2013 could be big for Tech, which could stand a big year
One day in the Sun brought much joy to the Yellow Jackets. (AP photo)
For Georgia Tech, many things happened en route to 7-7. The Yellow Jackets barely got bowl-eligible, and then they got bowl-ineligible by losing the ACC Championship game, and then the NCAA granted a waiver that allowed Tech to be invited back to the Sun Bowl, which is where it became the only team ever to beat the preseason No. 1 after losing at home to Middle Tennessee.
When you lose seven games, you can’t say you’ve had a good season. (Unless you’re Duke, which in football nobody aspires to be.) When you win seven games after starting 2-4, neither can you say the whole thing was a total loss. The Jackets took a season going wrong and wrestled it into something that seemed better than mediocrity, even though .500 is the definition of mediocrity.
The sense now is that better days are ahead, but that sensation is largely the result of beating USC in El Paso, and bowl results aren’t always indicative of future performance. (Example: Georgia Tech lost the 2008 Chick-fil-A Bowl by 35 points and went 11-3 in 2009.) The Jackets wanted badly to beat Southern Cal, which didn’t want to play.
Yes, Tech should be better in 2013 than in 2012. It loses three starters on offense and three on defense, and the absence of quarterback Tevin Washington clears the way for Vad Lee, of whom much is expected. The guess is that interim defensive coordinator Charles Kelly passed the audition with his work against Florida State and USC, and he has to be considered an upgrade over Al Groh, for whom nothing worked.
The schedule hasn’t been finalized, but it could be adventurous. Assuming the ACC’s rotation holds in its expansion to 14 teams, the Jackets will play host to Virginia Tech, Clemson and North Carolina. There’s a chance Florida State will play here, and there’s also a chance the Jackets could visit Clemson for a second year running. There will be trips to BYU and Miami, but it’s unclear how stout the Hurricanes will be once the NCAA gets done with them. Plus the Georgia game will be in Atlanta.
If Lee is as good as advertised and the defense is indeed better, the 2013 Jackets could win nine or 10 games. But here’s the sobering part: Tech hasn’t won that many games in a year since the bulk of Chan Gailey’s leftovers departed for the NFL in January 2010. In Paul Johnson’s first two seasons here, his teams were 20-7; they’ve since gone 21-19. Since Oct. 14, 2011, the Jackets are 9-12.
Johnson takes pains to note that his teams have at least tied for the best record in the Coastal Division three times in five seasons, but the Coastal has become the lesser half of a conference that still struggles for national credibility. Yes, the Jackets wound up representing the Coastal in the ACC Championship game, but that came in a year when Virginia Tech was awful by its standards and North Carolina was on probation and Miami chose to step aside.
Credit Johnson and his Jackets for being too stubborn to collapse, but Johnson’s pride has never been in doubt, and his stylized offense remains the best thing Tech has going for it. But the Institute will in the coming weeks make a hire that could have a greater effect on the football program than Johnson’s choice for defensive coordinator.
Dan Radakovich hired Johnson, but first the athletic director had to persuade himself that a run-based approach could win big in the 21st century. Then Johnson made the AD look smart by beating Georgia in Year 1 and winning the ACC in Year 2. Now Radakovich works at Clemson, which means Johnson will soon have a new boss.
Tech’s new AD might see underwhelming attendance as evidence that pitchouts don’t move the ticketing needle. The new AD might be more swayed by recruiting rankings. (At North Carolina State, Debbie Yow cited tepid signing classes as partial cause for Tom O’Brien’s dismissal.) The new AD might ask when/if this program will again be competitive against Georgia.
The nice part about beating USC was that it stirred, pun intended, a bit of a buzz around a program that hasn’t lately raised much ruckus. But that was one game, and an odd game at that. The new AD might, as new ADs do, look hard at a body of work.
Dave Braine hired Gailey as a coach and handed him a new five-year contract in November 2005, but it took less than two years for Radakovich, who succeeded Braine, to decide Chan wasn’t his man. Yes, Johnson has been better than Gailey, but maybe by not as much as you’d think. Through five seasons, Gailey was 37-27. Through five seasons, Johnson is 41-26.
This isn’t to suggest that Johnson could or should be fired. The belief here is that he’s a good coach, but it would behoove him to have a big 2013. Athletic directors find it easier to embrace a coach who’s holding a trophy.
By Mark Bradley
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274 comments Add your comment
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:20 pm
@ cattledwag……you are a typical STUPID mutt. Stanford is a UNIVERSITY, and they offer liberal arts courses with NO CALCULUS requirement. They can get the same players that UGA can get, whereas Tech can only get those willing to take a chance on the limited curriculum at Tech. And if you think that’s BS, then why is it that when Wally Butts was coach at UGA whenever he visited a recruit’s home, he left behind a calculus book as if to ask, “can you pass this.” If you doubt that, then read page 6 of Adam van Brimmer’s book “100 Things Yellow Jacket Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die.”
