GSU game thread

[AugustaSwarm]

2 things that stand out to me about this press conference:

1 - the uniformity of their referring back to “we got a game next week.” Each one said something to that effect, and each one brought it up not as a response to “how will you celebrate,” but instead as its own thought that tied up another answer.

When you simplify things down to black and white, make your message crystal clear, and then repeat it to the point where the people you lead can hear you say it in their sleep, they internalize that message. Particularly when it’s a good one, like this one is. I’m not concerned that this team will take next week’s game lightly.

2 - the quiet confidence of Haynes King (and all 3 of them, really, but especially HK). Last year there was an almost “I’m just glad to be here, I think we can do great things” quality to his interviews.

This year, there is a new type of confidence under the surface. It says, “We deserve to be here - that’s a given.” Very matter-of-fact. No ego. Not overcompensating (like some teams do). Just a recognition that we are good enough to go toe to toe with anybody, but that we’re only good enough because we do the hard work every day.

That attitude shift says a lot. It has me excited as a fan, and I can guarantee that it is exactly the attitude Coach Key wants to see out of his team.

This all bodes very well for the rest of the season. We have some hard games ahead of us, and some trap games, too. But the acceptance that we can handle anything because of the work we put in every day to get better means that when adversity strikes, we’ll be prepared to meet it head on.

Many of you have probably already heard about this, but in the bowl game vs. UCF - Haynes King kept telling the coaches on the sideline to keep running the ball. He had the opportunity to break several school records and the coaches were planning on running some plays to try to make it happen. But in game, Haynes insisted that the offense continue to run the damn ball. The physical run game eventually broke UCF's back and we cruised to a comfortable victory. He wasn't worried about the records - he didn't care about that. He wanted to ensure the victory. He is a legitimate stud - he concerns himself with the right things and has his head on straight.

He's beginning to get noticed by national media now, but I'm not concerned about it affected him at all...he's a dude and he has the right stuff between the ears.

 

[bke1984]

Maybe it’s just me but I think it’s bad juju / bad mojo to keep saying Gibson is not a capable QB. He has the potential to be quite good. At Tech he got caught in a crowded QB room in a transition time for Tech. With the attention and support he is getting now he can be quite effective.

What we have in our favor is that this will be his first game and our defense will throw a lot of looks at him that he has not seen under game conditions. But let’s put the emphasis where it needs to be. Not that he is bad but that we are good.

As to the game itself, I will be curious to see if we open our offensive and defensive playbooks a little more. We have three good chess players on our coaching staff who will not show everything they’ve got in one game but will keep showing a new wrinkle each time as needed, while keeping an eye on who the next opponent is and what we want to hold back on showing them ahead of time.

I didn’t say he wasn’t capable. I just said we know what we are dealing with. He doesn’t have a big arm and has shown to make shaky decisions under pressure.

 

[AugustaSwarm]

“I just felt like run out of bounds and take the loss” - Zach Gibson, October 2022 in a 16-9 loss to Virginia.

Hard to erase that play and quote from memory.

Too much was made about it at the time. Yes, he should have done something different, but he didn't. He made a mistake - no different than a guy throwing a pick or missing a tackle. Zach Gibson is a good kid that worked his rear end off while he was here.

 

[devcon]

If you pay attention to GT reddit, students are panicking about getting ahold of the free ticket allotment.

Anecdotally, I am getting way more interest in season tickets from the student org I run tailgates for, and I’ve heard a lot more football talk around campus.

 

[bobongo]

Too much was made about it at the time. Yes, he should have done something different, but he didn't. He made a mistake - no different than a guy throwing a pick or missing a tackle. Zach Gibson is a good kid that worked his rear end off while he was here.

And four weeks later, what happened? He went out and outplayed Drake Maye and pulled off a huge upset win over UNC. That's what I remember about Zack Gibson.

 

[Billygoat91]

Coach Key seems laser focused on changing the narrative about us dropping the ball in these types of games

 

[slugboy]

Too much was made about it at the time. Yes, he should have done something different, but he didn't. He made a mistake - no different than a guy throwing a pick or missing a tackle. Zach Gibson is a good kid that worked his rear end off while he was here.

I’m not sure how many reps he was getting before UVA. Running out of bounds was a screw up, but I’m sure he was surprised to be in the game

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Time for the trappiest trap game to ever trap game.

The team CANNOT sleepwalk into this one...

I know next to nothing about GSU. I thought they were pretty good a couple of years ago but I don't know anything about the current team.

 

[MonroeJacket]

More familiar faces in their program. Taquon and Rod Rook-Chungong. Also, Anree’s brother Manrey. All on their staff.

 

[305jacket]

Anyone know about injuries going into this game?

 

[Papa Foxtrot]

Anyone know about injuries going into this game?

In CBK's presser, he would only say, "there's a lot of guys banged up" and might say more Thursday.

 

[wvGT11]

Anyone know about injuries going into this game?

Key said we're pretty banged up, the 2s and 3s will get some play time on Saturday

 

[Ramble1885]

Key said we're pretty banged up, the 2s and 3s will get some play time on Saturday

welp.

let's hope they have the same energy the 1s had vs FSU.

 

[bke1984]

“I just felt like run out of bounds and take the loss” - Zach Gibson, October 2022 in a 16-9 loss to Virginia.

Hard to erase that play and quote from memory.

