Ramblin' On

A Tech buddy pinged me earlier today with news about the PETA request to replace UGA VII with an “animatronic dog”.

My first reaction was laughter.   I mean, seriously…it had to be a joke right?  Some GT fan was just being funny.

But then he pointed me here…PETA Honors UGA’s Legacy.

This prompted a second round of laughter.  You just can’t make stuff like this up, especially during rivalry week.

So I hurried to my PC to write a quick blog…and found that Mark Bradley had already beaten me to it.

Operation ‘Droid Dawg…loved it! Inspired work!

Pure genius Mark…pure genius…I’m not even going to try to compete.   I bow to your superior blogging skills.

In case you were wondering, I’m still laughing…good stuff!

You would think that PETA would recognize that UGA himself lives the life that any dog would love to have.   Air conditioned dog houses, bags of ice to lay on, private jets, co-eds petting him constantly…this was not a dog that was abused or forced to live in harsh …

Continue reading Robot Dawgs? Thanks PETA! »

Idle thoughts on an off week…

Various Rankings

Teams in the BCS Top 25 : The SEC has three while the ACC has four.

Teams in the AP Top 25: The SEC has three while the ACC has four.

Teams in the Harris Poll Top 25: The SEC has three while the ACC has four.

Teams in the Sagarin Top 25: The SEC has four while the ACC has five.

Anyone else detecting the trend here?  While the SEC has an admittedly strong showing at #1 and #2 with Florida and Alabama, the ACC in general has more teams ranked top to bottom.   How often have we heard arguments in the past that the ACC was top heavy when FSU was sitting on the top with everyone else beneath them.  Why are we not hearing how top heavy the SEC is right now?

And speaking of Sagarin ratings…which are generally considered non-biased and legit and which are published by USA Today.

Sagarin Stuff (Click here to see source details…)

Lets look at the current Top 10 BCS rated schools and compare their Sagarin rated strength of …

Continue reading Comparing Sagarin and SoS on an Off Week »

How’s it feel Jacket fans?  We’re 10-1 and locked into the championship game in Tampa as the Coastal Division Champion!

I’m watching Miami flounder around against North Carolina and wondering what could have been, if we hadn’t played them as our third game in twelve days earlier in the season.  I’d love to get a rematch right now…I think we’d steamroll them.

Looking back at today’s game…

The Good!

10-1…’nuff said!

519 total yards of offense and 49 points despite playing the second string for pretty much the entire fourth quarter.

Dwyer goes over 100 yards again and adds a pair of TDs.

Nesbitt goes 6 / 10 for 195 yards and a pair of TDs.

Orwin Smith’s big kick off return to swing momentum.

Ben Anderson’s huge game with five solo tackles and a pair of impressive sacks.

The defense held Duke to less than 300 yards of total offense and a measly 10 points.

The Bad!

Once again, we came out flat on the road and stumbled to a 10-0 deficit before we woke up.

Lack of communication on …

Continue reading 10-1 & ACC Coastal Champs! »

Listen up Jacket fans…

Right now it doesn’t matter that Tech has a comparable schedule strength to the Gator or Bama.

It doesn’t matter that Tech will finish the season against tougher competition.

It doesn’t matter that TCU and Boise State are ranked ahead of us.

It doesn’t matter that Nesbitt and Dwyer are putting up comparable or better numbers than Tebow or Ingram.

It doesn’t matter that we don’t get the benefit of the doubt that SEC programs get.

It doesn’t matter that we’re off to the best start in nearly a decade and a Top 10 ranking.

All that matters is that we’re about to play Duke on the road…for a definitive lock on the ACC Coastal and a berth in the championship game in Tampa on December 5.

Yes…Duke…

5-4 Duke…Duke with a winning record and victories against NC State, Maryland, and Virginia.

Duke who is averaging 370 yards of offense per game…301 of it in the air…

Duke who is scoring almost 27 points a game behind Thaddeus Lewis who has 2400+ yards of passing and 15 …

Continue reading FOCUS DUKE! »

Oh my…oh my…what a gutsy call.

You hear people talk about “coaching not to lose” all the time.

Tonight you saw Paul Johnson “coach to win”.

There was no chance the Jackets were going to kick a fieldgoal and give Riley Skinner another chance to put the ball in the endzone.

The defense had played great all night and the offense had overcome errors and penalties to put itself in a position to win the game.

I don’t think Johnson would have kicked a field goal even if he’d had to go for it in fourth down again, inside the five.  By that time, it was obvious that the Jackets were going to win or lose the game with the ball in their hands…controlling their own destiny.

This was one of those games that teams have to win in order to have a “special season”.

Gutsy, gutsy win…now I’m off to pull for the Seminoles to hold on and beat the Tigers.

