ACC football demands respect

I was driving to Atlanta on Wednesday through Columbia. Columbia is diehard Cock country and is one of the few metros that is 100% SEC. A particular radio host (who I don't remember the name) spoke about why the SEC > ACC. He simply said the ACC cannot win the big game and I tend to agree with him. We won the season series 6-4 but a battle (or small string of skirmishes) does not make a war.

Let's look back at BIG ACC-SEC matchups over the years that would've really solidified us as a premier conference and equalled the playing field against the SECers. And let's keep it restricted to the BCS Era:

1999 - UT defeats FSU (National Title)
2000 - LSU defeats GT (PB)
2002 - UF defeats MD (OB)
2003 - ugag defeats FSU (SB)
2005 - AU defeats VT (OB)
2006 - ugag defeats GT
2006 - UK defeats CU (MCB)
2006 - ugag defeats VT (PB)
2007 - AU defeats CU (PB)
2008 - Bamma defeats CU

The national stage and we fall flat on our faces. Not to mention our 1-9 mark in the BCS games. Now, why was it that we got beat in our game of the year ever since FSU's 2000 season? Coaching.

We haven't had premier coaches (besides Bowden) since the 90's. Bowden finally began to rust after his '03 Sugar Bowl debacle. That left us with a conference full of has been or never was coaches.

Expansion added Beamer. The Amato, Bunting, Roof, and Gailey departures improved the conference's coaching talent astronomically. And look what we have to show for it in 2008: a 6-4 record against our primary rival of a conference. I expect continued success against the SEC as we've shown in the NFL draft that we've had comparable talent all these years. Now, we have comprable if not superior coaching. What do you all think about the conference debate?

Darryl Richard: Top Senior Student-Athlete

The awards keep rolling in for Georgia Tech this year as Darryl Richard was awarded the Jim Tatum Award. The award goes to the top senior student-athlete in the conference. Congratulations DRich!

Things don't make sense at Auburn

Tommy got fired.

Everyone wanted Tommy fired.

Everyone outside of Auburn said WTF.

...

In Auburn, Tommy fires you!

What?

Back to school

Jackets Fall to Penn State

In the land of the 2-point shot, the 3 point shooter shall rule the world.

That is what happened to us last night. Penn State actually seemed to have an off night from behind the arc in the fact that the only shot 42% from that distance. The problem is that we can't shoot 3's. We have big guys who can dominate the inside both offensively and defensively but when you shoot 3 of 16 (18%) for 3's. You aren't going to win the game.

Negatives from last night:

3-point shooting: Gross, just gross and disgusting.

Perimeter Defense: We seemed to be collapsing to the interior all game which left the perimeter wide open for the Nittany Lions to take all their shots.

Mo Miller: 26 minutes, 8 points, 2 Field Goals

Positives:
Gani Lawal and Iman Shumpert. There is a reason they were McDonald's All-Americans back in high school. Schumper has the the moves needed to allude the defense, passes coming from nowhere and not afraid to take a shot when the game was on the line. He impressed me quite a bit. I wish I could go back and see how many of Iman's 12 assists were to Gani who simply domintated. He put up 34 points and 10 rebounds in 38 minutes of play. You know the best thing about Gani last nigh? 4-5 from the Free Throw line!

Thought Process:
We currently have no depth. Who will step up? We must defend the 3-ball. That is how Mercer took it to us.

Next Game: This Saturday vs. Vanderbilt at 2:00 PM

What were your thoughts on last nights game? Post in the comments.

Congratulations Jon 'Diesel' Dwyer!

Jon Dwyer: ACC Player of the Year

ACC-Big 10 Challenge Tonight for us

Work is busy so I can't put too much in here today but here goes:

Penn State comes to Atlanta tonight as we partake in the annual ACC/Big-10 Challenge. The Big-10 is putting up quite the fight right now as the Challenge is tied at 3 wins a piece.

Wins: Duke, Clemson, Boston College
Losses: Miami (got outscored by Ohio State by 11 points!), Virginia, Virginia Tech

Todays Games include:
Georgia Tech vs. Penn State (7:30 PM, ESPN2)
North Carolina @ Michigan State
Maryland vs. Michigan
Wake Forest vs. Indiana
Florida State @ Northwestern

The game that makes me most nervous is our game. After watching us against Mercer and Jacksonville State, we might have some cause to worry against Penn State.

What are your thoughts? What do we need to do to wipe the floor with Penn State?

