Who Is Georgia Tech's Toughest Home ACC Opponent In 2011?
by Winfield Featherston on May 17, 2011 8:24 AM EDT
in Georgia Tech Football
Email
PrintIt's an odd-numbered year which means lucrative opponents at home, a greater possibility for late afternoon/ evening TV games, and an increase in season ticket sales. This past weekend, I had a good conversation with my ticket block and it made me think just how long the offseason will be. We will follow the format GobblerCountry used last week in evaluating their opponents.
September 24, North Carolina Tar Heels
Relax: The Tarheels haven't won in Atlanta since 1997
Worry: A small offensive line could run into some trouble if UNC puts together yet another solid defensive line
October 8, Maryland Terrapins
Relax: Maryland hasn't seen the Paul Johnson offense yet, setting this game up to be a classic "run-over-em" Georgia Tech rushing victory.The Terrapins also lost their most productive wide receiver, Torrey Smith, to the NFL Draft.
Worry: Randy Edsall could put something together up in College Park and their defense returns a number of starters
October 29, Clemson Tigers
Relax: Dabo-Dabo Doo! Actually, this game could be a huge toss-up
Worry: Last year, the Jackets got pummeled on each side of the ball. This game is a huge toss-up
November 10, Virginia Tech Hokies
Relax: Thursday night football in Atlanta. Remember 2009?! Plus, no Tyrod Taylor for the Hokies. By November, I suspect the Tevin-Synjyn combination is in full-swing and we're ready to go for this football game.
Worry: Frank Beamer always has a quarterback who ready to fill the void left behind by the previous starter. Bud Foster defense, special teams abilities, etc.
I think the choices are pretty clear and usual. Virginia Tech will be the most daunting task in 2011 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Clemson will the be biggest question mark going into the season.
17 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
The Virginia Tech game
will probably be the most important in terms of the ACC race too.
That’s an excellent home schedule. I’d say UNC or VT
'11: Minimum Goal: Win 10 games again
'10: 7th in offense, 41st in defense. Division Champions. 10-4. (6-3)
'09: 3rd in offense, 107th in defense. 7-6 (4-4)
Tomahawk Nation: Nole-Holds-Barred Analysis of FSU Sports!
Follow Tomahawk Nation's Twitter feed!
I did not vote for Virginia Tech
The reason is very obvious to me. Every year we either beat them or we have them beaten before letting the game slip away. That to me means we are always up for this game and VT is never able to dominate. On the other hand, Clemson is a tough opponent for us even when we have a superior team. I am more worried about them than Virginia Tech.
by Atlanta's original team on May 17, 2011 1:46 PM EDT reply actions
I disagree, yet again.
From a pressure stand point, we really need to beat UNC and Maryland. Our season is in the tank if we cannot beat these guys. Our team is young and these early season games will be difficult.
While I think Clemson and VPI are better teams, they come later in the season and we will be about as good as we are going to be by mid-season.
Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
just today I was thinking
“wow it sure seems like my favorite games are the ones against the toughest opponent” and then orientalnc gives a good rebuttal to the VT/CU argument.
Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John HeismanFromTheRumbleSeat
by Winfield Featherston on May 17, 2011 9:37 PM EDT reply actions
Depends on how the o-line develops
Clemson – this game is always a fight, and it doesn’t matter how good or bad either team is. Defensively I think we can stop them, but this game is going to depend on how well our o-line develops. We’ve got to be able to move the ball and punch it in the endzone. I really hope Synjyn has won the starting QB spot by the time we play the tigers.
VT – Bud Foster at VT has no answer for our offense. We’ve basically had our way with them every year, they just beat us with their offense, special teams, and dumb luck. I think our defense is going to be way better this year than last, but we’ve got to be able to capitalize with our special teams, (wish we would have hired a special teams guru, but that’s just me.)
UNC – was probably our most complete game last year. They lost a lot on both sides of the ball, I think we maul UNC. Butch Davis has just never really impressed me. They have some decent talent, but I don’t think this will be too bad a game.
Maryland – no idea. New coach there so they may have some fire, but I don’t know what they have to work with personnel-wise.
Special Teams Coach
I’m with you on this one. They need to bring in a guy who is a special teams coach. He can do other things here and there, but he needs to primarily be a special teams coach. This whole thing where teams is every coach’s side job just doesn’t work. We need a guy who can focus on special teams alone.
