Category Archives: college football

This Weekend in College Football: Week 4 (Scott Sisson Edition)

17 years ago this November….

That was the last time Georgia Tech won a game in Charlottesville, VA. That FG broke a 38-38 tie with then #1 Virginia and vaulted Georgia Tech up the polls. Since then, Tech has not had a lot of luck against Virginia, in or outside of Charlottesville. Tech is 6-10 in the span from 1991 to 2006. Last year’s Thursday night game ended a three game losing streak, and ended it with authority. Last year’s starter is barely the starter this year and isn’t doing terribly well. Anyway, enough of the jibber-jabber, let’s get to the games:

Noon:

  • North Carolina at South Florida (ESPN): The OOC embarrassment of the ACC continues as UNC loses to up-and-coming USF.
  • East Carolina at West Virginia (ESPN2): Despite the fact that Wednesday was Talk Like a Pirate Day, WVU rolls.
  • Georgia Tech at Virginia (ESPNU): Dear Raycom, thanks for not picking up this game and showing the next game instead. I would bet money there are more Game Plan subscribers than there are ESPNU subscribers (and I’m in the former group). Anyway, I don’t like predicting our games. But we really need a pick-me-up after last week and we throughly embarrassed this same group last year. Well, they sort of embarrassed themselves. Nonetheless. We really need to win this game after last week, otherwise this season is lost. No pressure, though. And we need to get this damn Charlottesville monkey off our backs as well.
  • Clemson at North Carolina State (Raycom/Gameplan): Let’s see, NCSU is still terrible. Clemson is Clemson. I’ll go with the occasionally purple-clad warriors here.

12:30: Florida at Mississippi (LF/Gameplan): I’m for any game that has the possibility of featuring the spoken word of the Orgeron. Also, Ole Miss lost at Vandy last week – UF rolls.

1:00:

  • Army at Boston College (ESPN Classic): BC rolls.
  • Duke at Navy (CSTV): Despite all my wishes to the contrary, Duke won last weekend up in Evanston. Now they roll up to Annapolis, where Navy should be able to steam their triple option attack straight up the middle of Duke’s ineffective blockade attempt of a defensive line. (Please don’t hurt me.)

3:30:

  • Michigan State at Notre Dame (NBC): See, the problem with John L. Smith being fired is that if he were still there this game would actually look pretty favorable for ND, since he’s John L. Smith and all. Then again, I guess that’s why they fired him. MSU goes to 4-0 and ND drops to 0-4.
  • South Carolina at Louisiana State (CBS): Slim pickings for the SEC this week if this is the CBS game. I think I’m one of 5-non UF or South Carolina fans that actually likes Spurrier, but if LSU is as legit as they appear this should be absolutely no problem for them.
  • Michigan at Penn State (ABC): Speaking of slim pickings… I can’t conceive of a way Penn State loses here, but like GT going into the weekend they also have a significant monkey on their back. But PSU is good and it’s in Happy Valley. I have to think they win.
  • Northwestern at Ohio State (ESPN): Uh…huh. NU, fresh off their loss to the (not-so) mighty Duke goes to Columbus. I’ll take OSU here.
  • Texas Tech at Oklahoma State (FSN): Mike Leach (arrr!), fresh off thieving at least 45-points of their cupcakes opponents rolls into a team that claimed, pre-season, to have a superior offense. This supposedly superior offense then proceeded to produce 14, 42 (against FAU), and 23 points, the last in a rout against a team named the Trojans that is not located in Los Angeles. I’ve got a hunch TTU rolls here.
  • Maryland at Wake Forest (ESPNU): Maryland comes in fresh off their now-annual blowout loss against West Virginia. Meanwhile, Wake just picked up their first victory of the year against Army after close losses against Boston College and Nebraska. Neither of these teams has a victory over a significant opponent (UMD is 2-1 but the victories are over Villanova and FIU). This one is too close to call. My heart says Wake, but my head says UMD.

6:00: Kentucky at Arkansas (ESPN2): Fresh off their victory in the Intra-Kentucky Defense Optional Bowl win over Louisville, the boys from Lexington roll into Arkansas for a matchup that should probably see slightly less scoring. Let me also take this time to remind you that Houston Nutt is crazier than a sack of rabid weasels, as evidenced again last weekend. That said, Arkansas is still better than Kentucky. I hope.

