Live from Tech-Tech: Rain (and an upset) could be coming
Georgia Tech's uniforms. Not much gold in them thar duds, is there? (Photo by M. Bradley)
Blacksburg, Va. — Here’s great news. There’s a flash flood warning in effect here until midnight, with a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms at 7 p.m. (Kickoff is at 8, or whenever ESPN decides it’s good and ready.) We mention this because …
Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech were set to play here on Aug. 27, 2000, which was so long ago that George Godsey was Tech’s quarterback and some guy named Vick was playing for the Hokies. The game never came off. A savage storm that Sunday night forced the game to be canceled, as opposed to postponed. In ESPN lore, the memory lingers because Lee Corso’s rental car was struck by lightning. (Without him inside, let’s stipulate.)
For more on the non-game, here’s esteemed colleagues Ken Sugiura’s recounting of it. But I’m not worried about a repeat of the washout, for these reasons:
1. The forecast — and I’ve been watching — has actually improved throughout the day, and as I type it’s only partly cloudy. (It was, I should note, a weird drive up from Greensboro. It poured in Winston-Salem and was so foggy at 2 p.m. in the Virginia mountains that it seemed like night. Then it got sunny.)
2. My rental car is so small — it’s a compact roughly the size of the water closet on an airplane — that I’m pretty sure any lightning would miss it.
As previously discussed, this seems the biggest game in what stands as a massive season for Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson. As previously mentioned, I like the Jackets to win. I have found absolutely no one else in the media who seconds that emotion, but I’m accustomed to that.
If it should rain hard and/or long, it could well hurt (Ga.) Tech and its pitch-it-around option game more, but those sorts of forecasts are problematic. (Va.) Tech figures to be the better passing team, so inclement weather could curtail the Hokies, too. And if the ball gets so slick nobody can hang on, there’s no real handicapping that.
I’ve liked (Ga.) Tech’s chances all summer because I think this looms as a bigger platform for the Jackets than for the Hokies. VPI, as we old folks used to call this school, is expected to win by a touchdown. VPI is ranked; GT is not. VPI has beaten GT four of the past five years. Give the hunger edge to the visitors.
But really, who knows? Georgia Tech could win, or it could lose, or the game could be rained out. Hey, it happened once.
And whatever happens tonight, I’d appreciate it if you’d hang around for all the fun and frolic. And I thank you, as ever, in advance.
By Mark Bradley
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1,439 comments Add your comment
GT GIRL
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
Gave me STD!
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
another shotgun clinic for PJ to attend; a shotgun, at times, needs to go with these new unis, not an unproductive run offense
Nite Owl
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
Greetings Mark and Jackets fans.
We’re seeing some True Grit from these GT fellas tonight.
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
Not Tevin’s fault there.
Todd grantham
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
Only 2 minutes and tech’s offense? There’s a better chance that Jerry will be on the telethon again.
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
pass it!
Mark Bradley
September 3rd, 2012
9:19 pm
Going for it on fourth down.
Tampa Wreck
September 3rd, 2012
9:20 pm
Option looks just terrible. VPI is all over it.
BLT
September 3rd, 2012
9:20 pm
We are still hanging with them!
I'm gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John...
September 3rd, 2012
9:20 pm
Hey, let’s try to draw them offsides again!
Max
September 3rd, 2012
9:20 pm
Dwag trolls, get a life
Mark Bradley
September 3rd, 2012
9:21 pm
Sorry. Not going for it. Probably the right decision
Todd grantham
September 3rd, 2012
9:21 pm
How’d that turn out?
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:21 pm
pass, pass, pass, try shotgun, try pistol, try wildcat, try shovel, try qb draw
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:21 pm
All u Paul Johnson haters need to compare his record to coaching “legend” Bill Curry’s time at Tech.
4 straight losses to Duke.
This is a hard fought game and I like how we are playing.
Mark Bradley
September 3rd, 2012
9:21 pm
GT with two timeouts left. They can make Hokies punt again.
Todd grantham
September 3rd, 2012
9:22 pm
Max, Get Smart.
BLT
September 3rd, 2012
9:22 pm
VT has a minute to drive 99 yards.
Under The Bleachers
September 3rd, 2012
9:22 pm
Take away that ‘Drago” sized QB for VT and that offense is just horrible.
I'm gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John...
