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
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
12:19 am
GAILEY…you have never seen me post negative comments on uga blogs.
Same old thing…QUITE thing zinger there!
Athens DWAAAAG
September 4th, 2012
12:20 am
Please don’t get rid of CPJ, the Bulldogs love him! Why?
1) he does not discriminate between 1 star and 5 star recruits.
2)he does not make outlandish statements, although he may be dullest man in college football.
3)CPJ’s may have the most exciting offense since Woody Hayes
Please, Please, keep him!! Please, we love him at UGA!
GAILEY
September 4th, 2012
12:21 am
Neither side set the feild on fire. First game of the season. Get your team to run something besides an option. Works in high school, not college. Unless its division 11
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
12:21 am
Hate on, peeps. I’m calling it a night.
Jammers
September 4th, 2012
12:21 am
Reality Tech
September 4th, 2012
12:15 am
Exhibit A:
http://blogs.ajc.com/recruiting/2012/01/22/ex-georgia-tech-recruit-talks-with-uga-florida-unc-others/
ReggieBall
September 4th, 2012
12:22 am
Miss me yet?
GAILEY
September 4th, 2012
12:24 am
macrotech all is not lost. Regroup and live to play another day.
GAILEY
September 4th, 2012
12:25 am
Good night. Good luck
Same old thing....
September 4th, 2012
12:25 am
Jammers
September 4th, 2012
12:21 am
Can you provide an exhibit to explain how Reggie Ball, Stephon Marbury, and others were able to make it at GT?
Same old thing....
September 4th, 2012
12:27 am
GAILEY
September 4th, 2012
12:24 am
Nah. Macrotech will merely live to make excuses and accusations on another day.
Buffalo Bull
September 4th, 2012
12:27 am
Has it occurred to you jackets Buffalo may be better than Tech.They certainly played UGA tougher than Tech does.
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
12:27 am
Tevin this is not Alabama football where you throw it up and pray!
Really you made that throw you should not have been a starting QB for a DIV 1 school.
Paul Johnson is hanging his has hat on you and you both with go down.
Jammers
September 4th, 2012
12:27 am
Ouch… I will take the stephon marbury one. I had an elective class with him. Wow… yeah, not sure how he made it through.
Same old thing....
September 4th, 2012
12:29 am
My final word – the VT QB is waaaaaaaay overrated.
Buffalo Bull
September 4th, 2012
12:29 am
Tech still doesn’t have a WR on the roster with a catch.
Reality Tech
September 4th, 2012
12:31 am
Smoke and mirrors Jammers……that wasn’t about him not being qualified. Tech saw this kid play his senior season and wanted to go a different direction. We blogged about this after it all went down. UGA didn’t want him either after the fact.
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
12:31 am
Tevin as you know a 5th grader would not have made that throw.
You and Reggie do have a lot in common.
ReggieBall
September 4th, 2012
12:33 am
Say my name say my name
Jammers
September 4th, 2012
12:38 am
Can we ALL agree that academics DOES IN FACT make a huge difference in a recruits mind? Schools like GT and vandy will never get a team full of 4 and 5 star athletes and must use those “smoke and mirrors” to beat teams. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I do agree CPJ cannot beat a decent team that has more than 2 weeks to prepare.
HoneyBee Uniforms
September 4th, 2012
12:41 am
Looks like the uni’s could not change the same old results for the insects.
And one time at band camp
September 4th, 2012
12:43 am
I stuck a sure win in my throat and choked on it……..
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
1:00 am
Same old thing…what excuses and accusations would you be referring to?
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
1:00 am
All I can say is this UOAD, Macro, Super, if this I what you want you have it.
Not once other than a helmet coming off did we see another QB then the great Tevin.
Realy in this game with no other QB getting chance?
Tevin you played Alabama High School for a reason go back and play there.
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
1:05 am
Rmblg Wreck…give it up. No one on this blog believes you’re a Tech fan. Based on your posts, one could argue that you didn’t even attend middle school, much less college.
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
1:06 am
There are people like Trent Dilfer that know you manage the game. Then there are people like Tevin who are from Albama who are not smart enough.
It is what it is.
Techerman
September 4th, 2012
1:08 am
Bees have nothing to be ashamed of- you have a gutsy little team. Keep your double chins up, there’s always next year. You can still win the state championship if you can learn to stop giving up the big plays and (seriously) run the ball to the outside. You couldn’t run it inside on us last year either. Good news is that Georgia U doesn’t have the D that VT does.
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
1:14 am
Really macro.
I call it like I see it.
This was a horrible showing.
With the way the D was playing this was a perfect time time get someone else at QB.
Just like someone else said Johnson will go do with Washington.
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
1:25 am
This game was a defensive battle…neither team giving anything away until the end. TW definitely missed some reads, but he managed this offense pretty well. Time will tell, but I believe that we’ll see TW win WAY more games than he’ll lose. CPJ sees much more of these guys than we do…I’m going to trust that he values his job more than the opinions of people on blogs. STILL a lot of games to be played….GO TECH!!!
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
1:35 am
Yea Mac he may win more than he loses but he won’t win the big one.
Never has never will.
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
1:40 am
You never make the throw he made.
He was falling backwards. He could not see the field.
Take the sack. No he’s not smart enough to not throw that ball.
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
1:42 am
They said the same thing about John Elway…he turned out to be PRETTY good! Be sure you don’t spill that half empty glass!
Rmblg Wreck
September 4th, 2012
1:44 am
Are you really comparing Tevin to Elway.
macrotech
September 4th, 2012
1:52 am
Not at all…just responding to your prediction that TW will never win the ‘big one’. The same was said of Elway. If you’ve ever played the game, you HAVE to know that bad throws happen….TW said that he was trying to throw the ball out of bounds to avoid the sack. Even the best QBs have a tough time throwing the ball when they’re getting knocked to the ground. Hope you kept the receipt for that crystal ball you’re playing with!
Princesswu112
September 4th, 2012
2:17 am
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Georgia
September 4th, 2012
10:58 pm
Is Vad Lee not good
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