I look forward to hearing comments from other Tech fans who were at the game tonight…what did you think about that call to go for …

Continue reading Paul Johnson Plays to Win! »

Why Isn’t Nesbitt Getting Heisman Mentions?

Tebow’s been responsible for 18 TDs (10 passing and 8 running) and a little over 1800 yards of offense.  Seven of those scores came against Charleston Southern and Troy…so don’t get too excited.

Nesbitt has been responsible for 19 TDs (6 passing and 13 rushing) and a little over 1900 yards of offense.  Only two of those scores came against cupcake competition opening the season against Jacksonville State.

So Nesbitt has been responsible for more scores and more yards at this point in the season…against fairly comparable competition.  And by the end of the season Nesbitt will have played potentially better overall competition since the Gators still have Florida International on their schedule.

By the end of the season, the Jackets and Gators will share four opponents…FSU, MSU, Vandy, and UGA.  That’ll give us a chance to make direct comparisons.

As of right now, Nesbitt’s performance against MSU looks alot better than …

Continue reading Jackets and Gators: Four Common Opponents? »

Samuel M. Simpkins, The Tennessean

So…the Jackets are 8-1 with three games remaining against Wake, Duke, and UGA.  The Wake and UGA games are at home in Bobby Dodd Stadium, while the Duke game is on the road.  This is a good thing, because the Tech defense seems to travel without its “man card” whenever we have a road game.

I watched the Vandy game while handing out candy last night, so lets get to it without any further idle chatter…

The Good

Jonathan Dwyer – 186 yards on 22 carries with three TDs.  The Diesel was running hard and with attitude.

Josh Nesbitt – 193 yards and two TDs via the air and 56 yards and two TDs on the ground.  Can you say dual threat?

Roddy Jones – 80 yards and one TD on just nine carries.  Roddy was running tough and fighting for yards.

Offensive Line – These guys are blocking their butts off and are fighting through a variety of aches, pains, and injuries.

56 Points – Yup…56 points, no need to say anything more…597 total yards of offense and …

Continue reading 8-1…No Matter How You Look At It… »

Sorry…someone has to say it…

Maybe Frank Beamer and his cHokies should have been thinking about their game against North Carolina rather than whining and crying about getting blocked a few times by the Jackets.  Its funny how they didn’t complain last year when they won the game.

I already suspected that Beamer’s boys were having a tough time working through their manhood issues based on what had been in the press the past week.  But then the cHokies allowed a woeful Tar Heels team to come into their house, supposedly tough Lane Stadium, and score twice in the last three minutes of the game to tie and then win the game.  Less than two weeks ago VT was being mentioned in national title conversations…and now they aren’t.

I wonder what the complaints will be this time?

Travel Plans for Tampa?

How many of you have made travel plans to be in Tampa on December 5th?

With the aforementioned loss by Virginia Tech, the ACC Coastal Division title is squarely in the Jacket’s …

Continue reading There’s No Crying in Football! »

What a great Saturday…family time in the morning, the Jackets stomping a hole in the Hoos and the Charlottesville Curse, and more family time in the evening.  It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Jackets Stomp the Hoos 34-9!

After a slow start, Paul Johnson once again made halftime adjustments and opened the third quarter with a monster, clock devouring drive that resulted in points.

18 plays, 82 yards, and almost 11 minutes…are you kidding me?  What we’re seeing is a little bit of what the Navy fans told us we could expect.  They call Johnson’s offense “The Big Stick” for just this reason.  Johnson pounds and pounds and pounds some more…and opposing defenses crack and crumble and give up crucial scoring drives late in games.  We’ve seen it against several opponents this season…

Also…hats off to the defense.  What a tough, gutsy performance on the road.  The Hoos got into scoring position a couple of times only to be turned away from the endzone.

Wishful thinking …

Continue reading Ding Dong! The Curse is Dead! »

I remember exactly where I was in 1990 when Scott Sisson kicked the game winning field goal to beat the #1 Hoos in Charlottesville.

I was at my friend Brian’s house watching on TV and when that kick sailed through the uprights we went nuts, hopped on my motorcycle, and rode through downtown Barnesville GA screaming and honking the horn.  After junior college, Brian went on to UGA and I went to GT…but that Scott Sisson kick was something I’ll bet we both remember fondly to this day.  It was a helluva football game and high drama to a couple of college guys who loved college football.

Unfortunately, since 1990, Charlottesville has been something of a House of Horrors for the Jackets.

1992…55-22 loss…

1995…24-7 loss…

1997…35-31 loss…

1999…45-38 loss.  Despite having Joe Hamilton under center and a #7 ranking coming into the game.

2001…39-38 loss.  Hook and Ladder…’nuff said…

2003…29-17 loss.  Matt Schaub and Heath Miller dominated us.

2005…27-17 loss.  A three game win …

Continue reading Do the Jackets turn the Corner this Weekend? »