Expectations for the 2021 season

[Heisman's Ghost]

I expect the differential to be higher than that. I expect to pull away in the second half.

There is no such thing as a guaranteed loss. Get your mind right.

This one way of looking at it but I am not so sure that wins over Northern Illinois and Kennesaw State would extrapolate towards a great season. There is no excuse for not blowing both of them off the field. NONE, Kennesaw State's triple option offense and past achievements of the Huskies notwithstanding. I think we will win 4 or 5 but I have no idea about Virginia Tech, UVA, Boston College, or Pitt. I am pretty sure we can beat Duke and I would not be the least bit surprised to lose all of the games to UGA, Notre Dame, UNC, Miami, and Clemson, all of whom should be in the top 25 and perhaps 3 of them in the top 10. More than most teams we have a lot riding on the Portal transfers.

 

[Sheboygan]

We NEED to win 5 games this year at a minimum. My EXPECTATION is we will win 6. If we win 4 , or heaven help us 3, then bad things start to happen: Most short attention span fans start to drift away ( not many of us on here though , I hope). Recruiting takes a hit because our lack of progress can be used against us " it may NEVER happen with CGC". Coaching changes will be REQUIRED- possibly causing scheme changes to take us back a step. Time to take a big step forward.

 

[forensicbuzz]

To a degree they were different. It's a major reason why I am arguing to give CGC at least 4 years before making a judgement. But we weren't the only team undergoing transitions last year, so again, we weren't unique in this.

I would say we were and are still much closer to unique than we were to the status quo.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Huh, just cited 2 posts in the last page fretting over beating Kennesaw St. Time for the handwringers to get off the fence & pick a win total for 2021. On one hand folks on here talk up the transfers, recruits, S&C, how great Coleman, Choice & Key are, etc. Then there’s returnees like Gibbs, Clayton, etc. After all that, crickets when it comes to expectations.

How many wins are you predicting?

OK, I will play. I am thinking 4 or 5 wins assuming we beat both K State and Northern Illinois. The problem with making predictions is not so much UGA, UNC, Miami, Notre Dame, and Clemson as we all know those teams will be formidable with all of them in the top 25 and perhaps 3 of them in the top 10. The problem is what do we know about the teams in the middle? Virginia Tech, UVA, Boston College, Pitt and to a lesser extent Duke. Win 4 of those and we are going bowling which would be a pretty good year. I don't know how the portal has affected them, key players they have lost, injuries, nothing. I watched the Pitt and BC games again from last year. I was not impressed with either team except Pitt's outstanding defensive line but they beat us so there is that. I will stick with 4 or 5 wins as I am not impressed with this team. Show me, I am gullible.

 

[Jacketman99]

Didn't most/all of our opponents also have little to no spring/summer as well? I agree that we were hamstrung by COVID last year, and starting 2-3 true freshman most games isn't ideal, but we weren't unique in these areas.

How many of those teams were starting a true freshman qb and tackle? Even with that we still had a substantial improvement in offense over the previous year. There is no reason to think we won't be better next season.

 

[takethepoints]

Win more games than we have the last two seasons. I am holding to my first prediction on a similar thread of 4 wins.

Eggsackley. No need to make this harder then it is, especially with THE SEASON OF DOOM, PART DEUX coming up.

We could really use a season where we don't have to play seven games where we aren't favored to win. This is up to the AD. Get busy. NOW.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

We NEED to win 5 games this year at a minimum. My EXPECTATION is we will win 6. If we win 4 , or heaven help us 3, then bad things start to happen: Most short attention span fans start to drift away ( not many of us on here though , I hope). Recruiting takes a hit because our lack of progress can be used against us " it may NEVER happen with CGC". Coaching changes will be REQUIRED- possibly causing scheme changes to take us back a step. Time to take a big step forward.

True, that dismal scenario is a possibility. Avoid it by winning ball games. Damn, we should be able to win any 4 from Pitt, BC, UVA, Virginia Tech, and Duke. Add the two cupcakes and there is a winning season without too much drama. Win just ONE of Miami, UNC, UGA, Clemson, and Notre Dame and there will be naming streets in Atlanta after Coach Collins. OTOH it would be just like Tech to lose to say Kennesaw State and beat Miami.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

You're 100% correct that the first two games could set the tone for the season. After that we're staring down two likely losses unless we can keep pace offensively with UNC, which I don't think is likely. The next 4 are all winnable (Pitt, Duke, UVA, VT). Miami will have a freshmen qb but has talent all over the field. If we go into that one 6-2 we could pull the win. BC is winnable. The final two games (ND and UGA) are losses unless we make huge strides during the year.

Overall, I think 6 wins and a bowl are achievable. 8-4 would be a springboard to relevancy.

We need to see improved coaching across the board. Choice and his group are the only exception to that.

I talked to a guy on my street who is a big UNC alumnus. He says UNC could be very good but it is going to be tough to replace those two running backs and several other under the radar types. True, they have Howell back but he loses, his go to receiver and both running backs. We will see. The real wild card in the BIG 5 of top ranked teams we are playing is, as always, Miami.

 

[CheCha54]

They need to win 4 of the first 6 games. If they miss that mark it could be a long season. Winning 2 of the last 6 games will be difficult and show improvement from the last 2 seasons. A bowl game will be momentum for 2022.

 

[CuseJacket]

Frankly, I have no idea what we will do. I think that if we do not get to a bowl this year then questions need to be asked. The first two games will tell me. Don't down play NIU as they are not that many seasons from an Orange bowl and except last year were bowl regulars. Then KSU. This will be harder than many think as our last outing against a CPJ offense was a disaster.