7:00: Rice at Texas (FSN): So, uh, remember last year, when Rice had a good season and made a bowl? Yeah, it’s not quite working out that way for them this year, with that 0-3 record and a loss to Nicholls State. Texas wins by at least 3 touchdowns.

7:45: Georgia at Alabama (ESPN): Ah, yes. This game. A game I dread. Whoever wins, we all lose. Since words cannot fully express the reasons why I dislike both these schools and everything they stand for, I’ll just move directly into saying that I unfortunately think one of them will win. UGA has no wins to speak of and Bama beat Arkansas. Curiously, they both scheduled the same DI-AA patsy in Western Carolina – both won handily, but Alabama won, er, more handily. So I guess if someone is going to win, it’ll probably be Alabama.

8:00:

  • Washington State at Southern California (ABC): Wazzou has a loss to Wisconsin and wins over no one. Meanwhile, in Lincoln USC opened some holes. (That’s 3 links to EDSBS now…) I’d say Wazzou doesn’t have much of a chance.
  • Iowa at Wisconsin (Gameplan/ABC): Iowa lost to noted football powerhouse Iowa State last week. Oh, wait, Iowa State is completely terrible and has already lost to Kent State and Northern Iowa. So, uh, yeah, that’s why the most of the country is getting a Pac-10 game instead. Badgers roll.

9:00: Purdue at Minnesota (ESPN2): What’s up with all the Big Ten games this week? Did the Big Ten network go out of business already? (I know this didn’t, but hey.) Purdue has feasted on MAC patsy, scoring 52 twice and 45 in their 3rd win. Meanwhile, UMN lost at Florida Atlantic last week and lost to Bowling Green. Purdue seems a pretty safe bet here.

10:15: Washington at UCLA (FSN): Going into last week, this had the makings of a pretty decent Pac-10 matchup. Washington losing to Ohio State is understandable. UCLA, however, pulled a “Georgia Tech at the 2005 Emerald Bowl” getting Ute-owned 44-6 last week. Whoops. Washington resumes their previously good season and hopefully takes the victory here.

Anyway, I realize this up early. I guess TAMU at Miami may be worth watching tomorrow night, but probably not. Anyway, I’m out.

This Weekend in College Football: Week 3

Week 3, ahoy! All times eastern, all games picked arbitrarily.

Noon:

  • Pittsburgh @ Michigan St., ESPN – Why is this on here? Who knows! I’m not even sure who’s going to win, so I’ll guess MSU.
  • Central Michigan @ Purdue, ESPN2 – See above; Purdue.
  • Virginia @ North Carolina, LF/Gameplan – The “lolacc” bowl! Two throughly bad/mediocre teams face off in Chapel Hill. Virginia has beaten a 1A team this year, though it was Duke, so I’ll give them a slight edge.

12:30: Mississippi State @ Auburn, LF/Gameplan -USF has sent the Auburn faithful’s, well, faith into tailspin (just see below). However, while this game may not restore the faith, per se, it will sure help. Auburn rolls.

1:30: Iowa @ Iowa State, Versus – Included only because it’s a rivalry game, and apparently the most expensive ticket in Iowa (if not one of the most in the country, especially considering the potential quality of play here). Iowa may get some in trouble because they’re away, but should prevail.

3:30:

  • Tennessee @ Florida, CBS – Potentially the best game of the day. Both of these teams have lots of questions with precious few answers this far into the season. Tennessee got beat by Cal, but had a tasty cupcake in the form of Southern Miss. Despite what Troy did last night, that doesn’t really validate Florida’s win over them. As pointed out by other sources, home team doesn’t necessarily confer an advantage in this rivalry, nonetheless I like Florida here.
  • Notre Dame @ Michigan, ABC – The game of various names. I call it the Lame Duck Bowl, but I’ve also heard other good ones that I escape me right now. Both teams will start freshman quarterbacks, both of whom got experience last week (Clausen started, Mallett came for the supposedly injured Henne).
  • Ohio State @ Washington, ESPN – This game looks a lot more interesting than it did at the beginning of the year. But I don’t think the freshman QB for Washington has seen a defense like Ohio State’s, so I still like them here.
  • Texas @ Central Florida, ESPN2 – UCF beat NC State last week, sure. But make no mistake, Texas is – hold on a second here, Texas at Central Florida? Well, Texas will probably win, but hopefully they saw what Troy did to Oklahoma State – they need to be on their toes.

