ITE BYE

Sorry everyone, just been really busy. I’ve got a loaded week this week with several assignments dues this week, lots going on at work, and one of my good friend’s wedding stuff going on. I’ll do some short snippets if I get some time, but otherwise I’ll be back next week with analysis of Duke and preview of GW.

GT vs. Miss State Preview

The Jackets have two out of four of their ACC road contests out of the way and head this week into an out-of-conference matchup with the Mississippi State Bulldogs of the SEC. This is the first time the two have matched up since 1929 and the Jackets hold the series at 2-0.

Special Teams

The Jackets certainly improved at Virginia Tech. We did have an extra point, but then again we were playing VT and made up for it with the conversion later in the game. The bulldogs have a pretty good punter in Blake McAdams. He is on the Ray Guy Watch list and while his average isn’t eye-popping he is pretty good at pinning his opponenet inside the 20. Adam Carlson is their kicker and has made 18-29 field goals in his career and was 10-13 last year. Not bad, but he’s gotta get within range first.

GT Defense vs. MSU Offense

I fully expect us to dominate. Vance will play and AT Barnes will be back for this game. Kyle Jackson has been playing very well and I believe he might be the leading tackler on the team right now. The secondary has continued to play well and will continue that against a horrid MSU offense. Wesley Carrol has taken the majority of the snaps for the bulldogs. I’ve heard that their one of the RBs might be injured for this game. If the dogs can’t get some sort of running game going in this game then they don’t have much of a shot to put many points on the board (at least from their O).

GT Offense vs. MSU Defense

The pattern of coaches practicing our O in the summer continues as Sylvester Croom mentioned that they looked at our offense some during the summer. Their D is stout. They are just as good as the past two that we’ve faced. I expect them to get tired though after having their offense out there for very short periods of time and our offense to break some big plays late in the game to put it out of reach. This offense is obviously getting better each game and Josh showed us how special an athlete he is. Dwyer will not miss this game and Lucas showed us what he can do last week. I expect to see a few more passes this week though.

Sylvester Croom

Coaching

Sylvester Croom is a good man and a pretty good coach. Not spectacular but good. Their D coordinator obviously knows what he is doing. There’s a lot of calling for the O coordinater’s head though. The people of Starkville are getting restless and tired of such a productionless vanilla offense. Let’s hope that trend continues this week.

Who to Watch

Jessie Bowman – Will he get as much pressure up the middle as VT and BC have?
Wesley Carroll – Can he get any semblance of a passing game going?
Michael Johnson – Is this his breakout game of 2008?
Roddy Jones – He showed us how can be utilized in the passing game, will he be a threat in both aspects of the offense this week?

Prediction

Ugly, hard-fought game. Big plays by GT late.

GT 24 – MSU – 9

Sorry for the short preview, but I’ve got a busy week and, honestly, Miss State is a boring team to research. They are at the bottom of the SEC and have a boring defensive-minded team with no offense, kind of like NC State.

Interesting Note: My wife’s cousin is a strength and conditioning coach at Mississipi State.

GT vs. VT Analysis

Believe me, I was not happy after this one. It hurt. It was just a rough loss to swallow. However, after a few days to cool down the sun is coming back out and I still love this team. So here’s my breakdown of the game.

Special Teams

Not terrible. A lot of people were worried about this part of our game and it really wasn’t all that bad. Yes, we did have an extra point blocked, but we made up for it with the 2-point conversion later in the game. Honestly, you can’t really expect to play VT and not have them have something big happen on special teams. Scott Blair hit his only field goal try of the afternoon. No spectacular returns, but we also held on to the ball during the returns. Coverage on kicks was pretty good. Overall, I’d say we showed improvement in this area this week.

Defense

Our inexperience at linebacker showed and VT showed how to neutralize our dominant D-line. Honestly, the Hokies didn’t have much beyond Taylor’s scramble ability. He made a few good throws and Darren Evans broke a couple nice runs, but their offense really came down to T-Mobile’s feet. I think with Glennon playing we win going away. The D-line got good push, but if any lane at all opened up Taylor got through it quick and made people miss to get some crucial first downs for the Hokies. I said this was going to be a key and we just didn’t stop it. Part of it was Taylor’s quickness and speed but part of it was linebackers not being in a position to slow him down either. We are young at linebacker and this type of thing will improve with experience. Our LB crew will be stacked for the next couple of years.

