Expectations for the 2021 season

[Jerry the Jacket]

We are an easy target for the media. We need to change that. We need to take the field with an expectation of kicking our opponent's butt. We have not had that. The whole surround around GT football is soft. We need to demand toughness. Anything less than 7 wins is not good enough.

Go Jackets!

 

[CuseJacket]

Given our performances last season, it doesn’t appear we have fixed those issues.

I agree there are reasons for concern related to things that are entirely within our control. To be clear, it is for that reason that I was responding to the premise that El Cid's offense was the reason for the disaster, to which I contend it was not near the top of the list.

The penalties were an issue in that dreadful game in 2019, however we were top 10 in the country in fewest penalties per game that year. For whatever reason(s) we moved to the bottom of the pack last year. Definitely needs to be corrected.

Regardless of one's disposition toward our offense or defense, I think the following are most critical to success this year (or any year):

1. Turnovers
2. Penalties
3. Special Teams

If we fix those, I think we win a lot more games, regardless of what happens on O or D schemes and general performance.

 

[WreckinGT]

If you can't win 6 games by year three then you need to take a serious look at your coaching staff and at the way you are doing things. If you look at the current talent composite on 247 as well, we have more talent than half of the teams on our schedule. That was from last year, we have actually improved our talent level since then. There is no reason we can't win 6-7 games this year.

 

[85Escape]

#10 is important only to old people. Count on being disappointed. This will have no effect on whether we're successful or not successful on the field.

Not so fast! I'm arguably old to some, and I did an end-zone dance last night after I was able to fully empty my bladder before bed. Woot!
See, I can celebrate meaningless accomplishments just like the cool kids

 

[Coloradojacket]

If you can't win 6 games by year three then you need to take a serious look at your coaching staff and at the way you are doing things. If you look at the current talent composite on 247 as well, we have more talent than half of the teams on our schedule. That was from last year, we have actually improved our talent level since then. There is no reason we can't win 6-7 games this year.

I you believe that talent alone wins games. And while we may have some talent, we are not deep and it is not across the board.....thus scheme matters. Florida St has lots of talent......

 

[WreckinGT]

I you believe that talent alone wins games. And while we may have some talent, we are not deep and it is not across the board.....thus scheme matters. Florida St has lots of talent......

I agree. I think I was talking more from a perspective of what is reasonable to expect and something to judge our staff on. If I had to give my honest expectation, I think we fall a bit short of that.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I love your homerism, but come on. We have some guys who may turn into NFL prospects but no one is looking at GT because we’ve been a dumpster fire for 3-4 years. Last year we had 2 games where the nation was watching and Clemson and Notre Dame pushed us around like we were practice dummies. Cochran and White will either turn into prospects over the next 8 months or not. Outside of Gibbs the two with the NFL upsides would be Smith and Walton. The rest have shown very little while at GT. I think the transfers are definite upgrades especially Eley but that doesn’t make him an NFL prospect.

No "fans" are looking at us, maybe, but I guarantee you NFL scouts are looking at everyone on our roster that plays any significant plays. I think you're underselling your team. I'm not saying our roster is stacked with draftable players, but they're definitely being watched by those who matter.

 

[FlatsLander]

IMO, 2021 is difficult to predict because we just don't really know how ready our team is to make the jump to the next level. Similar to the Braves a couple years ago, who were expected to still struggle, we could make an early jump this year and end up winning 6+ games. We could also make great improvements, look like a coherent football team, and only end up with 4-5 wins. My gut says we have one more year in the wilderness before we make that leap, but nothing is preventing us from making it this year either. Looking at the schedule, this is what I see:

NIU: Win
KSU, JR: Win
Clemson: Loss
UNC: Loss
Pitt: Toss-up
Duke: Win
UVA: Toss-up
VPISU: Loss
Miami: Loss
Boston college: Toss-up
Notre Dame: Loss
uga: Loss

Basically, we need to sweep the toss-ups and/or beat VT/Miami to get to a bowl. Both of those teams are beatable. Either way, I am willing to give CGC one last transition year before we need to put him on the hot seat. As long as we look better this year, I will be satisfied that we are moving in the right direction. My prediction is we go 5-7 this year.

Caveat, if we lose to NIU and/or KSU, then the wheels might just come off this bus early. I really don't see that happening, though.

I'm not sure why so many are high on UNC, VPISU, or Miami (to a lesser extent). UNC has Howell, but just lost 2 NFL RBs, and maybe their top 2 WRs?. VPISU started to implode at the end of last season with so many transfers leaving and with Fuente having 9 toes out the door. A lot of Miami's success will hinge on whether they get King back and if he's lost any mojo. I think they also lost TE Jordan and that one DL Rouseau maybe?.

I'm hoping that 2021 can be the inverse of 2010 (CPJ's 3rd year), and be surprising in a good way. I think with all the additions and development on OL and QB, with the depth we have at RB and WR, we'll see improvement on offense. Same thing for the defense, especially with so many options at DL. We gained like 4.5 dudes on DL over last year (TK, Yondjuen, Harris, White, and half the year for AC).

 

[Oakland]

4) We will have better clock management.

We need to learn how to burn the clock. There is no need to run a hurry up offense when your defensive unit is worn slap out on the sideline. See Clemson and UCF.

 

[Tadams6599]

I'm not sure why so many are high on UNC, VPISU, or Miami (to a lesser extent). UNC has Howell, but just lost 2 NFL RBs, and maybe their top 2 WRs?. VPISU started to implode at the end of last season with so many transfers leaving and with Fuente having 9 toes out the door. A lot of Miami's success will hinge on whether they get King back and if he's lost any mojo. I think they also lost TE Jordan and that one DL Rouseau maybe?.