5:00:

  • California – Los Angeles @ Utah, Versus – Why did I include this on the list? Why not? Oh, I guess I like UCLA.
  • Ball State @ Navy, CSTV – See above. I like Navy. Well, I don’t like Navy (Dad went to West Point, after all). I think there is a good chance they will this contest, however.

6:45: Arkansas @ Alabama, ESPN – Will Nick Saban have time Houston Nutt’s crazier-than-weasels offense? I don’t buy into Alabama being back here, and I think, and hope, that McFadden leads the Razorbacks to victory in Tuscaloosa.

7:00:

  • Fresno State @ Oregon, Gameplan – Fresno State almost got the job done in College Station last week, but that said, the game went into multiple overtimes. I can’t imagine the Bulldogs being anything but sapped after that experience. Look for this to be close to the half, but Oregon pulls away in the 3rd quarter.
  • Mississippi @ Vanderbilt, Gameplan – “DaCoachO” rolls into Nashville. I saw some promise in Vandy last week, but precious few points outside even if they did get shafted again. My heart says Vandy, but my head isn’t sure.

7:30: Louisville @ Kentucky, ESPN Classic – Another early-season rivalry game put into the backwaters of sports programming. Look for this game not to feature a lot of defense. (I’m not a betting man, but I might consider taking the over here.) Louisville wins, 55-35 or something like that.

8:00:

  • Southern California @ Nebraska, ABC – Nebraska needed a few breaks to escape Wake Forest with a win. I see no reason why you should watch Southern Cal steamroll them when you could be watching…
  • Boston College @ Georgia Tech, ESPN2 -The first real test for Georgia Tech all season. Once again, I’m nervous because the so-called experts seem to think GT will win on the basis of its defense and Tashard Choice and friends. I have to admit, I like the idea. But I’m also very nervous about Matt Ryan. The crucial factor in this game is the amount of time he has to sit in the pocket. If we can break the pass rush, he will not have enough opportunities to exploit what is by far the weakest area of the Georgia Tech defense – the cornerbacks. If he can camp out back in the pocket, he will have a field day. The numbers are fuzzy on whether or not Boston College’s run defense is any good. But hopefully Taylor gets over the jitters he had at Notre Dame and can complete some passes when BC is putting 8-9 guys in the box to stop Choice. If he can do his part to keep BC off balance, I like our chances here.

10:00: Florida State @ Colorado, ESPN – Man, if this were, like, 1991 this would probably be a great matchup. Now? Not so much. FSU has done little to impress me. I like Colorado here.

That’s all folks. Have a great Saturday!

On Notice: Week 2 (Special Guest Edition!)

Well, I’m doing On Notice! this week. You’re just going to have to deal with it.

  1. “Da ‘U'”: When I wrote that I expected Oklahoma to win, I meant that Miami might actually bother showing up to Norman and give them a run for their money. Instead, Miami absolutely wilted. We now know for sure that neither of Miami’s quarterbacks are any good and that Patrick Nix is still a terrible offensive coordinator.
  2. Auburn University: Sorry Tito. This game was fascinating in that it seemed as though both teams were desperately trying to lose up until USF punched in the winning touchdown.
  3. Keys: A recent article reminded me of a phenomenon that I really hate: students and spectators shaking keys. At Tech (and I imagine, most of the South) it symbolized the suggest that perhaps the opponent should being to warm up their busses. In the North (and places influenced by them, see Virginia Tech) it symbolizes a “key” play. Both uses are really terrible, and the former is just downright classless. Please stop doing it.
  4. Green Bay Packers: You may be wondering why a NFL team is on here. I’ll tell you why. Because there’s a decent chance Jared Lorenzen is going to start at quarterback in place of the injured Eli Manning for the Giants Sunday. Jared was a staple of those awful Kentucky games on JP Sports back in The Day, and I find it pretty amazing he managed to actually stay at quarterback all these years instead of being moved to say, fullback. So, yeah, Packers, you better watch out.
  5. Temple University: Temple confirmed their status as the worst team in major college football by getting blown out 42-7 in their MAC opener. And it wasn’t a good MAC team either, it was perennial Bottom 10 contender Buffalo. Yeah.
  6. Duke University: Duke continues on their quest for a second consecutive winless season, as they lost to probably the only ACC team they had a chance of beating, Virginia.
  7. University of Michigan: On here until they win, which they have a fair chance of doing against fellow winless team Notre Dame in the Lame Duck Bowl this Saturday.
  8. Boston College: 2 of the 5 teams in major college football without the word “University” in their official school titles meet in Atlanta this Saturday. I expect this to be our first real test of the year, but I’ll save the specifics for Friday.

