Mailbag 10/12

DTGT: 1. How many years of eligibility does Jeff Sims have?

2. Gibson looked pretty awkward in his few snaps. If Sims goes down are we just sunk?

Ben: Sims has three seasons to play two more after this season. He was a true freshman during the Covid year, so effectively he’s a true sophomore now. I’m not too concerned about Gibson. It was a couple snaps very late into an emotionally draining game after not playing the whole game. Probably not many who are going to look like All-Americans in that situation.

Logan: I actually have no idea how many years of eligibility Sims has... the COVID year really threw off my understanding of eligibility. As far as Gibson goes, he looked inexperienced but given the situation he was in I don’t think that’s surprising.

Jake: Presumably Sims has two more after this one, as he debuted during COVID and you get an extra for that. As for Gibson, he was brought in cold in OT of an emotion game, I wouldn’t put too much stock in last Saturday.

jdsjackets: Matt Rhule just got fired. Think there is any shot he could be coaching at Tech next year? Love what he did at Temple and Baylor. I think a lot of the Collins “success” at Temple was because of what Rhule left for him. I also think he will probably command more money than Tech has to spend on a coach.

Ben: I’m good. He shares way too many things in common with Geoff Collins.

Logan: I’m sure there’s a shot, but do you really want Matt Rhule as a coach? I know he did good things at Baylor but the past few years at Carolina have divebombed any expectations I had in the man.

Jake: Hearing about how he is kind of a Geoff Collins-lite (which makes sense, given the connection) gives me pause. An NFL coach should probably leave the social media stuff to the social media folks.

GTalbatross: Thoughts on the atmosphere in McCamish for the top 10 match up? Did it have as much home court advantage as O’Keefe?

Follow up to volleyball: what makes serve receive difficult for liberos?

Jake: I thought the atmosphere was good! I’m sure a lot of people that only rarely get to see a game enjoyed the experience. The band playing straight down the court made for a great sound. That said, some of the classic shouting (I.e. on the opponent serve) got lost in the higher proportion of general crowd noise, and from the far end, it was almost impossible to hear the “Point Tech.” The crowd overall reacted well when good things happened, but I think the early set holes Tech found themselves in, as well as Pittsburgh saving quite a few would-be impressive plays or rallies took the air out of the sails somewhat. I think Tech versus a top 25 opponent and a win likely amps things up a little bit, as would maybe a couple hundred more folks. Overall, I am incredibly biased in favor of O’Keefe — it is such a bandbox that I think the home court advantage is more pronounced, and it has just an irreplaceable charm — but I don’t think the Thrillerdome as a site for an annual really big game or postseason play would be a bad idea, at all. It was a lot of fun, and probably my second favorite Tech venue, but it’s also not quite the same as O’Keefe, which, due to the combo of charm and crowd, is unsurprisingly my first.

As for the liberos, your guess is as good as mine. As the defensive specialists, I would presume that they would be good at that, and have wondered something similar for quite some time.

gtbadcarma: I was sitting having a drink with a friend at the end of the Duke game and he told me it looks like Tech was too hasty firing CGC.(Suggesting the last 2 wins were the product of his work) My rebuttal was to promptly pour his beer down my throat and tell him I would hate him to ruin such a nice beer with such a filthy mouth. I have now heard that it looks like Tech was too hasty firing CGC more than a couple times. Do you agree with that statement? What would be your rebuttal?

Ben: If anything, I think Tech’s recent performance shows that Tech made the right decision in firing Collins when they did. It’s no accident that Geoff Collins never won back-to-back games, which Brent Key has managed to do in his first two games.

Logan: No we were not too hasty in firing CGC. As far as rebuttal, we’re just giving credit to CGC for everything that happened after he left? I have some friends and family who are fans of other college football schools, but they watch GT games because they know I’m a fan. Recently they have all made statements along the lines of “Wow, Tech’s player look like they believe they can win again”. I guess that’s what I come back to, it doesn’t matter what CGC taught or who he brought to the program if the players just don’t believe they can win under him. Since CGC has been gone the players seem confident and motivated. End of the day that’s what I point to, we didn’t have the belief we could win under CGC so getting rid of him was the right decision.

Jake: If anything, the last two weeks prove the exact opposite.

Carter: All the issues Georgia Tech consistently struggled with immediately disappeared the second Geoff Collins was shown the door and....... some people think that proves he should have stayed? Some people can’t be helped.

DressHerInWhiteAndGold: Your thoughts/opinions on BARVES:

Division

Pennant

Series

Logan: My heart says series, my head says pennant. They definitely have the talent to win but playoff baseball is weird.