One thing that surprised me is we didn’t get a single turnover. They didn’t really pass all that much so there wasn’t many chances for interceptions, but give VT credit for holding onto the ball and not giving it away on any fumbles.

Oh well, at least Tyrod doesn’t seem like as much of a thug as another VT quarterback who most recently wore #5 before him.

Offense

Josh and Heart

While my heart bleeds for this team it is also wrung dry by it at the same time. So, the good? This team shows an uncanny will to fight and scratch and will NEVER give up. Josh Nesbitt is a man and he will give his all to get this team a win. I’m seeing an attitude about this team that I haven’t seen since I arrived on the Flats in 2003. The reads are looking better and Josh is timing his pitches better. The A-backs had a much better day as Roddy grabs a huge reception for a TD and Lucas Cox showed his abilities. Josh also set a record with over 150 yards on 28 runs. This team is obviously improving and showing flashes of ability and glimpses of a very bright future.

The bad? Turnovers. No, not of the apple form. Those are delicious, but this kind is hard to swallow. We put the ball into the Hokies hands too many times. VERY rarely are you going to go into Blacksburg, give them the ball three times, and come out with a win. To keep it as close as we did was remarkable and a testament to how dangerous this team can be. The fumble right before halftime proved to be the dagger in GT fans’ hearts. Without that fumble, which setup a Hokie touchdown on a Taylor scramble, the Jackets probably win this game. It was just a mixup between the minds of Dwyer and Nesbitt. These will become less frequent as familiarity with the system grows. Remember, this is just the third game running Coach Johnson’s offense. Cut down on the turnovers and we are going to be very difficult to beat.

The ugly? In my opinion, the O-line play has got to get better. VT blew up a lot of plays as soon as the ball is snapped. That is simply unacceptable on any level. The O-line has got to get some push so we can run the dive better to really see the brilliance of the option offense. Gardner has been good, but the interior of the line has not been very good and to top it off we seem to get costly penalties at inopportune times. I’m not sure what the problem is here, but it’s got to get better to have this offense run the way it needs to. On the plus side, we did seem to have pretty good pass protection.

Coaching

Coach Johnson trying to flag down an eye doctor for these guys

What can I say? It’s been solid all year. You can see that this team is mentally prepared and that mistakes are not a product of coaching. Problems we have are mostly contributed to inexperience, which is what we all expected. Coach Johnson knows how to adjust and have his kids in the right mindset. The thing I really like is Coach Johnson has such a fire about him. He showed that he was just as mad about that helmet-to-helmet call as the rest of us. You could clearly read his lips when he was yelling at the refs that they gave the game-winning field goal to VT on a bullsh*t call. It might be a matter of time before he’s fined by the ACC for calling out the incompetance of ACC refs that we all view week in and week out, but it needs to be said.

Loss 1 – Where to now?

The future is bright Yellow Jacket fans. A loss always sucks, but we certainly showed promise. I doubt we play another QB that is as mobile as Tyrod Taylor and our LBs will be more experienced by the time we do. This offense will continue to get better. The Jackets are favored in their next three contests and if they take care of business will be 5-1 going into Clemson. We did well splitting the BC-VT monster of a start and the option offense should be much improved for the more difficult second half of the season. All I know is that the second half of this season is going to be VERY exciting. This offense should have started to click and the inexperienced defense will have experience.

Coach Johnson has this program headed in the right direction and opponents are going to hate to play us. We just lost by three to the Hokies in Blacksburg, that is nothing to be ashamed of. Especially when you consider that take away the fumble before the half and/or the helmet-to-helmet call and I think we win that game. We show considerable promise and I love the attitude of this team.

Mississippi State comes to town this week. A horrid offense, but a very respectable defense. Turnovers will again be key, but I’m excited and certain that TOs will start to dissappear with experience in this offense.

