Two early season indicators of success ?

[Eastman]

The loss of Gray still bothers me but having Marshall return, picking up Defoor, having the twins challenging for starting positions and a another year of experience for so many other olinemen makes me think we may finally have the solid depth we need there. It is also hard not to think that Taquon, the bback position and the aback position will be better as well. The defense is where we must improve and I am optimistic but not confident yet in them.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

If GT were to shock the World and beat Clemson making their record 4-0 i think they would be rated in the #10-#12 range

No, the story line the next day would be how Clemson clemsoned.

Btw, Dabo’s not a big fan of the word. Lol.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

No, the story line the next day would be how Clemson clemsoned.

Btw, Dabo’s not a big fan of the word. Lol.

Yeah the sports media would be talking about how Clemson screwed the pooch and not the great game that Georgia Tech had I still think GT would be ranked #10-#12 if they upset Clemson

 

[redmule]

If we just pop Clemson in the mouth. Don't necessarily have to win, but give an indication of intensity and confidence. I can live with being 2-2 if Clemson is a 4th qtr game showing growth and development, especially on the D.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

No, the story line the next day would be how Clemson clemsoned.

Btw, Dabo’s not a big fan of the word. Lol.

Man Dabo sure is surly. So confrontational with the media. Doesn’t make Clemson look good at all. I mean how is he supposed to recruit while presenting that dour display to the media?

All sarcasm aside I can’t help but like Dabo. And Clemson too for that matter. Doesn’t make me want to beat them any less but I’ll take them all day every day over duh U or any of the teams in N. Carolina.

 

[tmhunter52]

I think Tech always puts good athletes and good schemes on the field. Winning or losing is generally decided by execution. We always have a chance to win. So, the ”indicator of success”, whether early or late, is ALWAYS the same thing in my opinion; that is, which “Tech” shows up, good Tech or bad Tech. If I knew how to “bottle” good Tech for our team, I would be very popular among the white and gold...

 

[bobongo]

One indicator is whether we can hold on to the football. It is no accident that Tech's best season under Paul Johnson was 2014, when 1.4 fumbles per game was by far the lowest average in the CPJ era.

But I think the most important indicator is the play of the offensive line. I remember the 2015 season when we hung 69 points on Alcorn and 65 on Tulane in the first two games, but even in so doing the offensive line play looked a bit weak to me, considering the level of opponent. Then reality hit the next week against Notre Dame. So (since we're talking early season indicators), I'll be looking not so much for impressive scores in our first three games as I will look at the play of the offensive line. To the victor goes the spoils, and the victor in the big games is usually the one that controls the lines of scrimmage. It's possible that we could open up 3-0 against Alcorn, USF, and Pitt with spotty line play. But if that happens, we won't have much chance against Clemson no matter how well the rest of the team plays. And even if we lose to Clemson but hang tough on the OL, I'll be encouraged about the rest of the season. In short, it's all about the offensive line.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

If we just pop Clemson in the mouth. Don't necessarily have to win, but give an indication of intensity and confidence. I can live with being 2-2 if Clemson is a 4th qtr game showing growth and development, especially on the D.

GT will be 3-0 going into the Clemson game bank on it

 

[RamblinWreck92]

Oh, and it'd be nice to see our PK perfect on FG attempts after the first 3 games. We gotta make all our FGs inside of 40 yards (or at least a high % of 'em).

 

[THWG]

Oh, and it'd be nice to see our PK perfect on FG attempts after the first 3 games. We gotta make all our FGs inside of 40 yards (or at least a high % of 'em).

King was 5/6 last year.

 

[iceeater1969]

GT will be 3-0 going into the Clemson game bank on it

Usf has pretty good head coach and dc but the question is their players. Will the coaches - do something thats very un conventional like 17 jacksonville state. They really played in our backfield and limited us to (season low ) 210 rushing and 112 passing. Unless dc does it will be plain jane defense . Strong has always done the plain jane. .

The Pitt coach - P Narduzzi (sic) was very good dc at Michigan state so he could try something new. In the 17 game which was right after jsu he tried the standard assignment defense and we put 436 yds rushing (our season high) on them .

I always worry about Early, Away games against good coaches. If we beat these teams easily , that a great sign.

In 17 our worst offensive games were uga, clemson, jsu,

 

[MikeJackets1967]

Usf has pretty good head coach and dc but the question is their players. Will the coaches - do something thats very un conventional like 17 jacksonville state. They really played in our backfield and limited us to (season low ) 210 rushing and 112 passing. Unless dc does it will be plain jane defense . Strong has always done the plain jane. .

The Pitt coach - P Narduzzi (sic) was very good dc at Michigan state so he could try something new. In the 17 game which was right after jsu he tried the standard assignment defense and we put 436 yds rushing (our season high) on them .

I always worry about Early, Away games against good coaches. If we beat these teams easily , that a great sign.

In 17 our worst offensive games were uga, clemson, jsu,

I think USF will be 7-5 and Pitt will be 4-8 and both of those games should be wins for GT.