September 3rd, 2012
9:22 pm
What is a dwag???
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:23 pm
Make them punt.
Our best play so far.
Tampa Wreck
September 3rd, 2012
9:23 pm
Ugly half of football. We’re very lucky to go into to the locker rom tied.
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:23 pm
I dig those new unis. I dig the hexagon beehive patterns.
Melliadis
September 3rd, 2012
9:23 pm
Absolutely no imagination to this offense. I sit here with my 12 yr old son and can call 90% of the plays prior to the snap. Johnson has to go, maybe Whisenhunt can be lured back home!
AUBARN WARCHICKENS
September 3rd, 2012
9:24 pm
could beat either team…..no they can’t….AUBARN can’t beat any team from the ACC.
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:24 pm
I’ll take a 7-7 tie on the road vs VT at the half any day.
Mark Bradley
September 3rd, 2012
9:25 pm
Half’s going to end tied. Victory for the visitor, I contend.
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:25 pm
anybody sense a shotgun is missing
Yellow Fuzz
September 3rd, 2012
9:25 pm
D looks good. O still has butterflys. Glad we play VT on opening day instead of last like georgia. Academic standards just too high to stockpile depth needed. But on opening day we can beat anyone
Exterminator
September 3rd, 2012
9:26 pm
Jacket detective
Correct on Bill Curry. Way overrated as a Coach. Also a pompous ass and a complete bore as an announcer. He may have destroyed the GSU program before it even got started.
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:26 pm
Typical first game.
Clemson had two missed coverages and gifted long plays to Auburn and still won.
Mark Bradley
September 3rd, 2012
9:26 pm
GT calls timeout with two seconds left.
Smart like a fox
September 3rd, 2012
9:26 pm
VT is no where the caliber of that power house Buffalo
I'm gonna tell Aunt Mary about Uncle John...
September 3rd, 2012
9:27 pm
jacket boys in the new unis are in dwag.
ramguy68
September 3rd, 2012
9:27 pm
Throw a long TD for a pass for after Tech called timeout
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:27 pm
can’t believe its just 7 to 7; Tech was lousy
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:27 pm
GSU had a good first year because we gave them two linemen.
Both would have gotten in other schools grad programs just to play football.
Bill Curry
September 3rd, 2012
9:28 pm
Son, make that Bill The Legend Curry
dry dirt road
September 3rd, 2012
9:29 pm
Tech can restart at 7 to 7 with a Fortran Do Loop back to the start of the game when it was 0 to 0, then use the shotgun
Todd Grantham
September 3rd, 2012
9:29 pm
I’m telling ya Mark. You’re bein a Homer!!
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:29 pm
About the unis.
I would prefer gold numbers but once again, it is the players that count, not the unis.
Fish Frys make u fat
September 3rd, 2012
9:30 pm
Hey Jacket Det…..Curry stunk at Tech, he stunk at Bama, he stunk at Tucky, he stinks at GSU. Helluva player, helluva man, sorry coach. Nothing legendary about him.
Exterminator
September 3rd, 2012
9:30 pm
Gonna have to brew a pot of coffee to make it thru this.
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:31 pm
@Bill Curry.
You aren’t being forced to retire, are u?
BigTimeTECHFan
September 3rd, 2012
9:31 pm
Good half for Tech defense, hope they keep it up
Wow, All-American Brandon Jenkins FSU out for the year, hope he gets well, bad news for FSU
Jacket Detective
September 3rd, 2012
9:31 pm
@Exterminator.
Coffee or a brew?
davidinloganville
September 3rd, 2012
9:31 pm
my halftime grades:
OFFENSE – D (need more from the dive play, the key to the option)
DEFENSE – A (could not ask for anymore)
SPECIAL TEAMS – C (gift fumble 30+/- yards punting)
UNIFORMS – A (I like them)
BigTimeTECHFan
September 3rd, 2012
9:32 pm
Hunt-Days looks pretty good
Tampa Wreck
September 3rd, 2012
9:32 pm
VPI is committing to stop the run. The passing game is there to be had on first down.
Under The Bleachers
September 3rd, 2012
9:33 pm
Looks like Michigan is still suffering from that beating they took Saturday night. Their Best DB is out for the season.
While on the injury front. FSU just lost their all everything Defensive End Pass rusher for the season with a foot injury.