N&O ACC Preview on GT

[orientalnc]

There is not much here we don't already know. Joe Giglio covers the ACC for the N&O and voted VT to win the Coastal. His reason: our schedule.

http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/article28515505.html

 

[bigsands]

Clemson, Florida St vs NC State, Boston College. The GT conference schedule is much more difficult than VT. UNC with NC State and Wake Forest and Duke with Wake Forest and Boston College are similar to VT. If GT wins the Coastal they will have earned it.

 

[GlennW]

"It can’t be said too many times: quarterback Justin Thomas was born to play in this offense. Nebraska’s Tommy Frazier might be the best option quarterback in college football history and Thomas threw for yards (1,719) and ran for more yards (1,086) than Frazier did as a senior in 1995."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/article28515505.html#storylink=cpy

 

[cuttysark]

From the very brief sample size we have from last year's playoff committee's decision making for their Final Four Teams, it certainly appears that two items are extremely important: Conference Championships and strength of schedule.

Based on those two factors I for one am happy that GT has a "tough" schedule as that is what it takes to get noticed by the Committee. So while all the attention will be on Clemson; The Criminole$; and The Hokies, the Yellow Jackets can use that to their advantage each and every week.

Not to mention everyone has the Mutts winning the East and they come to BDS. What a perfect time to beat them at Grant Field.

Let's get excited about the opportunity with this "difficult" schedule and not worry about who isn't playing who as all that matters is for GT to take care of business and the rest will fall into place.

 

[takethepoints]

Seems pretty much exactly right to me. The real question - as usual - is the D. If it improves, we can do as well as last year. If it stays the same or regresses, then we'll struggle early. After mid-season we should be rolling enough on O to offset the problems if this occurs. Problem = it'll be too late to talk about a division or conference championship then unless - and this is a real possibility - other conference favorites collapse. If you look at the returning troops, we're actually in better shape then most of the usual suspects and some of them *cough* UNC, Puke *cough* have a real tendency to blow leads. I figure it's us and VT again with shear bum luck playing a major role in the outcomes for both teams.

 

[DC Bee]

There won't be any mystery surrounding GT at the end of the season with this schedule. Not sure a 2 loss ACC Champion gets into the playoffs either, unless the same goes for 2 or 3 of the other P5 conferences.

VPI has had more than their fair share of luck playing against GT the last few years, and I don't believe last year was an "equalizer" in luck by any stretch.

For years we have been saying "if we only had a top 30 defense to go with this offense..." Well, this could be a year where we do. Here's hoping anyway.