Off season complacency

[dressedcheeseside]

The offseason is upon us and the glow of the recently passed season is still bright in our mind's eye. How do our kids stay hungry and train like there's no tomorrow? We've seen it before. Good seasons bringing high expectations only to see us return to disappointment and mediocrity. The difference between winning and losing is razor thin. In the past we've been on the down side of that truism, this past season, we finally made it to the upside!

How do we stay on the upside? Gotta be hungry. "We ain't done nothing, yet." "We can be soooooooooooo much better!" Do those phrases still ring true in the hearts of our White and Gold clad warriors?

The answer is leadership. We lost a ton of it to graduation, I hope we have some special guys step up to fill those huge shoes. I remember Nealy saying how hard guys pushed themselves in the offseason, not just themselves but each other. Will the hunger continue? I say yes. We have guys with heart and character on this team and from what I've seen of the new recruits, it's just more of the same. Only time will tell.

 

[Declinometer]

Now is not to train like there is no tomorrow. Let the kids be kids for a while, focus on school, decompress and then come back and work hard.

 

[91Wreck]

Historically GT has had noticeable drop offs following really good/great seasons.

1985 9-2-1
1986 5-5-1

1990 11-0-1
1991 8-5

1998 10-2
1999 8-4
2000 9-3
2001 8-5
2002 7-6

2009 11-3
2010 6-7

2014 11-3
2015 ?

In my lifetime, the only sustained success that we have had is 1998-2001. And I can vividly remember being very disappointed in the 1999 and 2001 seasons. It seemed that we were destined to be so much better in those years. What does 2015 hold? I don't know. I am hoping for an ACC championship, Orange Bowl victory, and winning the playoff! But history is not on our side. But we weren't supposed to win this year either! This team proved me wrong and all of the so-called experts.

But no matter what we do, it is still GREAT TO BE A YELLOW JACKET!

 

[4shotB]

The end of this season was as strong as any since the '89 team (and of course the '90 team). this team had a vibe very similar to the '89 team...we struggled early, lost to 2 teams that were good to ok (Duke and NC) and then caught fire and was as good as (almost) anybody at the end of the year. Let's hope that this was an '89 type season - i.e. a glimpse into the future. Like the '89 team, we have MOST of the team returning.

However your data is excellent '91....even though we have most of the team back, our losses were as much about leadership as athletic ability. And, as has already been said, the margin of error between a W and a L is very, very small.

 

[GlennW]

My understanding is that the team began its off-season workouts as soon as the players returned for classes (non-structured by coaches, much like last season) outside of their normal lifting/nutrician. In other words, the players have taken it on their own to try to duplicate their "process" from last season so they can continue their momentum. For example, Justin will be working on his "timing," etc with the new set of receivers PRIOR to the Spring game.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Based on past performance, next year will most likely not be as good as this year unless something different is done from past years. You have to go back to the Dodd years to see us do as well after as good of a season as we just had. Thus the need for a sense of urgency.

J Howell had us finish the season with a 79.7% Power Ranking. They project us to have a pre-season Power Ranking of 70.8%. http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2015.htm I think they must not only the last season into account but maybe the last 5. (Note that the SEC doesn't do as well this year!)

Here's the last 70 year's of GT Power Rankings ....... again this year was about 80%.

 

[Minawreck]

The thing is: we didnt win the ACC that alone will leave the guys hungry.

Plus an early season date in South Bend.

 

[slugboy]

Almost every team improves after a bad season and regresses after a good one. There is some luck involved. Last season, we had some bad breaks. This season, we had a lot of good breaks. The luck part is fickle, and if you've been lucky, you can't count on it happening again.

We could be a much better team next year and still have a worse record.

 

[SteamWhistle]

I hope we get picked last in the Costal again.

 

[OldJacketFan]

I've been giving this a lot of thought and a lot of good points have been made. From my standpoint I go back and look at people I've known over the years. Successful folks tend to look forward and expect to be successful. They know the virtue of hard work and it's 2nd nature to them. From a football standpoint the foundation has been laid by the seniors. Tech has a lot of talented athletes coming back that have now been in the program for 3-4 years and they've seen what it takes to succeed. With the talent from the '14 class and now the '15 class the upperclassmen have and are showing them the way. Talent pushes talent to become better and I think we're seeing get to the point of the talent coming in is going to push themselves to keep the bar high and no let themselves, the team, the coaches or the fans down. The continuity of the staff is another thing that cannot be overstated. I feel good going forward!