Jake: After yesterday, I would be concerned with making it out of the NLDS, were I a Braves fan. Alas, the Cubs are already on the links for the winter, so I suppose that puts me with the Braves for October, to have a rooting playoff interest.

GTDoubleE: Explain roughing the passer to me

Ben: If I could, I would certainly attempt to do so.

Jake: Can one explain the inexplicable?

Logan: Apparently if you hit the QB there is a 50% chance it is roughing the passer. This must be why GT hasn’t focused much on pass rushing the past few years.

Carter: If you’re an Atlanta based team, it only ever gets called against you, never for you.

Frodo Swagginz: Andrew Thacker: With GC gone, should we expect to see this defense maintain it’s efficiency or is the sample size entirely too small to warrant that assessment?

Chip Long: If you could give this man a one-sentence piece of advice, what would it be and why? I’d tell him to stop taking his foot off the gas. Just because you’re up 14 does not mean that they can’t come back.

Ben: For Thacker, I think the sample size is too small. That’s not to take away from what the defense has done the last couple weeks, though, because the defense is demonstrably better. We will see if they can continue over the course of the rest of the season.

My advice to Chip Long would be the same as yours. It might also be advice to Brent Key, but I would also say be more aggressive on fourth downs. There’s no reason to punt within the 40-yard line.

Logan: I think you will see some consistency from our defense over the next few weeks because of who we will be playing, not necessarily because of the coaching or talent. FSU will be telling in terms of where the defense is, but shouldn’t be overwhelming. Miami and UNC will be the real tests. uga... that’s a whole other bag of chips.

For the offense, stop trying to get too fancy with things. I’ve seen the false veer playcalls and some of the passing on the goal line and it seems like he gets away from the bread and butter in favor of doing cute things that don’t work. Just stick to the basics as long as they keep working.

Jake: For Thacker, I think it has been decidedly efficient, but two points make a line and a trend, but I would hold off on the validity assessment until there are a few more. As for Long, I’m on the same track as Logan. If we’re getting ~5 yards on a rush, keep doing that.

Submitted via email: Hi Guys,

Glad we won two in a row, it feels good. At this point it would be pretty easy to put all the credit on Brent Key or Geoff Collins getting fired, in fact I’ve seen and heard plenty of people doing just that. Apparently some people are giving credit for the last 2 wins to Geoff Collins, that’s gross.

I don’t think I have to tell most of the FTRS staff but usually its a combination of a few things that leads to that big of a shift in performance. Maybe there’s less pressure now that the expectations are gone, maybe the coordinators and position coaches have more control over what they are allowed to do which is improving field performance, maybe someone just told the guys to block on punts...

This is my roundabout way of asking, what would the writers consider to be the top 3 reasons for the shift in performance? If possible please try to avoid using “We fired Geoff Collins” as one of your reasons, just because I think pretty much everyone is aware of how that played a factor. Let me know your thoughts and enjoy a nice Bye Week. Later Y’all

-Bricky

Ben: I think the biggest thing is having a dedicated coach working with special teams. Punt coverage was pretty atrocious against Duke, but in general, I feel like special teams have improved drastically and will continue to do so. Brent Key has been much more traditional and conservative with game management, which has also been helpful. The last thing is just that there seems to be more buy-in from the players.

Logan: The first thing I think of is field goal kicking. Having a Kicker who can get you guaranteed points makes a huge difference. I’m not sure why Gavin Stewart has been on the shelf but I’m glad to have him kicking for us.

Second is that the defense is working hard. I know they’re not the most talented group, but they are coming up with turnovers when they need to and they are making big plays on the later downs. Defense seems to have had a fire lit under them at some point and they are going full speed right now.

Third is that the Offense has cut down on bad penalties. I’m used to seeing tons of false starts and holds and other penalties every game. I don’t have the numbers but it sure feels like the offense has spent less time shooting themselves in the foot lately.

Jake:

1. Special Teams have actually been emphasized. Between the cleaned up punting and the effective field goals, that’s a huge swing.
2. Agree with Logan about penalties. It feels like we haven’t been moving backwards on offense as much, but I would also extend that to my feelings about the defensive efficacy, too.
3. Confidence is hard to measure, but it seems like players are executing well, executing quickly, and executing decisively. This is completely vibes-based, but it feels just different, and I think the Tech team that played UCF that couldn’t get out of its own way, or certainly the one that played Ole Miss, would have lost the past two games.