Week 2 Games of Interest!

Couple of interesting games this week, but mostly crap. At any rate, we continue onwards! All times Eastern.

11:00: West Virginia @ Marshall (ESPN2): The Battle of West Virginia! WVU wins going away.

Noon:

  • Miami (FL) @ Oklahoma (ABC): I’m not sold on either of these teams – they gorged themselves on cupcakes last week. That said, I have to give the edge to OU based on how terrible Miami’s been the past couple of years.
  • Nebraska @ Wake Forest (ESPN): Another ACC-Big 12 game! Wake didn’t exactly look awesome last week. I’m giving a slight edge to Nebraska here, even if I am rooting for wake.
  • Duke @ Virginia (LF/Gameplan): Both are terrible, but one is much more terrible than the other. Virginia wins a game!

12:30: Alabama @ Vanderbilt (LF/Gameplan): I so desperately want this to be close and for Vandy to pull off the upset. My brain tells me that it will probably go otherwise, as ‘Bama fans are packing Nashville to see the Saban.

1:30: Samford @ Georgia Tech (ESPNU): Included even though I don’t get das ‘U’. Tech should win this one without much trouble, and hopefully Bennett can work off his nerves in a half of work and get his timing down for the passing game.

2:00: California @ Colorado State (CSTV): Cal’s second toughest OOC game – they need to win this to stay in the national picture after taking care of Tennessee this week. CSU and CU looked about level last week, so the boys from Berkeley should take this going away.

2:30: NC State @ Boston College (ESPN2): Important ACC divisional matchup, but NC State is still terrible as Tom O’Brien faces the school he jilted. BC wins to go to 2-0 heading into Atlanta next week.

3:30:

  • Oregon @ Michigan (ABC): Ahahahahahaha. Sorry. Anyway. Oregon runs a spread-offense with a speedy quarterback, the same formula that App State uses. Oregon wins what originally looked like an intriguing matchip.
  • Fresno State @ Texas A&M (FSN): Is Fresno back to its giant-killing ways? Probably not. TAMU wins.
  • Boise State @ Washington (FSN NW/FCS Pacific): Washington claims to have a found a saviour in its young freshman QB. Boise State claims to be a legit contender. This is probably the Broncos’ most import game until they play Hawaii. I’m going say Washington gives them a run for their money, but they’re still Washington and Boise should win.

5:45: South Carolina @ Georgia (ESPN2): I hope against hope the boys from Columbia can go into Athens and whip the dogs. I hope is probably unfounded, though – UGA looked pretty good last week against Oklahoma State while the Gamecocks looked lackluster against UL-Lafayette.

6:00: Notre Dame @ Penn State (ESPN): Georgia Tech’s renowned defense terrorized ND’s QBs into 9 sacks last week. Penn State’s renowned defense should do similar damage. Happy Valley should be pretty happy about this one.

7:00: TCU @ Texas (FSN): TCU also is claiming to be a mid-major to contend with this year along with Boise and Hawaii. To prove it, they need to go giant-killing in Austin. Will they prove it? Probably not, but they may make it interesting.

9:00: South Florida @ Auburn (ESPN2): Auburn shouldn’t have any trouble with the Golden Bulls. However, they also weren’t supposed to have any trouble with Kansas State last week. If the AU offense bothers to show up for more than the last 5 minutes of the game this week they should win this going away – however, USF is probably better than KSU and if Auburn stagnates again they may not get as many second chances.