Prayers go out for Jonathon Dwyer’s hip and to Virginia Tech losing two ACC games. We need Jonathon. I think he will be ok and the training staff will do all they can to help out that contusion. Since the Hokies now own the head-to-head with us, we need them to lose two ACC games and us win the rest. Can we do it? Yes. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. But we can always hope, right? Coach Johnson and this team has certainly inspired hope in this GT fan. Go Jackets! Bring on the other Bulldogs!

GT vs. VT Preview

Sorry I didn’t get a BC review up, but my wife got really sick and I had a deadline for work earlier this week. I won’t say much, but it was a great win. A lot of people keep saying we were lucky, if it wasn’t for X then…blah blah blah. We won. It doesn’t matter if the win is by 1 or 100, it’s still a win. Better yet, it was against an ACC opponent and a pretty good one at that…on the road. That’s impressive to go on the road, have three turnovers, and still find a way to win.

But this week it’s Lane Stadium and 65,000 foaming-at-the-mouth Hokie fans.

Special Teams

It’s no surprise that this needs to improve. Two weeks in a row we’ve had turnovers on kickoffs. Scott Blair is only 1-5, although two were from almost 50 and one of those just hit the upright. However, the snaps and holds are going to need to be flawless this week as the Jackets head into the birthplace of “Special” special teams play. Beamerball got out Beamerballed in week one against the marauding ECU Pirates, but don’t expect that to be a regular thing. In a game against VT your special teams need to be tight and just not make mistakes. You don’t have to be returning 80 yard kickoffs or anything, but you need to minimize any mistakes that the Hokies can capitalize on. We’ll see if we’ve made any improvement here.

GT Defense vs. VT Offense

Tyrod Taylor

Maybe I’m retarded or sippin too much Kool-Aid, but I feel pretty good about this. I fully expect Tyrod Taylor to play at least 80% of the snaps. The Defense played especially well at BC, particularly in the 2nd half. It’s encouraging to see adjustments and that could be the difference in the VT game as well. If the game is close at half, then I have confidence in the coaching adjustments to come out and play better in the second half.

Stopping the running game is most certainly going to be the game plan. VT doesn’t have that great of receivers like they’ve had in the past and they will lean heavily on the run. If they are not running I don’t trust Taylor’s arm or Glennon’s decision-making to beat us. VT has some pretty good RBs in Kenny Lewis and Darren Evans and we all know what kind of ability Tyrod Taylor has with his legs. The O-line is not fantastic so if the D-line can live in their backfield and stop the running game then I see the D having a very succesful day shutting down the somewhat inept Stinespring-led offense. There’s a lot of finger-pointing on the Offense up in Blacksburg so shutting them down early could quickly lead to frustration on the Hokie sidelines. Frustration leads to mistakes and GT is going to need to make those mistakes turn into big-time negative plays or turnovers.

GT Offense vs. VT Defense

This is such an intriguing matchup. It’s like apples and oranges comparing them to the BC defense. It’s just a whole different monster. You can never count out a Bud Foster defense, he’s one of the best in the business. However, this is not the Hokie defense we’ve been accustomed with. (Suck on that dangling participle you freaking VT English professors.) One encouraging sign for GT is that the VT Defensive line hasn’t played particularly well. Their DTs are not BJ Raji and Ron Brace for sure. Dwyer should have a much more successful day on the dive than he did in Chestnut Hill. Also, this defense is young and if they start missing assignments then the option could work very well for us on Saturday. Macho Harris is their best player on defense, but the question remains as to whether or not he is fully healed from that injury enough to make his usual impact.

The problem the Jackets face with this defense is their athleticism. Outside of Miami and possibly F$U and UGAg this is certainlyt the most athletic defense the Jackets will face. Speed kills and their defense has plenty of it. Missed assignments may be covered up a little bit by the Hokies speed. BC has a good defense, but they certainly didn’t have the type of speed that we are going to see on Saturday. Letting these guys get going early will get the crowd into it and this is not something we need to do. We need to score early and then let CPJ put his foot on their neck and not allow them to get up.

