Frankly, yes, I think you should expect less. GT is not a football factory, it does not have the same resources, and it has additional burdens. Thus, all things being equal, you are not going to be as good as the football factories.
That's not excuse making, that's a basic understanding of the facts. If you put people just as smart, and just as talented, and just as hardworking into your football program as alabama does, Alabama will beat you. If you have SMARTER, MORE TALENTED, HARDER WORKING people than Alabama, then you can compete with them.
The thing is, you can't always have smarter, better, harder working people. Coaching/recruiting/ADing/Fund raising is a competitive game, and you guys don't compete.
You say "we want to compete at the highest level on the field"....well competing at that level on the field means competing on the highest level off the field, too, and you simply do not. GT doesn't pay as well, it doesn't have easy classes for its students, it doesn't have great facilities, it's just not as attractive a job as some others are.
Until you compete the same way that Alabama does off the field, you cannot fairly expect to compete the same way they do on the field, it's just stupid. And, fine, maybe you don't WANT to compete the same way off the field, that's not what GT is about. FINE. But understand that decisions have consequences, and you're not going to be a contender year in year out.
If you expect that, you're like somebody going to vegas and being surprised when they lose. The math is not in your favor, and more times than not, the math wins. With Johnson, you have the equivalent of a very smart blackjack player. You can outperform what is expected now and then, but even then the math is not in your favor.
Expecting otherwise is setting yourself up for regular bitter disappointment, because it's just not realistic.