Look for thoughts on the game in the morning.

Backyard Bowling

Got a message last night about midnight saying we are going bowling in our own backyard.
Click here to reserve your tickets. A press conference is scheduled for 1pm this afternoon.

No opponent has been set but lots of things seem to be pointing towards LSU. South Carolina has been thrown in the mix but that seems unlikely. The best match-up would be us against Ole Miss but I think they go to Florida for a New Years Day bowl somewhere. Either way, it's us against the SEC...yet another chance to show how flawed that conference is.

Click here to see what LSU fans are saying in regards to a possible match-up against us.

The last time Georgia Tech played in the Peach/CFA Bowl was in 2000 which was also against LSU.

Paul Johnson Coach of the Year

We all knew it was coming. It's now official.

Looking Back

We are brilliant, so far.

Read this post, it's like we were looking into the future, and all it took was a brown paper bag and dollar store spraypaint.

BC/VT in the ACC Championship game (as we stated would happen in an early roundup, whilst others scoffed at the idea of Wake not going), and we called the rest of the OOC games (November 6th, another roundup).

BC beating VT was called. BC beating VT happened.

Also, Miami being scary against VT was called, and then it happened.

All hail Dane. Winfield can demand his own praise, even though I was the brains behind it.

(Winfield's Note: Whatever man. A team effort is a team effort. Besides, who wrote the majority of the draft roundtables? Me. Good job Legacy Crew)

-Ok, fine. I, Dane, was responsible for the 'zazz.

It's Dead Week. Done with the pats on the back for me. Back to work.

All-ACC Selections

All-ACC Awards came out yesterday afternoon. Here is the list of which I have copied from Heather Dinich's blog. Members of the ACC media voted on the awards. My thoughts are below.

NOTE: A first-team vote was worth two points and second team vote one. An asterisk denotes unanimous selection.

OFFENSE
FIRST TEAM
QB: Russell Wilson, N.C. State (106)
RB: Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech (134)*
RB: Da'Rel Scott, Maryland (76)
WR: Hakeem Nicks, North Carolina (130)
WR: D.J. Boldin, Wake Forest (76)
TE: John Phillips, Virginia (88)
OT: Eugene Monroe, Virginia (117)
OT: Andrew Gardner, Georgia Tech (107)
OG: Rodney Hudson, Florida State (99)
OG: Cliff Ramsey, Boston College (78)
C: Edwin Williams, Maryland (62)

SECOND TEAM
QB: Thaddeus Lewis, Duke (28)
RB: Darren Evans, Virginia Tech (58)
RB: C.J. Spiller, Clemson (50)
WR: Eron Riley, Duke (57)
WR: Aaron Kelly, Clemson (56)
TE: Ryan Purvis, Boston College (45)
OT: Garrett Reynolds, North Carolina (42)
OT: Anthony Castonzo, Boston College (41)
OG: Sergio Render, Virginia Tech (48)
OG: Cord Howard, Georgia Tech (45)
C: Thomas Austin, Clemson (48)

DEFENSE
FIRST TEAM
DE: Everette Brown, Florida State (131)
DE: Michael Johnson, Georgia Tech (99)
DT: B.J. Raji, Boston College (103)
DT: Vance Walker, Georgia Tech (62)
LB: Mark Herzlich, Boston College (118)
LB: Michael Tauiliili, Duke (110)
LB: Aaron Curry, Wake Forest (106)
CB: Alphonso Smith, Wake Forest (134)*
CB: Victor Harris, Virginia Tech (125)
S: Trimane Goddard, North Carolina (105)
S: Michael Hamlin, Clemson (89)

SECOND TEAM
DE: Orion Martin, Virginia Tech (61)
DE: Jason Worilds, Virginia Tech (39)
DT: Ron Brace, Boston College (52)
DT: Darryl Richard, Georgia Tech (50)
LB: Clint Sintim, Virginia (79)
LB: Alex Wujciak, Maryland (43)
LB: Mark Paschal, North Carolina (40)
CB: Ras-I Dowling, Virginia (49)
CB: Tony Carter, Florida State (34)
CB: Kendric Burney, North Carolina (34)
S: Morgan Burnett, Georgia Tech (85)
S: Myron Rolle, Florida State (55)

SPECIAL TEAMS
FIRST TEAM
K: Graham Gano, Florida State (127)
P: Travis Baltz, Maryland (105)
Specialist: C.J. Spiller, Clemson (66)