9:15: Virginia Tech @ Louisiana State (ESPN): The marquee matchup of the weekend – we’ve got real national title implications here, folks. Baton Rogue will be as nuts as they can get, which is pretty nuts. Virginia Tech looked…uninspired on offense against East Carolina last week and let them hang around way too long. Meanwhile, LSU took a business-like approach in beating Mississippi State (who is probably just as good, if not worse, than ECU). I feel like overall, LSU is probably more competent on offense and just as good as VPI on defense. This, plus home field advantage, gives them a slight edge here. I don’t expect a lot of points, though – something like 14-10 for a final would not be unsurprising.

Hindsight is 20/20: Georgia Tech’s 2006 Season

Before we start proper back into the swing of things here on asimsports, I’d like to take you on a review of Georgia Tech’s 2006 football season. Because hindsight is 20/20, not only will I recap the games, I will also highlight some of my colleagues and I’s statements, and point out the predictions that were folly.

2006, like most of GT’s seasons, saw the highest high (beating Virginia Tech in Blacksburg) and the lowest of lows (losing to Georgia again, then blowing the games after that). Anyway, let us begin.

Game 1: Notre Dame 14, Georgia Tech 10
Oh, what an opener. We probably should have won. If you look at other Tech sites, you might see something about the officiating – namely, an unnecessary roughness call against us for a hit on Brady Quinn after he had run upfield. I had this to say about it:

In Tech circles, a lot was made a helmet-to-helmet call against us on Brady Quin. It was definitely a bad call, however, listening to some folks you’d think the refs walked over to Charlie Weis after the play to recieve their payoffs. The fact of the matter is that there was around 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, and I have a hard time believing any call made with that much time left can seriously impact a game.

Looking back at the statistics, a few things jump out:

  • Tashard Choice was outrushed by Reggie Ball. Tashard, as you should know by now, led the ACC in rushing last year. This game did not help him all that much. He had 14 carries for 54 yards. Reggie had 11 for 55.
  • Tech was terrible on 3rd down, going 2 for 10.
  • Tech had only 259 yards of total offense and held the ball for 24 minutes.
  • Reggie was servicable, going 12-24. More importantly, he didn’t throw any interceptions.

Essentially, Tech had yet to find itself on offense and couldn’t stay on the field, which led to the critical lack of additional offense to back up the defense. I’ll probably say something similar near the end of this article.

Game 2: Georgia Tech 38, Samford 6
Lots of guys got to play. Taylor Bennett went 7-13 in mop-up duty.

Game 3: Georgia Tech 35, Troy 20
Tashard got himself 78 yards rushing here, gradually working his way up to those nice games he had in the 2nd half.
Outside of that, my recap post featured me using the word “elocution”. I was pretty proud of that when I was reading it again. Also there was this gem from Tito during his Auburn-LSU recap:

Anyway, one of the questions Tre’ [Battle] answered in the [halftime video board] interview was what three things he would bring with him if he were trapped on an island. Tre”s [sic] response was, “A helicopter, some fuel…and a trillion dollars.” Initially, I wondered, “What are you going to do with a trillion dollars on a deserted island?” Then, I realized the genius of it. You could fly the helicopter to land and spend the money on things! What kind of question is that, anyhow? If you were going to a deserted island with the knowledge that you would be stranded, of course you would bring things that would help you escape.

Anyway, let us hasten to GT’s yearly Thursday night feature:

Game 4: Georgia Tech 24, Virginia 7
Man, UVA was terrible last year. I’ll just copy and paste 2 paragraphs from my recap:

Poor Virginia, though. I don’t think they’re the best oppenent we’ve beaten this year – I think Troy could probably take them by a touchdown or two. Did you see their “passing offense”? That guy made Reggie look positively awesome (Reggie’s never been as bad as that guy was). I think my brother summed it up best: “These guys couldn’t score against air.” The UVA QB threw everywhere but at his receivers, and in the off chance he actually got it to them, I think they were so surprised they just dropped it.

Our receivers are okay this year – we’re lining up playmaker Rashaun Grant in the slot and have shown depth behind Calvin. Our running game could use some work, though – I like that we’re trying to use the option, but Reggie pitches too soon and Choice seems to have trouble turning the corner and running upfield.

