Fan reactions: Perceptions and delusions

[Jerry the Jacket]

That is an excellent observation GT_05. I big part of the game is psychological. Some call this momentum or mindset. I often feel as a fan that our guys are looking over their shoulders waiting for something bad to happen that will snatch a defeat from what seems to be almost certain victory. I don't know that you can coach that out of a team or not but I often feel like we need a sports psychiatrist on staff to work with our team on this aspect of their performance. The ability to overcome that and in fact turn that totally around to a mindset of, "hey we got the lead so let's put the hammer down and close these dudes out", is an ability that would be worth it's weight in Gold. I think it would be worth the investment to at least give some consideration to bringing on staff someone that would work on creating this mindset with our players.

Go Jackets!

 

[stech81]

Our guys gave 110% yesterday, as they most often do, and we came up a little short. Love our GT student-athletes.

Something is wrong somewhere though. My wife knows very little about football but she quit watching in the 4th quarter yesterday when we were up 22-14, stating that she had a “bad feeling”. I felt it too. She also expressed this while we were at the Tennessee game after we fumbled deep inside UT territory and we had a “comfortable” lead. My point is that someone that doesn’t really know much about football has associated our leads as being insufficient and scary and she’s the most optimistic person I know. When we lead, I feel like we play “not to lose” instead of playing to win.


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I'm not picking on you but I hate to hear someone say " we playing not to lose or we are playing to win " . In IMO both are the same thing you are playing to win the game. If you have the lead you are playing to kept it , if you tied or behind your playing to win. Think of it like this you just scored to go ahead by 2 points with 2 minutes to go. Do you kickoff off deep and let your defense try and stop them which they have only done 75% of the time or do you onside kick and try to get the ball back to run the clock out ?

My point is if you win you picked right if you lose everyone thinks you don't know anything about football and should not be coaching. Trust the coaches they see the players every day and know what they can and can't do . We may think something would work but they know what gives them a chance to win.

 

[bartoma]

That was a hard-fought game between two good teams that were evenly matched... Sure, we could have done some things better, but so could have Miami... At the end of the day, winning games is hard, and this one just went the wrong way... Proud of out team and staff - they make the best of what they have...

 

[Dottie1145]

We are 2 plays away from 5-0....

 

[Sideways]

Our guys gave 110% yesterday, as they most often do, and we came up a little short. Love our GT student-athletes.

Something is wrong somewhere though. My wife knows very little about football but she quit watching in the 4th quarter yesterday when we were up 22-14, stating that she had a “bad feeling”. I felt it too. She also expressed this while we were at the Tennessee game after we fumbled deep inside UT territory and we had a “comfortable” lead. My point is that someone that doesn’t really know much about football has associated our leads as being insufficient and scary and she’s the most optimistic person I know. When we lead, I feel like we play “not to lose” instead of playing to win.


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This "feeling" that you and your wife have is directly due to our team and coaches not having a killer instinct. Do you think Bear Bryant would have lost that game given the same circumstances? Hell no. he would have had MR wishing he would never ever schedule Alabama again. Our team is a good one and difficult to prepare for. Our players give a good effort and have nothing to be ashamed of but our coaches have got to make adjustments quicker especially in the fourth quarter.

 

[Sideways]

That is an excellent observation GT_05. I big part of the game is psychological. Some call this momentum or mindset. I often feel as a fan that our guys are looking over their shoulders waiting for something bad to happen that will snatch a defeat from what seems to be almost certain victory. I don't know that you can coach that out of a team or not but I often feel like we need a sports psychiatrist on staff to work with our team on this aspect of their performance. The ability to overcome that and in fact turn that totally around to a mindset of, "hey we got the lead so let's put the hammer down and close these dudes out", is an ability that would be worth it's weight in Gold. I think it would be worth the investment to at least give some consideration to bringing on staff someone that would work on creating this mindset with our players.

Go Jackets!

I distinctly remember reading a quote, perhaps from Taz Anderson or maybe Billy Lothridge to the effect that as a team they always expected to win because Dodd instilled that confidence in them that he would always think of something that would work. Opponents derisively called it "Dodd Luck" but it was actually a result of supreme self confidence that the players had in themselves and their coaches. Bear Bryant himself once said that by the early 1960s he was confident in his teams ability to beat just about anybody and he would rather look across the field and see anyone but "that damn Dodd". Confidence is a fragile thing that has to be nurtured and maintained on a football team.

 

[Jacket4Life]

I don’t blame the kids for this loss. They played hard all game. This loss falls 100% on CTR. How can you not adjust to press coverage in that situation? I’m sorry but the Miami QB is very inconsistent down field. I take my chances on getting beat deep instead of letting them bubble screen you to death on that last drive.

 

[Vespidae]

Good lord! Georgia Tech is one of the Top 50 STEM schools in the world and we just played competitive football with the (at the time) No. 11 ranked team in the country.

I for one would have preferred to win (I'm still sore from screaming the last 5 minutes of the game), but holy moly ... we did very well yesterday. I'm proud of the Jackets!

 

[stech81]

I distinctly remember reading a quote, perhaps from Taz Anderson or maybe Billy Lothridge to the effect that as a team they always expected to win because Dodd instilled that confidence in them that he would always think of something that would work. Opponents derisively called it "Dodd Luck" but it was actually a result of supreme self confidence that the players had in themselves and their coaches. Bear Bryant himself once said that by the early 1960s he was confident in his teams ability to beat just about anybody and he would rather look across the field and see anyone but "that damn Dodd". Confidence is a fragile thing that has to be nurtured and maintained on a football team.

