Five Things I Believe About 2010 Georgia Tech Football
by Winfield Featherston on Jul 21, 2010 1:00 PM EDT
15 comments
Here are five things I believe will happen during the 2010 football season in no particular order. Do you agree or disagree?
5. We will never get the credit (or media attention) we deserve
And I am ok with that. Historically we have never gotten the media attention until it was "too late" for them to change their picks. And why should we expect it now? No, let them fall in love (again) with North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Florida State, and I'll take my ACC Championship at the end of the season thank you very much. It is more fun and intense to play as the underdog.
4. Anthony Allen is going to be a better B-Back than Jonathan Dwyer ever was
We return three experienced offensive linemen to the field this year and have one experienced backup in Phil "Philthy" Smith. Add that to Anthony Allen's overall physical qualities and the simple nature of the B-Back in the offense and you have a recipe for success. Allen is cut,lean, quick and mean. The A-Back position was a filler position for him last year and this season he will come into his own.
We will soon realize that the B-Back is a solid position. And whomever the starter is will rack up near 1,000 yard seasons consistently.
3. Our defense will be far improved from last year
Can the defense actually worsen? With Al Groh solely focusing on defense this year, I feel confident in seeing better statistical numbers for 2010 even with the needed adjustment to the 3-4.
2. Passing capabilities will NOT only be used in desperate situations
Last year, we passed 17% of the time on 1st down, 13% on 2nd down, 33% on 3rd down and 31% on 4th down. Our passing was clearly top heavy. This year I believe our passing game will improve and we will use it because we want to, not because we have to. The Jackets will use it to keep the defense honest and they will use it to the benefit of the running game overall because....
1. Our offense will increase in production and efficiency
This will primarily be in the running game and passing will simply be a tool we use. Before many football games we will hear boasting about how defenses have figured out our offense. This.Will.Not.Happen. As our system continues to be implemented, we will only get better. In Paul Johnson's 25+ years of coaching, nobody has "figured it out". What's one more years of the triple option? Look for more yards and better efficiencies in 2010.
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The defense cannot be worse
Go re-watch the 2009 FSU game. I was appalled to realize how awful, pathetic, dreadful, disgusting, and revolting the defense was in that game. There is no way Al Groh will put a defense on the field that is that bad.
ditto plus the U(sic)GA game
the lightning delay didn’t help matters any (although the GT drumline did provide @ twenty minutes of under the bleacher entertainment). The game was more reminiscent of an arena football game.
On the contrary, our season ender at Bobby Dodd was excrutiating to watch. I can’t imagine NOT improving on defense this year.
by twojackets on Jul 21, 2010 4:11 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
exactly. We can only go up.
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John HeismanFromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Jul 21, 2010 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Let me assure you this:
it can get worse. I’m a dawg fan, and I thought that things couldn’t get worse from the utter desolation of 2008. In 2009, things weren’t just worse for us on D, they were a lot worse.
Things get better for a reason, not by the mere fact of a new year coming along. Rooting for regression to the mean is a scary thought and not a statistically-sound hope. Groh may be the guy who turns it around for you (we hope Grantham is for us), but getting better on D takes more than fresh faces. Heck, Saban went 7-6 in his first year of installing a new defense at Alabama.
by first and thom on Jul 22, 2010 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions
The best way to get better
Is to get better talent. We need to do a better job recruiting defensive talent.
"Everybody talks about SEC speed. The 27 fastest guys at the (NFL) combine, how many of them were from the SEC? Three. But if you say it enough, everybody will believe it."
-CPJ
"You could spend the next fifteen seconds of your life watching a man and a tiger scream together, or you could be an idiot."
Fact.
do you mean
“Passing capabilities will NOT only be used in desperate situations?”
by GTNate on Jul 21, 2010 3:12 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
yes, yes yes,
Written, scheduled, published while away. Thanks for the catch and the call-out
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John HeismanFromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on Jul 21, 2010 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions
#5
This one is tough. I think it takes a period of sustained excellence to win over the media. CPJ is now entering year three and I think he has GT well on its way. Winning one of the bowl games would have made a big difference (remember we have a five game bowl losing streak going).
VT really had to earn their credit over a period of time, I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t duplicate their success if we continued to win at a high level. Is there anything special about VT that would make the media love them more? They have been incredibly successfuly under Beamer, but that is about it.
i give this an
A +
This is my Family Tradition
by The_GT_LineageX11 on Jul 21, 2010 3:24 PM EDT reply actions
We've gotten no media love since 1952.
When we were the biggest team in the 10th largest city in the US, and when the 5th Estate was more concerned with Scholar Athletes, and when the focus wasn’t on the NFL draft in 2 years, and when people were more concerned about the game than the controversies and transactions – we got some love.
Fortunately, we won’t have a USC/Reggie Bush deal, Big BOI is our best sideline celebrity, we are the smaller of two state schools (many of my friends STILL think we are a Private school), and we don’t draw much attention to ourselves.
Many of our Alumni are sent out of state, or out of the country (unlike the nadlickers), and there is SO much to do in Atlanta that we don’t need 106,000 seats (because there isn’t much to do at the Knoxville Home for Wayward Thugs)
Now if we can only throw a QB controversy into the mix, Fowler/Herbie and Corso will be all over HBDS@GF.
Tech has always had a tradition of stable, even keel coaches and administrators (well, Pepper gets a pass), so we don’t stand a chance in the Mike Leech/Kiffykins sweepstakes.
I’m happy with that:
I’ve got a First Class Education and a World Class Diploma.
by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Jul 21, 2010 3:32 PM EDT reply actions
response to passing game #2
after continued discussions with fellow jackets at work, including a former player, CPJ would not have wasted all the work in Spring practice on shotgun reps just to throw off our opponents. We will run some different looks, including more ‘traditional’ pocket passing plays. However, if it doesn’t work, then CPJ will adjust until it does work or is scrapped.
by twojackets on Jul 21, 2010 4:20 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Let's see...
5 – A given.
4 – Strongly agree. As good a AA was last year it seemed as though he would hesitate coming around the corner at times, trying to find a hole. More often than not it gave the D time to converge on him. I think out of the B position he’ll run more instinctively and with his size/speed that will mean trouble for the other team.
3 – Another given. Hopefully no more 35-31 games.
2 – Have some doubt here. I wish I had more confidence in Nesbitt’s passing capabilities but he just hasn’t looked like any kind of thrower the past two years. Would love to see passing open up the running game even more but I’m in the “Show Me” mode. It could just as easily revert to run, run, run, bomb, run as go the other way.
1 – Unlikely, just because it’s hard to get that much more productive & efficient. Avoiding the bad game or two would be the best way to achieve this one.
On #2, I think Nesbitt can actually be a pretty good passer when the OL gives him time to pass. Many of his bad throws the last two years were the result of terrible pass protection. In games where he had time to throw, like against Duke last year, he did well.
Hopefully we’ll continue to see improvement in the OL. They were certainly better in 2009 than in 2008.
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