in THE H-LL are you thinking with 8-4?!?!?
Haven’t you heard of this guy named “headley lamar” (I know, what tool would claim to be such a tool movie character unless he was himself a … tool)???
Well headley’s got this guy named “Vegas” that says GT only wins 6 games this year, and he [Vegas] is never wrong. Headley’s gonna be pissed at you MB!!
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August 28th, 2011
1:02 am
[...] Georgia Tech will go 8-4, and here, game by game, is how [...]
Gt/Fl footbal fan
August 28th, 2011
1:02 am
Hey wake up folks if you had georgia tech’s schedule your losses would be to North Carolina, virginia tech, Miami, Fl, and Maryland. Now if georgia tech had your schedule, they would have losses to Florida, Boise st, and South Carolina none of the other teams on your schedule scare georgia tech.
230gr Full Metal Jacket
August 28th, 2011
1:57 am
8-4??? Not too far off. I predicted 9-3, with 10-2 a real possibility if they show up ready to play at NC State. We’ll beat Miami, and probably UGA but Clemson makes me nervous. If we somehow pull off the upset against V-Tech we’ll be back in the ACCCG against FSU. I don’t see a single game on the schedule that this squad isn’t talented enough to win, but I think 8-4 or 9-3 is reasonable for this season. Now NEXT year, I’ll be disappointed with losing ANY game because I expect a championship run in 2012 and 2013 (and maybe 2014 also, if nobody leaves early as Juniors).
gtfanfrom1951
August 28th, 2011
2:06 am
Mark have youever been right about anything?
Archives
August 28th, 2011
3:39 am
I predict the Falcons will start the pre-season 0-3.
duece coupe
August 28th, 2011
3:58 am
Georgia Tech wlll win at least 11 games.
Stinger2
August 28th, 2011
4:58 am
Mark: I hope you are right with your picks. An 8-4 season would be great. However, I believe you are being too optimistic. I see us also losing to Clemson and possibly being upset by either NC or Duke.
11-2
August 28th, 2011
6:36 am
Mark: I hope you are wrong with your picks.
Go Jackets.
11-2
August 28th, 2011
6:38 am
11-2 includes the ACC Championship game.
brent cunningham
August 28th, 2011
6:58 am
everybody sell all that you can, mortgage your homes, borrow from the bank ,and bet on gt to win the conf. and the orange bowl to finish #5 in the country. jackets will beat vt, which they would have last year , if not for joshuas injury. They will also beat the humpers in atlanta, with a 45 yd. pass and run to Tony Zenon with 35 seconds to play.
ToeMeetsLeather
August 28th, 2011
6:59 am
With the exception of Jones, Peters & Walls, these are CPJ and Groh’s recruits plugged into their systems. We should really start to see things click this year. Twentysix wins over the last three years was not bad, but I think the next three will bring even more. Mark, you are way off base on the talent gap with VaTech.
Paddy
August 28th, 2011
7:43 am
Mark, GT should beat UM. Not much left in those guys by the time GT gets to them. Hard to lose 10 starters and have a new coach. Never have liked UM but I do think their new coach is a stand up guy and deserves a better fate than Shannon and Company left him. But 8-4 sounds right to me!
Gorilla Biscuit
August 28th, 2011
7:49 am
Thank you Tech fans. I read through this blog and never laughed so hard in my life. You guys claim UGA fans are delusional, but ya’ll have left the atmosphere and are now speeding past Neptune.
Gorilla Biscuit
August 28th, 2011
7:51 am
After reading this blog I must say I’ve never laughed so hard in all my life. Ya’ll have left the atmosphere and are speeding past Uranus.
11-2 Baby
August 28th, 2011
7:53 am
GT only loses to UVA and VT. GT will beat LSU in a rematch in the Chickfila Bowl.
wombat
August 28th, 2011
8:14 am
Every one of those is the “safe” pick. My dog could’ve written this article.
Gorilla Biscuit
August 28th, 2011
8:21 am
Al Groh will have burned the fish for CPJ by the midpoint of the season. Nothing to play for. Dawgs in a walk.
ToeMeetsLeather
August 28th, 2011
8:30 am
Hey Biscuit, you need to lay off the gravy this early in the AM, bad for your gut. It may hang out the bottom of that Red G-t’shirt. If you haven’t laughed this hard before, you may want to catch “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles” with Candy and Martin, now that’s funny stuff!
dawgmatic
August 28th, 2011
8:32 am
That is a generous prediction. The NERDS will probably blow the first three games and the fanbase, all 40 of them, will choke on their free hotdog and Coke. 4 wins at most, and the yearly shelacking by the Dawgs.
GDBurdell
August 28th, 2011
8:45 am
I love how none of the redneck “engineers” from tek even catch a whiff of the pandering that this article reeks of.
8-4? riiiiiiiiight
tek will have 6 wins OR LESS this season, most likely 5 wins.
1.) Same system (6 wins last year, remember?)
2.) Less talent
enjoy your free hotdog and coke!!!
ToeMeetsLeather
August 28th, 2011
9:07 am
Hey “Nadlickermatic”, there may only be forty of us but we all have dental plans. Can’t say the same for the “DawgNation”.