Coaching

Frank Beamer

Frank Beamer is like the one A you got while going to Tech. Dave Braine got that one right, but then lost his mind and couldn’t get back up to that bar. I like Beamer as a person, even though his teams generally are a hodgepodge of good kids and thugs/future-inmates. Beamer is a solid coach that has his kids ready to go. They are the only other team besides USC to boast four straight 10-win seasons in the past four years.

Bud Foster is one helluva DC. Never ever count him out.

Stinespring is the ?. A lot of Hokie fans are calling for his head after their offense has been floundering as of late. He’s better than Nix, but that’s not saying much. Let’s hope he continues his campaign for a pink slip this weekend.

Crowd

Hokie Crowd

There are only a handful of games each year that this is truly a factor. I have been to Lane Stadium and I can tell you that this is personally the best, most-intimidating crowd I have experienced. Before our 51-7 beatdown in ‘05, when the team came out to Enter the Sandman, that was the most electrifying I’ve EVER seen a crowd. That is the only time in my entire life that I could not hear myself speak. I believe it is a combination of the crowd being really into it and the stadium design that allows the crowd noise to just sit right on top of the field. It makes for an exciting and a little bit of a scary atmosphere, but it’s the reason I love to go to games there. I hope it doesn’t affect this young team like it did in ‘05. We need to channel it into excitement and focus.

Every 3rd down

Also, the fans behind the bench can be ruthless with insults (some quite inappropriate). These players need to be able to ignore them or just score early and take them out of the game. I’m not sure if CPJ has coached in this atmosphere (VT) before, but it is nuts and our team needs to shut it off before it becomes a problem for this team.

Who to Watch

Jonathon Dwyer – Will he get yards up the middle against a much softer DT tandem?
Michael Johnson – While not really building stats, his presence has made an impact. Can he help to get pressure this weekend and containing Tyrod from getting downfield?
Macho Harris – Is he healthy enought to make an impact?
Tyrod Taylor – How much will his feet hurt us?

X-Factor: Stinespring – Will the offense sputter and the frustration and finger-pointing set in?

Prediction

Vegas Line: VT -7
My Line: VT -3

Prediction: GT 20 – VT 10

GT vs. Boston College Preview

It turns out that doing three seperate previews for Special Teams, Offense, and Defense is a lot of work and I just don’t have time to do that. However, I will still give you a soul-satisfying, delicious preview of this weekend’s game against the Eagles from Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

Georgia Tech vs. Boston College (GT leads all-time 4-2)
Location: Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Time: 12:00 pm
Channel: Raycom (CW 69 in Atlanta)

Special Teams

Well, Georgia Tech certainly has some work to do. Granted, Jacksonville State never truly kicked it off to us in standard fashion, but we still fumbled two of the kickoffs and lost one. That can’t happen against an ACC opponent. The FG unit has got to improve this week as well. Whether it was just a dud off of Blair’s foot or a bad snap, we may need a FG or two in a close game. Hopefully, the kinks have been worked out this week. The one punt that we did have was pretty good, so let’s hope it stays that way (both not punting very much and punting good when we need to). It appears that Tyler Melton and Tony Clark will be taking the returners spots. Hopefully we can see what they can do this weekend.

Boston College is replacing it’s punter and it appears to be freshman Ryan Quigley taking the reigns, although Doug Flutie’s nephew Billy Flutie may see spot duty. Quigley averaged 40.5 yards on four punts last week at Kent State. The field goal unit was not tested beyond extra points in the 21-0 win. Steve Aponavicious is still doing place kicking duties after coming down from the student section a couple of years ago. He’s pretty solid so I wouldn’t want it to come down to his leg. Brandon Robinson and Jeff Smith will be returning kicks for the Eagles, both are pretty average in my book.