Yes you need confidence but can anyone name one player or coach in any game that has said we can't win this or any game ? If you can that coach would not be working or that player would not be playing. Sometimes you just get beat on a play by a better player or sometimes they beat you on a play because of luck. No team is going to play all their games and all the plays perfect 100% of the time. You are going to win or lose 2 or 3 games a year because of luck. You hope that if you have a bad game it is against a weak team and won't matter.

 

[Coloradojacket]

My thoughts.
1. Been a Tech fan so long I have seen it all. Yesterday just falls in line with other disappointments, Georgia 1971, Georgia 1978, Georgia 1986, Georgia 1991...see a trend here
2. The weather changed that entire game yesterday. Both sides had to play but it is clear CPJ went more conservative and it may have cost us.
3. Why no Jerry Howard. I like Wamersnutzel, my name for him, but Howard is better. After Benson went out we quit going to the B-back and yea Miami was keying on it but we were at least getting 3 yards a play.
4. Which leads me to I am concerned about depth at B-back.
5. A dropped pass and a lucky catch cost us that game.
6. Don't blame CTR. I know after the game Richt said we were giving him the bubble but he knew what he was doing. If we crowd the line, well Miami has the speed to blow right by us. We did not flow well to the bubble plays.
7. Linebacker concerns me as well. After we lost Mitchel, well I love the Swilling idea but he looked a bit out of sync out there. Depth?
8. As I told my son yesterday, we play in the craziest conference in America. Yea Clemson isn't going to help but in 2014 we lost to Duke and UNC and won the Coastal. If BC can beat Louisville, if Syracuse can beat Clemson. Miami did not look like the old U to me and they will fall.

In the end if we don't win the Coastal, well achieve the only goal that matters to me. Beat Georgia. And before you roll your eyes, tell me a team worth salt that Georgia has played so far. And UT gave up long before they played Georgia.

 

[Ibeeballin]

I don’t blame the kids for this loss. They played hard all game. This loss falls 100% on CTR. How can you not adjust to press coverage in that situation? I’m sorry but the Miami QB is very inconsistent down field. I take my chances on getting beat deep instead of letting them bubble screen you to death on that last drive.

Why can’t a senior laden DB group adjust themselves? Do they have to be told every single detail? Why are players asking coaches can they press?

This is how close we are to being a great team.

 

[Coloradojacket]

And one last crazy thought. When we got the ball with 4 minutes to go I might have put Jordan in and told him run nothing but midline. He is big enough to pick up 4 yards a clip. 2 first downs and it would have been game over.

 

[SteamWhistle]

This is the first game not having Mills truly hurt us.

 

[GT_05]

And one last crazy thought. When we got the ball with 4 minutes to go I might have put Jordan in and told him run nothing but midline. He is big enough to pick up 4 yards a clip. 2 first downs and it would have been game over.

I had a similar thought. If I’m remembering correctly, we tried to run outside more than once during this time frame. It seems like trying to turn the corner on a sloppy field would be tricky and give the D an advantage. I know we weren’t getting much up the middle earlier in the game but maybe MJ would’ve been stout enough to get 3 or 4 per play.

Anyway, I have lots of respect for CPJ and he’s forgotten more about football than I will ever know.


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[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

And one last crazy thought. When we got the ball with 4 minutes to go I might have put Jordan in and told him run nothing but midline. He is big enough to pick up 4 yards a clip. 2 first downs and it would have been game over.

Interesting thought, and not entirely without merit.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

This is the first game not having Mills truly hurt us.

I think you could substitute Marcus Marshall there and still have a valid point. I love Quaide, but he is not the backup B-back we need.

 

[Coloradojacket]

And another crazy thought. I think CPJ is not really ready to go with Howard and we need another B-back. Mathew Jordan. He would fall in a long line of Qbs to Bs.

 

[TechPreacher]

The straight up truth is if Richt doesn't call that bonehead onside kick, this game isn't that close.

You don't know what might have been. What if we had still scored on that drive, but it took 5 minutes to do so? Miami's game winning drive would not have happened, because those 4 minutes would have been used up on our drive, not theirs. We would have won by 2 points, taking a knee in a victory formation in the final seconds.

 

[Sideways]

Yes you need confidence but can anyone name one player or coach in any game that has said we can't win this or any game ? If you can that coach would not be working or that player would not be playing. Sometimes you just get beat on a play by a better player or sometimes they beat you on a play because of luck. No team is going to play all their games and all the plays perfect 100% of the time. You are going to win or lose 2 or 3 games a year because of luck. You hope that if you have a bad game it is against a weak team and won't matter.

They don't have to say anything and nor should they. However, it was apparent at least to me, that Coach Roof was not confident in our secondary enough to put press coverage on those bubble screens especially with the twins who are excellent in open field tackling.

 

[Sideways]

You don't know what might have been. What if we had still scored on that drive, but it took 5 minutes to do so? Miami's game winning drive would not have happened, because those 4 minutes would have been used up on our drive, not theirs. We would have won by 2 points, taking a knee in a victory formation in the final seconds.

I am surprised at MR. I thought he knew better than to try that sort of foolishness. To me, it speaks volumes about his respect for Georgia Tech and Coach Johnson that he would resort to that sort of trickery.