Why do we expect to beat the "big 4?"

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
Messages
12,734
1. I don't put stock into the rankings. Sure there are a few players every year that you can say wow that guy is going to be special...but for as many 5*'s turn out great there are likely more that turn out to be bust.

2. I don't expect to beat them every year...but we should at least get a win against them every few years.

3. We are in Atlanta, Georgia....the hotbed for recruiting. We have to find ways to get these guys..I know we have hurdles and have to recruit at a higher academic rate than most but there are still plenty of kids with very good talent that we can land that would make big differences here.

4. I don't think we should just accept these programs being better than us..figure out ways around it.

5. Georgia Tech is a great school...it really is. We have to get a better perception going and turn our negatives into positives.
 

TheSilasSonRising

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,729
I just finished reading the book "Dodd's Luck". Great book but very depressing for me at the end about us getting out of the SEC. The stated reason was that other SEC schools were recruiting lots of players and then cutting them by the end of the season. But Dodd also said this:
"The state universities have all the big advantages. Hell, they can get any boy in the state to their school. The mothers went there, the sisters went there, the girls went there. ....." and "If we had stayed in the conference, hell, all the SEC teams would've been beating us , except Vanderbilt and Tulane. So it wasn't getting out of the SEC that hurt us. It was the quality of football." He knew he couldn't compete in the recruiting wars and he was a football God.

We haven't been able to compete against the good teams consistently since the 50's because we can't recruit like them. Dodd knew the tide had turned. Baswed on recent recruiting and team play, I think we are 80%+ likely to lose to UGAg and Clemson this year. Miami maybe only 65% likely since they lost their QB. VT we should beat this year (should have won last year) since they haven't been recruiting well the last 5 years (Scout 36, 34, 26, 36, 39 from 2014 to 2010).

Dodd, in several ways, was very wrong. Getting out of the SEC DID hurt GT, and very badly. The teams he was beating in the 50's did not suddenly become state u in the 60's. And a man that was an A-A for Dodd at GT told me Dodd did have a couple of majors to offer that would make your head spin. Dodd also got to play Auburn & Clemson at home every year intil the mid 60's when they said no more of that -

Regardless, to the OP post,

As compared to beating the "big 4", it is wholly more insane (if not unfair to our S/As) to schedule them and expect to lose; whatever the % of times it may be.

Recruit better.
 

CLHarperJackt

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
54
I expect to beat them because I expect us to be recruiting much better than we currently are.


I have never understood the strategy that many fans and some new incoming coming coaches have had with focusing Georgia Tech’s recruiting efforts on the state of Georgia.


I know Georgia has a lot of football talent. However, Georgia Tech is an engineering school with a limited curriculum, and I would think that it would be obvious to the most casual observer that in order to obtain enough talented football players, who are interested in the limited majors, then you cannot place an inordinate amount of your recruiting focus and effort on the state of Georgia if you wish to field a competitive football team. I am by no means a recruiting guru but I did realized this basic fact as a kid when I first began following Georgia and Georgia Tech football: Georgia Tech needs to be much more far reaching in its recruiting efforts to be successful than Georgia.


Since I have been following Georgia Tech I witnessed, two head coaches, Bobby Ross and George O’Leary, who understood this coming in and recruited up and down the east coast and southeast, and two head coaches, Gailey and Johnson, who, to my chagrin, did not but expressed how they intended to focus their recruiting efforts primarily on Georgia because of all the football talent in the state. (I don’t recall what was Lewis’ recruiting strategy focus.)


I understand that the admission requirements that Ross and O’Leary operated under have gone up and that it was and is tougher for Johnson to get athletes accepted. But to me that is all the more reason that he and the fans should have known that focusing your recruiting efforts on a single state, or even a small group of states, at an elite and rigorous institution with a limited curriculum is playing against the odds. This aspect of being the head coach at Georgia Tech is not something that I believe any new coach should have to learn on the job. He should obviously realize it coming into the job.


Thankfully the new AD seems to realize as much coming in and has redirected the recruiting focus, and hopefully we can somehow stay afloat until the new recruiting focus bears fruit.
 

ATL1

Helluva Engineer
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7,377
I agree with everything you posted.

5. Georgia Tech is a great school...it really is. We have to get a better perception going and turn our negatives into positives.

This is way I'm really beginning to believe Tech hiring Johnson was a really bad decision.
 

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
Messages
12,734
I agree with everything you posted.



This is way I'm really beginning to believe Tech hiring Johnson was a really bad decision.

I honestly don't think Paul Johnson is the issue here....Winning cures all as they say. I think we have to a better job marketing ourselves and try to stand out in some areas. Us running a so called pro style offense is not a good thing for us (IMO) as that makes us blend right in with the other schools and doesn't help us stand out. When this offense is clicking we really get good press and helps our brand...Some recruits view it as a negative but to be must use it as a excuse as to why they aren't looking at Tech.

We need to see some sustained success.
 

Ibeeballin

Im a 3*
Messages
6,046
Because they are on the schedule. I expect to win every game.
you-play-to-win-o.gif


Thats a 7-5 mindset cheese. No reason to play the game if you are already mentally defeated
 

ATL1

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,377
I honestly don't think Paul Johnson is the issue here....Winning cures all as they say. I think we have to a better job marketing ourselves and try to stand out in some areas. Us running a so called pro style offense is not a good thing for us (IMO) as that makes us blend right in with the other schools and doesn't help us stand out. When this offense is clicking we really get good press and helps our brand...Some recruits view it as a negative but to be must use it as a excuse as to why they aren't looking at Tech.

We need to see some sustained success.

