Tulane and a Little Perspective

[Longestday]

I find it interesting that I was thinking 38 and 24 GT before the game and yet I was a basket case when watching.

Did I (or you) think we where going to treat Tulane like Elon? No, not many did. Did Tulane beat us like MTSU in 2012? No. Did we squeak out win like NCSU and GSU? No.

There is no way to "win" with us fans and these initial games. If GT beats a lower tier team by 70 it means nothing and if GT wins by 3 scores it means the team is not good.

GT beat Tulane on the road after fumbling on the first play and a resulting Tulane TD. Passing could have been better, the team missed another short field goal, and GT gave up a long pass play for a TD. On the other hand, GT made several interceptions, was very close to at least 2 more interceptions, got a few sacks, no points given up in the second half, and ran down the field almost at will. GT won and now GT needs to win week 3. One week at a time!

The team may or may not lose the games we so desperately want to win. Some games may require GT to play without mistake or have some bounces our way. I believe the team will continue to improve and will rise up as the competition increases.

Relax a little, enjoy the season, and cheer for the men who represent our team... 2 games/wins are already in the books.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

There is no way to "win" with us fans and these initial games. If GT beats a lower tier team by 70 it means nothing and if GT wins by 3 scores it means the team is not good.

Relax a little, enjoy the season, and cheer for the men who represent our team... 2 games/wins are already in the books.

Fans are usually a victim of their own expectations and because of that, enjoying the season becomes oddly difficult, even when their team wins.

 

[takethepoints]

Not me. All I ever want is wins. If we beat 10 teams with an average point spread of 1, I'm happy.

I think a lot of this is this silly "dominance"meme we hear from the media these days. Unless you "dominate" you aren't a good team. Not being a sado-masochist, this has never impressed me as a realistic goal. Besides, it's bad sportsmanship. One of the things I like about Coach is that he doesn't buy into it either.

 

[Boomergump]

I find it interesting that I was thinking 38 and 24 GT before the game and yet I was a basket case when watching.

Did I (or you) think we where going to treat Tulane like Elon? No, not many did. Did Tulane beat us like MTSU in 2012? No. Did we squeak out win like NCSU and GSU? No.

There is no way to "win" with us fans and these initial games. If GT beats a lower tier team by 70 it means nothing and if GT wins by 3 scores it means the team is not good.

GT beat Tulane on the road after fumbling on the first play and a resulting Tulane TD. Passing could have been better, the team missed another short field goal, and GT gave up a long pass play for a TD. On the other hand, GT made several interceptions, was very close to at least 2 more interceptions, got a few sacks, no points given up in the second half, and ran down the field almost at will. GT won and now GT needs to win week 3. One week at a time!

The team may or may not lose the games we so desperately want to win. Some games may require GT to play without mistake or have some bounces our way. I believe the team will continue to improve and will rise up as the competition increases.

Relax a little, enjoy the season, and cheer for the men who represent our team... 2 games/wins are already in the books.

Well said Longestday. Our record could not possibly be better at this point. We could have played perfectly and curb stomped both of these teams by 50 each and it still wouldn't mean we would play perfectly tomorrow. Sports, like war, rarely ever goes as planned. IMHO you have to look past the surface and try see what kind of potential we have in all the segments of the team. If you do so you will realize there is some promise. We are athletic enough and run our system fast enough now to be a major challenge for every team that faces us. They won't look forward to it. I promise. Heck, Tulane couldn't wait to get off the field by about 6:45 eastern time yesterday.

We are far from dominant though, and will get a big challenge from darned near every remaining opponent. In my eyes that makes for a fun season. It wouldn't surprise me in the least bit if we beat any team on the schedule (yes including UGAg), but also I wouldn't be terribly surprised if we lost to pretty much any of them either. We can play with the big boys, we are just probably not good enough to have an off day and succeed against most of the remaining adversaries.

