GA Tech Enjoys Triumphant Finish

[GlennW]

After watching Georgia Tech dominate No. 7 Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl, Yellow Jackets fans want to know if they can expect to see the trend continue next season.

Georgia Tech completed an 11-3 season, only the fifth 11-win season in program history, with a 49-34 win over the SEC’s other Bulldogs on Wednesday night. The incredible run includes wins over Georgia, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Miami, as well as a Mississippi State team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation for a month.

http://www.macon.com/2015/01/01/3508093_georgia-tech-enjoys-triumphant.html?sp=/99/160/169/&rh=1

 

[D-man44]

On 9.29 they just said Georgia Tech is the team to watch next year!

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

This year has nothing to do with next season. Has to be earned anew every year.

If ranked - fine. If not - fine.

Winter workouts, spring practice, recruiting, team leadership all have to take precedence once more just as they did in 2014.

Quite frankly, having watched GT for decades, any Heisman / Rankings talk has always bit us in the butt

 

[cuttysark]

The ingredients are in place for another successful season. This program has made some great strides and now the bar is set higher as are the expectations.
http://isportsweb.com/2015/01/02/ge...obliterates-another-myth-winning-orange-bowl/

 

[Madison Grant]

The ingredients are in place for another successful season. This program has made some great strides and now the bar is set higher as are the expectations.
http://isportsweb.com/2015/01/02/georgia-techs-paul-johnson-obliterates-another-myth-winning-orange-bowl/

That is a GREAT analysis of what has been going on with our team, and a refutation of the 'Pollock Theory'. Honestly, Pollock just parrots what the high school educated Dwag fans I encounter always blab on about.

 

[MWBATL]

This year has nothing to do with next season. Has to be earned anew every year.

If ranked - fine. If not - fine.

Winter workouts, spring practice, recruiting, team leadership all have to take precedence once more just as they did in 2014.

Quite frankly, having watched GT for decades, any Heisman / Rankings talk has always bit us in the butt

QFT.

Any GT fan who assumes next year is going to be a huge year for GT needs to go back and review what happened in 1999 after a surprisingly great 1998 season.

In 1998, we were coming off of a 7-5 season the previous year (sound familiar?). We started the next season unranked, and lost our season opener against BC. We then on to finish 9-2, with wins over Clemson (24-21) and Georgia (21-19) to end the year, and tied FSU for the ACC Championship. We closed out the year by beating Notre Dame (35-28 but it was easier than that) in the Gator Bowl for a 10-2 year and a #9 ranking in the final polls. We had this QB named Joe Hamilton who was only a junior.

Everyone thought we were hot stuff. Everyone expected us to be great in 1999. Hamilton would be back and a senior...surely he would lead us to glory! We started out #11 in the polls.....but the season slowly collapsed. We played well but lost at FSU (41-35), no shame there/ But then UNC took us to OT at home (we survived 31-24), and the next week, Duke took us to the wire, 38-31. Finally, the season began to unravel in Virginia as the Hoos beat us 38-45. The Wake Forest beat us (Wake Forest, really?) by 23-26. The magic from 1998 simply was not there in 1999, and we finished 5-3 in the ACC after being 7-1 the year before. We did beat UGa (the Jasper Sanks fumble game, 51-48) but then we stunk it up in the Gator Bowl against Miami, losing 13-28.

Something was just missing in 1999, and I don't think it had anything to do with individual talent or losing players of the 1998 team. There is such a thing as team chemistry, and this year's team had it in spades, as did that 1998 team.

Whether we will have it again next year...<shrugs>, I dunno. I hope so, quit we had a ton of seniors on this team, who obviously provided great leadership. Thanks to them all for such a special year. Enjoy 2014 before worrying about 2015!

 

[awbuzz]

Agree with NWBATL. Enjoy and appreciate the season we just had. It guarantees nothing for next season.
TEAM involves good chemistry. Winning includes some "luck". Yes some luck is made, but some just happens.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

QFT.

Any GT fan who assumes next year is going to be a huge year for GT needs to go back and review what happened in 1999 after a surprisingly great 1998 season.

...................

Enjoy 2014 before worrying about 2015!

+100. This chart of the last 70 years of GT football shows that a repeat performance of our 2014 80% power ranking is not what has happened in most cases in the past. But I'll enjoy this season for a long time. GT fans need to be like camels and drink a lot when we can because we don't know how long till the next drink. Everything looks good now, but ..... just enjoy the ride.

 

[ATL1]

On 9.29 they just said Georgia Tech is the team to watch next year!

Breaking in a lot of skill positions next year, but year 2 most definitely.

 

[jchens_GT]

Yeah, lots of new skill guys getting their feet wet next year. Justin Thomas had some fantastic seniors around him at the skill positions in 2014. I think our future still looks bright, but it is hard to see us equaling or bettering the 2014 season with so many new faces for 2015. 2016 has the potential to be a really special one.

