Conference Misalignment

As an environmental engineer I like to look at pollution numbers, energy efficiency, consumption, waste, etc.. So something that has interested me as of late is the distance-to-travel for ACC/SEC teams. I took Atlanta as a central point for ACC comparisons while Athens (the cesspool) is the center of the SEC world. Just for the Hell of it, I also came up with an interesting scenario.

ACC-SEC comparison
Looking at the ACC, GT is approximately 474 driving miles from all other 11 ACC foes. GA is 348. This means that at a rate of 60 mph, Georgie is 2 hours closer driving distance to all of its SEC brethren than Tech is to its ACC foes. That sucks. Comparing divisions, Tech's Coastal Division average drive is only 4 miles less than the ACC average at a whopping 470 driving miles. Georgie, in contrast, is 279 driving miles from Eastern Division foes making the average driving distance a ridiculous 3 hours less than Tech's average driving distance. That's pretty terrible, too.

Obviously, Miami, BC, and MD don't help Tech fans with driving times. But then again the ACC is spread so thin across the East Coast that removing those three teams only makes the ACC slightly worse than the SEC's actual average driving distance. When arguing conference supremacy, the SEC can definitely state proximity as a huge plus. Hell, I would've gone to almost every game if the average drive was only 4 or so hours. Then again, you can't really fly into most SEC cities anyways so you better be willing to drive.

Regional/Dream/Ridiculous Scenario
I've kind of been toying with the idea of a playoff that involves MASSIVE conference realignment across the board. Regionals divided up by proximity. The goal is to save energy, reduce transport time, and ultimately save money. I don't have the regions completely sectioned up but I think by 2050 or whenever gasoline has to be rationed, we'll be seeing something similar to this. Like the 1910's schedules where Tech would only go to one road game and teams would only play 5-6 games a year. I'll work up a post on this when I have more free time.

If Tech were to take its 11 closest I-A opponents to form a new ATL-centralized conference, the conference would include: Tech, Georgia, Auburn, Clemson, UAB, Troy, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, MTSU, Vandy, and FSU. Think about that. That's a lot of natural rivalries that could be reborn. Georgie, Auburn, and Clemson are obvious. Alabama brings back images of the epic Bryant-Dodd danceoffs. FSU is always close and ridiculous. Tech fans generally trust UT about as far as we can throw Phil Fulmer. The others are good fillers. The average drive time would reduce from the ACC's staggering 8 hours to a manageable 3 hours. Damn, that would be nice.

Interestingly enough, in the 50's an "Airplane Conference" was proposed by members of the current Pac 10, the Service Academies, and other dominant East Coast teams (like GT). The idea, at the time, was to create a super conference but the Pentagon didn't like the idea of flying college football teams back and forth across the country all season.

The Georgia Tech Universe Schedule

Now, I've been trying to explain to people why you can't use season stats to explain college football teams. I like using NFL stats generally moreso because of the parity and talent depth at the pro level. To me, college football is much more reliant on individual game performances and matchups less so than the NFL, which is moreso about warroom coaching and consistency.

In college football, you have many factors that lead to the rise and fall of college football teams. A major factor is "Who have you played?" or "Who have they played?" A look at the GT Universe Schedule shows the intracacies of the GT schedule. Momentum can be garnered or totally lost merely a game before someone plays us (read: one loss in CFB can ruin a season). The Universe Schedule also shows how comparable teams are to one another through the idea of "common opponents." That's a big time NCAA basketball buzzword but I like the idea for CFB as well since no one ever really likes to stray out of their region.

Any thoughts out there? I'm thinking the entire US should be broken down into 12-16 regionals to coincide with a major playoff configuration.

Georgia looking up at Tech

Doc Saturday claims that Georgie probably shouldn't feel any sort of jealousy towards Tech's preseason love due to recent history. He also mentions, however, that through the O'Leary/Johnson years, Tech and Georgie have mostly been on par. The Chan Experience really put a governor on the Tech motor and kinda slowed us up comparatively, which I generally I agree with (as do most Tech fans).

