Going forward vs. Uga (poll included)

[GTRambler]

Keep our traditional final regular season-ending game with UGA unchanged as is.

And start out-recruiting them ASAP for the 5- and 4-star players ,,, and maintain this blue-chip player advantage over them on a consistent and recurring annual basis.

Go all-out with a vengeance. Out-cheat and out-factory them and pour it on. Beat em up like a drum.

We are Georgia Tech. We can do that!

 

[g0lftime]

I voted for keeping it as is, but I honestly wouldn't be all that upset if we got rid of it.

The ACC's move to 9 conference games means we'll be forced to choose 3/4 of FCS, G5, a rotating P5, and u(sic)ga, and some years we'll be locked into a ND game OOC. Until they force everyone to get rid of their FCS games, I'd just as soon we kept that one spot open so we can continue to schedule fun and varied marquee OOC matchups.

Does a ND game count as a conference game? Time to kick them out and bring in a real conference member. Let them then try to schedule their other sport teams.

 

[Root4GT]

Does a ND game count as a conference game? Time to kick them out and bring in a real conference member. Let them then try to schedule their other sport teams.

ND does not receive TV money from the ACC via it's ESPN Contract. Basically in football they are a P4 equivalent OOC game for ACC teams. For most of the ACC teams they are the biggest OOC draw booth at the stadiums and in TV viewership. The issue is ND is better than nearly all ACC teams in football every year.

 

[stinger78]

I think that's the way it's always been. There probably isn't a nickle's worth of difference between the teams ranked #17 - #40. imo, of course.

This is my view, too.

 

[iceeater1969]

I wish the game could be the weekend before Thanksgiving when everyone else is playing cupcakes. It’s a slow weekend for football generally, and our far flung student body would be there in force before leaving for the holiday.

Good points.
Wouldnt we and uga like a crummy team to play on last week, BEFORE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS? TUNE UP THE ENGINE .

We start the year planning to have an epic gt/uga national game the week earlier and then have high scoring display on Turkey Saturday as we higher auditions for CFP.

Plus I have family reunion in Texas Thanksgiving week -

As a season subscriber to espn, fubu, you tube you have my support.

 

[LxUn1c0]

Does a ND game count as a conference game?

No, which is why it's BS that the ACC is moving to 9 conference games before this scheduling agreement with them is finished. The ACC teams with a permanent SEC rival have so much less flexibility to negotiate contracts in the years they're forced to play ND.

And, even among those teams, we're the only one whose rival is essentially a guaranteed top-10 opponent every year.

 

[Tundeballer]

Texas - A&M stoped playing annually when they were in different conferences and everyone was fine. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma no longer play annually and it’s alright. Just cause we are able to keep the games competitive with UGA doesn’t mean it benefits us. It kills fan morale and helps solidify a hierarchy in this state. We don’t have to go schedule an easy win, but the value in playing UGA every year seems minimal outside of the fact that it’ll get us a sold out home game every other year. In my 19 years as a fan we’ve won that game three times. The joy from those three wins does not compare to the agony of the many losses. This is ultimately sports and entertainment and it should strive to make the viewers/fans happy. Outside of the 3rd quarter of the 2024 game, it’s been a long time since I felt anything but dread watching that game. It’s an extra difficult game we don’t have to play against an opponent that’s better resourced. No one else in the ACC has an annual out of conference rival with this much of a gap in resources/talent. Seems dumb to me that we continue to play the game.

 

[LT 1967]

I voted for #2. I feel like we need to emphasize the ACC. We have no assurance that we are going to receive an invitation from the SEC or B1G. I believe having the UGA game earlier in the schedule
will give us the balance of the season to recover our status (If GT Loses) and require concentration on the ACC for the rest of the year. Plus, we will have fewer injuries if we place UGA early in the schedule.
UGA obviously has much more depth and can absorb the normal injuries during a long season. As someone else mentioned, we need the students in the stands. I remember that in my years at Tech, I and many others went home for the Thanksgiving Holiday. Heck, our math professor gave us a take home quiz for the Holiday.

I think the loss to Pitt demonstrates how important an ACC game can be. The UGA is for bragging rights, but winning the ACC will put us into college football playoff.

I remember an AJC writer (probably Mark Bradley) saying that for Georgia Tech, UGA is the only game That needs to change. We need to emphasize the ACC as long as we are members. If we
get a better offer from the B1G or SEC, great.

 

[4shotB]

I remember an AJC writer (probably Mark Bradley) saying that for Georgia Tech, UGA is the only game That needs to change. We need to emphasize the ACC as long as we are members. If we
get a better offer from the B1G or SEC, great.

This is a fine line here 67. look at 3 of the better teams in the ACC this year. Pitt, Duke and Uva. They were so internally focused on the internal games that they failed to take care of business OOC. Pitt lost to a very bad WVU and also got steamrolled by ND. Duke lost to UConn, Tulane and Illinois. Uva lost OOC to a middling NCSU team (j/k - sorta). Two of these teams are playing for the ACC championship. None of these teams are going to the CFP.

My point? This is a weak league and NO ONE can afford to let up OOC. As a matter of fact, I would argue the opposite. We (ACC teams) need to prioritize these games first. Otherwise, you will have a league champion sitting out of the playoffs. That is remarkeably sad imo.

 

[LT 1967]

This is a fine line here 67. look at 3 of the better teams in the ACC this year. Pitt, Duke and Uva. They were so internally focused on the internal games that they failed to take care of business OOC. Pitt lost to a very bad WVU and also got steamrolled by ND. Duke lost to UConn, Tulane and Illinois. Uva lost OOC to a middling NCSU team (j/k - sorta). Two of these teams are playing for the ACC championship. None of these teams are going to the CFP.