Like @GTNavyNuke said, drink it all in. We've had a superb season. I would even say that this team is better than the 2009 edition. It was great to see that we finally have horses up front on offense, and we have a QB. I can't remember a GT team in a very long time that physically manhandled opposing teams like our offensive line has done. We lined up toe-to-toe with top ten teams and smashed them in the mouth. Also, we had a defense that quite often seemed overmatched but played their guts out. We definitely lacked size and/or talent in some key areas, but those guys played HARD. Fantastic year all around.

 

[00Burdell]

The worst thing I can think of at this point would be to raise the bar to what we accomplished this year.

Raise it, but not too high. We won several games this year by inches/seconds (GSU, VT, UGa, etc.).

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I'd have to go back and see what was lost from 98 to 99....I honestly don't remember which players. But this season and team was completely different than past ones. Ditto for this offseason. Here is what matters in determining following years success / improvement / regression. Chemistry, work ethic, and talent. The first of those two are unknowns and depends on player attitudes. The last is more of a known quantity.

Key positions typically are Oline, QB, DE, and DT.....in that order IMO. What do we have returning in those spots?
QB- elite starter in JT and maybe the best backup in the nation (outside the state of Ohio)
Oline- possibly even better overall, likely just as good at a minimum (and one of this years top five Olines in the nation imo)
DE and DT will again be the biggest question marks. Freeman is legit but still young. Gotsis is good but might really miss Green's double team eating play. We have hope on the Dline but its largely unproven IMO. Once again tho...could possibly be better and is likely to be at least as good.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out. Man I hate the off season .
Oh yeah......our coaching will also be better than the competition's

 

[Dave.S]

Yeah, lots of new skill guys getting their feet wet next year. Justin Thomas had some fantastic seniors around him at the skill positions in 2014. I think our future still looks bright, but it is hard to see us equaling or bettering the 2014 season with so many new faces for 2015. 2016 has the potential to be a really special one.

Like @GTNavyNuke said, drink it all in. We've had a superb season. I would even say that this team is better than the 2009 edition. It was great to see that we finally have horses up front on offense, and we have a QB. I can't remember a GT team in a very long time that physically manhandled opposing teams like our offensive line has done. We lined up toe-to-toe with top ten teams and smashed them in the mouth. Also, we had a defense that quite often seemed overmatched but played their guts out. We definitely lacked size and/or talent in some key areas, but those guys played HARD. Fantastic year all around.

+1

 

[augustabuzz]

QFT.

Any GT fan who assumes next year is going to be a huge year for GT needs to go back and review what happened in 1999 after a surprisingly great 1998 season.

In 1998, we were coming off of a 7-5 season the previous year (sound familiar?). We started the next season unranked, and lost our season opener against BC. We then on to finish 9-2, with wins over Clemson (24-21) and Georgia (21-19) to end the year, and tied FSU for the ACC Championship. We closed out the year by beating Notre Dame (35-28 but it was easier than that) in the Gator Bowl for a 10-2 year and a #9 ranking in the final polls. We had this QB named Joe Hamilton who was only a junior.

Everyone thought we were hot stuff. Everyone expected us to be great in 1999. Hamilton would be back and a senior...surely he would lead us to glory! We started out #11 in the polls.....but the season slowly collapsed. We played well but lost at FSU (41-35), no shame there/ But then UNC took us to OT at home (we survived 31-24), and the next week, Duke took us to the wire, 38-31. Finally, the season began to unravel in Virginia as the Hoos beat us 38-45. The Wake Forest beat us (Wake Forest, really?) by 23-26. The magic from 1998 simply was not there in 1999, and we finished 5-3 in the ACC after being 7-1 the year before. We did beat UGa (the Jasper Sanks fumble game, 51-48) but then we stunk it up in the Gator Bowl against Miami, losing 13-28.

Something was just missing in 1999, and I don't think it had anything to do with individual talent or losing players of the 1998 team. There is such a thing as team chemistry, and this year's team had it in spades, as did that 1998 team.

Whether we will have it again next year...<shrugs>, I dunno. I hope so, quit we had a ton of seniors on this team, who obviously provided great leadership. Thanks to them all for such a special year. Enjoy 2014 before worrying about 2015!

We had a big play defense in 1998 which we lost in 1999. We were thin across the board on defense and as the injuries mounted, we became younger. To add to the defensive woes, our offense scored so fast that the defense couldn't rest. I don't see that repeating in 2015.

 

[OldJacketFan]

Let me say this about winning close games. Players and coaches remember how close games are won, the "lucky" breaks and bounces, the extra hustle plays, the "key" moments. When those become ingrained they have a tendency to become the norm. You have to look no further than the 'noles 29 game streak over the last 2 years. So many of the close games are decided by players reaching down a little deeper because they come to KNOW that 4-6 seconds can and, oft times are, the difference between a win and a loss. Coaches call games differently when they KNOW they have players that can and will execute. As has been said luck is when preparation meets opportunity!

 

[GlennW]

Capital One Orange Bowl GT v Miss State with 8.9M avg viewers / 5.0 RTG was ESPN's most-watched NYE game ever.