That last statement was prophetic, because once we did get that running game working, well, yeah. Tashard had 83 yards on 19 carries. Reggie had a pretty good game going 10-19 with 2 TDs and caught a pass from fullback Mike Cox. All-in-all, GT did everything they were supposed to do in this. And looking sharp doing it, as they wore their retro gold jerseys with white helmets.
Other highlights from the recaps that week include the premiere of the On Notice! feature and Tito wore an authentic sombrero to protest the scheduling of Buffalo. The only prophetic things we had to say was that the upcoming game at Virginia Tech probably wasn’t going to be 51-7 again. Well, we were definitely correct.

Game 5: Georgia Tech 38, Virginia Tech 27
This was the most important victory Georgia Tech had all season.

Unfortunately, I missed most of the game. I knew something was up when I got this text message from my brother: “Omg 21-0 gt”

21 points indeed. VPI would not surpass that mark until their touchdown with 3:31 left in the 4th quarter. I was able to watch a recording of the game afterwards and it was easily the best start I’ve ever seen a GT team get off to when I was there. It featured excellent passes, especially to Calvin who had 2 touchdown catches by the time the first quarter ended. Tashard broke the 100-yard mark for the first time all season, netting 105 yards on 18 carries. Reggie was 9-16, but threw 2 picks. Tech even blocked a punt! Or as my brother noted in his recap:

“Beamerball” – If I told you that there was a blocked punt and a defensive TD in the VT-GT game, you’d assume that VT was the team to have done both. And you’d be wrong.

Basically, everything went right for GT in this game. I don’t think we played nearly as complete a game the entire rest of the season.

Game 6: Georgia Tech 27, Maryland 23
One of these days, I’m going to post my frame-by-frame analysis of why Micheal Johnson is awesome.

This was a game that usually during the past few years GT would have easily lost. They were down 20-14 going into the half, and then 23-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter. It did not look good. Then the defense stepped up. After scoring at the beginning of the 4th, on the first play Maryland ran resulted in a fumble that GT recovered at the Maryland 17.

The downside was this was probably the last good game Reggie played. He got his legs hurt and we got away from the options and draws we ran early in the year. This was a crucial dimension for the offense – without his legs, Reggie went from a somewhat serviceable dual-threat QB to a very bad pocket passer. He wouldn’t complete more than half the rest of the season (except against Duke).

After that, there was a bye. At this point, GT was 5-1 and 4-0 within the ACC. Things looked be going well. Until…

Game 7: Clemson 31, Georgia Tech 7
Tech pretty much just got owned here. Despite close games the past two seasons against Clemson, this one wasn’t. To quote my brother, “Front 7 was completely dominated on defense. Offense couldn’t do anything at all.”

Indeed. Tech had a mere 205 yards of offense. Clemson had 321 yards of rushing offense (and 426 overall). Clemson scored so quickly on most of their drives that Tech actaully had a nearly 5 minute advantage in time of possession. Because Tech got down quickly, Tashard had 15 carries and only netted 48 yards rushing (the last time he’d be held under the century mark for the remainder of the season).

This game provides a blueprint for how to beat Jon Tenuta’s defense. Tech’s defense is fast, but is not very big or deep (though it’s better this year, at least on the line). Our secondary is also shaky. We make up for this by throwing weird zone blitz packages at the QB, hopefully pressuing them into making bad decisions. Problem is, when you have 2 really good running backs (both of Clemson’s backs rushed for over 100 yards – Davis got 216, Spiller got 116) you can just pound away at the defense it and it will eventually break. Since the safeties or linebackers are usually blitzing instead of staying back, one you get past the line of scrimmage you are home free. West Virginia would also exploit this. But as I said, you need good backs and some mountains on the offensive line or else the d-line will stop you, and those linebackers start tackling you in the backfield.

This, of course, made Clemson look like world beaters at the time, but then they got shellacked themsleves up in Blacksburg the next Thursday. Whoops. Anyway, let’s move on.

Game 8: Georgia Tech 30, Miami (FL) 23
I am pretty sure this is the only game ever to inspire someone to upload a bunch of punts to YouTube, but hey, when you kick out of your own end zone and keep their return guy behind his own 40, well, that’s highlight worthy punt. Also, Miami helped with 2 turnovers off punts.

Tech came from behind again, though in decidedly less dramatic fashion. They got it tied at the beginning of the 4th at 16, then scored 2 touchdowns to put it away. This pretty much sealed the division for Tech. But still, it seemed as though the offense was slowing down.

