Mailbag 8/31

DressHerInWhiteAndGold: Other than GTFB, what most excites you as we approach Fall/Autumn/The Most Wonderful Time of the Year??

Ben: Well I’m continuing my masters degree program, though that requires me to take a law class this semester, so I will say that I am excited to be done with that course. Other than that, I am always excited for the Holiday season. I’m a big fan of Thanksgiving, and it’ll be my first Holiday season as a married dude, so that’ll be neat!

Jeff: I really enjoy the weather this time of year even if we only get to experience actual Fall for like two weeks. My vacation time is in the Fall too so I get a good bit of time off from work.

Jack: Fall is full of so much goodness. Football parties are always incredible. My family takes a trip to Ohio every Labor Day weekend for an intimate music fest (Nowhere Else anyone?) that really kicks off the season for us. This fall in particular, the streaming wars are an incredible and fascinating element of the year. I even woke up today thinking episode 3 of She-Hulk came out I was so excited. Oh and lest I forget, Braves are playing October baseball again.

Jake: This year, perhaps more than any other year so far, I am really excited about Georgia Tech Volleyball. Outside of that, I look forward to the weather in Atlanta getting better for biking in the coming weeks, and I have a few weekend trips lined up to see some people and different places, as well.

Logan: At this point I am excited for the temperature to decrease and I am looking forward to family events.

Andrew: This will be my first fall football season as a father. I’m excited to get into soup and stew weather as well.

Carter: First and foremost, fall has the best weather out of the year, and I will not be entertaining arguments to the contrary. Beyond that, volleyball is already looking like they’ll be real good again this year. Finally, I’ve got a bachelor party in New Orleans in November, and New Orleans is one of my favorite cities on the planet.

gtbadcarma: This weekend, will Jahmyr Gibbs produce as much offense on his own as (a)50% (b)75% (C)>100% (D) None of the above of the total offense that Tech has against Clemson? For extra credit what's your prediction of yards for Gibbs and yards for the Tech offense.

Ben: I’ll say A just because I don’t think Bama will want to overwork Gibbs in the first game of the season. Georgia Tech produced 298 yards of total offense against Clemson last year with Gibbs accounting for 47 yards (30 rushing, 17 receiving). I think Tech will be able to replicate those roughly 300 yards of offense. Alabama plays Utah State this weekend, who finished 11-3 last season. Looking at their stats, they gave up an average of 245 rushing yards a game, so I’ll say Gibbs is able to get at least 150, but he could get a lot more.

Jeff: They are playing Utah State? I’ll say A because Bama is going to shred them and I think Clemson will be trying to adjust to a new defense for the first time in a decade.

Jake: I think I will go with D. It’s hard for one player to produce that superlative amount of production, especially week one on a new team against a presumably outmatched opponent. Perhaps 30-40%?

Logan: Well we are facing a Clemson defense which has great talent... Problem is I’m not sure Gibbs will play the whole game against Utah State. Somewhere between 30-50 %. I expect him to get around 110 total yds and for us to gain just over 300 yds.

Carter: D. Alabama will have backups in early against Utah State.

Frodo Swagginz: What possessed Scott Frost to attempt an onside kick when his team was up 28-17?

Ben:

Jeff: Man, I missed that part of the game. Maybe he wants to leave Nebraska?

Jake: Not sure, but it certainly was a baffling decision with hindsight but also in the moment.

Logan: Didn’t he just hire a special teams assistant to help with special teams in the offseason. Knowing Scott Frost my guess is that the special teams guy was like “no need to do anything fancy here” and Scott Frost was like “I’m smarter than that guy, time to try something fancy”. I don’t know for sure but the above seems in character for Scott Frost.

Andrew: I think he saw they had momentum and wanted a shot to ice the game by going up three scores. If he does that and Nebraska wins, the narrative would be “Look at how balsy he is, he’s a great coach”

Carter: Special. Teams. Emphasis.

Frodo Swagginz: If Frost receives the boot, what are y’all’s opinions on having him at the Flats? (As a round 2 finisher for a hypothetical draft, does his stock rise or fall?)

Ben: Given the work he did at UCF, I’m certainly not opposed, but he isn’t my first choice. I would prefer someone with more sustained success after a development project.

Jeff: I’d actually be ok with it. He has had success with smaller schools and I think Nebraska is a place stuck in the old world of College Football that hasn’t come to terms that they are in over their heads in the Big Ten.

Jake: I don’t think I’d necessarily want him at Tech. It seems like he almost can’t get out of his own way, and some of his decisions perplex me, on top of having very significant resources supporting his team.

Logan: It would depend on the contract. If he signed for a great deal I wouldn’t be opposed, but if he has a high asking price I would expect that we could find a coach just as good as him for the same price tag.

