Technical Tidbits 11/21: HATE WEEK 2016, now with extra cringe

Half of the double-upset prophecy was fulfilled over the weekend, with the Ohio Bobcats defeating the Georgia Tech men’s basketball team by a final score of 67-61 at McCamish Pavilion. The Jackets were favored in the game by a very small margin, but their status as favorites was not enough to overcome a lackluster 33% shooting performance from the team as a whole. Tech also managed just 3 three-pointers compared to 10 for Ohio, which made up just short of half of the Bobcats’ total offensive production for the night. Ben Lammers was spectacular yet again, pouring in 22 points with 11 rebounds and 4 blocks, but a combined 3-22 (14%) shooting performance from Josh Okogie and Quinton Stephens really killed any hopes of a win. The Jackets will be back in action tomorrow night against Sam Houston State, a 3-1 team whose only loss came at the hands of... Ohio.

Thankfully, the football team came away with a big 31-17 victory over Virginia on Saturday afternoon to clinch win number seven on the season. Tech is still very much in the running for a nine-win campaign, which would mark a six-win improvement over last season; it would take a victory over UGA on Saturday and then a bowl win to achieve the feat. That’s clearly not a certain outcome, but it’s strange to think that a team with a defense that has struggled this badly is just a couple of plays away from contending for a second 10-win season in two years. I’m quite confident that just about anyone would take nine wins at this point, although it’s unfortunate that Justin Thomas’ final game will likely be in a low-tier bowl (Louisville’s loss to Houston and Virginia Tech’s win over Notre Dame didn’t help that cause whatsoever).

Speaking of low-tier bowls, let’s take a look at where all Georgia Tech is projected to be heading with just one week left in the regular season.

• CBS has the Jackets headed to Shreveport for an Independence Bowl matchup with Kentucky. That team is straight-up terrible, as is their schedule; the teams that the Wildcats have defeated own a combined record of 21-44.
• Sports Illustrated doubled down on that projection. Help?
• Perhaps a bit more mercifully, SB Nation has Tech headed to the Pinstripe Bowl to take on Maryland. Maybe we could trade uniform providers as a sign of goodwill?

A win over UGA may not change Tech’s odds of a good bowl appearance much, but anything that keeps us out of Shreveport or Detroit is a victory. Let’s not blow it.

This is a late add, but I randomly came across this video and it’s too perfect not to include during this annual edition of hate week.

In fact, let’s cruise with a UGA cringe video or two every day for the rest of the week. There should be plenty of material, right? [UPDATE: I looked around, and it only gets better from here.] Until next time,

SPURRRRRRRIIIIIEEEEEEERRRRRR!