I have a gut feeling.

[Lotta Booze]

To go along with your gut feeling... I've got a historical trend that assures victory on Labor day.

Ever since 2016 GT has alternated years between winning and losing the season opener

2016: Win over BC
2017: Loss to Tennessee
2018: Win over Alcorn St
2019: Loss to Clemson
2020: Win over FSU
2021: Loss to NIU

It is now time to win the season opener again. While the Loss to NIU last year was awful and embarrassing... it was simply fate. And fate will play its hand again this year, against Clemson. Go Jackets!

 

[RamblinRed]

I believe GT's offense was actually better than Clemson's last year. But their defense was way better than ours.

We will see if either Clemson or GT have better offenses this year, that is nothing but speculation at this point for either team.

I agree TO's will be extremely important. The biggest reason GT hung around in that game last year is that we had no TO's (until the last play of the game). That allowed us to hang around because we didn't give Clemson any easy points and their offense was inept.

My biggest concern in this game though is our OL against their DL. That feels like an even bigger mismatch this year than last year. A basically new OL with very limited experience going against one of the best and most experienced DL's in college football. That feels like Clemson's defense is likely to be in our backfield most of the game. Coach Long has a big task ahead of him trying to counter that.

 

[wesgt123]

I believe GT's offense was actually better than Clemson's last year. But their defense was way better than ours.

We will see if either Clemson or GT have better offenses this year, that is nothing but speculation at this point for either team.

I agree TO's will be extremely important. The biggest reason GT hung around in that game last year is that we had no TO's (until the last play of the game). That allowed us to hang around because we didn't give Clemson any easy points and their offense was inept.

My biggest concern in this game though is our OL against their DL. That feels like an even bigger mismatch this year than last year. A basically new OL with very limited experience going against one of the best and most experienced DL's in college football. That feels like Clemson's defense is likely to be in our backfield most of the game. Coach Long has a big task ahead of him trying to counter that.

Eh. I look at how long we hung in there last year. If our o line LAST year can hang, then I’m not so worried about this years group. Nobody last year on OL were gangbusters and we were a missed block from a huge win.

F clempsun dude. Old school clempsun fans know they have nightmares in the back of their minds about us. And old school tech fans know we love to snatch a victory from them.

I’ll bet on my boys to knock little ole hunky dory Aw shucksssss clemmy down a peg.

Kill the tiger. GO JACKETS

 

[wesgt123]

Also, for what it’s worth, Clemson fans are sounding pretty negative about this upcoming season. Most of the comments I’ve seen are their fans crapping on Dabo and the qbs. Lots of “I hope’s” and “we’ve heard this before’s”

Winning two natties comes with a cost, I reckon.

 

[Kennethshannon20]

Tech wins, and i will be there to see it.

 

[GTBlaze]

48-10 will be the score

 

[MWBATL]

Fantasy abounds before toe meets leather. It will be interesting to see the comments after the game.

 

[Thwg777]

I’ve been a fan for about 20 years (ever since my freshman year at Tech). This is the first season that I’m deflated to start the year after last year’s bookending performances of NIU & ND/UGA. Just cannot find any logical rationale for positivity. That stated, the most GT thing would be to beat Clemson and lose to Duke this season. We’ll see…

 

[iceeater1969]

I’ve been a fan for about 20 years (ever since my freshman year at Tech). This is the first season that I’m deflated to start the year after last year’s bookending performances of NIU & ND/UGA. Just cannot find any logical rationale for positivity. That stated, the most GT thing would be to beat Clemson and lose to Duke this season. We’ll see…

As they get off the bus at least the players and coaches all look like they are a power 5 team. Does that help

 

[gt13]

I’ve been a fan for about 20 years (ever since my freshman year at Tech). This is the first season that I’m deflated to start the year after last year’s bookending performances of NIU & ND/UGA. Just cannot find any logical rationale for positivity. That stated, the most GT thing would be to beat Clemson and lose to Duke this season. We’ll see…

I’ve seen a lot of people say they can’t find any reason for positivity. What do you think about having a third year QB, 70-80% new coaching staff, what is likely to be improved overall OL depth, and the fact that we are facing a lot of teams who have a lot of question marks themselves? Just curious - I am feeling more positive than I thought I would be 9 months ago but it’s possible I’m just drinking the koolaid from all the positive fall camp reports

 

[Thwg777]

I’ve seen a lot of people say they can’t find any reason for positivity. What do you think about having a third year QB, 70-80% new coaching staff, what is likely to be improved overall OL depth, and the fact that we are facing a lot of teams who have a lot of question marks themselves? Just curious - I am feeling more positive than I thought I would be 9 months ago but it’s possible I’m just drinking the koolaid from all the positive fall camp reports

Well I felt pretty good last year and saw the results or lack thereof. I was Vegas summer 2021 and saw Clemson at -800 odds to win the ACC and thought that was crazy. It was but uncertainty with other teams didn’t affect our play.

My main reasons for cynicism (in order) are no changes to head coaching (the fish rots from the head), loss of our best player to buyout portal, and arguably the most difficult schedule in the country. While Ole Miss, UCF, and Georgia don’t affect conference standings, I’m tired of hoping for, best case, a solid ‘quality’ loss.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be at more than half the games screaming for the team; it’s just an odd feeling for me, not being able to find a reason for the left half of my brain to engage.