We are young in places (esp QB) and that probably means a rough ride at times, but if you can't see that there is a rising tide at that position then you really aren't watching closely enough. I am looking forward to watching him, and the rest of the team, grow as the season progresses. It should be fun. Let it be fun.

 

[Techster]

It's not what we did, it's how we did it.

Grateful to the football Gods for the wins, but we looked like poo doing it against both teams. Had we boat raced them to a 35-0 lead in the first half and CPJ sat the first team down to let the backups play to get experience then I would have personally felt a lot better about the end results of both games.

Instead our first teamers had to play the vast majority of the games...to the point that our reserve OLs couldn't get in against Wofford (yep, Wofford)...a point which CPJ made.

I'm a worry wart, so maybe others feel a lot better about how we won than I do.

 

[forensicbuzz]

It's not what we did, it's how we did it.

Grateful to the football Gods for the wins, but we looked like poo doing it against both teams. Had we boat raced them to a 35-0 lead in the first half and CPJ sat the first team down to let the backups play to get experience then I would have personally felt a lot better about the end results of both games.

Instead our first teamers had to play the vast majority of the games...to the point that our reserve OLs couldn't get in against Wofford (yep, Wofford)...a point which CPJ made.

I'm a worry wart, so maybe others feel a lot better about how we won than I do.

Their performances certainly did not instill confidence going into bigger games. I'm still willing to take a wait-and-see approach with this team. These guys are still young, so maybe the lightbulb goes on quickly. I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.

 

[Fatmike91]

I will admit that I prefer to win 63-0. I want the offense to be like a video game. I want buzz to be too tired to do any more pushups.

First two games were hard to watch.


/

 

[GTJason]

I dont know it seems like the usual suspects are the ones complaining. Seems like the people b*tching before the season are finding things to complain about in wins. Maybe I'm crazy but I was never worried during the game this week. There is a lot to clean up, but that's what tune up games are for.

 

[Boomergump]

It's not what we did, it's how we did it.

Grateful to the football Gods for the wins, but we looked like poo doing it against both teams. Had we boat raced them to a 35-0 lead in the first half and CPJ sat the first team down to let the backups play to get experience then I would have personally felt a lot better about the end results of both games.

Instead our first teamers had to play the vast majority of the games...to the point that our reserve OLs couldn't get in against Wofford (yep, Wofford)...a point which CPJ made.

I'm a worry wart, so maybe others feel a lot better about how we won than I do.

I don't blame you. I would love to have seen things go better in these two games as well. Just think "survive and advance" and you will feel better. How many times have we seen hoops teams in the NCAA tourney barely scrape by inferior opponents only to advance deep into the brackets if not the final four? It happens in football too, every year. Of course, we also see teams scrape by inferior opponents and go on to have crappy seasons too. You just don't know. The devil is always in the details and you have to play the games.

 

[redmule]

You want 35-0 in the first half of both games? That would have been the worst that could have happened to us. These guys needed to learn how to come from behind, how to deal with some adversity, that they have to play hard every play. That's what pays dividends down the road and builds confidence. Two weeks in a row, we got the ball with almost no time left in the first half. Both times, we went down and hit big field goals. You think that's not a good thing? You wanted to have the starters sitting on the bench at half time thinking about their dates that night and wondering how they would answer the reporter's questions in the locker room? These two games could not have worked out better from a season long perspective. Fought thru the trouble and grabbed both teams by the throat and stomped them in the 4th qtr. PERFECT!

 

[thwgjacket]

It's not what we did, it's how we did it.

Grateful to the football Gods for the wins, but we looked like poo doing it against both teams. Had we boat raced them to a 35-0 lead in the first half and CPJ sat the first team down to let the backups play to get experience then I would have personally felt a lot better about the end results of both games.

Instead our first teamers had to play the vast majority of the games...to the point that our reserve OLs couldn't get in against Wofford (yep, Wofford)...a point which CPJ made.

I'm a worry wart, so maybe others feel a lot better about how we won than I do.