I'm hoping that 2021 can be the inverse of 2010 (CPJ's 3rd year), and be surprising in a good way. I think with all the additions and development on OL and QB, with the depth we have at RB and WR, we'll see improvement on offense. Same thing for the defense, especially with so many options at DL. We gained like 4.5 dudes on DL over last year (TK, Yondjuen, Harris, White, and half the year for AC).

Ty Chandler transferred to UNC from Tennessee they arent going to have a drop off in rb productions that guy is a player.

 

[bob4gt]

Been following Tech sports since 1960. Have spent a total of 10 years on campus and watch every game I can. Until last year I had never left the stadium or quit watching/listening to a Tech game until the final whistle sounded, even Notre Dame in bad weather and down a bunch. Last year I turned off the TV in the second half 3 or 4 times (not Clemson though). The games were just too sloppy and even when they weren't sloppy, they were boring.
I expect the players to play hard (for the most part they did last year) and play smart (not so much) and the coaches to prepare them to compete.
I will not be upset with the program if I can watch the whole game next year

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I'm not sure why so many are high on UNC, VPISU, or Miami (to a lesser extent). UNC has Howell, but just lost 2 NFL RBs, and maybe their top 2 WRs?. VPISU started to implode at the end of last season with so many transfers leaving and with Fuente having 9 toes out the door. A lot of Miami's success will hinge on whether they get King back and if he's lost any mojo. I think they also lost TE Jordan and that one DL Rouseau maybe?.

I'm hoping that 2021 can be the inverse of 2010 (CPJ's 3rd year), and be surprising in a good way. I think with all the additions and development on OL and QB, with the depth we have at RB and WR, we'll see improvement on offense. Same thing for the defense, especially with so many options at DL. We gained like 4.5 dudes on DL over last year (TK, Yondjuen, Harris, White, and half the year for AC).

UNC is recruiting even better than us and isn't undergoing near the transition we are. RB is perhaps the easiest offensive player to replace, and while they are replacing WRs, in reality, so are we.

Miami is loaded with talent. They continually recruit in the top 15, so expecting to win against them before we've proven ourselves to be through this transition is more wishing than anything else.

VT absolutely hammered us the last time we played. Sure, that was year one, but they have a decent defense and we haven't yet proven we can reliably score against better defenses. Their losses, with the exception of the last two and UNC, were all very close games. They are a team that could go either way next year. My opinion is that they are still ahead of us, though hopefully not for much longer.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

It’s not homerism. Maybe a misunderstanding of what you meant by “anyone outside GT circles would acknowledge as legit.”

If you meant other teams fans, the media, or maybe even NFL scouts I might agree with you. Probably not on that last part, but that’s fine.

My comment was coming from the perspective of opposing teams coaches and your use of the word legit. If you’re telling me you don’t think teams around the ACC would consider the players I listed as “legit” then I would continue to say you’re wrong.

You can obviously have that opinion, but I vehemently disagree and would imagine most ACC coaches would disagree as well.

I get it but I also think you are buying into our staffs rhetoric around those guys. No where but GT message boards have I read or heard anything about guys like Swilling being NFL prospects. And I don’t think coaches around the ACC are in any way worried about most of those guys you mentioned.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

There’s truth to that, but “GT sucks” is an easy narrative for our local B-level radio personalities to fall back on when it’s a slow news day and they already talked about how this year will be different when uga plays Alabama.

Listen, I hate the local media as well and they definitely dump on GT at every chance. But GT also hands them easy fodder and I hate to say it but we have sucked lately. The only way to change it is to win consistently. It doesn’t have to be double digit wins and Orange Bowls very year, but it has to be 7 wins as a minimum with 8-10 wins most years for a decade. But doing what we’ve done the last 6 years we should expect to get blasted in the southeast. Three 3 win seasons, a 5 win, a 7 win, and a 9 win. That’s why we get blasted and deservedly so. We have been a house divided with the admin/athletics for decades which is why we can’t sustain any success. I really hope that Collins succeeds because I think our new Pres is more pro athletics than we’ve had in a long time.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

If you can't win 6 games by year three then you need to take a serious look at your coaching staff and at the way you are doing things. If you look at the current talent composite on 247 as well, we have more talent than half of the teams on our schedule. That was from last year, we have actually improved our talent level since then. There is no reason we can't win 6-7 games this year.

100%!

 

[BuzzStone]

I expect to go bowling this year. I have been without a bowl game long enough. I am ready to buy my plane tickets and watch my Jackets Kick *** in another city!

 

[Spalding Jacket]

We need to win 6 games and bowl this year. If not 2022 looks even rougher on the schedule and we lose at least 3 Sr Oline, entire def backfield and probably some of the transfers if they have a good season and turn pro.

 

[4shotB]

i do not want to go to a bowl game just to look like we don't belong there. Last time we looked like a legitimate bowl team was 2016. let that sink in. In an era were so many teams get bids this is unbelievable as not so long ago we were at or near the top of teams with consecutive bowl appearances.

 

[LibertyTurns]

I found out in 1981 if you really get drunk ( you know totally sh+t faced ) you won't care if we win or lose .

Glad it worked for you. I could never get drunk enough to not care.

 

[4shotB]

Glad it worked for you. I could never get drunk enough to not care.

I had the opposite problem...I never cared enough not to drink.