Will Georgia Tech be a Top 25 team in 2012? Some say yes
Here's how it ended for Georgia Tech in 2011: Utah scores to win in overtime. (AP photo)
The belief here is that Georgia Tech got good value from its season. No, 8-5 didn’t seem all that great when you consider the Jackets started 6-0, but 8-5 beat the heck out of 6-7, which is what Tech was in 2010. And now we turn to 2012, and some expect even bigger and better from the men of PJ.
Andy Staples of SI.com tabs Tech No. 25 in his lookahead, while Dave Miller of the National Football Post puts the Jackets at No. 20. That’s the good news. The bad: Similar early rankings from ESPN, CBS Sports and Yahoo! Sports do not include Georgia Tech in the Top 25.
I can see both sides. If guard Omoregie Uzzi chooses not to leave for the NFL, the Jackets will return 15 starters on offense and defense. That’s a goodly number. At the same time, I’m not sure how good those starters are. We take B-back David Sims as an example. He rushed for 698 yards in 2011. In both 2008 and 2008, B-back Jonathan Dwyer gained almost exactly twice that number of yards.
In Tech’s favor: The ACC, which had its usual dismal bowl showing, doesn’t look terribly imposing. (In a move not unlike the one made by Paul Johnson in January 2010, league champion Clemson just dumped its defensive coordinator.) That said, the Jackets have to play Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia on the road.
My early guess: Tech will be a better team, but the record might not reflect it. I can see the Jackets winning nine regular-season games in 2012. I’m not sure they can get to 10.
By Mark Bradley
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
266 comments Add your comment
gt4ever
January 13th, 2012
5:28 pm
Maybe top 35…..
heeldawg
January 13th, 2012
5:53 pm
Tech will still suffer from a talent deficit on the defensive side of the ball, and will struggle to pass, making the offense one-dimensional. They will be solid, but not spectacular. I see an 8-4 regular season, with another loss to Georgia (making Richt’s record against the Jackets a sterling 11-1). The ability to garner a Top 25 ranking will therefore depend upon the Jackets’ ability to win a bowl game and finish with a 9-4 record.
GT13
January 13th, 2012
6:08 pm
i have a good feeling about 2013 for gt football. and 2013-2014 gt basketball. nah mean? CAG’s defense should improve for 2012 and onwards, and CBG’s system will set in and hopefully we’ll have another strong bball recruiting class. good feelings. goooooood feelings.
Charleston Jacket
January 13th, 2012
6:14 pm
Seriously? Top 25? Not with Al Groh, a mediocre div II qb and no passing attack. I am afraid another disappointing year is ahead and another defeat from UGA. Just trying to keep it real.
THWG
Arob
January 13th, 2012
6:30 pm
Seems like we’ve got a lot riding on a freshman QB. Willing to give this offense one more shot but getting tired of the excuses.
top 25?
January 13th, 2012
6:57 pm
High school polls?
macrotech
January 13th, 2012
8:24 pm
Groh ALWAYS said it would take three years to implement the 3-4….THIS will be the year that the rubber is SUPPOSED to hit the road. We were REALLY young on D and I’d imagine these kids will come back bigger and faster…I look forward to the upcoming year. Any chance that they might bump it up to June?!
Tech Engineer
January 13th, 2012
9:10 pm
ADRad scheduled 3 cupcakes to last year’s schedule to help PJ be a winner. Tech won half of competitive games which is not good. Next year, the schedule will be tougher, and it is not likely they will win 8 games unless Vad Lee plays QB and is a good passer. The defense will be better.
Hugh Jass
January 13th, 2012
9:47 pm
Tech won’t be able to recruit well enough to consistently stay in the top 25. Chan Gailey’s NFL talent is all gone.
Buzz 2011
January 13th, 2012
10:00 pm
GT should win at least 10 games with a change at quarterback. The only tough games on the schedule will be Va. Tech , NC and Clemson..
Buzz 2011
January 13th, 2012
10:24 pm
Peadawg…. I can name a couple of receivers who would want to catch 6 to 8 passes a game for GT.. Maybe you have heard of Demarius Thomas who just caught the winning touhdown for the Broncos.. If you don’t know of Thomas, have you ever heard of Calvin Johnson? He is only the ” best” receiver in pro football, no question..
sports
January 13th, 2012
10:39 pm
Tech wouldn’t rate a top 25 team in the high school teams in th state of Georgia.