Carter: He was never on my big board for the draft and remains not high on my list.

YankeeJacket: I have disliked Coach Football Not Found from the beginning and never for a moment believed any of the nonsense that he spouted. I did buy into the idea that he could recruit but that has not panned out very well. These are the darkest days with the best of our players having left this summer... leaving the cupboard bare.

But being a contrarian, and with everyone, and I mean everyone, saying that Georgia Tech is going to be historically awful, I want to believe that we won’t be so terrible. Is it possible that the team might win those mythical 6 games that people have been talking about for the last 3 years? Could Sims in his third year mature into a good quarterback? Could the defense not be dreadful? Could the team not commit innumerable penalties and make so many self-defeating stupid mistakes?

I can’t bring myself to believe it, especially with their schedule, but can any of you believe this has a chance of happening?

PS Don’t sleep on Western Carolina University. They started 0-6 last year but ended the season 4-1.

Ben: Could all of that happen? Yes. Statistically, there is a chance of everything you mentioned coming to fruition. Personally, I have not seen any evidence supporting any of those thoughts, though, so I have no reason to believe them. I hope I’m dead wrong, and all of those things come to fruition. I’ll happily eat crow.

Jeff: There isn’t the depth on this team now to sustain consistent winning each week. The schedule is brutal so you have to take advantage of the toss-ups which there will be enough of with this Coastal division in flux. However, injuries happen and if either line takes a hit or two it becomes a really bad situation.

Jake: I’ll keep my answer short - I definitely think it’s possible. Is it probable, or even likely? That’s something I am less sure of.

Logan: Dude we’re in the ACC, specifically the Coastal where teams can go from 11 wins to 3 wins to 8 wins from season to season. It’s absolutely possible, it’s just hard to believe that will happen given what we have seen the past few years.

Carter: Buddy, we play WCU on a short week and that knowledge keeps me up at night.

Namrebeil: Say we manage to hit 6 wins and retain Collins. What do you think that will mean for 23? Is Collins still on the hot seat and needs to meet or exceed that in 23 to keep his job? Maybe another way to phrase it, does hitting the minimum to not be fired really improve the substance of things or would the year after be the same state, just with less expectation of failure?

Ben: If Collins wins six and sticks around, the expectation will be to not win less than six again. In addition, Collins will also be expected to continue to improve to the nine-win area while also improving recruiting. I think a six-win season buys him another year or two, but he has almost certainly burned through all the goodwill he has ever had on the Flats, so he is on incredibly thin ice.

Jeff: He would most likely be retained another year but unless he truly did make a splash in 23 I think he would still be gone with a losing record. His buyout reduces substantially on the first of next year so they may play out one more and then cut bait if it stays stagnant.

Jake: I’ve generally been feeling like I’m in agreement with your rephrase of the question. Having less failure would be great, but I’m not sure that meeting the minimum would satiate the general opinions. 6 wins sounds like a breath of fresh air, though.

Logan: He’s gonna need to show some consistency winning if he is gonna keep his spot for more than 2 years. so 6 wins this year needs to be followed up by at least 6 games next year, and repeat. Haven’t seen that from him yet, but it could happen.

Carter: Remember how last year, after the Clemson and UNC games, we all thought Collins had finally put it together, and then he followed that up with a 1-7 finish and we were all even more mad? Yeah.

Hello,

GAME-WEEK PEOPLE! Hope y’all are excited for another season of college football. I’m looking forward to seeing some of the games this week. I’m sharing the experience with my now fiancee. She is not as into college football, but she is giving it a shot.

With that in mind, my question this week is what tradition would you recommend introducing a person interested in becoming a GT fan to? Let me know your thoughts. Later guys,

-Spear

Ben: First of all, congratulations on the engagement! As far as traditions go, I’m probably not the best guy to answer, but I would encourage you to go check out some of the tailgates the stadium. Meet some fans, learn a few cheers, and just have a good time.

Jake: Congrats on the engagement! As far as the traditions go, I think the one thing that made me go from an outsider to a part of the community was learning the fight songs. Something about understanding the words helped make the difference there, I guess. I would also recommend taking a tailgate break and going to Yellow Jacket Alley to see the Reck/team/drumline enter the stadium. There’s also something about hearing the whistle blow on gameday that just makes it all feel so poignant, and that definitely is a part of the Yellow Jacket Alley experience, as well.

Logan: I would start where I think most fans start and just tell stories of your experiences and the things you enjoyed about game day. They’re not really “traditions” per se, but I think people get most excited for this sport when they hear other people talk about how awesome it is and the things they saw and did associated with the program. That’s where I start with prospective fans. If you’re looking for a specific tradition start with chants or songs, those tend to be enjoyable and simple to follow and they tend to have their own stories.