Yeah I mean that’s the first thing that landed in my mind. In a one score game…

 

[bobongo]

Yeah I mean that’s the first thing that landed in my mind. In a one score game…

Amazing how one play can define a guy, no matter what else he does. In a game that was about a near hopeless as it gets, where it would have taken a miracle pass on the last play to win, he runs out of bounds, and then is honest about why (he could easily have said he simply lost track of the clock). A mistake, no doubt, but here's the rest of the story: Later that year, he led the team back from a 17-0 deficit in Chapel Hill to knock off a ranked UNC team, outdueling Drake Maye in the process. Down by 17 points, he didn't give up.

unc vs GT 2022 - Google Search

 

[g0lftime]

Many of you have probably already heard about this, but in the bowl game vs. UCF - Haynes King kept telling the coaches on the sideline to keep running the ball. He had the opportunity to break several school records and the coaches were planning on running some plays to try to make it happen. But in game, Haynes insisted that the offense continue to run the damn ball. The physical run game eventually broke UCF's back and we cruised to a comfortable victory. He wasn't worried about the records - he didn't care about that. He wanted to ensure the victory. He is a legitimate stud - he concerns himself with the right things and has his head on straight.

He's beginning to get noticed by national media now, but I'm not concerned about it affected him at all...he's a dude and he has the right stuff between the ears.

Gotta love that kid. Really glad he is having success.

 

[Secret_AznMan]

If you pay attention to GT reddit, students are panicking about getting ahold of the free ticket allotment.

Anecdotally, I am getting way more interest in season tickets from the student org I run tailgates for, and I’ve heard a lot more football talk around campus.

I'm sure GTAA will be happy to give out the many unsold regular seats to students if the regular student allotment manages to sell out

 

[CuseJacket]

Too much was made about it at the time. Yes, he should have done something different, but he didn't. He made a mistake - no different than a guy throwing a pick or missing a tackle. Zach Gibson is a good kid that worked his rear end off while he was here.

I'm not going to belabor it, but since you replied, I feel it important to acknowledge that I vehemently disagree. Gibson's misguided decision is nowhere near any of Haynes King's INTs last year or any given missed tackle. Waving the white flag is something else.

Amazing how one play can define a guy, no matter what else he does. In a game that was about a near hopeless as it gets, where it would have taken a miracle pass on the last play to win, he runs out of bounds, and then is honest about why (he could easily have said he simply lost track of the clock). A mistake, no doubt, but here's the rest of the story: Later that year, he led the team back from a 17-0 deficit in Chapel Hill to knock off a ranked UNC team, outdueling Drake Maye in the process. Down by 17 points, he didn't give up.

unc vs GT 2022 - Google Search

To be clear on my position, I'm not defining him by one play. I agree he played hard for us otherwise. It's just one play that was egregious followed by an equally perplexing statement. Unfortunately of all the plays he made for us, that specific one is most memorable to me because of how unusual it was.

It is what it is. I'll let it be from here.

 

[bobongo]

To be clear on my position, I'm not defining him by one play. I agree he played hard for us otherwise. It's just one play that was egregious followed by an equally perplexing statement. Unfortunately of all the plays he made for us, that specific one is most memorable to me because of how unusual it was.

It is what it is. I'll let it be from here.

The statement was simply the plain truth, spoken when he could just as easily have hatched a fib. Perhaps his mom taught him not to bear false witness. I give him credit for that. There are lots of ways to give up, ways that are not so obvious. His was just out there for all the world to see. He spoke the truth, acknowledged the error of his ways, and then he atoned for it against UNC. Sounds like a young man building character to me, speaking the truth and vowing to do better.

Branded theme song - Google Search

 

[slugboy]

This is probably “rat poison”, and certainly doesn’t take into consideration that we’re

1. banged up and
2. Ga State has film on us and
3. We’re a different defense than last year, and Ga State is a different team than last year

If 2023 Georgia Tech played 2023 Georgia State, we’d expect GT to win about 8 times out of 10 (this projection is ~90% and a 16 point spread):


There’s also the FEI game projection, which has roughly an 11 point spread in our favor. It’s not a blowout, empty the benches forecast.

BCF Toys - 2024 Game Projections

www.bcftoys.com

ESPN’s preview is similar—about 80%. They report the point spread as 21 points.

There’s a simple stats-based preview at http://gameonpaper.com/cfb/game/401634302.

Last year, Georgia State ran a lot, and it was the strength of their game, but not by a ton. We couldn’t defend the run. Last year, you’d expect them to run and run often. This year, who knows?

	Georgia State Offense	vs	Georgia Tech Defense
#53	0.07	EPA/Pass	-0.04	#42
#69	0.01	EPA/Rush	0.11	#111
#69	45.8%	Available Yards %	50.2%	#105
#59	Own 28	Starting Field Position	Own 28	#57
#90	-0.04	Early Downs EPA/Play	0.02	#85
#22	48.5%	3rd/4th Down Success	47.1%	#103
#40	6.80	Avg 3rd Down Distance	7.26	#55

​

Last year, Georgia State had a terrible pass defense. We were better on the ground, but we could pass it.

I think we’ll be more balanced this weekend compared to last, but honestly I’m not sure. You would think that FSU has a better secondary than Georgia State, and a better overall defense.

	Ga State Defense	vs	Ga Tech Offense
#117	0.15	EPA/Pass	0.01	#68
#40	-0.04	EPA/Rush	0.13	#14
#104	50.2%	Available Yards %	52.4%	#28
#64	Own 28	Starting FP	Own 30	#26
#58	-0.02	Early Downs EPA/Play	0.05	#45
#126	50.8%	3rd Down Success	42.4%	T-#69
#27	7.61	Avg 3rd Down Distance	6.93	#52

For those of you thinking “trap game”, Syracuse is our next game after Georgia State.