Best and Worst Case Record

Boomergump

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Not that bad an article or analysis. The success or failure of this team will most likely revolve around DL and O skill positions and how they progress / reload. The one comment that I resoundly reject ( and I hear it all the time) was the one about suffering an unlikely loss to Miami or somebody at home and the season could spiral out of control.

Teams lose all the time and the results of the losses go both ways. I have seen teams wake up and pull together after losses, improving their approach, resolve and focus as a result. I have also seen teams lose confidence and passion with some goals now off the table. You just can't know. Take 2014 for example. TECH lost to Duke at home. Did our season spiral out of control? Heck, we also lost to UNC in consecutive weeks. We went on to run the rest of the regular season table and win the Orange Bowl.

Predicting records is not one of my favorite hobbies. You guys are probably sick of hearing me say it. I have no idea what other teams are doing. I will say this though: if what I think is going on in our own camp with our new roster and developing team culture, then we should be a favorite against pretty much every team we play, if only marginally in a few cases. It doesn't mean we will win them all. We probably won't. As the season unfolds, we may find that we are slight underdogs in a couple cases. If that happens, they will be only slight, where we still have a better than 40% chance to win. So, you never know.

Whatever happens, I will be behind the kids 100%.
 

Northeast Stinger

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I thought the worst case scenario was a little far fetched. CPJ is too good a coach to let a team with this much talent spiral down like that.

While on a recent trip to the beach I asked my wife how she thought Tech would do this season. She is a perpetual pessimist when it comes to Tech and barely tolerates my interest in football. She always thinks they are going to do far worse than even the pundits usually think. She picked Tech to go 8-4 which I immediately seized upon as Tech's worst case scenario. :)
 

Animal02

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Teams lose all the time and the results of the losses go both ways. I have seen teams wake up and pull together after losses, improving their approach, resolve and focus as a result. I have also seen teams lose confidence and passion with some goals now off the table. You just can't know. Take 2014 for example. TECH lost to Duke at home. Did our season spiral out of control? Heck, we also lost to UNC in consecutive weeks. We went on to run the rest of the regular season table and win the Orange Bowl..

I agree in general......however I still think that if D.J. does not chase down and knock the ball away on the seemingly touchdown run against Pitt, the season could have really turned out different.

Whatever happens, I will be behind the kids 100%.

Always!!!!
 

GT Man

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Fairly reasonable oddly enough when looking at best and worst case. I would have put the best case at 11-1 though with the one loss being a conference loss somewhere. I honestly do not think ND or UGA are as good at the writer does.

I agree. Talent is one thing. UGA and ND have that in spades--but turning talent into success is another. Both teams perennially underachieve, so a win over either is never out of the question. I look our schedule and I can't find one game that is a sure loss.
 

TechnicalPossum

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I agree. Talent is one thing. UGA and ND have that in spades--but turning talent into success is another. Both teams perennially underachieve, so a win over either is never out of the question. I look our schedule and I can't find one game that is a sure loss.
I'd agree with that, but there are a lot of games on the schedule that should be close. And, we play in the Charlottesville house of horrors this year as well.
 

slugboy

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Worst case--I could see injuries or off-field events dropping us down to 3-4 wins. Really unlikely, but it's possible. I could even see 2 wins.
Best case--I could see undefeated. Really unlikely, but it's possible.
 

GTech63

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I agree in general......however I still think that if D.J. does not chase down and knock the ball away on the seemingly touchdown run against Pitt, the season could have really turned out different.
!
That game would have been tighter and a possible loss which I doubt. But no way would it have sent us down hill in the way we played.

Every one keeps talking about us not being able to maintain the turnover ratio. I think it will be better. We forced turn overs. We didn't get "no whistle no calls" or lucky bounces like VT. This year is going to be better. Why? D line play. Pressure on the QB. more hits as he releases. Hits during the game get to most QBs.

We seem to have as much or more trouble with QB draws than anything else. On O we need WR to step up and make catches like the Clemson receivers that make Watson look so good.
 
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takethepoints

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I think the Stinger's wife has hit about the mark I think is most plausible. We played extremely well last year, but we also had some incredible luck. After that first quarter at Pitt I told my son that the team must be seeing the Heavens part above them. It is remarkable what a little luck at the right time can do.

If we have some luck and play to potential, then 10 - 2 or even better is quite possible. I think it would take a couple of crucial season ending injuries (but Heaven forfend) to take us down to 6 - 6. I'm pretty much expecting 8 - 4 with a win against the Dwags and steady improvement during the season perhaps getting us to 9 - 3. Hope I'm right.
 

