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Georgia Tech Football - 2 More Regular Season Wins
A lot of folks out there probably don't realize how close we really were to a) winning the Coastal division, b) going to the ACC Championship Game, and c) doing so coming off a win against uga. Just think: Georgia Tech played its worst game of the year at the most inopportune of times, on a Thursday night on national television against a division rival ripe for the picking. The Hokie defense is very good, make no mistake, but at that point their offense was a train wreck and we had a lot of things going for us. However, as fate would have it, our offense went cold and the Hokies got a cheap score to start the game and the rest was history. Win that game, and Tech goes to the ACC Championship Game, with all else being equal.
Oh, and how close were we to beating uga at home? Hell, the dogs never led in the entire game through the first OT. A missed field goal and a timely interception -- take either of those back and do them again, and the story might be very different.
This gift also plays a part in a gift a bit down the road...
Georgia Tech Football Recruiting - Three High-Profile Players
I'll clarify first by saying I define high-profile as 4- and 5-star players -- you know, the ones that get a lot of attention regionally and nationally. A lot of folks have completely soured on Georgia Tech and Paul Johnson because of our lack of ability in closing high-profile guys. Think about guys like Dalvin Tomlinson & Stephon Tuitt -- real game breakers that we were just so close on. These are guys that would have huge impact on-field, but also could have off-field impact, if only in perception. Landing 3 of these major players would finally shut everyone up and make Tech look more like a destination school than a backup plan.
Georgia Tech Basketball - Killer Instinct
Killer instinct is the one thing this team lacks right now. They're starting to find their identity and show some real flashes of greatness, and yet there's something about the second half of a game that isn't the same. This team can start hot and get a lead, but struggles to lock it up against a good team. Against Vanderbilt, there was a 7-minute stretch starting around the 6:00 mark in the first half where the Yellow Jackets went completely scoreless -- not without a field goal, but without a point altogether. They went from a 31-17, 14-point lead, to a 31-31 tie, before Chris Bolden (of all people) made a shot to break the streak. The impact of that 14-point run? Well, Tech lost the game by 13. You do the math.
Georgia Tech Athletics - More Sports-Related Academic Programs
The addition of a Sports, Society, and Technology minor program at Georgia Tech is a huge deal for pulling in athletes whose lives revolve around the topic of sports. Often, you'll find that issues arise moreso with finding programs athletes are interested in than finding athletes that are academically eligible for those programs. All this, not to mention that sport is ever-increasing its foothold in world culture as well as the world's economy. There is a ton of science, math, economics, etc, that could be used in studying sports, and the benefits that these programs would offer are huge to all of our athletics programs.
Georgia Tech Fans - Confidence
As a fanbase, it's almost like we thrive off of "doom and gloom". We dwell on the negative. We like to think more about the idea that we lost rather than the idea that we played really well, or were just one or two plays from victory. There are athletics programs out there who have never made a Bowl game, or who have never made the NCAA Basketball Tournament, or who have never made the NCAA Baseball Tournament, and yet we at times consider our teams to be second-rate. Let's have a little faith and confidence in our teams and the folks running them. Let's have confidence that the right person for the job is in each coaching role. Let's have confidence that we have really good athletes all over the field, capable of winning against most everyone.
Let's believe that we have something worth believing in. Go Jackets.
What would you put under the tree for Georgia Tech Athletics? Could be any part of the program...
