A Trend I Noticed

[FlatsLander]

I just realized that our 3 wins from this past season all came after one or more off weeks: F$U (first game of the season), Louisville (Normal bye week), Duke (3 weeks of no games plus a bye week). Does this have more to do with the quality of those teams? Or with the preparation led by our coaches?

 

[lv20gt]

Didn't hurt, but I think it had more to do with those being 3 of the 4 weakest teams we faced. Hell, the 4th we probably beat if we play them in the back half once we got the turnovers a more in check.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Yes, I had mentioned this after the Louisville win - I had the same question about how well we were preparing when there was only one week to prepare. But, with covid, this year might have been a little hard to actually call a "trend".

 

[slugboy]

Somewhat, but I don’t think it was mostly prep.
We had a gauntlet of our toughest opponents set up for several games in a row. That’s one cause.
Another was losing players to contact tracing and injuries.

 

[alagold]

It would be REALLY sad to lose to those teams after an extra time for prep.I hope it meant the coaching took advantage.

 

[jacketup]

I just realized that our 3 wins from this past season all came after one or more off weeks: F$U (first game of the season), Louisville (Normal bye week), Duke (3 weeks of no games plus a bye week). Does this have more to do with the quality of those teams? Or with the preparation led by our coaches?

Depth--or lack thereof--is a factor. People don't understand how beaten up the players get, and the less depth you have the more it matters. Just because a player is on the field doesn't mean he is 100%.

So many of our problems relate to lack of experience and talent, yet so many posters want to look under every other rock when the answer is right there.

 

[HurricaneJacket]

Could also have something to do with the lack of spring ball and the fact that we have a very young team who just needed more practice time and reps.

 

[WreckinGT]

I think we were well prepared for Louisville. The other two games we were just the 2nd worst team on the field. We didn't play great in either of those games and still won.

 

[cthenrys]

I think we were well prepared for Louisville. The other two games we were just the 2nd worst team on the field. We didn't play great in either of those games and still won.

That’s pretty accurate. The Duke and FSU games were two awful football teams playing one another.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I just realized that our 3 wins from this past season all came after one or more off weeks: F$U (first game of the season), Louisville (Normal bye week), Duke (3 weeks of no games plus a bye week). Does this have more to do with the quality of those teams? Or with the preparation led by our coaches?

It had more to do with playing lousy teams.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

We finished 11th in the ACC. We beat the 12th, 13th, and 14th place teams, and got blown out by the 15th place team. The only trend I see is that we generally beat the teams we should have beat and in typical GT fashion, lost a game we absolutely shouldn't have.

 

[slugboy]

We finished 11th in the ACC. We beat the 12th, 13th, and 14th place teams, and got blown out by the 15th place team. The only trend I see is that we generally beat the teams we should have beat and in typical GT fashion, lost a game we absolutely shouldn't have.

We didn’t add the “out of nowhere upset victory” in 2020. I guess it would have been Miami.

 

[Jk8Fan]

I think with neutral refs we could have beaten UCF. The AAC refs did their best to help UCF with their hurry up plan. Several uncalled procedures when UCF was on offense because the refs were more concerned with throwing the ball down for them to hike it and didn't pay a damn bit of attention to to multiple WRs moving before the play. I think it got called 1 or 2 times, but happened all game. Also, UCF would quickly sub on plays to their sideline and the refs wouldn't hold the snap to let us respond to the sub. I guess if you can sneak a fresh WR in and still get a play off quickly that is a small victory

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

We didn’t add the “out of nowhere upset victory” in 2020. I guess it would have been Miami.

True. We did buck that trend this year.

 

[Jk8Fan]

True. We did buck that trend this year.

Nobody really expected us to beat Louisville

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Nobody really expected us to beat Louisville

Granted, but we typically win one game a year against a team that finishes ahead of us in the standings as well. FSU 2015, VT 2017, Miami 2019...

Actually, @slugboy, other than 2012 Clemson, it seems most of the recent upsets have come in odd years. Looks promising for 2021...

 

[Skeptic]

I just realized that our 3 wins from this past season all came after one or more off weeks: F$U (first game of the season), Louisville (Normal bye week), Duke (3 weeks of no games plus a bye week). Does this have more to do with the quality of those teams? Or with the preparation led by our coaches?

Preparation -- practice -- always helps, whether horseshoes or football. Paul Johnson, who sometimes could see a conspiracy where others saw happenstance, was not wrong when he noted drily that several of the more glamorous ACC teams seemed to get an open date the week before playing his offense, and it seemed to happen year after year. If I remember right, one year three of our opponents got a bye before playing us, and that added a full 20 hours of practice time against the spread.

 

[Jk8Fan]

Granted, but we typically win one game a year against a team that finishes ahead of us in the standings as well. FSU 2015, VT 2017, Miami 2019...

Actually, @slugboy, other than 2012 Clemson, it seems most of the recent upsets have come in odd years. Looks promising for 2021...

Only, by about 5-6 games in next season, our wins will no longer be considered upsets.

 

[Ga tech]

I think with neutral refs we could have beaten UCF. The AAC refs did their best to help UCF with their hurry up plan. Several uncalled procedures when UCF was on offense because the refs were more concerned with throwing the ball down for them to hike it and didn't pay a damn bit of attention to to multiple WRs moving before the play. I think it got called 1 or 2 times, but happened all game. Also, UCF would quickly sub on plays to their sideline and the refs wouldn't hold the snap to let us respond to the sub. I guess if you can sneak a fresh WR in and still get a play off quickly that is a small victory

I was at the UCF game and the refs were really bad, but UCF was far better than us. They scored at will and just shut it down half way through the 4th quarter, otherwise they could have made it even worse. By the way, the UCF fans were insufferable. They are almost as bad as the Miami fans.

 

[yeti92]

I was at the UCF game and the refs were really bad, but UCF was far better than us. They scored at will and just shut it down half way through the 4th quarter, otherwise they could have made it even worse. By the way, the UCF fans were insufferable. They are almost as bad as the Miami fans.

It was a 1 score game in the 4th, and when two teams are fairly evenly matched but one is blatantly cheating left and right and not being called for it, yea its pretty easy to score at will.