Ramblin Wreck
January 2nd, 2013
2:20 pm
Sheez-
Who’s here is claiming to be happy with a 7-7 record? No one I’ve seen. And it was ultimately CPJ’s fault – he chose to entrust the defense to Al Groh. Did you see them earlier in the year? They looked completely lost half the time. The question is this: Is the underlying problem fixable, and can PJ fix it?
My view: The offense works. Stats show it, rankings show it. Even some of the bowl games we lost were not schematic (Air Force loss is an exception. That was a terrible game. Utah didn’t shut us down. Iowa and LSU did, but they just flat had better players than we did, period. Recruiting issue there.)
Defense is the crux. You could bring in a defensive-minded head coach, but what about the offense? Again I say: the DC hire is everything right now. If CPJ swings and misses on that, it’s three strikes. Talent evaluation includes evaluating coaches. We have some great returning talent on both sides of the ball. 2013 is the crux year where everything is in place for a great run. Do we have to win the ACC (or even the division)? Not necessarily. You can have one loss in conference and not go to the ACCCG (just ask Florida and LSU about that in the SEC the past couple of years). I think 10-2 is completely doable, and 9-3 might be OK depending on how it happens. 8-4 is a tipping point for me, and 7-5 or worse just flat doesn’t work.
I’m optimistic. Ought to be fun.
Danny
January 2nd, 2013
2:23 pm
Elon, Alabama A&M, Duke, Virginia. Here’s a thought, swap UGA for the NYO champions,Va Tech for Sandy Spring Saints, and Clemson for Pace Academy. Tech can go undefeated and play for the BCS championship.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:25 pm
@ Danny…..sorta like UGA playing Buffalo and Florida Atlantic and Coastal Carolina, huh, and then coupling that with the softest SEC schedule in the entire SEC. SHEESH !!!!
beebee
January 2nd, 2013
2:27 pm
Yeah UGABob, 9 or 10 wins is a big year for us because we get mostly just average players, with a scant sparse number of NFL potentials. Georgia, on the other hand, year in and year out produces 10, 12, 14 NFL able football bodies, yet somehow manages to get totally WHACKED by the ranked teams on their schedule, like Boise State, which takes only slightly above-average players and puts a great team together like UGA wish it could.
bee
Jay
January 2nd, 2013
2:28 pm
I hope tevin can get a waiver and play again next year
Danny
January 2nd, 2013
2:29 pm
the softest schedule in the SEC is significantly tougher than an Acc schedule that constantly dodges Fla State (not so great this year). How did Va Tech do?
Fla vs Fla State
South carolina vs Clemson
UGA vs ga tech
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:29 pm
If Johnson had the athletes that Richt has year in and year out, he would have multiple NC’s by now. And the fact that he doesn’t have those athletes doesn’t mean he’s not trying to get them (or at least get the few of them who can cut it at Tech). He’s not stupid; why would he not try to get the best?
Stinger 2
January 2nd, 2013
2:30 pm
Mark: I believe the search committee holds the keys to CPJ`s survival. If the majority
do not want him to stay they will make sure they select an AD who will follow instructions to fire CPJ. He will be allowed to stay for 2013 but will not be around after that unless he pulls a miracle and wins the ACC and a BCS bowl.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:31 pm
@ Danny….so typical of a mutt to live off the successes or failures of its rivals while your own team underachieves year after year after year, in spite of having superior talent. Spurrier summed it all up 20 years ago at Florida when he said that UGA always gets the great talent and never does anything with it.
Uh, Bobby Dodd...
January 2nd, 2013
2:32 pm
…”Hey DawgFan and UGA Bobbie, First, get off our blog and go back to the pizza parlor or Effies…”
I believe this is Mark Bradley’s blog, not Ken’s, so get off you high horse and STFU…you Techie’s are REALLY dumb when it comes to thinking that EVERYTHING is about you…
Danny
January 2nd, 2013
2:34 pm
supersize, UGA won 12 games this year, that’s 2 years worth for Tech. I know Tech is a baseball school.
Destin Dawg
January 2nd, 2013
2:34 pm
great win for GT over USC… don’t we all hate Kiffen ????
C'mon, Supersize......
January 2nd, 2013
2:35 pm
…you know that 12-2 with ANY talent is very good regardless of anything else…especially when one loss is to probably the best team in the country (AL) and the other loss is to another probable top 10 team (SC) on the road…
GT92
January 2nd, 2013
2:35 pm
I really don’t like to get into woulda/shoulda/coulda, but the obvious point from this season is that if Tech had played average defense for most of the year, then they are easily 9-5 or 10-4.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:35 pm
@ Danny…..and yet the mutts have only beat 4 ranked teams in what? the past 5 years?
