Expectations for the 2021 season
- Thread starter BilldGopher
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IM79
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The school can be , and still is, elite. But without the weed out, sink or swim, look to your left look to your right ethos
smokey_wasp
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He means elite on and off the field. Not like the naysayers who think it's one or the other.
Pointer
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Kind of how many on here now calling out others for "perpetuating harmfulness myths" helped to perpetuate the most harmful myth, that we ran the triple option. That stigma really stuck and did damage.
Northeast Stinger
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Ever since Bud Carson became the coach it seems to be a perpetual problem that some group is always running down the current coach with a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom.
I agree that it was especially egregious with CPJ when you consider how many opposing coaches hated playing his offense, worked the refs before games, tried to get certain features of the offense banned, finagled a bye week before playing us etc. It was clear to many that the last resort to keep from getting a loss against Tech was to try to wear us down with negative recruiting lines about “triple option” and “high school offense.” Sadly, too many of our “fans” bought this hook, line and sinker.
I always come back to Ross who was almost run out of Tech by “fans” the year before our National Championship. He eventually left Tech because he found recruiting here very difficult, especially given our fickle fan base and the willingness of some to carry water for opposing coaches’ narratives.
All of this makes it extremely hard to judge any coach at Tech fairly. They all need time and they all underperform at key junctures of their tenure. And all are subject to being out of favor with someone’s coaching style preference or the vicissitudes of sports journalism.
CGC has sought to overcome this by being relentlessly positive. This is a new approach at Tech. Even the ever cheerful Pepper Rodgers was not this indefatigable. Hope it works and hope that behind this approach lies some real coaching skill.
Scubapro
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Yeah...my issue is mostly with Patenaude. According to Geoff Dave is a record setting coach. First at Coastal and then with Temple. Record setting requires a bit of perspective. Coastal's program was only ten years old when Dave was there so setting school records isn't a huge accomplishment. The Temple records were with an established QB he didn't recruit or develop. The Temple fans were more than ready to see him gone after two years. I watched all the youtube videos of his offenses I could find and haven't seen anything remotely impressive from his teams. IMO he is the weakest link and will cost CGC any accrued good will among Tech fans.
Coloradojacket
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And will cost us many games. Basically this has been my argument all along with the current staff.
GT_EE78
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So Ross left because of "recruiting difficulty" and "crappy fans" and the multi-million dollar offer from the San Diego Chargers didn't have anything to do with that decision to leave?
Coloradojacket
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Read the Book Focused on the Top. Pages 123-127. This tells you more of why Ross left.
FlatsLander
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I don't think I agree. Last year we finished ranked 71st in total offense 389.9 yards per game. Yes, 71st is nothing to highlight in the history books, but that is a huge jump up from 127th (286.3 ypg) in 2019. We totalled more yards in 2020 than in 2019, playing 2 fewer games and 9 ACC games. This was with barely any on campus offseason development and a limited fall camp, with a TF QB.
To me, it's the defense that is the major drag on overall performance. Granted, they are on the field quite a bit, but with a defense focused HC, I would think we would have seen more improvement over the last 2 years. I'm expecting the defense will take huge steps forward this year with the major upgrades we're getting on the DL, plus the added depth and talent at other positions. The schedule is a tough one, but we are no longer at the severe disadvantage of turning over the whole roster.
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He wanted to be a pro coach. A lot of coaches want to coach at the top pro leagues. He went to the Super Bowl shortly afterwards.
However, it’s true that he didn’t get a lot of love from the fans during the first couple of years of losing records. Yes, I heard fans say they wanted Curry back, who was doing well at Alabama his first two years. Most people only remember the glow of the championship year.
IM79
Jolly Good Fellow
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I have that book. I just pulled it out and refreshed my memory. The players got mad being away from home at Christmas for the bowl game and they only had the NCAA per diem money for spending money.
Reading between the lines I think they were saying: other big time teams get big booster money gifts and $100 handshakes and Tech people follow the rules cause they don't want to cheat.
I am hoping the new NIL rules will allow Tech people to support the players with a clear conscience and without cheating.
Scubapro
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It seemed to me the staff mailed in 2019; treating the season like a big scrimmage. Comparing stats against '19 doesn't give me much color regarding improvement.
To your point I don't think the defense is anywhere it needs to be but too many times the offense failed to sustain drives and score within the red zone. This put a ton of pressure on the defense.
Unfortunately, I think our D and special teams will need to score regularly for us to get to six wins in '21.
