Be honest,

[jeffgt14]

Watched the first half replay. CPJ did not exploit the outside. Duke was packed inside. We must be able to throw to our receivers when there is one on one coverage.

CPJ called the plays to do it. JT just wouldn’t throw it. Several times he just tucked the ball and ran or ran around in the backfield for someone to get wide open but he wasn’t throwing to anyone on their actual route.

 

[Yella-Britches]

The only team I hate losing to more than Miami is uga. Beating VT was almost as good as beating uM. All in all...a good first half of the season. Coastal is still in play. Very good season is still in play.

...the same for me 'cept flip Miami & VT. Living in chokie country has allowed me to develop a very deep dislike for them. I was devastated last year by the VT loss - I really believed we had the beter team and would whip them going in. Sorry to pull away from the original question, but for this Jacket the VT win this year made up for a lot of "other adversity" - like a loss to Puke. I'm in violent agreement with the statement, "Very good season is still in play."

 

[jeffgt14]

At least with Duke, there’s not any Duke football fans around to talk. There’s only basketball fans that realize their basketball team is playing well on the football field.

 

[Animal02]

...the same for me 'cept flip Miami & VT. Living in chokie country has allowed me to develop a very deep dislike for them. I was devastated last year by the VT loss - I really believed we had the beter team and would whip them going in. Sorry to pull away from the original question, but for this Jacket the VT win this year made up for a lot of "other adversity" - like a loss to Puke. I'm in violent agreement with the statement, "Very good season is still in play."

Loses in winnable games are far more disturbing than getting blown out by a team that is vastly superior.
I still think our remaining six games are all winnable.....I don't expect we will win them all, but should be competitive.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Loses in winnable games are far more disturbing than getting blown out by a team that is vastly superior.

Exactly right. This is why it has been so frustrating over the last 3-4 years as a Tech fan. We have been consistently so much more competitive or closely matched and then not gotten that close win. Wins this year have shown the same parity but we got those satisfying close wins.

It is always harder to keep perspective after a close win or loss. We have close wins over VT/Miami, etc and it is easy to gleefully ride off into the future declaring we will blowout Duke and be undefeated when we play Clemson. But such wild optimism is not realistically justified by close wins. Same with pessimist overreaction to a close loss.

 

[RamblinCharger]

I saw a big difference in the DBs. Duke was able to tackle us in the open field consistently one on one. Our DBs were a step slow getting to the player and usually it was the third lick before the Dukie went down. The poor tackling is largely due to lack of speed in our secondary, and secondarily due to poor tackling technique (no wrap up).

I agree, they are fundamentally much more sound. They tackle really well (below the knee) which is rare to see, even though it works so well. I'm not sure why more teams don't tackle low.

 

[GTJason]

So when all of the CPJ doubters were saying his record sucks against good opponents and who cares if he's dominated Duke, UNC, and UVA we should now really care about those games? I get it facts are only facts when they are convenient. Let's go 1-0 against UNC this year. Duke will lose another game

 

[GTech63]

CPJ called the plays to do it. JT just wouldn’t throw it. Several times he just tucked the ball and ran or ran around in the backfield for someone to get wide open but he wasn’t throwing to anyone on their actual route.

If this were the case why didn't CPJ use Byerly much sooner and coach JT5 from side line and have the QB coach show him what was open.
I agree it took a perfect storm for Puke to beat us. Even then it took partial officials to over look blatant holding all day long for them to win. It is harder to get a loss out of your head when it was winable.

This team has shown their character as one to over come adversity. There is a big test Saturday and playing Pitt following Sat. at their place when they have a weeks rest will also be a challenge. Big decision on playing JT5 with his ankle. Needs to heal.

 

[33jacket]

what if we beat VT and Miami and lose to Duke UNC?

i kinda would rather lose to VT than duke and unc though...but man when you beat vt and miami...YOU CANT lose to duke. so frustrating

 

[GT Man]

There's no shame in losing to a team like Miami. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad we beat 'em. But losing to a team like Duke takes shame to "a whole 'nother level." A loss to a team like Miami is something you can shrug off in a week or so. A loss to a team like Duke is season-crippling. It's like the difference between getting an ankle sprain and tearing an ACL.

Duke is a decent team and they are well-coached. They aren't Middle Tennessee.

 

[LongforDodd]

We have the better players overall. We have recruited much better according to Scout. I think what was seen yesterday was Duke is starting mostly Srs* and we are very young. I would take our players and recruiting classes in a heart beat over Duke's.


* Someone can check this. It's what was said on TV, but TV is about 80% accurate for the 40% of the time they are talking about something relevant.

In years past, the talent differential would have overcome some of the holding calls and we would have won. I think with the margin of error that exists in these recruiting services they do not put us as at a decisive advantage anymore. Next year may prove to be different when their seniors are gone and our young guys mature but to many, many eyes the gap has been closing between us and them.

 

[AE 87]

what if we beat VT and Miami and lose to Duke UNC?

i kinda would rather lose to VT than duke and unc though...but man when you beat vt and miami...YOU CANT lose to duke. so frustrating

What has me at feeling really uncertain is two things:
1) our D hasn't been getting much better
2) we had Cutcliffe tell us that they wanted to whoop us physically, and we still let them do it.

It's hard to be confident, but our O has been really good before this past week

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Refuse to play this losers' game.