Mailbag 12/9

Do you think Yates will stay on the team next season? - Notwima13

Ben: To my knowledge, he has not done anything to express his displeasure, so I have no reason to believe that he will transfer. Could he? Sure, but I don’t see any point in speculating about it.

Jeff: I think he will be here next season. Now if Peery comes and and competes behind Sims then Yates may look as a grad transfer.

Can someone explain the eligibility rules for this season? Will true freshmen this year be true freshmen next year? What will the actual true freshmen be? Will teams get extra scholarships? - Notwima13

Ben: From what I can tell, pretty much this year does not count in terms of eligibility. That means that kids who are true freshmen this year will still be true freshmen (in terms of eligibility) next year. I haven’t heard anything announced officially, but I would be shocked if they didn’t give schools some leeway on scholarship numbers, which some schools will no doubt take advantage of.

Jeff: To add on what Ben said, I believe there won't be a limit on numbers except for the incoming class will be capped at 25. It is going to cause a big mess though because the schools still have to cover a scholarship. A lot of athletes are either going to get processed out or get buried so deep that the transfer portal is going to turn into a black hole.

What band would you follow around, Deadhead style? - DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Ben: Not a band, but I would love to follow Billy Joel around. He’s a great performer and one of my favorites.

Jake: Lower key, but NeedToBreathe. You never really know what they’ll do at a concert now that their discography is really large, but whatever it is, it’ll be done great.

Chris: Bleachers.

Jeff: Linkin Park was one of my favorites growing up and I was never able to see them live. I wish I could have followed a tour back around the Meteora album.

Should we COVID skip Pitt? Due to finals and a short week? Or just suck it up and lay it out there? I don’t know what our record is during finals but I seem to recall that midterms always equaled a struggle. Do we even have any data on that? - CTjacket

Ben: Should they? Maybe. Will they? Don’t count on it. I don’t know about exams, but I know Tech has struggled in games following Fall break. I don’t have exact numbers on that, so it may also be more of a perception thing.

Jake: Have we ever played a game during finals? I don’t think so. I can’t imagine dumping football (or basketball, for that matter - don’t we usually, you know, not make our boys fly to the Midwest during finals week?) responsibilities on top of being a student. So my expectations aren’t terribly high for them, but I know just being in the stadium on Thursday will be nice catharsis after all this.

Chris: Yeah Ben, post-Fall Break games have typically been bad in my memory (same as during Fall Break games SHAKES FIST AT 2014 DUKE).

Jeff: Playing 3 games in 12 days should have been something both the ACC and Tech said no to. You know they are going to get hurt so they need to spare we care about our players spill.

What’s up with Arik Gilbert? - Notwima13

Ben: Well he isn’t playing at LSU the rest of the season. The reason depends on who you ask. If you ask Coach O, it’s because his “body hurts,” but other sources are reporting that he’s putting his name in the transfer portal because he’s home sick. It’s worth noting that Gilbert attended school in Marietta. Will he end up at Tech? I doubt it, but it’s fun to imagine!

Good Morning Guys,

Hope all is well for you this week. I have no idea what to make of our college basketball season thus far, other than maybe the state of georgia is much deeper on talent than we thought. As far as football goes, I dunno that’s pretty much how I expected things to playout against a NC State team that is punching above their weight class this year; especially given the number of injuries we are suffering from. Now we have a short week against Pitt, that’s not going to be fun for either us or Pitt. Can’t wait to see all the injuries stack up from that game (sarcasm).

Trying to stick with football this week for my question. Recently we saw the PAC 12 and the MWC roll out some early games this year (particularly USC v ASU at Noon est, 9 am their time and more recently Hawaii v San Jose State at 10 am their time). How do you feel about these games being played on super early schedules? Do you feel they are bad for the players? Is the idea of half awake players trying to give their best on the field something that amuses you? Are there any other weird game times you would like to see tried, like a 10 PM game on the east coast, or a 6 am (or however many hours the time difference is) game played in England? Any other thoughts on what this could mean for future scheduling? That’s all I got. Have a nice day.

Yours,

The Ghost of Abraham Lincoln (submitted via email)

Ben: I remember that Paul Johnson preferred earlier games, and I imagine that the same could probably be said for most players. I don’t know that that necessarily means 9 or 10 in the morning, but scheduling is determined by what will make the most money.

Jake: Love the question, by the way. I remember we played Boston College in Ireland at 9am in my first game as a student. Rolled straight out of bed in Caldwell, sprinted to Woody’s for a banana or something, and plopped on the futon for a slugfest. Later that night, they rolled into Midtown just after dusk. Was a weird day for them, I imagine. As a fan, I wouldn’t want that to be the norm, but it definitely makes for a varied experience, that’s for sure. Maybe a 9pm EST game (because 10 would just be abysmally late) under the lights. Not sure.

Chris: As the tennis player here I am no stranger to 8am matches so I take a hardline stance that if you play a sport competitively then you need to be able to perform at any time of day. Morning sports are definitely not something Americans are used to though, especially televised sports. Its tough to expect an audience if you’re playing a morning game (doubly so if it’s a weekday like some pandemic sports have tried!) so I can’t imagine anyone would intentionally schedule one.

Jeff: The Pac12 suffers from less viewership because they are on so late in the East Coast. I don't imagine that being a popular idea for TV in the major markets here. I think if you've acclimated a day or so the early start thing isn't too bad. It is harder to come east than it is to go west though. I had a business trip to Amsterdam and we went straight in after a 9 hour flight. I can't imagine trying to perform physically for 4 hours.