My point? This is a weak league and NO ONE can afford to let up OOC. As a matter of fact, I would argue the opposite. We (ACC teams) need to prioritize these games first. Otherwise, you will have a league champion sitting out of the playoffs. That is remarkeably sad imo.

Agree. The ACC is definitely a weak league, particularly with FSU and Clemson in the average or below average category. I guess my thinking is that we will still be able to emphasize the
UGA game enough earlier in the schedule but then focus on winning the ACC which I hope will be better in a couple of years. Maybe!!

But, I agree with your point. Next year will be interresting with UT and UGA on the schedule, plus Colorado.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I wonder if LOLuga felt the same way back in the 1950s when Dodd was crushing it.

Until Theron Sapp famously broke the drought as Tech's winning 8 games in a row was called, the UGA administration was busily coming up with ways to curtail Dodd's recruiting which was formidable for his time. They got the BOR to institute the Calculus requirement which was a major factor in gradually killing Tech's football recruiting over the years. Put it this way, UGA has retired three jerseys: two were Heisman winners Frank Sinkwich and Herschel and the last one was Theron Sapp who Dodd observed was "...nothing special about Theron, he was just a good old plugging fullback but he was great that day"

 

[bke1984]

Bull ****! Clemson seems to have a Citadel type game every year before they play South Carolina

That’s one team dude. The rest of the conference mostly plays conference games that day.

 

[CEB]

That’s one team dude. The rest of the conference mostly plays conference games that day.

Actually 5 ACC teams played OOC games or had byes.
Georgia Tech, I believe, is the ONLY ACC team that didn’t request to preserve an annual ACC rival. In light of these two facts, I see no reason why the ACC should not be able to accommodate an OOC game for us that week.

 

[john813]

Keep it as is.

Even though UGA has been the victor for a majority of the games this century.

 

[jgtengineer]

I want it moved to the front of the season for the same reason as spurrier liked playing in there.
Also I'd rather do liek the big 10 and schedule all the out of conference before the conference slate when we go to 9 games.

 

[quadf]

The hard games are also the games that draw a big crowd. Big crowds bring big money. I want to play exciting teams that are challenging to beat and when we win we know it means we're a great team. If we're only going to play easy schools we might as well just watch flag football, not keep score, and give everyone a trophy at the end to make sure everybody feels like a winner because we will have a team of players that are too scared to be adults.

I think moving the series from rivalry week will only undermine our own credibility. Nobody at uGA pretended they weren't rivals with UF when Spurrier or Meyer was annihilating them every year. We shouldn't rollover and give up our primary rivalry status because we have bad feelings about being on a bad streak (especially after some ref help last year).

 

[4shotB]

The hard games are also the games that draw a big crowd. Big crowds bring big money. I want to play exciting teams that are challenging to beat and when we win we know it means we're a great team. If we're only going to play easy schools we might as well just watch flag football, not keep score, and give everyone a trophy at the end to make sure everybody feels like a winner because we will have a team of players that are too scared to be adults.

I am going out on a limb but I am fairly certain that our players would never vote to drop the game. That decision would have to be made by someone higher than coach Key's paygrade. The players are too competitive imo. Thankfully.

 

[MWBATL]

The poll results are pretty lopsided...

 

[jgtengineer]

The hard games are also the games that draw a big crowd. Big crowds bring big money. I want to play exciting teams that are challenging to beat and when we win we know it means we're a great team. If we're only going to play easy schools we might as well just watch flag football, not keep score, and give everyone a trophy at the end to make sure everybody feels like a winner because we will have a team of players that are too scared to be adults.

I think moving the series from rivalry week will only undermine our own credibility. Nobody at uGA pretended they weren't rivals with UF when Spurrier or Meyer was annihilating them every year. We shouldn't rollover and give up our primary rivalry status because we have bad feelings about being on a bad streak (especially after some ref help last year).

It only became rivalry week because everyone was scheduling the games there in the SEC. if we are in the SEC it should be there when we are in the ACC we should play all OOC in the front

 

[WreckinGT]

Texas - A&M stoped playing annually when they were in different conferences and everyone was fine. Oklahoma State and Oklahoma no longer play annually and it’s alright. Just cause we are able to keep the games competitive with UGA doesn’t mean it benefits us. It kills fan morale and helps solidify a hierarchy in this state. We don’t have to go schedule an easy win, but the value in playing UGA every year seems minimal outside of the fact that it’ll get us a sold out home game every other year. In my 19 years as a fan we’ve won that game three times. The joy from those three wins does not compare to the agony of the many losses. This is ultimately sports and entertainment and it should strive to make the viewers/fans happy. Outside of the 3rd quarter of the 2024 game, it’s been a long time since I felt anything but dread watching that game. It’s an extra difficult game we don’t have to play against an opponent that’s better resourced. No one else in the ACC has an annual out of conference rival with this much of a gap in resources/talent. Seems dumb to me that we continue to play the game.

I agree with most of this. My only quarrel is with the other rivalry games. Those ended due to conference expansion. There was a concrete reason, therefore even though people didn't like it they accepted it. If we just gave up the game with UGA for no reason other than a lack of ability to compete, it would harm us significantly. The best way for it to end would be for them to end it. They can say it's tough to maintain it with a 9 game SEC schedule. None of their fan base will really care and it wouldn't ding us much. I do agree that long term this game hurts us far more than it helps us.