 

[alagold]

The key to early season is-
OFF-if Cooper and Marshall are back--should be ok on OL--if not , a crapshoot
DEF--if the DEF "learns" the system and minimizes mistakes (gets 3 and outs)--if not,hmmmmm.long yr

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

One indicator is whether we can hold on to the football. It is no accident that Tech's best season under Paul Johnson was 2014, when 1.4 fumbles per game was by far the lowest average in the CPJ era.

But I think the most important indicator is the play of the offensive line. I remember the 2015 season when we hung 69 points on Alcorn and 65 on Tulane in the first two games, but even in so doing the offensive line play looked a bit weak to me, considering the level of opponent. Then reality hit the next week against Notre Dame. So (since we're talking early season indicators), I'll be looking not so much for impressive scores in our first three games as I will look at the play of the offensive line. To the victor goes the spoils, and the victor in the big games is usually the one that controls the lines of scrimmage. It's possible that we could open up 3-0 against Alcorn, USF, and Pitt with spotty line play. But if that happens, we won't have much chance against Clemson no matter how well the rest of the team plays. And even if we lose to Clemson but hang tough on the OL, I'll be encouraged about the rest of the season. In short, it's all about the offensive line.

++++ Could not have expressed it better myself !

 

[first&ten]

Man Dabo sure is surly. So confrontational with the media. Doesn’t make Clemson look good at all. I mean how is he supposed to recruit while presenting that dour display to the media?

All sarcasm aside I can’t help but like Dabo. And Clemson too for that matter. Doesn’t make me want to beat them any less but I’ll take them all day every day over duh U or any of the teams in N. Carolina.

Agreed, you have to like the way they play. The first time I saw Dabo when he took over during the season, I said "what a yahoo he is". But , the man always has his players back, and talks positive about his guys.

 

[AUFC]

I hope you guys are right about the first 3 games, but USF and Pitt on the road are not going to be easy. I actually saw some early odds (don’t mean much) that had USF favored by 2 and Pitt by 4. I don’t think it will happen but the odds are significantly higher we will be 1-3 after 4 games than 4-0.

I hope we're 3-0 but this is some QFT material. USF is super underrespected being a Go5 team and will be super excited at the chance to "knock off" a P5 at home, and then no ACC away game is a gimme. USF won 10 games last year and only lost 1 at home. I think I recall a lot of this forum marking the UCF game last year as an automatic win. If that game was played, we weren't winning lol

Would be absolutely elated if we're 2-1 heading into Clemson with 1 win being against Pitt. If we're 0-1 in ACC going into Clemson, that basically makes Clemson very close to a must-win game if we want to make the ACCCG.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

I hope we're 3-0 but this is some QFT material. USF is super underrespected being a Go5 team and will be super excited at the chance to "knock off" a P5 at home, and then no ACC away game is a gimme. USF won 10 games last year and only lost 1 at home. I think I recall a lot of this forum marking the UCF game last year as an automatic win. If that game was played, we weren't winning lol

Would be absolutely elated if we're 2-1 heading into Clemson with 1 win being against Pitt. If we're 0-1 in ACC going into Clemson, that basically makes Clemson very close to a must-win game if we want to make the ACCCG.

USF has lost most of their offense and defense from 2017 and this will be a rebuilding season for the Bulls. That's why i think they go 7-5 and go to the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl

 

[bobongo]

There’s not a game on our schedule we can’t win imo. Big thing for me is all the experience returning on the OL and A backs. Add that in with TM in his 2nd full year, if he can just complete 45 percent of passes which is about an 8 percent jump and make 2-4 better reads per game our offense could be close to the 2014 year. This would make offenses press more imo and with a more aggressive D it should help them in creating negative plays and turnovers. If these things happen GT could easily have a 2014 type season. That’s why I’m so optimistic about this season, because the things I just mentioned are very reasonable, let’s just hope we put them all together. I’ll also add getting Clemson early is good imo.

I like the way our early schedule ramps up gradually with bigger and bigger opponents each week. We start with the Alcorn cupcake, then South Florida, then Pitt, then Clemson. If we can just improve every week... It's like the farmer who figured that if he could lift his new-born calf once every day, by the time it was full-grown he could still carry it. Of course he couldn't, but maybe we can

I know this is the gold colored glasses pre-season optimism but dang it, if we can avoid injuries on the OL, a 2014 kind of year could be brewing.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

I like the way our early schedule ramps up gradually with bigger and bigger opponents each week. We start with the Alcorn cupcake, then South Florida, then Pitt, then Clemson. If we can just improve every week... It's like the farmer who figured that if he could lift his new-born calf once every day, by the time it was full-grown he could still carry it. Of course he couldn't, but maybe we can

I know this is the gold colored glasses pre-season optimism but dang it, if we can avoid injuries on the OL, a 2014 kind of year could be brewing.

South Florida is better than Pitt. South Florida will win 7 games while Pitt will win 4.

 

[bobongo]

South Florida is better than Pitt. South Florida will win 7 games while Pitt will win 4.

But Pitt plays in a tougher league. I thought you said USF is rebuilding. Is Pitt really going to be that bad?