GT Defense vs. BC Offense

Hmmm…not really sure what to expect. I thought the defense played OK against Jacksonville State. The line is a beast as expected. Michael Johnson should have a better game since he is no longer on special teams. Derrick Morgan proved that he could give headaches to opposing offenses if they plan to put a single blocker on him all year. There is not a weakness in our front four. Both Brad Jefferson and AT Barnes are probably out for this weekend. This is not good. I thought the LBs only played average against JSU and are really going to need to step it up against BC. The secondary played better than I expected. Morgan Burnett is a ball hawk and Dominique Reese played pretty well at the other safety position. We did give up some yards, but they were pretty much all short yardage plays. We are going to need them to do the same against Chris Crane and frustrate him early. Hopefully, Burnett can continue his INT tear.

BC’s offensive line is fairly new as far as starters, but they are big and physical. Our D is going to need to man up to get past them. Hopefully, they won’t get away with the atrocius holding they did last year. Chris Crane is absolutely a step down from Matt Ryan, but he is still very dangerous and more mobile as well. Not only will we have to penetrate the line, but also contain Crane so he doesn’t keep getting first downs with his feet. We need to make him show us he can get it done through the air. Their offense did well enough, but didn’t blow me away in their win over Kent State. Hopefully this new Defensive scheme will confuse them enough to make some mistakes and cause some turnovers. We knew Tenuta could cause confusion against green quarterbacks. Wommack needs to prove that he can do the same.

Dwyer (credit AJC)

GT Offense vs. BC Defense

Intriguing, to say the least. The offense played pretty well against Jacksonville State. There’s certainly things to work on, but it was encouraging. Josh Nesbitt looked poised and will need to polish his passing a little before Saturday’s game. However, if our receivers/A-backs are as open as they were against JSU then his passes won’t need to be perfect to gain yards. Dwyer was a beast rushing for over 100 yards on only 11 carries. He needs to show that he can perform similarly against a FBS-level defense. He is certainly hard to bring down and has burst to get to the second level. Roddy Jones played well, but the other A-backs need to step up their game against the Eagles to help provide some more offensive firepower. Perhaps the biggest weakness in Week 1 was the O-line. They are going to need to play better against a ginormous BC D-line. We’ve also got to get better at adjusting blocking schemes during the game. If the O-line can play well, then I see our offense really surprising some people this game.

BC returns 9 starters on defense. Their front 4 are massive and they have very good linebackers. Their secondary is fairly green and will miss Dejaun Tribble, but are still pretty good. This defense blew us up last year. Let’s hope Coach Johnson knows how to handle them and confuse them better. Spaziani always has his defenses prepared and they have been extremely good against the run. However, Navy only lost by one point two years ago in the Car Care Bowl. I believe Coach Johnson will know how to play to their weaknesses and get us to move the ball. Let’s hope. *fingers crossed*

Coaching

I will not focus on Coach Johnsons since we all know all we need to know about him and it’s not really going to change week to week.

Coach Jags is a great coach though, probably one of the better ones in the ACC. He went 11-2 in his first year last year. He is an admirable guy and his players love to play for him. He has his team ready, prepared, and disciplined (0 penalties last week). He will rarely get outcoached.

Who to Watch

Jonathon Dwyer – Can he run against a stout defense?
Ron Brace – Massive run-stopping DT
Chris Crane – What can he do against an ACC defense?
Travis Chambers – Can he step up in the LB spot after given a second chance?

Prediction

*I will rarely pick against Tech unless we are enormous underdogs*

Sorry Hive, but I’m not following the noon of the day before rule here. I think our offense will struggle a little early, but begin to move the ball right before the half. Chris Crane will keep some drives alive with his feet. Their lack of offensive weapons will hurt though and the Coach Johnson factor will be just enough to pull a shocking upset in Chestnut Hill when Scott Blair redeems himself.

Line: BC +7

Prediction: GT 24 – BC 21

Week 1 Review

The ACC

Horrible. Awful. Terrible. It pretty much could not have gotten much worse than it did. With the exception of our own Jackets, Wake Forest, and Miami, no one looked good. UNC and Maryland won, but both had close games against lowly teams in McNeese State and Delaware. NC State looks like they may be the new Duke. Virginia Tech proved that Tyrod Taylor’s “redshirt” was simply a white flag. Glennon looked horrendous and VT got out-Beamerballed when East Carolina won on a blocked punt. Clemson was the most visible embarrassment when the ACC’s supposed top  team got obliterated by the SEC’s 5th or 6th best team. I saw no fire out of the Tigers and the O-line looks porous at best. Just ugly. At least Duke showed that Cutcliffe could have them on the upswing.

