Athlon Sports Ranks GT #22

This is a little late in posting but it's worth discussing. Athlon Sports is counting down to their release of their 2009 Annual by unveiling their Top 25 and we are ranked #22. Click here for the link.

So much for all that talk about how Paul Johnson’s “gimmick” offense might be successful in the I-AA ranks and at a Service Academy but is in no way fit for the big time.

...might want to add in "high school offense" as well.

Our Key Player: Jon Dwyer

Johnson has called Dwyer, who would be a tailback in a pro-set offense, the prototype for the B-back position with his blend of straight-ahead power and breakaway speed. Tech fans should expect another monster season from the 6-foot, 228 pounder.

This seems to be pretty low compared to other projections and polls. Some current notables the Jackets are ranked behind are Utah, Michigan State, North Carolina, LSU, and Nebraska. With the amount of returning players, you would expect a slightly higher ranking. When the "official" polls come out, I'd look to be somewhere between 15-20 however I don't think this "low ranking" is a that big of a deal. Rather, I am perfectly fine with us flying in under the radar and having low expectations again.

But in the end, we all know poll rankings don't matter. It's about winning ball games and that all starts September 5th followed by consecutive Thursday Night Games.

Ramblin' Wreck Featured on Wikipedia

The Ramblin' Wreck is the featured article on wikipedia's front page today. Pretty cool stuff.

Also, thoughts go out from the Tech Family for this BC kid fighting cancer. That is just a sad story and Eagle in ATL has a really good read that puts the situation into perspective for all sports fans. Good luck to Mr. Herzlich. GT fans all hope he comes back to haunt ACC offenses soon.

Any thoughts out there are welcome

College football starts 112 days early

The first victory of the 2009 football season has been claimed by the Aggies of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. They defeated Delaware State with a dose of disorder and terrible planning.

In case you were wondering, NC A&T is famous for a big ass brawl with NC-Central that resulted in the police having to spray mace into the riot (aka football teams) to stymie the violence.

Seriously, college football could not come any sooner. July 14th will be a nice relief but that will only partially remediate the growing void in my life that is the absence of college football. Oh well...

Random thoughts are welcome.

Renewing the Old Matchups

Was cruising around looking at the history of Georgia Tech football and started looking at the all-time wins and losses against all of our opponents. I sure would like to get rid of that cupcake game we play every year and play some teams that actually carry some weight. I made a table of the opponents we played the most in the past (a lot from our old Bobby Dodd and SEC and glory days) along with some other recognizable names. I kept off teams that are scheduled for the future no matter how far out.

Opponent	W	L	T	Pct.
Air Force	3	0	0	1.000
Baylor	3	1	0	0.750
Central Florida	3	0	0	1.000
Florida	23	9	6	0.684
Kentucky	11	7	1	0.605
LSU	12	7	0	0.631
Navy	16	9	0	0.640
Notre Dame	6	27	1	0.191
Penn State	3	4	0	0.429
Pitt	2	5	0	0.286
Southern Cal	1	2	0	0.333
Tennessee	17	24	2	0.419

I'd like to see Tennessee, Penn State, and Florida back on the schedule in that order. The old days were good to us and the match ups would surely be intriguing. Plus its always good to beat a "legendary power."

Who do you want to see? Don't see a team you want to play included in the list? Post in the comments!

What's wrong with this picture?

From Georgia Tech's "Lingo Site"





If you prove yourself more knowledgeable than the people who run the website than you win F4H's cookie over at Gobbler Country.

To Hell with Georgia: Turner Field Edition

Tech and uga meet tonight at the House that Smoltz built. The rivalry renews for its 345th edition and 7th game at Turner Field. Tech actually has an abysmal record at Turner Field going 1-5 with a current 3 game losing streak at the Ted. This year's different though. This year Tech walks in with some hot hands (4.64 team ERA) and high flyin' bats (.325 team average). Opponents are hitting .261 against us and have an awful 8.43 ERA against Tech.

Quick preview of uga stats:

Team Batting Avg. - .301
Opp. Batting Avg. - .271

Team ERA - 4.64
Opp. ERA - 7.50

Georgie is 2 games back of Florida in the SEC-East division race and is sportin' a 34-17 overall record. The dogs are led offensively by Rich Poythress who is pushin' a .392 batting average with 21 homers. Georgie has 94 homers in 51 games compared to Tech's 96 homers in 46 games. Tech already defeated Georgie at home once this season and the first game of the series (at Tech) was rained out.

Tech and uga have played at Turner Field every year since 2003. The 2003 game was the first college game ever played at Turner Field and the attendance at the Ted typically averages 23,000-25,000, which is very impressive for college baseball. Predicted attendance: 24,500.

Cooincidentally, the first time Jeff Francoeur ever played at Turner Field was the same day as that 2003 Tech-uga game at Turner Field. Francoeur was playing for Parkview High School.

Edit: I didn't realize Zach von Tersch was pitching. Georgie is done-fer. Anyone know why Zach didn't pitch against FSU? FYI, Georgie is pitchin' a freshman against us. Are you afraid of this guy???

A Great Weekend Recap

It was a great weekend to be a Georgia Tech fan.....

Congratulations to GT Softball as they have won their 3rd ACC Tournament Championship in school history! The Jackets held off a comeback bid from Florida State in the 7th inning and eliminated the Seminoles. Kristen Adkins pitched the complete game and improved to 23-7 on the year. 5 Yellow Jackets made All-ACC Tournament.

The next step for the GT team is the NCAA Tournament. The ladies received an overall 14 seed in the tournament and will host an NCAA Regional in the inaugural year of their new stadium! Three teams will come to Atlanta May 15-17: Iowa vs. Auburn and Boston University will face the Jackets.

Baseball

Deck McGuire proved to be his stellar self on Friday, settling down and shutting down the Seminoles in 7+ K fashion. Saturday was gut wrenching as Mark Pope blew the game wide open and failed to get the job done.

Sunday proved to be just as nerve racking but with the opposite result. The 'Noles brought in a 5th infielder in the bottom of the 9th but it didn't matter, as Tony Plagman's hard groundball was too hot to handle and scored the winning run. The win lets the Jackets not only win the series against Florida State, but also regain control of the Coastal Division. Thank you NCSU Wolfpack!

Tennis

And last, but not least, Women's Tennis dominated their Regional consisting of Denver, Jackson State, and Ole Miss. They move on to College Station, TX the site of the rest of the tournament and they will face National #8 Seed California on May 15th.

Hats off to Amanda McDowell as she battled out a hard fought match to beat her opponent. She lost her first set and then the trainer had to come out to see her before the second set. In the second set she seemed to have limited mobility but stayed with her opponent and fended off four match points before winning in a tie break to preserve the Jackets 3-1 lead. Her second set win was a big psychological motivator for the team and she was leading in the third set when Christy Striplin clinched the match.