The back-ups got to play against Tulane in the 4th. Relax

 

[AE 87]

Personally, I prefer seeing us dominate with our 1st team and then get our 2nd team minutes. We did that against lesser teams last year without it translating to wins v better teams.

This year, we have seen a lot of depth worked in on D early. It is factually false to suggest that our first teamers had to play the vast majority of the games, at least on D.

 

[Longestday]

There is something different about the 2014 team and the last two games from the last 5 years of games. I don't know what it is...

 

[Techster]

You want 35-0 in the first half of both games? That would have been the worst that could have happened to us. These guys needed to learn how to come from behind, how to deal with some adversity, that they have to play hard every play. That's what pays dividends down the road and builds confidence. Two weeks in a row, we got the ball with almost no time left in the first half. Both times, we went down and hit big field goals. You think that's not a good thing? You wanted to have the starters sitting on the bench at half time thinking about their dates that night and wondering how they would answer the reporter's questions in the locker room? These two games could not have worked out better from a season long perspective. Fought thru the trouble and grabbed both teams by the throat and stomped them in the 4th qtr. PERFECT!

Against Wofford? Yes.

I felt a little better against Tulane...battled adversity in the first half, got control in the second half, and some of our backups got some experience. Our run game...which we emphasized all off-season and made a big deal out of was pretty good and would have been better if not for the fumbles (2 of which Tulane caused due to backfield penetration). Defense bowed up the second half and pitched a shutout.

We've fought through "adversity" a lot the past few seasons...still only have 7 wins each season to show for it. We can manufacture adversity all we want, but if you don't learn from adversity what good does it do us? I'd rather stomp teams and win games by a large margin. But that's just me.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Against Wofford? Yes.

I felt a little better against Tulane...battled adversity in the first half, got control in the second half, and some of our backups got some experience. Our run game...which we emphasized all off-season and made a big deal out of was pretty good and would have been better if not for the fumbles (2 of which Tulane caused due to backfield penetration). Defense bowed up the second half and pitched a shutout.

We've fought through "adversity" a lot the past few seasons...still only have 7 wins each season to show for it. We can manufacture adversity all we want, but if you don't learn from adversity what good does it do us? I'd rather stomp teams and win games by a large margin. But that's just me.

If we win all the rest of our games by 1 pt will the season be a failure?

 

[redmule]

We stomped Elon, Kansas, Syracuse, and several others by large margins the last few years, so your level of happiness with the state of the program must be pretty high.

 

[jchens_GT]

There is something different about the 2014 team and the last two games from the last 5 years of games. I don't know what it is...

I agree with this. I can't quite put my finger on it either. Part of it may be that we have more athletic upside with the young guys than in years past. The struggles we are having seem more due to the growing pains of talented, inexperienced guys instead of the mistakes of seasoned veterans with a lower ceiling. At least this is what I hope.

There is also something else that feels different. Maybe a team chemistry thing? I don't know.

 

[Techster]

If we win all the rest of our games by 1 pt will the season be a failure?

I'll take a win over a loss any day regardless of how much we win by. Doesn't mean I should be happy about how we played.

I would be ecstatic if we beat UGA/Clemson/VT by 1 point...especially considering our record against them the past few years.

If you think playing Wofford and Tulane means the same thing as playing UGA/Clemson/VT...good for you.

 

[AE 87]

There is something different about the 2014 team and the last two games from the last 5 years of games. I don't know what it is...

Could you characterize what you mean more? Positive/ good? Negative/bad? Consistency or confidence?

 

[GTJason]

Personally, I prefer seeing us dominate with our 1st team and then get our 2nd team minutes. We did that against lesser teams last year without it translating to wins v better teams.

It actually seemed in previous years, especially last year, we didn't have the stamina going late into games. Maybe if the starters had gotten rattled a bit and played the whole game against the lesser teams they would have performed better in the 4th quarter of games.