If we take care of business and win by 14 plus in both games, then I will think we maybe can win 4 more.
If we squeak by then maybe only 2 more.
Lose one of these games and we may be looking at a 1 win season and goodbye coaching staff.

The schedule is very hard this year with two guaranteed losses.

Our "last outing against a CPJ offense" was a disaster, but not because of the opponent's offense.

Good news: At least one, if not two, El Cid touchdown drives were stopped on 3rd down and turned into scoring drives because of our foolishness/penalties after the play. We also jumped offsides and extended drives that otherwise wouldn't have persisted. It was our anomaly penalty game that year, among other self-inflicted wounds (e.g., time mgmt), that had nothing to do with the opponent's offense. If we simply controlled the easy things that had nothing to do with the opponent nor their offense, we win despite still not looking great on either side of the ball.

Bad news: KSU is likely going to be better than El Cid.

Either way, we need to and should win the game.

 

[stech81]

It' Apirl and I have no idea cause I have no idea who will be our starters, injuries can cause changes , and I don't keep up with the other teams till the season starts. All I know I won't lose any sleep about it in Aoirl.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

Some of you vastly under rate our opponents. Saying things like “we should blow them off the field” as if we are Bama or Clemson. We are a tier 3 program right now with an unproven coach, unproven QB, and question marks all over the field. Quite honestly, we have one player that anyone outside of GT circles would even acknowledge as legit and that’s Gibbs and one position group we know right now we can count on - RB’s. I think all that changes within the next 2 seasons but to have the mindset that we are better than anyone right now is ridiculous. Predicting wins is impossible because we have no clue what we’ll get from the QB position. If he plays well we could win 7-8. If he plays poorly we could win 3-4. If he plays like last year with serious inconsistency we’ll be in the 4-5 win area. Our opponents have solid coaches and players and if we give them multiple turnovers they’ll take advantage.

 

[BilldGopher]

This is where I stand as well with one exception: If we beat UGA, it's a successful season no matter what else happens.

We feel the same about 'bout beating Mrs. Sheboygan's Badgers.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm optimistic for you guys in year 3. There's obviously a lot of passion still here for the Wramblin Wreck that is great to see.

Hoping the Spring Game goes well and gives the opportunity for the new guys to show some stuff. That usually doesn't happen in these things but maybe Coach Collins will open it up a little bit.

Finally, I see the concerns around coaching are out in the open, or at least not very deep. Mental preparedness is on the coaches but on the athletes to lead and execute. Whether it's Northern Illinois (who have had some good teams over the years), up and coming Kennesaw (which being from Marietta is hard for me to imagine), or Duke or Clemson...learning to keep the foot on the gas no matter who the opponent is...and not letting up...is the last piece to come together. My Gophers are almost there. Here's to Tech getting there too.

See you in the Fall. Billd.

 

[TromboneJacket]

If we win 3 or fewer games, nothing Collins could say would stop the search for his replacement.

4-6 wins, he needs to think long and hard about explaining how he is going to get over the hump and return Tech to playing winning football (ya know, like we did for nearly every season since BL resigned) in 2022. His seat will be quite hot after 3 straight losing seasons.

7 or 8 wins earns him some patience.

9+ wins deserves a raise to make sure certain staff members are retained. Like with CPJ, half of them are mediocre at best and not deserving of any further financial compensation.

Collins would have to win an ACC or National Championship to be in the conversation to get poached, otherwise this season would be considered a flash in the pan until he proves he can do it consistently.

So essentially if our results aren’t reflective of a top 25 team, the season’s a failure. Boy I hope you’re the reasonable one and that I’m just pessimistic about Tech’s standing as a football program.

 

[smokey_wasp]

5 to 7 wins

 

[buzzed]

It would be hard to be satisfied with less than a bowl season. However, if we don’t get blown out at half time by average competition, we could win 3 and be a lot better than we’ve been the past 2 years.

 

[yeti92]

So essentially if our results aren’t reflective of a top 25 team, the season’s a failure. Boy I hope you’re the reasonable one and that I’m just pessimistic about Tech’s standing as a football program.

7 or 8 wins is not reflective of a top 25 team, so I don't know how you drew that conclusion.

I AM tired of spending my time and money to have a crap product on the field run by a hype beast excuse machine. Collins wasn't worth the salary we gave him in 2018 and he isn't worth that salary today either.

 

[yeti92]

It would be hard to be satisfied with less than a bowl season. However, if we don’t get blown out at half time by average competition, we could win 3 and be a lot better than we’ve been the past 2 years.

If you can only manage 3 wins in year 3, I don't care if your entire roster is 5 stars and every game went to OT, your team still sucks.

 

[jgtengineer]

Ksu is going to entirely come down to if we actually prepare for them vs just run our offense with some option concepts all week. We might be able to just overpower or they might keep gibbs on the sideline all day

 

[Vespidae]

7 or 8 wins is not reflective of a top 25 team, so I don't know how you drew that conclusion.

I AM tired of spending my time and money to have a crap product on the field run by a hype beast excuse machine. Collins wasn't worth the salary we gave him in 2018 and he isn't worth that salary today either.

Geoff is the Great Experiment. He’s to prove that Tech can compete and be aTop 25 program on a consistent basis and not be relegated to service academy status.

I have no idea how we will do this year. The portal is our lifeline.