Hello Top 25, Nice to See You Again

This weekend the Jackets went up to Clemson in what some might have called an emotional bear trap. However, the Jackets have a coach named Paul Johnson that instills a confidence and quiet swagger that not many teams have. The game started off fast with a Dominique Reese pick 6 off of Tyler Grisham’s reverse pass. The Jackets scored again right before the half to make it a 14-3 game at halftime. However, Clemson came back and scored on a throw to Aaron Kelly with Jahi Word-Daniels running off the field with a hamstring injury. They again scored to put the Tigers up 17-14. This was very scary as a GT fan because it looked like the Clemson emotion had caught up to us and all the momentum was in their favor. Josh Nesbitt and Bebe Thomas said screw that and hooked up on a 24 yard pass for the go ahead touchdown to cap the game at 21-17 in favor of the Jackets.

The defense played well, forcing six turnovers. Dominque Reese, Raashad Reid, and Morgan Burnett all had interceptions with Burnett getting two at the end of each half. The Tigers also had two fumbles and a failed fourth down conversion. Jahi Word-Daniels went out with a hamstring injury. From my information, I doubt we see him back any earlier than the Miami game. Raashad Reid will probably move into the starting CB position. Morgan Burnett will probably move down to CB or nickleback in nickel situations and have Cooper Taylor fill the empty safety spot.

The offense played well enough. The O-line once again played terribly and let Clemson blow up a lot of plays. We had just enough big plays to get the job done so I can’t really complain too much. Josh knocked off some rust and should improve as he gets some more continuity back under his belt.

Scott Blair made the play of the game by catching up to track-star Marcus Gilchrist on a kickoff return before the end of the first half. It saved a touchdown and probablyt the game.

Dabo Swinney, please stop with all the freaking motivational cliches. He tried everything in the book: tiger walk, holding arms and walking pre-game, orange out, etc. None of it worked. He just got outcoached.

With the win the Jackets debuted in the Top 25 at #21 in both the AP and Coaches poll. They also are #18 in the BCS polls. This gets us a lot of exposure for the program. Let’s just hope we can hold on it, which is something we could not do during the Gailey era. Then again, a lot of things this year probably would have gone differently if Coach Johnson wasn’t at the helm.

By the way, In The Edge has now surpassed 30,000 visits. Please continue to tell your friends about ITE and help it to grow.

Chaos in Clemson

Huh, what are these expectations you speak of?

If you’ve been living in a hole or just use this blog as your primary source of Tech news (highly unlikely) then you know that Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden has “resigned” from his duties as the head man at Clemson. Wide Receivers/Assistant Head Coach Dabo Swinney will take over as the interim coach.

Shortly after his takeover Swinney also let go of offensive coordinator Rob Spence. It was obvious a lot of people were calling for his head as well and Swinney knew that.

So lets look at this madness from a few different angles…

First, why did it happen…

Athletic director Terry Don Phillips said his intent Monday morning was to have a candid heart-to-heart with Bowden about the football team. But Phillips said he was surprised when Bowden offered to resign.

“There wasn’t a gun to his head,” Phillips said.

I say, “Nay!” Mr. Expectations had a debt owed to him and he finally put the gun to Tommy’s head. For several seasons now Tommy has had very high expectations and not lived up to them. Couple this with the fact that he has recruited very well so the talent has certainly been there to do so. He also has been haunted by what I like to refer to as the annual Clemson choke. Even if they look awesome and everyone is showering them in praise at some point the Tigers will choke and fall short of the lofty expectations set forth by the fans and media.

So we’ve got failed to live up to expectations, wasting talent, and…oh, yeah, players who have quit on him. When Chan Gailey left not everyone may have liked his football philosophy but almost everyone respected him as a person and wished him the best. Either Tommy was just a douchebag coach or he has some douchebag players. Honestly, I think it is the latter and I would hope our players would have the class not to ever say anything like these quotes from Cullen Harper and CJ Spiller (at least not in public anyway):

“It’s what he deserved,” Harper said. “Dabo Swinney is a fine man and will do an excellent job.” … (Harper’s father) “I’d call it karma,” he said. “I thought it needed to be done. I think anytime a head coach or someone in a leadership position starts to place blame on his coaches and players, it weakens their respect on the team. His past experiences have shown he’s done that.”

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“I’m shocked. We are 3-3 because we didn’t make enough big offensive plays,” Spiller said. “I’m shocked by our record, and now I’m shocked that our coach is gone.

“I enjoyed playing for coach Bowden and I liked him, but in the end he was yelling at us to be leaders and it wasn’t working. He did all he could to motivate us, but guys weren’t buying into what he was saying. And he said a lot of the same things over and over again. “He let the offensive coordinator [Spence] run the show, and we got away from me and James [Davis]. I think part of the problem was when he benched Cullen. Some people wanted the offensive coordinator fired; [Bowden benched] the quarterback and then he got fired.”