Torching a Blunt with Crow-ell
January 14th, 2012
12:21 am
Offense is not the problem. If Tech is forced to score 50 points to win every game then the problem lies elsewhere, namely defense and special teams. Johnson also needs to get the dog monkey off his back. Tech is a running football team yet the hot shot RB’s pile into Athens to stand in line for a chance just to ride the pine.
bitter QB
January 14th, 2012
12:23 am
ONLY AT A SCHOOL WHERE THE NAME —–CLEM—-THEN—-SON—-RED NECK
———-from the get go———–hahahah—who fires anybody on the coaching staff after
winning the ACC TITLE——————-only in hicks ville—-i mean the headcoach —–day-boo
—-come on you cant make this stuff up————-the players gave up 70 points not there “D” coord
———————————CLEM———-SON——————–HICKS
No chance
January 14th, 2012
1:10 am
Tech may not win 8 games in 2012—mediocre D, no good QB, mickey mouse offense that the ACC has figured out. how much longer will tech fans put up with these average teams and still pay millions to the coach?? Hello???
Jason gaymarcus
January 14th, 2012
1:44 am
I love giving good helmet head in the sanford stadium locker room after a big win .
Gt
January 14th, 2012
2:56 am
I sure wished Uga had a basketball team to give the yellow jackets some comp.
WnE
January 14th, 2012
5:38 am
re:
macrotech
January 13th, 2012
8:24 pm
Groh ALWAYS said it would take three years to implement the 3-4….THIS will be the year that the rubber is SUPPOSED to hit the road. We were REALLY young on D and I’d imagine these kids will come back bigger and faster…I look forward to the upcoming year. Any chance that they might bump it up to June?!
__________________
WHY does Coach Al Groh(ss)’s 3-4 Defense take THREE YEARS to implement when all the GT geniuses said that CAG was a BETTER HIRE than CTG, and yet CTG’s 3-4 Defense has only taken ONE YEAR to implement in a TOUGHER CONFERENCE, while also playing a TOUGHER SCHEDULE (UGa. 23rd toughest schedule — GT 76th toughest schedule)?
It seemed like 99% of the GT fanbase (not ME of course) laughed at the hiring of CTG and patted CPJ on the back for getting CAG at HALF the salary of CTG, and after 2 years it is CLEAR to anyone that follows BCS-level FB that CTG is a MUCH BETTER DC than CAG.
BTW, CTG started out with a young Defense also, and a UGA team that was hit hard by attrition for one reason or another.
How can the so-called DUMB THUGS (according to the holier-than-thou GT fanbase) from UGA learn the SAME DEFENSE better than our so-called “genius Recruits” with the highest SATs in the country, when WE/GT have the better DC teaching them whereas UGA has the DUMBER RECRUITS and the INFERIOR DC teaching them?
Two years after both schools changed DCs it is time for some explanations from the GT fans that claimed that CAG was the better hire than CTG!
WnE
January 14th, 2012
5:38 am
re:
macrotech
January 13th, 2012
8:24 pm
Groh ALWAYS said it would take three years to implement the 3-4….THIS will be the year that the rubber is SUPPOSED to hit the road. We were REALLY young on D and I’d imagine these kids will come back bigger and faster…I look forward to the upcoming year. Any chance that they might bump it up to June?!
__________________
WHY does Coach Al Groh(ss)’s 3-4 Defense take THREE YEARS to implement when all the GT geniuses said that CAG was a BETTER HIRE than CTG, and yet CTG’s 3-4 Defense has only taken ONE YEAR to implement in a TOUGHER CONFERENCE, while also playing a TOUGHER SCHEDULE (UGa. 23rd toughest schedule — GT 76th toughest schedule)?
It seemed like 99% of the GT fanbase (not ME of course) laughed at the hiring of CTG and patted CPJ on the back for getting CAG at HALF the salary of CTG, and after 2 years it is CLEAR to anyone that follows BCS-level FB that CTG is a MUCH BETTER DC than CAG.
BTW, CTG started out with a young Defense also, and a UGA team that was hit hard by attrition for one reason or another.
How can the so-called DUMB THUGS (according to the holier-than-thou GT fanbase) from UGA learn the SAME DEFENSE better than our so-called “genius Recruits” with the highest SATs in the country, when WE/GT have the better DC teaching them whereas UGA has the DUMBER RECRUITS and the INFERIOR DC teaching them?
Two years after both schools changed DCs it is time for some explanations from the GT fans that claimed that CAG was the better hire than CTG!