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:36 pm
@ GT92….EXACTLY, and if the defense that showed up over the last 6 quarters had shown up in Athens, things would not have gotten so out of hand. Not saying Tech would have won, but it would definitely not have been so ugly
C'mon, Supersize......
January 2nd, 2013
2:37 pm
…and just because you despise UGA don’t let the facts get in the way of your viewpoints – you are better than that…
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:38 pm
Any defense at all would have beat VT and Miami and probably Clemson on that particular day (we kept it close even with a bad defense). MTSU would not have happened if we had been on a winning streak, and BYU COULD have been different too.
wxl
January 2nd, 2013
2:38 pm
Much is made of Johnson’s “stylized” offense and his inability to get top notch recruits because of the running offense. One has nothing to do with the other because scoring points has not been a problem so the offense or type of offense is not the problem. The defense has been the problem and what type of offense Tech runs has nothing to do with defense recruiting. Tech will never get the 4 and 5 star recruits that the football factories get, so what we need is a “stylized” defense that is effective with 2,3, and a few 4 star recruits.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:39 pm
@ C’mon……where have I let viewpoint supercede facts?
Independent
January 2nd, 2013
2:39 pm
there’s really no reason to pick GT over UGA based on academics, unless you want to be an engineer….. UGA has all the other majors, plus a great college town atmosphere with cool girls etc… most students at Tech like characters on ” BIG BANG THEORY “
That picture with the Tech guy holding the......
January 2nd, 2013
2:39 pm
…Sun bowl Champions hat makes me wonder if CPJ is going to order championship rings like he did after Tech beat UGA his first year…
John Wayne
January 2nd, 2013
2:41 pm
dawgfan is a typical redneck sumbag.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:41 pm
@ wxl…..actually all we need is a defense who knows how to tackle like they did Monday and some better strength and conditioning. Tenuta, even though I really never liked the man, was able to build a good defense and turn a few fairly good players into exceptional players.
cattledawg
January 2nd, 2013
2:41 pm
Did I hurt poor little Supersize feelings??? Poor guy, must suck to go through life as miserable as he is. Most of the time I actually try and have conversations with You techies, but there is that certain group of your fan base that is so insecure that its impossible.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:42 pm
The rings in 2008 had nothing to do with beating UGA. The rings were presents from the Chik Fil’A Bowl, and the PLAYERS chose to have the UGA inscribed in them. You got that, bubba???
cattledawg
January 2nd, 2013
2:42 pm
EXCUSE TRAIN, ALL ABOARD
mgdawg
January 2nd, 2013
2:42 pm
I like that tech fans think their degree is harder/better then Stanford. That is laughable, not to mention notre dame also has pretty high standards. Do you really think tech players are that much smarter then UGA’s, do I need to bring up reggie ball. The kid couldn’t even count to 4.
Dawglasville
January 2nd, 2013
2:45 pm
Mr. Bradley,
I guess I’m hung in the limbo of “moderation” because I once referred to a troll as a certain device that is made up of a hose and a hot water bottle. I have learned my lesson and apologize for doing that. I promise not to do that again. I do like reading your stuff and enjoy playing blog. 99.9 percent of the time I blog respectfully and as an adult. Please accept my apology and please put me back in the game.
Uh, Supersize......
January 2nd, 2013
2:46 pm
…try this statement yo made for letting “facts” get in the way of “viewpoints – “so typical of a mutt to live off the successes or failures of its rivals while your own team underachieves year after year after year, in spite of having superior talent.”
As I stated earlier, 12-2 is very good no matter what the talent level or who you play, so it cannot be considered “underachieving” no matter against whom the losses were..
And despite the rhetoric around UGA each and every year about how good they are going to be, EVERY team in the US thinks, before the year starts, that this is their year to win it all, even at Tech…
And, YES, UGA has underachieved in many years, just as Tech did this year and last, yet 2012 was NOT a year in which UGA underachieved by any stretch of the imagination, even a Tech imagination…
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:46 pm
@ cattledwag…..you call claiming that Stanford has the same academic problems that Tech has in recruiting an attempt at having a conversation when you know that Stanford is a UNIVERSITY and not a predominantly engineering school??? Post some facts instead of ignorant drivel, if you want to have a legitimate conversation.
A person SMART enough to know.....
January 2nd, 2013
2:47 pm
There is NO Same school as TECH that plays football. MIT doesn’t play football. Cal Poly is a FCS school and about as close to TECH as you will find but they still have Liberal Arts degrees just like Stanford. There are NO comparable Colleges in the FBS to TECH.
there is NO other School in the FBS that has a curriculum like the Institute does………Do you people not understand that FACT.
Uh, Supersize......
