What we learned over the weekend …

[takethepoints]

Well, that most of the pre-season polls weren't worth a bucket of warm spit, but I'm guessing that most everybody knew that going in. But how about the ACC? Here's my take:

• "UNC will be just as good as last year! Trubitsky will show the way!"
Yeah. Right. If that outfit had had Williams out there they would have beat the Dwags by two TDs. I didn't understand why so many people thought the Tarholes would be good this year and I still don't. Oh, and by extension, I wasn't all that impressed by the Dwags either.

• "Clemson is a collection of football gods! They play for the MNC again!"
Uh, no. They're a good football team, but they can be had. And, unlike anyone last year, Awbun seemed to be dedicated to keeping Watson from running the ball effectively. Everyone else will too and their overall effectiveness will suffer.

• "FSU is terrific!"
No argument, but I will say that Ole Miss is so deficient in its run game that it is hard to tell how good the Criminoles are this year. Pretty good is obvious; championship contenders isn't.

• "Huh? Louisville!?!"
Lots of ACC teams played pushovers and it's hard to tell from that. The Cards, however, seem to be a lot better then most people thought. Well … me, at least.

• "Tech will return to form!"
Hard to tell again. We'll see over the next two - three weeks. The field over there reminded me of ND last year with longer grass. Not perfect conditions for our O. Still, we won anyway.

 

[AE 87]

Well, that most of the pre-season polls weren't worth a bucket of warm spit, but I'm guessing that most everybody knew that going in. But how about the ACC? Here's my take:

• "UNC will be just as good as last year! Trubitsky will show the way!"
Yeah. Right. If that outfit had had Williams out there they would have beat the Dwags by two TDs. I didn't understand why so many people thought the Tarholes would be good this year and I still don't. Oh, and by extension, I wasn't all that impressed by the Dwags either.

• "Clemson is a collection of football gods! They play for the MNC again!"
Uh, no. They're a good football team, but they can be had. And, unlike anyone last year, Awbun seemed to be dedicated to keeping Watson from running the ball effectively. Everyone else will too and their overall effectiveness will suffer.

• "FSU is terrific!"
No argument, but I will say that Ole Miss is so deficient in its run game that it is hard to tell how good the Criminoles are this year. Pretty good is obvious; championship contenders isn't.

• "Huh? Louisville!?!"
Lots of ACC teams played pushovers and it's hard to tell from that. The Cards, however, seem to be a lot better then most people thought. Well … me, at least.

• "Tech will return to form!"
Hard to tell again. We'll see over the next two - three weeks. The field over there reminded me of ND last year with longer grass. Not perfect conditions for our O. Still, we won anyway.

I don't know. You may be wrong; you may be right. (let the road rise to you)

I think last year's UNC was a legitimately good team and fantastic offense but M. Williams had a horrible first game against SCar. Do we really think Aub is that good on D or that CU has fallen off that much on O? UVA's bad, but beat by Richmond bad? You focused on ACC so didn't mention UT's last gasp to beat Appy St, but it's part of what makes me think that first week is just not a good week to judge what's happening with a team.

I don't know if we really learned anything the first week except that the new QB at FSU has skills and that Justin refuse-to-lose Thomas is back.

 

[BuzzStone]

• "FSU is terrific!"
No argument, but I will say that Ole Miss is so deficient in its run game that it is hard to tell how good the Criminoles are this year. Pretty good is obvious; championship contenders isn't.

This was my biggest surprise. FSU took a min to get going but they looked amazing when they got their timing down. A little work on tempo and they have a good playoff shot.

 

[AE 87]

This was my biggest surprise. FSU took a min to get going but they looked amazing when they got their timing down. A little work on tempo and they have a good playoff shot.

They end the season 11-1, with only loss to 12-0 CU who meets 11-1 GT in ACC-CG. GT wins. That's 3 ACC teams at 11-1 with 2 wins each over SEC opponents. Now, if somehow Auburn or Ole Miss beat georgie or UF in the SEC championship game, then there'll be a case for all 3 ACC teams in the playoffs.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

This was my biggest surprise. FSU took a min to get going but they looked amazing when they got their timing down. A little work on tempo and they have a good playoff shot.

FSU took a min to get going

More like they took 30 minutes to get going, but when they did, they DID !!!

 

[dressedcheeseside]

• "Tech will return to form!"
Hard to tell again. We'll see over the next two - three weeks. The field over there reminded me of ND last year with longer, wetter grass. Not perfect conditions for our O. Still, we won anyway.

fify.