 

[jojatk]

Been fooled three years in a row. Definition of insanity?

I expected what we got the first year record-wise. I wasn’t too far off on the second year where I thought we’d get 4-5 wins with 4 more likely. After the second year I looked at last year’s schedule and felt 6 wins was achievable and based on the scores of many of the games I still feel it was achievable and we did not execute on or off the field well enough to get there. So I feel like I’ve only been “fooled” once. Right now I have no idea what to expect. I think we got better in the coaching department overall. I think we should be better off with Jeff Sims having an actual QB coach who is better than our previous guy. But I just have zero idea of what to expect this year.

 

[JacketFan137]

Well I felt pretty good last year and saw the results or lack thereof. I was Vegas summer 2021 and saw Clemson at -800 odds to win the ACC and thought that was crazy. It was but uncertainty with other teams didn’t affect our play.

My main reasons for cynicism (in order) are no changes to head coaching (the fish rots from the head), loss of our best player to buyout portal, and arguably the most difficult schedule in the country. While Ole Miss, UCF, and Georgia don’t affect conference standings, I’m tired of hoping for, best case, a solid ‘quality’ loss.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be at more than half the games screaming for the team; it’s just an odd feeling for me, not being able to find a reason for the left half of my brain to engage.

i think we can split ole miss and ucf. while ucf has had a few good years even last year they lost to a pretty middle of the road louisville team that went 6-7. they are by no means the undefeated season ucf anymore.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I expected what we got the first year record-wise. I wasn’t too far off on the second year where I thought we’d get 4-5 wins with 4 more likely. After the second year I looked at last year’s schedule and felt 6 wins was achievable and based on the scores of many of the games I still feel it was achievable and we did not execute on or off the field well enough to get there. So I feel like I’ve only been “fooled” once. Right now I have no idea what to expect. I think we got better in the coaching department overall. I think we should be better off with Jeff Sims having an actual QB coach who is better than our previous guy. But I just have zero idea of what to expect this year.

I expect more of the same and hope for something better. It can't get worse can it?

Anyway, here's what was "expected" and delivered from someone (J Howell http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cfindex.htm ) who has a system that is at least data based.

These are predicted % likelihood to win on a neutral field against the "average" D1 team (about 130 of them).

2019. Preseason .619. Post season .337
2020. Preseason .478. Post season .370
2021. Preseason .424. Post season .392
2022. Preseason .408. Post season ?

So our expected performance is dropping while our actual performance is improving. At this rate, we'll ...... never mind.

At some point I'll do another scatter chart like I did years ago showing how well his predictions have been. He has to "make the books balance" so one team's improvement is another's decline.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

To go along with your gut feeling... I've got a historical trend that assures victory on Labor day.

Ever since 2016 GT has alternated years between winning and losing the season opener

2016: Win over BC
2017: Loss to Tennessee
2018: Win over Alcorn St
2019: Loss to Clemson
2020: Win over FSU
2021: Loss to NIU

It is now time to win the season opener again. While the Loss to NIU last year was awful and embarrassing... it was simply fate. And fate will play its hand again this year, against Clemson. Go Jackets!

Research data proves your hypothesis.

 

[alagold]

I’ve seen a lot of people say they can’t find any reason for positivity. What do you think about having a third year QB, 70-80% new coaching staff, what is likely to be improved overall OL depth, and the fact that we are facing a lot of teams who have a lot of question marks themselves? Just curious - I am feeling more positive than I thought I would be 9 months ago but it’s possible I’m just drinking the koolaid from all the positive fall camp reports

Lots of assumptions there.The only improved postion on the team may turn out to be the QB. (including kicker) --a bit SCARY.

 

[Ramble1885]

Look you got to stay positive. Tech’s been in worse spots. The early 80’s were rough (we sucked and uga was #1, so basically what we’re in right now) and there’s also the nightmare that was 1994. Tech was able to rebound from both. It might take a new head coach to get us back to where we belong and it may take some time, but we will get there.

Also I do not want to hear the narrative of “gt can’t win because of the school standards” ACADEMICS IS NOT AN EXCUSE. Look at schools like Wake Forest, Stanford, and Northwestern… THEY’VE HAD FOOTBALL SUCCESS and they’re prestigious institutions just like us. Wake has made six straight bowls… Northwestern is coming off of a decade where they made it to seven bowls, won 10+ games three times, and played in a few B1G title games… Stanford was a punching bag in the early 00’s, then Harbaugh and David Shaw came and they had a decade plus of success, they made FIVE BCS/NY6 BOWLS!

Not to mention.. WE’RE A PRETTY HISTORIC PROGRAM OURSELVES!!!!! Remember, the reason Tech fans are so down is because we are not a program usually in the basement. Sure, I started our by saying we’ve been in the situation before, but those two occasions are a chunk in an otherwise good history of football at Tech.

 

[bobongo]

Lots of assumptions there.The only improved postion on the team may turn out to be the QB. (including kicker) --a bit SCARY.

In my view, it's possible we could see improvement at every position on the team because of the assistant coaching turnover and realignment.

 

[bobongo]

if it make you feel any better the last time I had this feeling was 2014.

That's encouraging, because the last time I had it was 2021.

 

[swampsting]

It is now time to win the season opener again. While the Loss to NIU last year was awful and embarrassing... it was simply fate.

If by fate you mean poor coaching, then yes.
Otherwise, fate had nothing to do with it.