There's an interesting mood in the state though. A mood that is emanating from the East. I think a lot of dog fans are realizing Richt will never take home a big one at Georgie or at least he won't in the near future. He can recruit all the talent in the world but he doesn't have the ability (or maybe focus) to coach an entire season without a blemish (e.g. UF, Tenn, and Auburn in recent years). He reminds me of Wisconsin in the Big 10. Not flashy, 10 win seasons, and always overshadowed by more interesting teams that get to big games with big regular season wins.

Oh well. You never know. I hope Richt doesn't leave in the near future except maybe to take the FSU job. I think CPJ's got his number and is a helluva lot better coach. But with two or three more losses in a row to the Jackets I think Richt is gone.

Any thoughts.

Tech-uga ESPN Poll Closes with Analysis

Who Won?
A poll conducted by ESPN SportsNation accumulated over 15,000 votes on who would have a more succesful season: Tech or Georgia. So final tallies indicate Tech won the popular vote over Georgia 52% to 48% but would've lost the Presidential Election as Georgia took California, Texas, and New York. Why did Tech win the popular vote? Well, the poll only polled people that cared so the states of Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Ohio were key states in the popular vote as those four states tallied over 34% of the total votes. It also didn't hurt that voters outside of the US (~8% of the total votes) chose Tech 53% of the time.

Conference Affiliations
An interesting trend was a delineation along conference lines. States affiliated with certain conferences aligned with certain teams. Obviously, ACC states chose Tech while exclusively SEC states took Georgia. What's interesting is the Clemson contigent in SC and the Tech contigent in Georgia overwhelmed the Cocks and Dogs, respectively. And I think Florida just went overwhelmingly with Tech because of FSU/Miami and Florida's hatred of all things dog-related. In states only affiliated with the SEC, Georgia took 55% of the votes.

Here's a breakdown of votes based on state-conference affiliations:
1. ACC - 2599 of 4591 votes for Tech (57%)¹
2. Big East - 576 of 1113 votes for Tech (52%)²
2. SEC - 2789 of 5342 votes for Tech (52%)³
4. Big 10 - 1257 of 2471 votes for Tech (51%)⁴
4. Big 12 - 1149 of 2257 votes for Tech (51%)⁵
6. Pac 10 - 602 of 1247 votes for Tech (48%)
7. No BCS or I-A Teams - 244 of 516 votes for Tech (47%)

Interesting Trends
There were some noticeable trends such as states who had played Tech recently siding with Georgia and vice versa. So I went back five years pulling only OOC games and matched the teams up with their home states to show that Tech only had a 47% approval rating in states that had played Tech since 2004 (OOC opponents). Georgia, likewise, only had a 49% approval rating in states it had played OOC since 2004. This, to me, indicated Tech and Georgia left a sour taste in the mouth of OOC opponents or our OOC opponents perceive us to be weaker after playing us.

And I'm sure there're some random Georgia fans out there thinking, "This is BS, I know some conferences respect my good ol' 2009 DOGS!!! WOOF WOOF!" Well, I found one: the Western Athletic Conference. The WAC States are the only other grouping of I-A affiliated states on par with the Pac 10 at a 48% approval rating for Tech. Pretty interesting that the only conferences that approve of the Bulldog's upcoming season are 2,500 miles away or their own SEC homer friends in Goober, Alabama.

Top Fives
So with a minimum of 100 votes, here are the states that felt Tech would do better than Georgia followed by states that felt Tech would do worse. I think Nebraska loves the Triple Option and our ACC brethren took care of their own states. Georgia pulled Idaho because of their shillacking of Hawai'i/Boise State recently. Kansas I do not understand. It's an island of haters in a sea of Big 12-GT friendship.

1. Nebraska (61%)
2. North Carolina (59%)
2. South Carolina (59%)
2. Massachusetts (59%)
5. Virginia (58%)
---
1. Mississippi (35%)
2. Idaho (37%)
3. Kansas (42%)
4. Arkansas (43%)
5. Minnesota (44%)

^{Notes: 1) Includes votes from Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
2) Includes votes from Pennsylvania.
3) Includes votes from Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina.
4) Includes votes from Iowa and Pennsylvania.
5) Includes votes from Iowa.}

Thoughts are welcome.