 

[GTech63]

Mercer should be good to check out what we learn about any improvement on our assignments on offense this week. They played a TO team past weekend and plenty of time to prepare. Got penalized 10 times to one against Citadel and only lot by 1. Coach is right if we don't execute will be a close game. I would think it will be a good test of whether we have learned to get our assignments and reads correct.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I'll take a shot with less than 10% of the precincts reporting.
First tier teams that should be in the running for the CFB playoff are Alabama, FSU, Clemson, Ohio St., and ...Houston!
If Bama stubbs their toe and USC or UCLA wins the PAC, there could be two conferences on the outside looking in.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

If mercer is anything more than a speed bump I'll be concerned. My main hope vs Mercer is playing our 2 and 3 deep. I'll wait for Vandy to judge our progress.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I learned that CFB is a lot of fun and somewhat unpredictable.

Concerning teams we play, these teams looked better than I thought they would be:
Vandy - I only watched a quarter when they were clicking.
UNC did better but I didn't watch the end where they lost it. UNC was playing an "away" game in ATL.

This team was worse:
UVa. Sad.

Given that all teams get better after the first week, and assuming all teams get as much better as we do, I have these as wins this season after the first week (total 6):
BC, Mercer, Vandy, Ga Southern, Duke, UVa.

Two teams that are tossups (win one):
VT & Miami.

Most likely to lose (best first), I'm glad we don't have FSU again this year:
Clemson, UGAg, UNC, Pitt.

 

[redmule]

What we learned:

Even bad losses can't derail the SEC hype train.

UNC's playmakers made uga's defense look slow.

Clemson peaked last year. They aren't Bama in that they will just stay on top of the mountain for a while. FSU beats them and so does someone else. Clemson's Clemsoning sometime this season will be a Clemsoning for the ages.

Darwin Holt's grandson plays for LSU.

Miami thought they were going to coast into the game with Tech with nothing but cupcakes to eat before our game, but App St will have something to say about that. Richt is having to rethink his practice schedule.

Watching the game last night, my wife said, "I'm glad we don't have to play FSU." I told her that I really really hoped we do.

 

[Boomergump]

What we learned:

Even bad losses can't derail the SEC hype train.

So true. Herbstreit tried to pull the train back on the tracks, but crashed and burned in the process. The emperor has no clothes.

 

[CrackerJacket]

What we learned:

Even bad losses can't derail the SEC hype train.

Can't wait until ESPN starts the ACC Channel. Then we can enjoy some overhype of our own.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

They end the season 11-1, with only loss to 12-0 CU who meets 11-1 GT in ACC-CG. GT wins. That's 3 ACC teams at 11-1 with 2 wins each over SEC opponents. Now, if somehow Auburn or Ole Miss beat georgie or UF in the SEC championship game, then there'll be a case for all 3 ACC teams in the playoffs.

Get me a big glass of whatever AE is having!

 

[BuzzStone]

Most likely to lose (best first), I'm glad we don't have FSU again this year:
Clemson, UGAg, UNC, Pitt.

It is to early in the season to say were not going to play FSU, I still have hope we do face them.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

It is to early in the season to say were not going to play FSU, I still have hope we do face them.

LOL, I learned last year to not look past the regular season.

I learned again this week that it's better to be in Coastal than Atlantic. It is an absolute lock that either FSU or Clemson will win Atlantic. Imagine the consternation on this board if FSU wins all their games and Clemson only loses once to FSU. Shouldn't both be in the playoffs? Really need to go to 8 teams.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

LOL, I learned last year to not look past the regular season.

I learned again this week that it's better to be in Coastal than Atlantic. It is an absolute lock that either FSU or Clemson will win Atlantic. Imagine the consternation on this board if FSU wins all their games and Clemson only loses once to FSU. Shouldn't both be in the playoffs? Really need to go to 8 teams.

With the "apparent" weakness of several conferences, I could see both teams making the playoffs.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

With the "apparent" weakness of several conferences, I could see both teams making the playoffs.

ACC is fourth strongest conference by JHowell (uses standard metrics). If the ACC is ranked as the top or second highest conference by season end, I could see reason for two from the ACC. But the ACC has a lot of ground to make up since the ACC hasn't done well the past few years in winning OOC games. Bottom of http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf2016.htm

 

[redmule]

LOL, I learned last year to not look past the regular season.

I learned again this week that it's better to be in Coastal than Atlantic. It is an absolute lock that either FSU or Clemson will win Atlantic. Imagine the consternation on this board if FSU wins all their games and Clemson only loses once to FSU. Shouldn't both be in the playoffs? Really need to go to 8 teams.

So you're saying we lose our game to both Clemson and FSU? No way CPJ loses to both of them in the same year.

 

[kg01]

One thing I learned is that LSU is playing with 10 on offense 'cause they got no QB. All that supposed talent and a bum at the most important position on the field. Les is gonna lose his job (rightly or wrongly) because of it.