I do, I'm very concerned, it's really hard to over come peoples perceptions after a period of time especially in Atlanta, ask the Hawks ask the Falcons.
We won in 2009 beat UGA in 2008, it's been a struggle from there, and those four years are like an eternity.
Not to mention he hasn't been the best with the local media in the past.
The bigger issues is the shear amount of negative press.
Matt Chernoff straight called us a joke and laughing stock
Da Kang questions the players talent and the ability to win
Eric Zeir "High School Football"
Beau Bock "Tech forfeited football" direct quote.
The irrelevance in the local paper.

I'm not gonna mention the what SEC crazed fans around Atlanta say. The recruits here this and when they watch Tech on Primetime we embarrass ourselves. LSU whipped us at Home in the GA Dome. UGA "We RUN This State" at Boddy Dobb. Iowa crushed in the Sugar Bowl. VT shuts us down consistently false starts in the white out. UGA Ogletree tosses players around like rag dolls with no response. We can't sit back and wish the perception away when the perception is actually reality. We a mediocre program with a funky one dimensional "non sexy" offense. Vad the savior was supposed to open up the offense a year later and another black eye and now we gonna double down on what we do best as if what we did best was winning the 3 years prior. I can't remember a time when Tech was this irrelevant, not even during the Gailey years were we dismissed entirely not at this level. No I don't feel the program is a laughing stock but that perception is there, deservedly so or not.
 

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
Messages
12,734
I do, I'm very concerned, it's really hard to over come peoples perceptions after a period of time especially in Atlanta, ask the Hawks ask the Falcons.
We won in 2009 beat UGA in 2008, it's been a struggle from there, and those four years are like an eternity.
Not to mention he hasn't been the best with the local media in the past.
The bigger issues is the shear amount of negative press.
Matt Chernoff straight called us a joke and laughing stock
Da Kang questions the players talent and the ability to win
Eric Zeir "High School Football"
Beau Bock "Tech forfeited football" direct quote.
The irrelevance in the local paper.

I'm not gonna mention the what SEC crazed fans around Atlanta say. The recruits here this and when they watch Tech on Primetime we embarrass ourselves. LSU whipped us at Home in the GA Dome. UGA "We RUN This State" at Boddy Dobb. Iowa crushed in the Sugar Bowl. VT shuts us down consistently false starts in the white out. UGA Ogletree tosses players around like rag dolls with no response. We can't sit back and wish the perception away when the perception is actually reality. We a mediocre program with a funky one dimensional "non sexy" offense. Vad the savior was supposed to open up the offense a year later and another black eye and now we gonna double down on what we do best as if what we did best was winning the 3 years prior. I can't remember a time when Tech was this irrelevant, not even during the Gailey years were we dismissed entirely not at this level. No I don't feel the program is a laughing stock but that perception is there, deservedly so or not.

The local media isn't going to change...will always be UGA homers.

I think you are off on CPJ more irrelevant.

Chan at GT

2002Georgia Tech13 7 6
2003Georgia Tech13 7 6
2004Georgia Tech12 7 5
2005Georgia Tech12 7 5
2006Georgia Tech14 9 5
2007Georgia Tech12 7 5



So we won 7 games 5 out of 6 years.

Under CPJ

2008Georgia Tech13 9 4
2009Georgia Tech14 11 3
2010Georgia Tech13 6 7
2011Georgia Tech13 8 5
2012Georgia Tech14 7 7
2013Georgia Tech13 7 6
 

ATL1

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,377
@Eric
I know the records are virtually the same but the perception locally isn't. We had maybe the best player in CFB paired with perhaps a DivII QB & Gailey rode with that until he was fired and people were tired and I understand why he was fired.

But people at least spoke about the program and most of the heat was directed unfortunately at Reggie Ball & Gailey. The radio guys weren't just dismissive of the program like they are now. Hell Beau Bock's son is a Tech graduate. It's not just the media either I speaking about the streets, the people, there is no energy, None.
 

RamblinCharger

Helluva Engineer
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1,484
Location
Alabama
Perception and tradition is a variable that you aren't including in this. Syracuse has had almost no success historically. GT has had a lot of success historically and I think that is part or the reason that people think we are on a higher level than teams like Syracuse or Maryland when in reality we are very even with these teams when it comes to talent. We've had pretty good coaching recently and until academics change either at GT or throughout the NCAA we will be a 7-5 team with the occasional 9-10 win season. I will always want better and hope for more because I'm a fan and that's what it's all about.
 

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
Messages
12,734
@Eric
I know the records are virtually the same but the perception locally isn't. We had maybe the best player in CFB paired with perhaps a DivII QB & Gailey rode with that until he was fired and people were tired and I understand why he was fired.

But people at least spoke about the program and most of the heat was directed unfortunately at Reggie Ball & Gailey. The radio guys weren't just dismissive of the program like they are now. Hell Beau Bock's son is a Tech graduate. It's not just the media either I speaking about the streets, the people, there is no energy, None.

We were booing the team during the CCG era. It hasnt got that bad yet.
 

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
Messages
12,734
I'm saying are people even caring enough to boo?

Of course, true fans are always going to be true fans...Just because I am not happy with the results would not mean that I care any less about Georgia Tech. I would be frustrated (boo and demand for change) before I just stopped caring...as I suspect most real fans would.

Remember fan is short for fanatic!
 

ATL1

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,377
Of course, true fans are always going to be true fans...Just because I am not happy with the results would not mean that I care any less about Georgia Tech. I would be frustrated (boo and demand for change) before I just stopped caring...as I suspect most real fans would.

Remember fan is short for fanatic!

I feel you but I see a lot of apathy.
 
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