George O'Leary
August 28th, 2011
9:34 am
Two field goals and a cloud of Bobo
was all the dawgs could muster, last trip out.
Denny
August 28th, 2011
9:57 am
what is really dumb is gt does not even get a receiving vote in the ap poll so they are placed somewhere around the 50th best team. does anyone really think they are that bad? no. which is why preseason polls are dumb. what is really screwed up with the way it is is tech could go undefeated and not play in the nat champ game because they are so far down. there would always ben 3-4 one loss teams, ahead of them. maybe even a 2 loss if it’s alabama or ok
sam
August 28th, 2011
10:02 am
gt fan, not that you are one,, obviously you don’t realize that the 6 win is not a straight up bet. let me explain since you are obviously a moron, you have to put up 1.5 of your money to win. or 150 would get you 100. so you think with that in play, the true number is 6? oh and if you want to take the under, you put up less than straight up. get it now idiot?
John NJ
August 28th, 2011
10:03 am
test
John NJ
August 28th, 2011
10:05 am
gt fan–aka uga fan–just so you know, that 6 win total is not an even bet. you gotta put up 150 to win 100 at the casinos. i know simple math is hard for you but come on. this isn’t that complicated.
The Truth
August 28th, 2011
11:00 am
You heard it here first. 11-1
The difference is the defense. Miami or NC State will not beat this team. I think Tech will lose either the VT or UGA game but not both.
RedandBlackDAWG
August 28th, 2011
11:22 am
Everybody keeps saying how UGA has a easy schedule, but look at the cupcake that TECH. has. If they can’t pull out ten wins this year, playing this schedule, Tech. fans will have to be content as they usually are, insulting the UGA team, fans and Athens, and calling themselves the winner of the annual beat down, at least on paper. I don’t see Tech. losong to Miami though, because their NCAA problems are threatening to gut the team with suspensions and serious penalties. Miami is already in deep damage control and the season has not even begun. I think that Clemson will be a tougher game than is predicted, but it is hard to say, since they, like UGA have not played up to their potential the last few years. 8-4 sounds about right though.
Good luck Tech.
Eaassyy
August 28th, 2011
11:31 am
One thing is for CERTAIN: Tech will get smoked in their bowl game. What are you guys like 2-8 over the last 10 years in bowl games? Turkey neck is 0-3. You guys stink. Supersize that jerks.
kb
August 28th, 2011
1:17 pm
Mark, Only see 6 wins on this schedule for Tech, the least talented Tech football team in a couple of decades. Middle Tennessee is a trap game, the talent level isn’t that much different, they recruit many of the same players.The Georgia game at years end will be ugly if Georgia enters the game healthy.
kb
August 28th, 2011
1:26 pm
4-5 wins for Tech, least talented tech team in past 15 years. Losses, NCarolina, Nc State, Miami, Clemson, Maryland, VT, UGA. Vt and UGA will be beat downs of epic proportions.Trap games Middle Tennessee (techs better but not by much), Duke.
GT does not win vs Tigers
August 28th, 2011
2:13 pm
I do not see GT with a defense to stop a spread they have not seen. How is GT supposed to be so much better than last year? Clemson lost a subpar QB, so we can at least stay the same. RBs = improved. WRs = much improvement as we have more than one. OL = experienced and good. Better OC = better offense. Offense for Clemson will be better than last year = min 2 extra wins. One will be GT.
Clemson D = lost several pro players, but reloads every year. LBs are much better.
Kevin Steele figured out PJ’s option last year. Expect a new wrinkle this year.
I do not see GT beating Clemson, but you do. We shall see.
JoeFan
August 28th, 2011
2:27 pm
A minimum of 8 wins is very doable. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Tech sneak up on one or two others and finish 9-3 or 10-2.
Steve
August 28th, 2011
2:46 pm
I would wait to see a GT quarterback complete a forward pass before predicting their season. But maybe that’s just me.
playmeortrademe
August 28th, 2011
3:11 pm
Wow, what a pathetic schedule. If Tech does not go at least 10-2 with that sked, I don’t think P.J. will ever do anything at Tech. 3 of the 4 toughest games at home, and NC State doesn’t exactly strike fear into anybody. I don’t even count Miami anymore. Miami is or will be a shell of its former self. Jackets should realistically split against Va Tech and Clemson, and probably lose to UGA, but that should be it….but again, losing 2 of your three biggest home games, and again to your biggest rival, and no ACCCG?
This year’s UGA/Tech game should be called “The Pink Slip Bowl” if the AJC writer’s picks actually happen.
George O'Leary
August 28th, 2011
3:13 pm
I would wait to see UGA score at touchdown
before predicting their season.
Cupcake City
August 28th, 2011
3:16 pm
Coastal Carolina and New Mexico strikes fear.
playmeortrademe
August 28th, 2011
3:48 pm
Geez, and Tech has a bye week before the Hokies? C’mon! Honestly, Tech should go into that game unbeaten if there is any talent at all on that team. Any losses would be entirely on the coaches.
If Vandy was in the ACC, would they be an annual contender?