SECOND TEAM
K: Matt Bosher, Miami (34)
P: Matt Bosher, Miami (60)
Specialist: Michael Ray Garvin, Florida State (41)

HONORABLE MENTION

OFFENSE: Riley Skinner, qb, Wake Forest (26); Antone Smith, rb, Florida State (33); Cedric Peerman, rb, Virginia (30); Darius Heyward-Bey, wr, Maryland (34); Kevin Ogletree, wr, Virginia (32); Dan Gronkowski, te, Maryland (41); Scott Burley, ot, Maryland (34); Thomas Claiborne, og, Boston College (38); Calvin Darity, og, North Carolina (34); Jaimie Thomas, og, Maryland (33); Nick Marshman, og, Virginia Tech (24); Ryan McMahon, c, Florida State (35); Matt Tennant, c, Boston College (33); Ryan Shuman, c, Virginia Tech (23).

DEFENSE: Derrick Morgan, de, Georgia Tech (26); Willie Young, de, N.C. State (25); Vince Oghobaase, dt, Duke (40); Boo Robinson, de, Wake Forest (31); Jeremy Navarre, dt, Maryland (29); Nate Irving, lb, N.C. State (28); Paul Anderson, s, Boston College (35); Anthony Reddick, s, Miami (23).

SPECIAL TEAMS: Dustin Keys, k, Virginia Tech (25); Brandon Tate, spec., North Carolina (33); T.J. Graham, spec., N.C. State (31).



Biggest question is how in the world is Morgan Burnett not a first team All-ACC selection? How did Everette Brown get more votes than Michael Johnson? The second answer is easy...the tv networks love Florida State and they were on in the afternoon and prime time all year. We were noon games. Interesting selection on Andrew Gardner as well.

Ah well, no one expected anything from us this year and clearly our presence was felt. Congratulations to the All-ACC team!

Thoughts?

The Monday After...Links!

Oh yes.

It has been stenciled in the mirror since the day Paul Johnson came on campus: “Beat Georgia”. After this weekend, we can all look back and proudly say “Accomplished.”

Remember earlier in the season? We were dubbed a team with a “high school offense” and that we would not succeed in the BCS conferences with our offense. Well you who criticize before you know what you’re talking about….go suck it! Two days after our own drought has ended, I’m not sure if the feeling has completely set in yet. We beat the preseason national champions. We beat St. Richt and we beat the Bulldogs while Stafford arguably had one of his best games of his career. Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech are here to stay and our presence has been felt. Here’s what’s floating around the internet after the jubilee Saturday afternoon.

The Georgia Sports Blog is depressed. hahahaha!


The AJC writers have faced reality: We are better than the Bulldogs.

Jeff Shulz says we’re a rivalry again.

Furman Bisher writes, in his old prose-style way, how that game means more than a trip to Tampa. And for this year, yes, I have to agree.

Sports Illustrated, yes the publication that predicted us to win 3 games, gives Paul Johnson praise

The Chattanooga Times-Free Press jumps on the bandwagon as well. The love is overflowing for Paul Johnson

Paul Newberry, a national AP writer, discusses the expectation levels set for GT and UGAg and how both teams met (or failed to meet) those levels.

The Macon Telegraph’s Coley Harvey writes his own article about our victory in the Cesspool.

I love these quotes:
Rennie Curran, UGA linebacker, “We were well-coached”
Josh Nesbitt: “They had no idea what we were going to do.”

It’s great to be a Yellow Jacket!

Tech weekend mini-recap

Friday - Tech narrowly escapes another midmajor upset. Jacksonville surged late but still fell to Tech. Our 3-point shooting has got to pickup. We keep trading 2's for 3's every game. Next game is Penn State in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge on Wednesday.

Saturday - Tech outlasts Georgie in a Clean, Old-fashioned Shootout. The second highest point total in the series with 87 points scored (1999 was the most with 99 total points). Both teams accumulated 916 total yards of offense. I think the coolest stat of the game is TOP: ugag had the ball for 16:04 in the first half but only had it for 10:32 in the second.

To Hell with Georgie! Too bad UVA couldn't have helped us out but there's only so much Vic Hall can do (121 rushing yards with 2 TD's, 3 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble).

Monday - Dabo Swinney is named head coach of Clemson. Not really a GT subject, other than I'm glad they didn't hire a good coach. Luckily for GT, we'll be dealing with another mediocre Clemson coach for at least 2-3 more years.