Countdown to Kickoff: Worst-Case Scenarios for the 2020 Season

I’m ready for the comments telling us we’re too negative! Let’s do this!

Benjamin Tankersley

Well, aside from the given chance of either having a shortened season or no season at all, I would say the worst thing that can happen is that Tech isn’t any better than last season. By that, I mean that Tech’s quarterback and offensive line situations don’t get any better and the defense fails to create any kind of a pass rush. Going into the season, Tech would get stomped in Game 1 and then fail to create any kind of momentum to carry them through the season, ultimately going winless.

Chris Paschal

We get stomped by Florida State and the season gets cancelled soon after, leaving us at 0-1. The loss + season cancellation is a huge hit to morale, and we lose out on valuable playing time experience. I went back and forth here on whether something like 1-10 or 0-11 is worse than 0-1, but I think the lost experience of 0-1 gives it the slight edge in my mind. I really believe playing time is the single biggest thing for this team right now and missing out on a whole year of it would be devastating.

Jake Grant

At least we can’t lose to an FCS team this year. You know what we can do? Lose 11 including one to the clown show that is the University of Central Florida. Not sure why we kept them around after the shenanigans in 2017...

Leviticus Warner

I think the worst case is no season at all. But that’s a lazy answer, so let’s assume Georgia Tech is able to complete a full season, how do they finish? I really think that a winless season is off the table. We are still a historically good program, on the rise, and we have culture swinging our way (as opposed to a couple rural schools who are getting extremely negative press).

I look at our schedule and see some automatic losses, Notre Dame and Clemson. But every other game is a toss up, including FSU. That’s a sign in itself that we are trending in the right direction. Let’s say the worst case scenario is our QB carousel never settles on one guy and we suffer identity issues all year.

The line does not mature or take a step in the right direction and [insert QB name] is running for his life all game, the running game can’t pick up the slack, and our pass rush leaves an experienced secondary chasing receivers all game.

Another 3 win season (Syracuse, NC State, and BC) would be worst case. Losing all the toss-ups would really hurt me. That’s where Coastal Chaos lives anyway.

Robert Binion

1-10. CDP plays musical chairs at quarterback. Injuries on the offensive line reveal the lack of depth and force more true freshman into action than are ready. Lack of physicality and athleticism in the front 6 leave us unable to get off the field on defense. We still don’t have a kicker.

In the worst case, we lose every game we should lose (Clemson, ND, Miami, UCF, Pitt, FSU, and Louisville). We struggle with turnovers and inefficiency and lose to BC, NCSU, and Duke. We squeak one out against an awful Syracuse team. We shed lots of tears and seriously question the viability of this staff.

Akshay Easwaran

Like Levi and Ben said, the absolute worst case is no season, but since we’re assuming games will go on, let’s bat around the idea of abject sporting misery, shall we?

Even pre-pandemic, 2020 was projected to look much like 2019 for Tech, given its usual matchups versus Athens and Clemson, a date in the Benz with a top-15 (at worst) Notre Dame team, resurgent programs at UNC and VPISU, and the usual host of Coastal characters. The difference we were going to be looking for was progress: even if they have no change in the win total, can the Jackets look functional offensively and build 2019’s good defensive foundation?

Much of that description still applies to Tech’s adjusted 2020 season, but with added benefits: Athens got too scared to play COFH (this is my story and I’m sticking to it); Coastal contenders UNC and VPISU are out; and middling Atlantic programs NC State and Syracuse are in. Things set up very nicely for Tech to showcase program-building progress and make a good dent in the malaise left by last season’s poor results, even if the season isn’t completed.

The best way not to do either of those things and kill any momentum the program has built up would be to win two games or fewer. Going winless since the turn of the century (not the 21st, but the 20th) would be even more miserable and deleterious to future growth. Let’s...not do that, please.

Jake Patterson

This is a little lazy, but just take my prediction from yesterday and switch the outcomes. Disregard the ACC Championship and CFP, as that definitely won’t happen in my worst-case season.

Jeff Cramer

Everyone has already touched on some pretty grim scenarios involving wins/losses and lack of player development. But you ask “What’s the worst?” in a year like 2020! Well, why not have Georgia Tech go undefeated and playing in the title game when lo’ and behold the Apocalypse decides to occur right as Graham/Yates/Sims/Gleason is taking the final knee to claim the National Title. Then while we are all in the afterlife, everyone craps on another Atlanta sports team managing to not close out a title game for all eternity.

Carter Templeton

I had a dream a few weeks ago. In that dream, I looked at the schedule, and Georgia Tech had already played ten of its eleven games. In those games, Georgia Tech went 2-8. How did this happen? It was a mystery the dream would not reveal. Even after waking up, this dream felt chillingly real, so very.... possible. Is that the worst case scenario? No, it’s worse than a two win season.

What’s the worst that could happen?