WnE
January 14th, 2012
5:39 am
Sorry for the double post, the wireless mouse is on the skids.
Paddy
January 14th, 2012
7:48 am
When CPJ finds his new Tracy Ham things will be different. Tevin Washington is not the guy. Vlad Lee will be your starter in 2012.
Smyrna Gold
January 14th, 2012
9:00 am
Birmingham Jacket is correct in his assessment to the GT football program. CPJ’s teams have not improved over the past 4 years and I seriously doubt there will be any improvement in 2012. You cannot be successful with the defense and special teams are as bad as what Tech is fielding. Not to mention recruiting is not good and that’s a real shame considering how many excellent prospects are produced in this state each year.
j,cassell
January 14th, 2012
9:59 am
yeah right.
Techster
January 14th, 2012
10:56 am
The Yellow Jackets will be improved and a top 20 team next year.
Techster
January 14th, 2012
10:59 am
The basketball program is showing signs of life. They played two really good games against Duke and then NC State. Hope it is now on the mend under our new coach.
Techster74
January 14th, 2012
11:25 am
The jackets will never be anything but an average team with PJ at the helm. The better teams are able to effectively defend the option and score on our defense. Special teams are a joke because PJ only concerns himself with the offense. Our defense has marginally improved because of Groh.
We will suffer through another couple of years of 7-5 seasons and then have to rebuild from the bottom up.
Messin with Sasquatch
January 14th, 2012
11:44 am
Frankly Mark, you are the sportswriter equivalent to Newt Gingrich, being divisive, knowing all you get on this is a pissoff contest between each school fans.
AMG
January 14th, 2012
11:46 am
Look out nation. Tech will feature not one sub 4.4 guy on offense but 3. They will feature a red shirt QB with 4.4 speed. So will the offense be better? Far better. Look for the o-line to be much improved with 12 guys coming back and all of them near or over 300 lbs. Look for the D-line to be the biggest surprise of the year. The Def. ends will be stars and a senior 340 lbs nose guard will have a great year. We already have three great players coming back in the secondary and plenty of others just waiting for there chance. This could be a great year for Tech. Not sure they will win 10 either, but they will be good enough to win all there games next year. Just have to believe it and do it.
Buzz boy
January 14th, 2012
11:55 am
For all the UGA fans on this blog, I would not brag about your season since the dogs could not beat a top 20 rank team this year
Buzz boy
January 14th, 2012
11:58 am
UGA could not even beat a top 20 rank team this season lol
john
January 14th, 2012
12:36 pm
As long at the political reality in this backwards state keeps Georgia Tech from competiting on a level playing field, the Jackets will have to be happy with 8 to 10 wins on the high side and an ocassional win over UGA.
You can’t get a zoning variance in South Georgia without the local planning board determining if it benefits UGA football or not.
The political powers in this state do not want to have two top five football teams.
gt4ever
January 14th, 2012
1:52 pm
AMG,
Jeez dude, what are you smoking…. Please share….
gtstuckinathens
January 14th, 2012
3:34 pm
It sometimes get hard to even walk here in Athens, you know because we are running out of room to store all this football hardware, we have had even encourage the dawgs sell their once in a blue moon sec rings, the streets all full of it, actually they are full of something, albeit it may not be titles, UGA, you would think this place is some sort of title town with all the bravdo that comes out of here, but alas it is just talk, the RNN. my twist on the bulldawg nation, is RNN i.e. the red neck nation, talks all the time of the 1990 as a fluke, maybe it was, only time well tell, but have you ever stoped to ponder about the fact that 1980 maybe be a bigger fluke, take out #34 from the RNN and what do you have, a school that has to go back ten more years to produce the same title that you want to call a fluke at tech, so be it, let take a second and look how both schools ended their football year, both lost their last two football games, very equal, one team lost by a total of what 20 points, and hopes to have a good year next season, the other also run school UGA lost their last two by what 35 points, and they think that they will on the football world next season, and you tell me who resides in a dream world, GT can at least lay claim to multiple football titles, even though some may be in the distant past, at least we did it, you alas have a singular memory of #34, and that memory gets smaller and smaller every year, but yet you claim to be an elite program, how so, just rember that lsu beat you by 32 points, and hung 42 in a row on you, ( never has happened to tech,, even by you) and lsu got boatraced by Alabama, so just remember how far behind you are, they do say the second national title is always the hardest to win, so just keep going after RNN, ….