RichardFrazier
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I agree... Coach Geoff Collins and staff are recruiting their tails off and any fan can look at Tech recruiting and see that it is in Overdrive. Quality, Quality, Quality! Probably the best recruiting in the modern era for the FLATS! Also I am not sure the class rank of 49 really is like the last 15 years.... I never saw CGO, CCG or CPJ ever get 8 transfers in 1 year. So really the 49th ranking needs an asterisks due to the incoming transfers. (
Now I think you could say Tech has had some really good Head Coaches since 1990. Bobby Ross, George O'leary, Paul Johnson. While I do think roster management is key to CGC We are three years into it and a ton of folks have left and the players left have bought into CGC program. This is not the Bill Curry players not buying into Bobby Ross crap. We need the coaches to develop. I think Coach Key and Coach Dixon & Coleman are getting the team there. With what I saw from Sims/Gibbs and if our OL and DL take the next steps...We should see enough improvement to go .500 and if the ball bounces our way in a few games maybe even win 5 ACC games.
It is hard to follow a hall a fame coach who had the ability to take 2 and 3 stars and produce at the level CPJ. He had Tobais Oliver as redshirt freshman replace the starting QB and lead Tech to a Victory in Blacksburg by racking up 215 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns in a 49-28 win. I believe Coach Collins when he says everything they do is diffrent in the program. I think what people are starting to see or realize is it is had for Georgia Tech to win 7 games a season. It was an amazing run from GOL-CG-PJ.
Can the 2021 Yellow Jackets head to a bowl in 2021? Yes! They have the talent, the question is do we have the staff to develop the players at Tech to Coach em up? This season will will reveal a ton for Tech faithful!
RichardFrazier
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This is a good read on reviewing the transfers with this years class that ranked 49th:
Georgia Tech Football: Where Tech transfers rank in 247Sports’s transfer rankings
Overall, the Yellow Jackets 2021 transfer portal haul is extremely solid and is full of players that should at the very least be solid contributors for the Jackets going forward. Players such as Cimaglia, Eley, and White seem likely to make bigger impacts sooner than later but overall, the transfer class will add great depth to the Jackets roster at some key positions.
Georgia Tech Football: Where Tech transfers rank in 247Sports’s transfer rankings
Georgia Tech football brought in a strong transfer portal haul during the 2021 recruiting cycle including landing of the top-25 transfers in the country.
Scubapro
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Ross didn't seem to stick in one place for very long. Tech is a difficult place to coach and I think the unique issues with Tech made it easy to leave. In later interviews he said he should have stayed at Tech. He had a rough time since Curry was a "win one for the Gipper" kinda coach which was in stark contrast to his disciplined approach.
THWG
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You're impossible. Somebody shows you that we did in fact improve under CDP and you instantly discount it because you think that the coaching staff wasn't trying hard the year before. Yes, the offense still needs to be improved and we have to absolutely be better in the redzone, but it's ridiculous that you can't even acknowledge that we were improved on offense last year from where we were in 2019. And that was with a true freshman QB who wasn't able to get many significant reps until the actual season because Covid essentially wiped out the preseason.
RichardFrazier
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Bill Connelly GT Preview:
2021 Projections
Projected SP+ rank: 48th
Projected win total: 5.6 (3.3 in the ACC)
My Take: 4 wins on the schedule and if we win two out of three toss ups we go Bowling!
NIU - WIN
KSU - WIN
at Clemson - Loss
UNC - Loss
Pitt - Toss up
at Duke - WIN
at UVA - Toss up
VT - Toss up
at Miami - Loss
BC - WIN
at ND - Loss
UGA - Loss
www.espn.com
2021 Projections
Projected SP+ rank: 48th
Projected win total: 5.6 (3.3 in the ACC)
- Likely wins*: Kennesaw State (92%), Northern Illinois (90%), at Duke (78%)
- Relative toss-ups: Boston College (63%), Pitt (51%), at Virginia (47%), Virginia Tech (45%)
- Likely losses: at Notre Dame (26%), North Carolina (23%), Georgia (19%), at Miami (14%), at Clemson (8%)
My Take: 4 wins on the schedule and if we win two out of three toss ups we go Bowling!
NIU - WIN
KSU - WIN
at Clemson - Loss
UNC - Loss
Pitt - Toss up
at Duke - WIN
at UVA - Toss up
VT - Toss up
at Miami - Loss
BC - WIN
at ND - Loss
UGA - Loss
Bill Connelly's mega offseason previews: ACC Coastal
Miami and North Carolina have the best odds of winning the division, but can either challenge Clemson for ACC supremacy?
Scubapro
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Dude...It would be a huge effort to get any worse from 2019.
Yes...he showed we did improve but c'mon. We were historically bad under his system.
If we end the '21 season ranked around 30th then I will give him some credit and happily eat crow. But like I have pointed out previously...he hasn't done much anywhere else. Does that mean he can't or won't succeed here? Nope. But it isn't likely.
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