In the meantime, this sums up probably what most outside observers would think of the ACC in 2006:

Me: UMD’s only conference loss is to us
Me: they win and they’re right up there with WFU and BC
Him: RIGHT *UP THERE*
Him: With WAKE FOREST
Him: ACC FOOTBALL

Game 9: Georgia Tech 31, NC State 23
GT led at the half but allowed NCSU to climb back in the 3rd, but Travis Bell made a FG and put us ahead for good with 9:09 left in the 4th. Career days here for Tashard and Calvin, but Reggie was 13-35.

I wasn’t able to watch this game, so I don’t have anything terribly insightful to say about it. GT pretty much took care of business.

Game 10: Georgia Tech 7, North Carolina 0
I did, however, watch this game. And needless to say, this is when some eyebrows started to be raised about the offense – eyebrows that would eventually not miss the departure of Patrick Nix.
This game officially clinched Tech’s division title. I don’t remember much of it. It quite lackluster and with Duke ahead, all eyes were turning towards Game #12.

Game 11: Georgia Tech 49, Duke 21
Not much to say here, either. Calvin did his thing, Reggie threw 3 touchdowns and Taylor tacked on 2 more. The second teamers came in in the second half, with Taylor, Jamaal Evens, and Greg Smith putting on a show.

Reading back over the lead-up to the Georgia game is intensely depressing. We all felt we had an exceedingly good chance to win last year.

Game 12: Georgia 15, Georgia Tech 12
And this is where the wheels started to come off for Reggie Ball and Georgia Tech. I had no words, and I still don’t, but I do have statistics:

Ball (Passing): 6/22 for 46 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Ball (Rushing): 11 carries, -10 yards, -0.9 ypc, 1 fumble
Johnson (Receiving): 2 catches, 18 yards
Team: 4/14 on 3rd down

Orson summed it up pretty well over at EDSBS, and well, hell, at least I can derive some humor now of the comparison of Reggie Ball to a minor bit character from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Game 13: Wake Forest 9, Georgia Tech 6
Mercifully, this was the last game of Reggie Ball’s career. Tito summed many a Tech fan’s frustration with what the offense had turned into:

Once again, Reggie Ball and the Tech offense he “leads” looked awful. The quarterback hit the Johnsons a few times, but most of his passes were not on target. I still can’t figure out why the Yellow Jackets continually called deep shots downfield when Ball kept missing his receivers. Ball’s scrambles seemed impulsive and didn’t produce many yards. I was right about the close defensive struggle, but I should have said the two teams would score less than thirty points combined. This was probably the worst game of the day for those watching TV. Due to the drizzly weather, the fans in the stands probably didn’t have much fun either.

Reggie even threw in 46 yards rushing, his most on a couple of months, but he was 9-29 on the day and didn’t complete a pass to anyone not named “Johnson”. Tashard put in his 100 but it wasn’t enough. Also, Patrick Nix called a reverse on 3rd and 1. Did I mention no one misses him?

We got an invite to the Gator Bowl after that, and Reggie was declared academically ineligible. Unfortunately, so was our only good cornerback, Kenny Scott.

Game 14: West Virginia 38, Georgia Tech 35
This was a defense optional game. As discussed above in the Clemson game, WVU had the tools to exploit our defense. However, we were also able to exploit their terrible secondary to the tune of Taylor’s 19-29, 326 yard, 3 TD performance. Calvin got 9 of those receptions and 2 of those touchdowns, and Tashard had 27 carries for 169 yards.

Tech was ahead 35-17 3 minutes into the 3rd quarter when the wheels started to come off to the tune of 21 unanswered WVU points. After the second of those touchdowns, a line drive kick off bounced off Tony Clark and was recovered by WVU, setting up Pat White’s go-ahead touchdown. Tech would have opportunities in the 4th. One drive got to the WVU 17 before ending in an interception. Holding WVU, Tech regained good field position but was unable to get a first down and settled for a 54-yard field goal, which Travis Bell missed. Tech never got the ball back.

And that’s it folks. I’d post some other stats from the year (such as the number of times we predictions OSU or Michigan would shred whoever they faced in the title game – whoops!), but it’s late and I’m tired. Coming soon: a look at the future! Remember, it’s less than two weeks away.