Technical Tidbits 10/26: Kick Six versus FSU celebrates one year, Tech preps for Duke

It appears that head coach David Cutcliffe’s momentarily-sustained success at Duke has subsided a little bit, leaving us with a Blue Devils team that resembles those of the pre-2013 days more than the post-2012 counterparts. That’s not to say that Tech has nothing to worry about at all this weekend (because the Jackets have a lot to worry about), just that the Devils have not looked great in their losses to Northwestern, Wake Forest, and Virginia. It’s true that they beat up on Notre Dame and played Louisville closer than any non-Clemson team all season long, but the talent just seems to be lacking this time around. I wish that guaranteed a Tech victory, but it simply doesn’t after what we’ve seen in recent weeks. It will take an all-around good effort from the Jackets to knock off Duke for win number five.

With the goal of making it to the ACC Championship game now a far cry, Tech defender Patrick Gamble and the rest of the team have locked in on a new ambition: running the table. There’s little question that the second half of the season schedule is a bit less daunting than the first half, with very winnable games this weekend against Duke and later on against Virginia and possibly even Georgia, but there are still some major challenges manifested in the games at UNC and Virginia Tech. In short, winning out would be extremely difficult but far from impossible for a talented yet fundamentally-challenged Tech team. It all starts on Saturday in Atlanta.

I made the egregious error of missing the one-year anniversary of the Miracle on Techwood Drive versus Florida State, which should have been celebrated on Monday. The only way to effectively apologize is to put the video of the play below, which I think I’ll go ahead and do right now.

Poor Roberto Aguayo just hasn’t been the same since that play. That missed tackle not only messed him up so badly that he can’t hit field goals consistently at the NFL level, but also placed a cosmic curse on his entire family lineage that is currently being felt by little brother Ricky at Florida State right now. Lance Austin is a heartless man.

Have a great Wednesday!