The limit for FBS football is 1 head coach and 9 assistant coaches. The question is, who would you replace or whose responsibilities would you reassign? I think it would have to be a offensive coach as there are only four defensive coaches. Here are the coaches as listed on ramblinwreck.com:
Paul Johnson – Head Coach
Al Groh – Defensive Coordinator
Andy McCollum – Defensive Line/ Recruiting Coordinator
Joe Speed – Linebackers Coach
Charles Kelly – Defensive Secondary Coach
Mike Sewak – Co-Offensive Line Coach
Todd Spencer – Co-Offensive Line Coach
Brian Bohannon – Quarterbacks/B-Backs Coach
Lamar Owens – A-Backs Coach
Al Preston – Wide Receivers Coach
by Dive Keep and Pitch on May 18, 2011 1:22 PM EDT up reply actions
I see two offensive line coaches there
Typically, special teams is filled with linebackers and secondary players, so that would be one option (have the special teams coach help out with linebackers and secondary). Linemen are common on kick/punt protection, but that’s not as big a deal for this team.
I agree with you that the limitations on the number of coaches is fairly restrictive, but special teams are important too. Special teams produce the largest field position change per play out of the three phases, so it’s more important than just an afterthought.
Having two OL coaches seems excessive at first glance, but considering the players to coaches ratio it perhaps isn’t excessive. Particularly, if you consider that the various offensive linemen have different responsibilities (C vs G vs T), unlike the AB, for example, who responsibilities are the same for every player.
I suppose there’s an argument to be made that in this offense a dedicated WR coach is a bit of a luxury and that it would be better to assign the WR coaching duties elsewhere – AB coach maybe – and either have WR coach become a special teams only coach or replace him outright with a special teams guru.
That said, when the standard philosphy on the 4th-and-whatever is to go for it, just how much time and effort do you really want to dedicate to punting and field goals? Certainly some effort will be required for the KO and KO return teams, but do the KO teams merit a dedicated coaching position?
Were the special teams really that bad last year? Certainly they had issues and were special in the wrong kind of way, but just how far away really are the special teams from being adequate?
by Dive Keep and Pitch on May 18, 2011 3:55 PM EDT up reply actions
They were bad enough to lose us two games
The Virginia Tech and Air Force games come immediately to mind. Poor execution on special teams (KO coverage and punt return, respectively) led to those defeats. I don’t remember anything great that stood out in the return game last season either.
With Blair gone, the special teams will either be terrible because there’s no kicking talent, or it will improve because CPJ has gotten “more involved” on special teams (return and coverage). I don’t see them switching up any time soon, but I prefer having a dedicated teams coach.
ST is making life harder than necessary
I understand the limited number of coaches. But we have 6 offensive coaches to 4 defensive coaches. My recommendation would be to take whomever has the least responsibilities (of the assistant coaches) and send them on a trip to learn absolutely everything they could about ST from a coach/team that CPJ thinks does ST really well. Then tell them, “Special Teams is officially your baby. Do what it takes to make us in the top 30 of ST.” Right now, based on performance so far, Al Preston should probably volunteer for that because his receivers have been sucking. Or maybe CPJ needs to get more invovled since he’s had time to make his golf game so good . . . just saying.
The issue is ST has been making games harder than they need to be. KO’s, KOR’s, and punt coverage are the areas that we could improve the most. (Idk why we quit letting Orwin return, he was by far the best we had). I feel like punt returns are more an issue of finding a guy who just catches it every time and makes the most of the opportunities he gets. You catch the ball, make one move for the first guy, then just head north and south. See Rhino, Kelly.
Our ST guru needs to be able to help our kickers, needs to help guys learn about lane responsibility, and overall make ST something important. Our attitude as fans and I think sometimes the team’s attitude is ST is this aspect of the game we have to put up with inbetween the important stuff like offense and defense. That has to change.
That AF game wasn't indicative of the season
The problem there was for some reason, someone (CPJ I suppose) decided that Tarrant didn’t need to be back there recovering punts and the freshman he put it fumbled back-to-back punts. That’s not something Tarrant would do nor has done.
"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.
I believe Tarrant was injured
Still, that kid never fielded punts before? They should have a viable backup option.
I thought so as well
But I was livid about it at the time and looked into it. According to some post game questions, I think I remember CPJ saying that it was just a decision that they made to not have Tarrant back there. He started the game if I remember correctly and played throughout.
As for the player in question, I won’t say he never fielded punts before, but I know he never did during a game until that moment and he flubbed two in a row.
"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.
Wow...
I didn’t think that we could get 268 votes on From the Rumble Seat.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanShots on From The Rumble Seat
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE FROM THE RUMBLE SEAT STORE