So where does this leave Clemson?

It leaves them confused, distracted, and running around trying to figure out how to run things without Tommy while preparing for a Paul Johnson-coached team. Dabo Swinney is taking over play-calling for the offense and really there is nowhere to go but up as far as that is concerned. We might some more risks taken as the season is pretty much already written off and they have nothing to lose. CJ Spiller is said to be out this weekend with a hamstring injury. It also leaves them with a pissed off Harper after Willy Korn (why he didn’t go to Nebraska I have no idea) has been confirmed as the starter for this weekend.

Defensively, the Tigers should remain the same. I think they play somewhat undisciplined and while they fly all over the field I’m not convinced they play good assignment football and with Nesbitt coming back this weeknd that could be very dangerous for the Tigers.

Some names that have been thrown around to replace TB:

• Will Muschamp
• Lane Kiffin
• Bobby Johnson
• Jim Grobe (pssshhh)
• Bill Cowher (oh stop, it hurts)

The first three are legit candidates. I don’t think the other two are. Bobby Johnson makes the most sense to me. He’s a Clemson alum, a darn good coach, and moving to situation where he can consistently compete. Muschamp and Kiffin could be good, but are unproven at the college head coach level. Personally, I want the Tigers to get a good coach and take that step. I just believe Coach Paul Johnson is better and that to be the best you have to beat the best.

So what does this mean for Georgia Tech?

Well, it’s kinda foolish to look beyond this weekend’s game because everything is going to be overhauled this offseason. But things could go one of two ways for this Tigers team. They could lie down and quit since there’s not a whole lot to play for anymore other than a midtier bowl game. The team could also rally and play lights out for the remainder of the season.

This rivalry game usually is pretty much independant of the rest of the season in that you can throw out the records because this is probably going to be a close, exciting game.

Josh and Jaybo should be back.

He's back!

Will Korn is another factor. He’s mobile and we haven’t done that great with mobile QBs. We did contain Chris Crane, but Tyrod Taylor got the first downs (and a touchdown) when it was needed with his feet. I doubt Willy is as fast as Taylor, but the Jackets need to contain him and put a ton of pressure on him by blowing up a beleagured offensive line.

The defense needs to stay consistent and play like they have been. Brad Jefferson played in the Gardner-Webb game (if you can call it that) so he got to shake some dust off and should be back to his Gladiator self this weekend. Derrick Morgan has played possesed and hopefully can continue that trend this weekend. I especially like this 3rd down wrinkle we are doing where we have 3 down linemen and Derrick lines up as a lineback in blitz position behind the nose tackle. We got a sack out of it against Duke and great pressure against Gardner-Webb with it. I bet you we are setting up something where he drops into coverage and hopefully confuses the QB enough to get a sack, a bad pass, or an INT.

This Clemson fan base is going to be rabid after the change. I’ll be there this Saturday so all the GT fans there need to be loud from our little corner of the stadium (and space).

This is a game where we definitely need to get on them early and take the crowd out of it and let the doubt once again soak in.

4-1 and Feeling Good

The Jackets dominated Duke this past week in a 27-0 win. The defense was absurd. It pressured Thaddeus Lewis all day and never let him get any rhythm going whatsoever. Even walkon Alex Walker got an INT on the day. This is even more impressive as Duke was 3-1 and averaging around 30 ppg. The offense saw Jaybo Shaw mature and BeBe go off to the tune of 230 yards. The coaching staff is absolutely remarkable as they turned a 3-0 lead at halftime into a 27-0 blowout win by the end of regulation. Well done Jackets!

This weekend the Jackets take on the FCS cupcake Gardner-Webb. I expect this one to get ugly quickly. Josh may return this weekend. I hope he does as he needs a couple series to shake off the rust before heading up 85 to face the Purple Pansies of Clemson. I’ll have more on that game next week. The defense is playing lights out right now and has a chance for the first back-to-back shutouts since the Dodd era. GW has a good run defense, but so did Miss St. I don’t expect much of a fight.

We should be 5-1 and poised to go down to the wire with VT for a spot in the ACC Championship game. Root for any ACC opponent playing VT because we need them to lose two.

The bigger analyses and previews will return with the monster second half of the season.

Other notes:
I put a permanent link to CentSports and Goal Line Blitz in case anyone wants to sign up. CentSports is a really fun way to bet on games without worrying about any of your own money. GLB is a fun online football RPG.

This weekend is the Red River Shootout. Many people know that Texas is my second favorite team. Since GT is pretty much not even in the National Championship picture, I’m hoping the Horns take down the Loser Sooners and get the inside track to the BCS Championship game.

Hook 'Em Horns!