 

[RamblinCharger]

In my opinion the reason we haven't had sustained success is because we haven't had a great QB for 2-3 years in a row. We had Josh in 08 and 09 and we were really good both years. We had him in 10 and we started rough but I think we would've beaten VT with Josh and we would've gone on to win 8-9 games and played in a solid bowl game. We will have continued success as long as paul has a good QB. In Justin I trust. We will beat a lot of teams next year because Justin will improve. We lose a lot on offense, but I think the young guys that we have are talented and they'll be hungry to show what they can do. If we beat a tough ND team early we could be looking at a really special season. Our defense will also improve, I just hope Ted keeps bringing pressure. We didn't really bring as much as I wanted to see at the end of the year, which I felt like that pressure was the reason behind our success along the back stretch. If we have someone explosive step up at BB and Snoddy comes back better than ever we may just run it 500 yards a game. Also send summers on a Go route every play. The guy has wheels so make them play a safety over the top. Now I'm rambling (no pun intended) but I'm pumped about next season. I know we've all seen disappointment, but I've felt like a QB and a solid defense is all we've lacked over the past 3-4 years and now I think we have both and that is exciting.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

The statement " almost every team improves after a bad season and regresses after a good one" seems to hold some truth. Winning, especially 11 times is hard.

We do not need to be too highly ranked at the beginning. We do not need any distracting Heisman talk.

Repeating a record like this season, ever, will not come from having a goal of winning the ACC, but rather a goal of beating uga.

 

[COJacket]

Based on past performance, next year will most likely not be as good as this year unless something different is done from past years. You have to go back to the Dodd years to see us do as well after as good of a season as we just had. Thus the need for a sense of urgency.

J Howell had us finish the season with a 79.7% Power Ranking. They project us to have a pre-season Power Ranking of 70.8%. http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2015.htm I think they must not only the last season into account but maybe the last 5. (Note that the SEC doesn't do as well this year!)

Here's the last 70 year's of GT Power Rankings ....... again this year was about 80%.

thanks for this Nuke. Looking forward to seeing the 2014 bar at ~80%. It just will look great like we all feel right now

 

[Yaller Jacket]

cheese's point is very true. Many teams, not just GT, don't follow one great season with another one. I don't think we'll know the answer until 2015 unfolds. I put my hope that we have many key players returning, not just from the point of view of the athletic side but from the team chemistry and teamwork emphasis.

 

[ClydeBrick]

Imagine this thread on a F$U board.

 

[Yaller Jacket]

FSU is a perfect example. Most of the same players, but lacked something this year.

 

[GTech63]

FSU is a perfect example. Most of the same players, but lacked something this year.

Were so bad they lost one game a semi final after 29 straight wins. Pretty bad year.

 

[takethepoints]

I don't put much trust in the "good year followed by bad year" idea. It's too easy to find exceptions. I also think we could be about the same in talent next year, at least after the first 3 - 4 games. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen to us this time, however.

The problem is our schedule. We had a very favorable schedule this year and several of the opponents (VT, Miami) we feared at the start turned out to be mediocre as time went on. We ended up playing our best opponents at the end of the year when all our kinks on O and some on D had been worked out. I fear that this coming season will be tougher in terms of opponents (and that's saying something, given our SoS this year) and that we'll find some difficulties (Thursday night games lurk) that we didn't have this year. That has me worried. In particular, I really, really wish we weren't playing ND so early on; they are hard to beat up there.

But this may all work out. We have the talent to win 10 games next year, even with some bad breaks, provided we avoid major injuries.

 

[OldJacketFan]

Let me say this about the schedule, as much as it seems to be tougher this team knows they can play with anybody. The other teams have to wary of that so this issue runs both ways.

 

[awbuzz]

We should be able to play with ANYONE! We may actually have a better total team/talent/ 1 - 8 . etc. but still may end up with a record that does not show that way.
Injuries, bad calls, etc. all will have an effect (just like this year).
Regardless, things are looking good for us not to have a nasty fall off this year.

Heck I've already ordered 2015 Season Tickets.