Is This year ours in the ACC?

zhavenor

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I think some people are going to be shocked at how much we will miss both Thomas and Marshall next year.
I think, hope, most people realize about Thomas but I don't think they do about Marshall. I think in the bowl game he would have started. Mind you I think they both would have had reps but yah at the end of the year I thought Marshall was the better back. The competition between them was good for both of them.
 

Josh H

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396
I think some people are going to be shocked at how much we will miss both Thomas and Marshall next year.

Absolutely no doubt that we will miss Thomas. I still think he's the best QB PJ has had at that position. At least we will have an experienced offense to go around whoever starts and one QB with a big road win under his belt. I don't see anyway Matthew Jordan is not the starter vs. Tennessee.

We won't miss Marshall as much as long as Mills is here and healthy, but we better find a #2 B-back quick. Mills took all the snaps in the bowl game and while we have had feature guys there before, we've always needed either a change of pace or just a breather. That doesn't even mention Mills problems with team rules.
 

stech81

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I think some people are going to be shocked at how much we will miss both Thomas and Marshall next year.
I think the world of JT and wish he had one more year. But if I had the pick a new QB and most the OL , WR's and running backs coming back or experienced good QB with a inexperienced OL,WR's and running backs ( Like 2015) I'll take the new QB.
 

ncjacket79

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Absolutely no doubt that we will miss Thomas. I still think he's the best QB PJ has had at that position. At least we will have an experienced offense to go around whoever starts and one QB with a big road win under his belt. I don't see anyway Matthew Jordan is not the starter vs. Tennessee.

We won't miss Marshall as much as long as Mills is here and healthy, but we better find a #2 B-back quick. Mills took all the snaps in the bowl game and while we have had feature guys there before, we've always needed either a change of pace or just a breather. That doesn't even mention Mills problems with team rules.

Mills did not take all of the snaps but obviously took most, which isn't unusual for CPJ. I'm not too worried about a #2 stepping up assuming Mills is healthy and available. Howard looks good and between Benson and Quade we should be fine. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have Marshall back but no use worrying about that.
 

MikeJackets

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Tennessee, lost all their running backs, quarterback and wide receivers. The same for Clemson, UNC, VT, most of Miami, and Pitt. All these teams will have to replace their QBs.
John Kelly will be tough to stop he finished 2016 as the #2 rusher behind Josh Dobbs with 630 yards and 5 touchdowns. He's fast although not as fast as Alvin Kamara was.
 

Eastman

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Most games are tough and just a few injuries or turnovers can turn a 10-2 season to a 6-6 or worse. Many teams can beat us but I really believe we should be the team to beat in out division. Of course I am biased, have far less knowledge about other teams and of course the injuries and turnovers are yet to be determined. What I am excited about is that the teams overall potential appears to be increasing. That is why I think it might be our year.
 

Deleted member 2897

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I have never heard CPJ speak with as much firm confidence as he has about MJ. Shockingly supportive and defensive of him from a man who typically says things like 'he did okay', 'he acquitted himself pretty fairly'. MJ to me does a long list of things very well. There is also a list of things he needs to improve on, such as pitching, passing, expanding his playbook... I love how he walks up and down the line to communicate in each lineman's ear. The man is a leader. He also has not had a chance to practice with the first team constantly over and over and over like he will now. I think he also give us the anti-Barry Sanders that we had with JT. That is to say, JT would pull plays out of thin air for positive yards. But also at other times he would dance around and spin instead of turning it up field, resulting in losses. One big reason why Detroit never made it far with Barry Sanders is that type of standard deviation. Barry Sanders would run for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns. But 3 of his runs would account for 120 yards. You can't sustain drives when 80% of the time you're going backwards. Now this is not a fair comparison, so please don't take it to be fully that way...but on the margins I hope you get what I'm saying. We will miss JT a TON, but I mean to say life goes on and we can win with someone else. The only other guy we lose on offense is Freddie, but Cooper got enough playing time that I don't think we'll have a noticeable dropoff. Everybody else is back. We saw if Mills is healthy and on the field he is a beast. Remember we did absolutely nothing against Clemson last year...well except for Mills, who averaged almost 5 yards per carry, had 75 yards rushing, and our only TD. We lose some deeper down BB (Marcus Allen) and AB (Lynn Griffin, Isaiah Willis), but I am hopeful Benson/Q and Cottrell/etc can effectively fill those spots. On D, we 'only' lose PJ Davis, Pat Gamble, Francis Kallon - honestly with our new class of LBs and the way Simmons/Saint-Amour and others came on, I don't think we see a dropoff here either.