Don’t even try to argue with anyone that the ACC is terrible. It’s true. The silver lining? This opens things up for Tech to try and weasel their way in to the ACCCG. If we can get this offense going smoothly, then our division looks weak and Tech should surprise a lot of people.

Blitzkrieg of Bits

If Georgia continues on the injury trajectory they’ve been on, we’ll be playing their 2nd team in November.

Good lord, I know it was Virginia, but USC is so loaded it’s sickening.

Don’t fret Ohio State fans, I don’t think Beanie’s absence will really hurt you against Ohio. He’ll be back for the USC game and that game will be awesome.

…..

Oh sorry, I was laughing too hard at Texas A&M. Although my wife’s cousins went there, I am a Longhorns fan and seeing the embarrassment they suffered at the hands of the mighty Arkansas State is hilarious to me. Who’s regretting that decision to hire the most boring coach in college football, Mike Sherman?

Screw you fourth quarter heroics! I hope Bobby Petrino looks as bad the rest of the year as he did this past weekend and loses all his games. If you elect to play for, or in any way be associated with, such a horrible excuse for a human then you deserve to suck and lose games.

Don’t feel bad App State. LSU is a beast athletically and there is no shame in losing in Tiger Stadium. Just go win another championship.

Although I lost a little money on the Tennessee-UCLA game, I loved every minute of that game. It was a truly entertaining game and seeing Fulmer get beat by a 3rd-string quarterback who threw four interceptions in the first half was pure gold.

Geesh, the SEC is without a shadow of a doubt the best conference in the nation. We all know about UGAg, bleeaahhh. Florida might be the most athletic team in the nation. Auburn had struggles running it’s new offense and still put up over 300 yards rushing and shut out a team that upset Bama last year. South Carolina, once they got a QB, looked strong. Alabama looks to be a very dangerous team. Kentucky looks to rely on a strong defense this year. Vandy is always a booby trap. Ole Miss is better with Houston Nutt. This conference is simply ridiculous. While I love my ACC, SEC football is just fun to watch.

Missouri might have the best offense in the nation. They put up as many points as USC, but on a ranked team.

It’s one thing to have 350 rushing yards, but when they are all from one guy that will make your eyes fall out of their sockets. Shun White at Navy came pretty darn close this past weekend with 348.

At least Fresno State is showing that last year’s bowl loss might have been to a pretty good team. I like Pat Hill as a coach, a lot.

I think Swofford and Tranghese (Big East commisioner) have been having an affair with each other and love to whisper sweet things in each other’s ears like “Hey, why don’t our teams blow chunks and lose to a bunch of crappy teams this year.” “Yeah yeah, that sounds like a splendid idea.” Hey BCS guys, can you please revoke our automatic berth card? We lost to East Carolina, Bowling Green, Fresno State, Northwestern and sucked against crappy teams like McNeese State and Delaware. WTF? You need to earn BCS berths and playing like this shouldn’t give you that privelege.</rant>

The Edgies

The Edgies will go out to my weekly players/teams/units/coaches of the week. No specific format here, just some useless internet awards to those who I think deserve them. Only five per week, so you better man up if you want one of these bad boys.

1. Shun White of Navy – Way to represent Navy in the absence of the great Coach Paul Johnson
2. Alabama’s Defense – You shut down, as in 0 rushing yards, a very dangerous offense
3. Kevin Craft – You came back from four interceptions to win a game against a ranked team. You sir, have testicles that make many men envious.
4. Georgia Southern – No you didn’t win, but you did take out yet another UGAg player for the year. The GT community thanks you.
5. Patrick Pinkney – 19-23 for 211 yards and a TD, 11 rushes for 33 yards and another TD. That’s a helluva day against a Bud Foster defense.

Polls

I will stick to my values and belief that polls should not be released until after Week 3, when most teams have played at least one real opponent. After Week 3, I’ll give you my Top 25 plus my ranking of the ACC.