What does a bowl win mean?

DrJacket

DrJacket

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Someone will feel obligated to tell me I'm wrong. But, I think if any of us had made a serious suggestion back in August that we would have a 9-win season and go to the Gator Bowl-- you'd have said we were crazy. I know I would have, to be honest, after 3-9 last year.

There couldn't be many who could sniff at a 9-win record and say that it disappointed their realistic expectations.

So I think most any of us, if we got the 9th win this week, would need to frame it in light of 2015 and grin a big ole silly grin. We should be grateful for a very strong year.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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DrJacket said:
Someone will feel obligated to tell me I'm wrong. But, I think if any of us had made a serious suggestion back in August that we would have a 9-win season and go to the Gator Bowl-- you'd have said we were crazy. I know I would have, to be honest, after 3-9 last year.

There couldn't be many who could sniff at a 9-win record and say that it disappointed their realistic expectations.

So I think most any of us, if we got the 9th win this week, would need to frame it in light of 2015 and grin a big ole silly grin. We should be grateful for a very strong year.
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I guess it was just blind optimism, but back during the summer, I expected us to win anywhere from 7 to 9 games this year. Now, if you had asked me after the Clemson game, and definitely after the UNC game, I would have humbly said that we would be lucky to win 6. I'll take the "summer me" over the "October me" any day. LOL
 
Whiskey_Clear

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If I remember correctly, highly questionable, I think my preseason expectation was 7-9 wins with 10 a best (realistic) case scenario. Color me happy win or lose vs UK. Color me thrilled as hell if we win.

Next year. I'd say about the same expectation as this. 7-9 likely. 10-11 best case realistically. So many unknowns to be answered. Who wins QB job, how well do they perform? What strides can the front 7 make?......oops I just derailed...

Back to '16. Damn good year (beat the mutts). Let's close it out with a special season and beat the dirty cats.
 
GTFLETCH

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9 Win Season (which is great for Tech...see Post Bobby Dodd...not to many of win seasons)

Also 3-0 against SEC....Always great..
 
GTNavyNuke

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FredJacket

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Picking nits here; but when we (retrospectively) talk about 9-win predictions or expectations... are we talking regular season? We only got 8 of those. Or are we including that 13th (bowl) game?

There's a pretty significant difference between 8-4 & 9-3 in a regular season. Just pointing that out.

Now. This thread poses a great question. Most all responses I agree with. Bottom line... wins matter. Any way you look at it.

We were 3-3 after 6 games with 3 wins over lesser competition. It could have gone in another direction after that brutal loss in Pittsburgh. However, we won 5 of 6 to finish. Lone loss in Chapel Hill. Wins in Blacksburg & Athens. That's good work. A bowl win to get to 9-4 over an SEC opponent (3-0 v SEC) would be awesome.

I'm no expert on the peripheral effects (recruiting, fundraising, season ticket sales, etc). It can only help; but hopefully, team has shown enough to help in all those areas already.
 
Whiskey_Clear

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Might shoulda beat Pitt but give them credit for making the plays to win. Played gawdawful D vs UNC and they whipped us, wasn't close. 2 horrid plays on O handed an otherwise close game to Miami. Thems the breaks.

@FredJacket my preseason prognostications include postseason. I agree there is a difference whether discussing win totals for regular season only. We win 9 in the regular season and we will quite likely win the coastal which is ultra successful in my book.
 
Boomergump

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AE 87 said:
We should have beat 2 of miami, pitt, and unc imo.
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For me, I think our 8-4 record is a good reflection of where we actually are as a program at the moment. Last year I felt we were a better team than our record indicated. In 2016, you are correct, PITT and UM could have easily been wins, probably even falling into the "should have been" category. However, BC, UGAg and DUKE could have easily been losses. 2015 was a disaster with so many possible wins going sideways.
 
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GlennW

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In 2015, when we had to play with so many new players due to the injuries, we lost almost all of our close games; ergo, we ended up with only 3 wins that season. This year, we had fewer injuries, and a more experienced team, so we ended up winning most of the close games. The Pitt game is the one that stings the most as we came back, seemed to have put ourselves in a position to win, and missed a pass breakup that led to their winning TD at the end. The other one that stank for me was Miami, where we handed them two gift TD's on fumbles for Defensive TD's, and that was THE difference in the game - I HATE losing to St. Richt. We could/should have won those two games except for our own mental lapses. Put those two wins in the column and we'd be sitting at 10-2 instead of 8-4 right now, and we'd be looking at a different Bowl Game entirely, but still, I'm happy to be playing in Jacksonville with the chance to go 3-0 versus the mighty SEC.
 

bke1984

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My prediction from early August:

bke1984 said:
I think we will pick up one more though and be at 8-4
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9 wins with a bowl win and a win over Georgia would be a great season coming off 3-9. Would be a nice place to be going into 2017.

The if/then stuff can be applied to just about every season we've ever had and all of the sudden you're like, "wow, we could have been that much better." 2012 comes to mind the most...but 2011 was right there, as well...hell, even 2014 looks that much better if we beat FSU in Charlotte. The reality is that you are what your record says you are...and 9-4 with a bowl win and a win over Georgia would be pretty darn good for such a young team.
 

Yaller Jacket

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This time last year I could hardly stand to think about GT football. The season was so traumatic it just bummed me out to think about it. Doubts were creeping in about our offense. I saw visions of our B back stood up and our wide plays outflanked over and over. Could our offense really be schemed after all?

The Kentucky game added to the whole second half of the season has turned me around 180 degrees. I am positively on fire for September to get here.
 
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