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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