January 2nd, 2013
2:47 pm
…better re-check your facts on those 2008 rings, bubba…
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:48 pm
@ Uh…..actually you are correct in saying that the mutts did not underachieve this year. They did, in fact, do better than most people outside of Athens thought they would do. But they still cannot beat Spurrier, and when given an almost sure chance of winning the game with Bama, they screwed up.
GT GRAD
January 2nd, 2013
2:49 pm
I really look forward to Vad Lee and Justin Thomas at the QB position for the next 3-4 years!
The roster is full of talented young players who have learned some VERY valuable lessons this season; this bodes well for the GT Football team going forward! We only lose 3 starting seniors from each side of the ball this year…………the offensive line and defensive lines should be VERY formidable. GT will also benefit from the fact Coach PJ has a significant number of Redshirt Freshmen and Redshirt Sophmores on the 2013 roster. Do not ignore the impact Fred Holton will have in 2013 (I think he was granted an additional year of eligibility).
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:49 pm
@ Uh….. The rings were part of the rewards package of the Chik Fil’A bowl. Johnson did not order them, nor did Tech pay for them. The players were given an option of what to have inscribed in them, and they chose to have the score of the UGA game. THOSE ARE FACTS !!!!!
dawgfan
January 2nd, 2013
2:51 pm
Supersize, if you want to have a legimate conversation why don’t you stop lying? Tech athletes do not have to take calculus. That is a lie. They have to take no more than a “Survey of Calculus.” By its own definition that is not calculus. So for you to sit here and say that there is a “calculus requirement” for Tech athletes is a nothing more than a lie.
Stop lying Supersize.
mgdawg
January 2nd, 2013
2:52 pm
wxl, are you serious. Let me explain this to you.
1. All big time recruits want to go somewhere to help them get to the NFL. If you play in a pro style offense in college your stock is higher then if you play in a high school style offense.
2. Scout teams are a big deal, if you have a better scout team you will be more prepared. When your scout team is trying to portray a pro style offense, but your scout team is filled with triple option type players, you can’t get a good look. That hurts your defense.
3. Your coach hates defense. He continually throws the defense under the bus, but when the offense does bad you don’t him bad mouthing the offense. From what I’ve heard he also recruits offense a lot harder then defense. You’re a head coach, you should recruit everyone.
so yes, the coach and his stylized (high school) offense does hurt the whole team. The offense does allow you to beat a team or two each year that you shouldn’t beat, but you have no chance at a NC or having a national recognized team. One of your recruits said it best when he said, “this is the same offense we run at my high school.”
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:52 pm
@ Uh……what do you think about a team who would retire the number of an otherwise unknown player who scored the winning TD against their number one rival. Well, that’s what UGA did in 1957 after Theron Sapp (WHO ???) scored the winning TD to end the 8-year long drought against Tech.
Uh, Supersize......
January 2nd, 2013
2:53 pm
…and you need to understand the difference between a “university” and an “engineering” school – Tech may have started out as an engineering school and focus upon the fact that though engineering may be what Tech is most known for, the Institute itself is far from JUST an engineering school, and really is a university…they have just chosen NOT to change their name since, wait for it…
“The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, Tech or GT) is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. It is a part of the University System of Georgia and has satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia; Metz, France; Athlone, Ireland; Shanghai, China; and Singapore…” – from wikipedia 2013
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:54 pm
@ dwagfan…..even a Survey of Calculus is harder than anything any of the jocks at Athens have to take.
Uh, Supersize......
January 2nd, 2013
2:54 pm
…I agree – the retiring of that jersey is utterly dumb…
GTBob
January 2nd, 2013
2:56 pm
I like that tech fans think their degree is harder/better then Stanford.
The graduation rate at Stanford in 5 years is 92%. At GT the graduation rate in 6 years is 79% (31% in 4 years). It is pretty safe to say that GT is a tougher school than Stanford. Not better but certainly tougher.
Just Saying..
January 2nd, 2013
2:56 pm
From the Dodd-Danforth viewing room:
-Vlad needs a zillion reps.
-Great admiration for the job Charles Kelly did.
-Paul, if you can’t figure a way to beat Georgia, it will never work out.
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:57 pm
@ Uh…..call it what you will, Tech still does not offer any of the degree programs that “standard” universities offer.
single white dove
January 2nd, 2013
2:58 pm
Its not like GT was an offensive weapon with no defense. I would not like to see Johnson back…
Dawglasville
January 2nd, 2013
2:58 pm
Testing…
Supersize that order, mutt
January 2nd, 2013
2:59 pm
@ single white dove……whether you would like to see Johnson back or not, you WILL see him, and probably for many years to come. This crap about him hating defense is just that…..CRAP.
Buzzster
January 2nd, 2013
3:03 pm
@Cos Spofford…Exactly right!