I think we can win 9-10 games if we play well. BUT....but but but but but...we ALWAYS seem to start slowly. Like its the first time we've played in this offense and are still learning it. We can't have 75 missed assignments against Tennessee and UCF and Pitt and North Carolina. As we saw even with BAD teams last year like Boston College, Duke, and Virginia - if we aren't playing well, we can struggle to beat anybody. I'm going into this season hopeful that we can replicate this year's performance with an even higher upside due to our competition's losses, but knowing it ain't that easy with us.
 

cuttysark

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We start out against Tennessee who has a bye week the length of a pregnancy. We beat them and maybe, just maybe this bye week crap advantage will end forever. Now while the ACC always schedules to give just about every team GT faces a "bye week", you don't hear about any team spending time in their spring and entire off season preparing for the pro set or spread option offense. ONLY the CPJ Triple Option offense. I always enjoy reading those tidbits because everyone fears and hates playing against this offense.

It's a cross between respect; hate; and fear. If the defense can keep improving and some kids step up at DT, this machine could be fun to watch once again in 2017.
 

MikeJackets

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True but most Tech fans main job to is worry. They predict and expect the worse and hope for the best. And always blame the coach if something goes wrong. If we win a game they think we will win the ACC, but if we lose they just know that we will not win another game that year.
Worry,theorise and predict are all there is to do in the offseason.;)
 

Foxyg

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172
JT's dancing behind the line was off-set by how good a passer he was and how he could generate homeruns. The offense will be successful if Jordan can execute the base and make good decisions with conviction, which I think he can. I don't think his passing is nearly as bad as people make it out to be, its just that in our most recent viewing (against VT) he struggled some because he didn't get much time to throw or set his feet. I think Jordan can be a better passer than Tevin. I expect with Jordan we'll stay on schedule more. There may be fewer explosion plays, but I think that will be offset by not needing them as much. To stay with the baseball analogy, we're going to hit fewer home runs, but we're going to hit a lot more singles. Frankly, I think that grinding it out more on offense will help our defense not be on the field as much. You saw that against Kentucky when we just ate them to death with the dive, controlled the clock, got up by two scores and rode the game out. Our Defense wasn't exposed. We'll see. I think the OL will be ok. We're returning all of our a-backs essentially, which will mean improved blocking on the edge. I think Mills is a bruiser, but with a full year in a college conditioning program I think you'll see him take another step forward with strength and speed. Our WRs are big, can win contested balls, and block pretty well, which is pretty good for what we do. The key to this season on offense is a) OL depth and health; and b) whether Jordan can make the right decisions in the base offense. From what I've seen, I think he can.
 

danny daniel

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JT's dancing behind the line was off-set by how good a passer he was and how he could generate homeruns. The offense will be successful if Jordan can execute the base and make good decisions with conviction, which I think he can. I don't think his passing is nearly as bad as people make it out to be, its just that in our most recent viewing (against VT) he struggled some because he didn't get much time to throw or set his feet. I think Jordan can be a better passer than Tevin. I expect with Jordan we'll stay on schedule more. There may be fewer explosion plays, but I think that will be offset by not needing them as much. To stay with the baseball analogy, we're going to hit fewer home runs, but we're going to hit a lot more singles. Frankly, I think that grinding it out more on offense will help our defense not be on the field as much. You saw that against Kentucky when we just ate them to death with the dive, controlled the clock, got up by two scores and rode the game out. Our Defense wasn't exposed. We'll see. I think the OL will be ok. We're returning all of our a-backs essentially, which will mean improved blocking on the edge. I think Mills is a bruiser, but with a full year in a college conditioning program I think you'll see him take another step forward with strength and speed. Our WRs are big, can win contested balls, and block pretty well, which is pretty good for what we do. The key to this season on offense is a) OL depth and health; and b) whether Jordan can make the right decisions in the base offense. From what I've seen, I think he can.

This season's success comes down to developing OT depth and avoiding a rash of injuries to key playmakers.
 

Skeptic

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I think he also give us the anti-Barry Sanders that we had with JT. That is to say, JT would pull plays out of thin air for positive yards. But also at other times he would dance around and spin instead of turning it up field, resulting in losses. One big reason why Detroit never made it far with Barry Sanders is that type of standard deviation..
Name another sports message board in the world where "standard deviation" is used. I might have more to say when I look it up. But I like it.
 

GTpdm

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Name another sports message board in the world where "standard deviation" is used. I might have more to say when I look it up. But I like it.
Well, on SEC boards, when someone writes about 'standard deviation', they are referring to their Uncle Cletus, whose parents were Grandma Loula and her brother, Grandpa Cletus.
 
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