heeldawg
January 14th, 2012
3:40 pm
AMG, you seem to have imbibed ALL of the Kool-Aid. You’re betting all of your marbles on your offense being better simply because of 40-yard dash times despite having a completely unproven QB and despite having your best WR leave for the NFL. And your defense was not merely mediocre this season–they were simply bad (especially that upcoming senior-laden secondary, which led Aaron Murray throw around them at will despite the Dawgs’ complete absence of a running game). Well, guess what? The Georgia team that slapped you around returns just about everybody–and adds two all-star running backs. And we have four players on DEFENSE who run a sub 4.4 forty. Don’t see that W coming any time soon…or 10 wins, either…
The Factor
January 14th, 2012
4:49 pm
@gtstuck,
Stopped reading after the first 8 lines. Obviously, you never learned how to write with the multiple run on sentences w/o a semi-colon. You, my little buzz bee, are a big “L”….go ahead, put it on your forhead…
We have NC’s in many more sports than just football…. Perhaps you have heard? You, buzz, are a pinhead…
The Factor
January 14th, 2012
4:53 pm
@gtstuck
Fact is, we are relevant to the NCAA, you aren’t……..live with it.
The Factor
January 14th, 2012
4:59 pm
@AMG
“not sure they will win ten either…….”
Some in our fan base want to run our coach out of town because he has averaged 10 wins a year during his tenure. I guess expectations between Tech and UGA are a bit different and always will be.
Gtlover
January 14th, 2012
5:47 pm
Dave Brainless was right… 8-5,7-6 every year, loose to jawja, loose bowl game. Need to have a weed-eating/lawn care major like jawja to get good players.
harold
January 14th, 2012
6:37 pm
WATCH OUT FOR TENNESSEE. THEY WERE YOUNG LAST YEAR AND HAVE A GREAT STAFF. THE VOLS COULD MAKE SOME NOISE!
ST Dawg
January 14th, 2012
9:46 pm
1 more year of mediocrity and tech fans will be running p. johnson and his mickey mouse offense out of town!
Al B.
January 14th, 2012
10:18 pm
1st priority: Special Teams (players and coaches). Most important play of the bowl loss was the the punt with 2 minutes to go. As soon as Poole kicked it (very low returnable line drive), I told my friends “game over”. Utah’s QB was having a horrible time and would not have driven them 70 yards, but they return it down to about the 30. If Poole, and others, would take his job more seriously… remember how “happy” he was a little earlier after “faking” getting hit for a penalty. All it would take was a high punt for a fair catch instead of trying to boom one. Maybe shouldn’t lay all that on the kid, as it is documented that no one really coaches the special teams.
Actually liked CPJ sending out Scully for the long FG at end of regulation, and good drive led by Washington to get close. Shouldn’t have had to come down to that.
One play CAN actually decide a game. Remember the Va.Tech game which was all Yellow Jackets until Attachou decided to “punch” someone.
dandaman
January 15th, 2012
12:00 am
Milk came out of nose after I read this headline…
hy hyatt
January 15th, 2012
1:05 am
It must be an Atlanta thing to receive mediocre results and then shoot the messenger when this fact is pointed out. This is why GA is a backwater cluster.
BuzzBomb
January 15th, 2012
9:04 am
I have to go with whomever said GTBob is an embarrassment to Tech fans. It’s true. I cringe whenever there’s a blog posted because I know that ignorant slut is gonna be here posting.
BuzzBomb
January 15th, 2012
9:12 am
GTLover: “Need to have a weed-eating/lawn care major”
Maybe you should learn to spell the word “lose” before you reveal what you do for a living.
Tech Rules, you sissy boy mutts....
January 15th, 2012
10:04 am
Tevin Washington did a good job at quarterback this year, and will do even better next year. A quarterback controversy is being generated by the ajc scum to sell their worthless rags, just ignore their plants in these comments.
BuzzBomb
January 15th, 2012
10:13 am
Naaa. You’re not paranoid.
Chris Dimino
January 15th, 2012
10:55 am
I think the 2012 Jackets should wear some type of uniform patch or helmet decal to honor Jackie Robinson
Jaw Jaw Homer
January 15th, 2012
11:04 am
Dwags number 1. We gonna beat errbody! Bama is gonna be skard to dept.
Not Disappointed
January 15th, 2012
11:56 am
A decent Defense and Tech will win 10 games! Nevertheless, Go Jackets!