Technical Tidbits 10/29

Interestingly enough, Georgia Tech's football and men's basketball teams both finished below the national average in terms of the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate report among student athletes. Before all you dwags reading this open the chamber of your guns and use this information as ammo, please remember that this stat, like everything the NCAA does, is not totally valid. It's not reasonable to expect the graduation rate of student athletes at Georgia Tech to exceed the 41% four-year graduation rate of all other students, to be honest. When you think about it that way, what Tech is doing is actually quite remarkable, especially when you consider that the Institute just recently employed Mr. Fake it Til You Make It himself, Chan Gailey. Brian Gregory and Paul Johnson are both helping their respective programs make strides in the right direction academically, and we should all be grateful for that.

Just because I linked you to something negative about Georgia Tech academics, please take a look at this list of The 104 Smartest Public Colleges in America to reboot your self-esteem. Georgia Tech actually comes in first on the list, topping every public college in the nation in terms of SAT scores. The school in Athens comes in at 33rd on the list with average SAT scores over 100 points lower than those of Tech students, which is surprising considering that I've never met someone dressed in black and red who was even aware that numbers went that high. That is actually why the dwags get so much love in the AP polls; the voters know that if they rank uga too low that all of the alumni will strain themselves trying to figure out what that big two-digit number means.

Former Tech guard Jarrett Jack, who was dealt from the Cavaliers to the Nets this off-season, will look to have a bounce-back campaign in what very well could become a push for the Sixth Man of the Year award. Jack was in serious contention for this award in 2012 while with the Golden State Warriors but fell off of the map last season following what was an uncharacteristically terrible season in Cleveland. The simple truth is that Jack is too confident and talented to stay in a rut like his 2013 season ended up being -- you can be sure to see some serious improvement from the former Jacket this season.

EVERYONE RUN, SEC PROPAGANDA IS REAL AND WILL SOON SPREAD TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD! As it happens, three of the top four teams in the first College Football Playoff rankings come from not only the SEC, but more specifically the SEC West. These teams, Mississippi State, Auburn, and Ole Miss, are undoubtedly all very good football teams. That goes without saying. The problem is, however, that two of them -- Ole Miss and Auburn -- have ugly losses to LSU and Mississippi State, respectively (I only call the MSU loss ugly because it was largely a domination by the Bulldogs). Ugh.

What do you think about 3/4 of the top four teams coming from the SEC West?

Have a great Wednesday!