Sad news broke yesterday when a report surfaced that the knee injury to Georgia Tech defensive tackle Adam Gotsis is in fact a season-ending blow. The Georgia Tech career of the big Aussie is now officially over -- after three years as a starter on the Flats, Gotsis will have to sit out the rest of the 2015 campaign before the NFL Draft. Gotis has been Georgia Tech's best defensive player by a mile all season long and his presence was sorely missed in two of Tech's losses, against Virginia and UNC. It is rare for the loss of a defensive tackle to be a game-changer, but a Gotsis-less Tech defense is just not good. I hope Adam can land on his feet in the NFL, but it still stings that he won't get to finish out his college career.
The AJC's Ken Sugiura reported yesterday, through an open records request, that Georgia Tech will be paid $2.85 million for its participation in the 2017 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against Tennessee in 2017. That, to me at least, seems like a fantastic paycheck for playing in a game just minutes away from your own campus. I mean, the Dome is just under two miles away from Bobby Dodd Stadium. But then again, anything that would keep me from having to go downtown is well worth more than $2.85 million. Cancel the game, M-Bob. And here's a fair disclaimer for all you prospective commenters out there: just know that the first person to say "Hey, now we can afford to buy out [insert embattled Georgia Tech coach here]!" is today's big loser.
Big news for Georgia Tech and the city of Atlanta as a whole broke yesterday when it was announced that Atlanta will be playing host to the 2018 CFP National Championship. Atlanta, which beat out such cities as Houston, Miami, and Santa Clara for the honor, will have the new Falcons stadium built and ready to go. I'm not completely sure how Georgia Tech will be involved in all of this, but the school will clearly have some hand in planning and executing the events. I have no idea where I'll be in 2018, but hopefully it will be somewhere with easy access to Atlanta for what should be an exciting time. On an unrelated note, Georgia Tech has now technically beaten Miami twice in two years, once in football and once in event hosting. Take that, Floridians.
Another day, another NFL scandal. This particular scandal is, to me at least, one of the most confusing yet -- the U.S. Department of Defense has reportedly been paying NFL teams to show signs of patriotism during their games. Remember the "hometown hero" promotions that many teams do? Ever noticed that a former service member was singing the national anthem? Yeah, the teams were paid to allow both of those things and it's quite frankly disappointing. In fact, the only more disappointing thing is that the Atlanta Falcons are the team which made the most money off of such ventures. Yikes.
What does losing Adam Gotsis mean for Tech's season?