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???

ACC vs. SEC in 2009 baseball season

The ever constant debate in the Southeast revolves around tradition, national titles, and conference superiority. This season the ACC and SEC have met 16 times and will meet once more (with three rainouts). Currently, the ACC holds a 9 to 7 edge over the SEC with Tech playing the last SEC game against uga at Turner Field.

The proximity of the two conferences lends itself to constant interconference danceoffs and league comparisons. Here are the results thus far in 2009:

1. Miami swept UF in a 3 game series.
2. FSU took 2 of 3 from Auburn.
3. UF took 2 of 3 from FSU.
4. Georgia swept Clemson in a 2 game series.
5. GT beat Georgia in Athens.
6. South Carolina/Clemson won 2 games a-piece.
7. GT-Tennessee game rained out tonight, which ends any chance of the SEC tying the season series.
8. Tech-Georgia finale at Turner Field.

There's not much to draw from this season's small sample of games other than bragging rights across the cubicle but it's still important in the grand scheme of things to consistently beat your rival and your rival conference.

And in case you bought tickets to the Tech game, you can exchange them for Chattanooga Lookout tickets! Woohoo! What a deal! Anyone keeping a tally on rainouts would note this is the sixth rainout of the season. I'm sure there's a stat book out there somewhere proving this be a GT single season record.

Anyone out there hate the SEC more than me? I doubt it. Bring on the dogs!

This ain't no rivalry Holmes!

uga fans love to jibber-jabber about the "decrease in attention" given to Tech as of late. Well, I present to you above exhibit A: Rennie Curran, uga linebacker, lifting above a mat with one date inscribed. November 28, 2009.

I guess they're aware of the Yellow Jackets now after getting punched in the throat at home. Oh boy, can't wait.

Why Felton was fired and Hewitt will not be

Why Felton was fired:

1. Felton was fired because of an overall losing record at Georgia.
2. His team has done jack in the tournament.
3. His contract was only worth ~1.6 million - chump change to Georgia's AA.
4. Felton lost Favors, his last chance, to Tech.
5. Georgia is delusional.

Why Hewitt will not be fired:

1. 2004 Final Four still demands respect.
2. His team has had unexpected attrition particularly at guard.
3. He still has about ~2.5 million dollars to make from Tech.
4. Derrick Favors.
5. Tech is generally more patient and reserved when hiring/firing coaches.

I'm hoping for a turnaround still. Call me optimistic. Any thoughts on the Felton firing besides slight joy in Georgia's program falling into greater disarray?

Monday After-test-that-no-one finished update 11/24/08

This will be quick, I'm working on other things.

Dane doesn't know shit about football. Well, that's not true, but I thought we would score against UNC, and thought we would have trouble against Miami. I'm glad I was wrong. I'll try to recap everything I was wrong about this season (I have a big bowl of Virginia poo to eat) sometime next week.

We beat Mercer in basketball in the ugliest game I've ever seen. I was there, it was kind of weird going to that game, seeing as I seriously considered going to that school (that is, until they didn't offer me a scholarship even though I probably deserved a full ride or at least a good portion, but whatever). I'm glad I didn't because having a basketball game for homecoming would suck ass.

Screw you, Hokies. Last week was almost the perfect week for Tech sports, and you could have made it happen (actually, Tyrod tried pretty hard to make it happen), but no you screwed us. JUST GET ON BOARD AND GIVE US THE ACC TITLE GAME. DRINK THE KOOL-AID AND LOVE PAUL JOHNSON. I don't want to root for UVa, but I will if I have to, damnit.

We play those animals from the Clark County Community College on Saturday, and I plan on tearing down their stadium with my bare hands after we take our victory, then set Athens ablaze, leaving only cinders in the wake of their defeat. Even the tears from every eye of the doggie nation would not be able to put out a fire fueled by such hate.

We're ranked, and that's bad. Hopefully we don't do what we do every other time we get ranked.

GET YOUR HATE ON. To Hell with georgia, piss on the mutts!