PBR549

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One thing I've learned in my years is the oblong ball bounces in strange ways. My expectation is we play well and up to our potential. If we do that I'll be satisfied whatever the record.
 

GTech63

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I think the Stinger's wife has hit about the mark I think is most plausible. We played extremely well last year, but we also had some incredible luck. After that first quarter at Pitt I told my son that the team must be seeing the Heavens part above them. It is remarkable what a little luck at the right time can do.

If we have some luck and play to potential, then 10 - 2 or even better is quite possible. I think it would take a couple of crucial season ending injuries (but Heaven forfend) to take us down to 6 - 6. I'm pretty much expecting 8 - 4 with a win against the Dwags and steady improvement during the season perhaps getting us to 9 - 3. Hope I'm right.
This team over came a lucky bounce for a TD at VT and no Whistle 14 point spread against Georgia. So the opponents had even more incredible luck IMHO. We did get 2 or 3 easy interceptions but most int. and other turnovers were manufactured by tough play and being prepared.

But I do understand your comment about the Heavens parting. I was 100 % certain we were going to recover the onside kick at ACCCG based on how our season was going. The kick was poorly executed. But the kick in the game before was more important.
 

Animal02

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That game would have been tighter and a possible loss which I doubt. But no way would it have sent us down hill in the way we played.

Every one keeps talking about us not being able to maintain the turnover ratio. I think it will be better. We forced turn overs. We didn't get "no whistle no calls" or lucky bounces like VT. This year is going to be better. Why? D line play. Pressure on the QB. more hits as he releases. Hits during the game get to most QBs.

We seem to have as much or more trouble with QB draws than anything else. On O we need WR to step up and make catches like the Clemson receivers that make Watson look so good.

That play was the turning point for the 'D' Had Pitt scored at that point, I think would could have easily lost the game. (Heck, there were certain posters here that thought we would still lose after the missed FG into the wind) If the Pitt game was lost, that would have been 3 in a row, and I think the rest of the season goes a different way.

Instead, with the seemingly impossible chase down and preventing the score, and the subsequent fumbles and scores.......it was really a turning point in the confidence of the D.
And yes, I think the second half play by the D will carry over into this year. I am really optimistic about this year. Like other posts, I do not see a given loss on the schedule. I think every game this season is very winnable.
 

redmule

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I think we have more talent now than we have had since '08/'09. Johnson has shown he knows how to get the most out of his talent, not just here but also at Navy. I also think we have the most depth we've had since '98/'99. With much less talent and almost zero depth in key positions like OL, DL, S three and four years ago, Johnson was able to scratch out more wins than losses, and was a couple of plays from having good to very good seasons. The wild card is that the ACC as a whole is better than it was three or four years ago, so the real question is have we progressed farther and faster than UNC/Duke/Clemson/VT, two of whom we lost to last year. On the plus side, I tend to think that FSU/Miami/ND/uga have all stalled or backslid slightly.

I have seen us have lucky seasons before like in '98 when we had a huge number of fumble returns for TDs, and even '90 when whatever we needed to happen for us to win and move up in the polls did happen. Last year did not seem like one of those years. We steamrolled people the last half of the season. The OL/B Back/QB performance from Pitt on last year was unlike anything I have ever seen by a Tech team. They made really good defenses look like the proverbial high school team. Not to disparage the defense, but had the defense been in the same solar system with our offense last year, the scores against uga/FSU/MS State would have been more like the NC State score.

Johnson finally has found what he was looking for. We don't step back. 9-3 will be disappointing, 10-2 will be tolerable, 11-1 is the target, 12-0 is possible.
 

Minawreck

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I am not too scared to say it:

Best Case: National Championship and undefeated
Worst Case: 8-4

I will be disappointed if we are not playing for a playoff berth in the ACC Championship Game. Let me qualify my "disappointment" in saying, I will always look back at this season as a coulda, woulda, shoulda, but in no way hold it against the coaching staff or players for not making it to the playoffs. This opinion may change after we really see what we have/don't have at WR and Running Backs, but as of now...it's how I feel.
 

AlabamaBuzz

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I agree with most of you that the "best case" has to be 11-1 or even 12-0, because it is possible, BUT, on the negative side of the equation, I think our "worst case" could be 6-6 or maybe 7-5. Once again, we are thin on the D line and somewhat at LB, although better than last year. If all dominoes fall against us (lots of injuries, more turnovers given than taken, etc.), I could see this being a very underwhelming season. But, that is why we play the games. If the D improves and the O holds on to the ball, 9-3 would be my guess, although I hope that guess is VERY wrong, and we actually get one of the "best cases" seen above.
 
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