Why should we really expect to be good????

[Sideways]

CPJ: "I'm fine with our QB situation. It's the position I worry about the least"

Translation: "ACC, you're f'd. Doesn't matter who's under center."

Depth has a way of doing that for coaches. Somebody not getting the job done? Put someone else in. See how simple coaching can be when you have depth?

 

[Sideways]

MJ wasn't able to practice with the first team for either of those games. He will get better at the mesh and reads with more practice time.

Good. I hope he is taking Dedrick, JJ, Benson, Qua, Cottrell, and Clinton out to dinner and working overtime with them. Come fall they will be his best friends. That is, if he wants to stay in one piece.

 

[lv20gt]

I'll take that any day of the week. I don't think it's a very accurate comparison, however. Tevin, in his final year, was a master of the offense, he almost never missed a read and always got the ball in the right person's hands. I don't remember defenses slow playing the pitch as much as they did with JT.

I think MJ has a better arm, faster wheels and is a tougher runner, but not on the same level of offensive mastery.

Tevin was a tougher runner than most give him credit for. The reason he broke the record for td's for a GT qb was his effectiveness keeping in goal line play. He surely wasn't afraid to stick his nose in there and he was bigger than most remember 6'0'', 2o5. (For reference, MJ is 6'2", 208).

I was more thinking junior year Tevin. Jordan is more athletic in every way imo, but I don't think so much so that there will be a huge difference. He's got okay speed but he's not a burner, and Tevin had enough speed to hit the occasional big play when everything went well. But not really fast enough to make other teams worried about it the way they were with Thomas. Likewise he's a decent inside runner so we'll have more of a midline game, like Washington, but he isn't Nesbitt, and I don't see the comparisons. I think people have been so used to Thomas that they overreact to Jordan's inside running ability thinking he is a lot more of a guaranteed inside runner than he is. Obviously he isn't a clone so there will be difference from any QB, but I look at comparisons to Nesbitt's inside running ability similar to how I would view comparisons to Thomas's speed. I look at Nesbitt and Thomas and see how the team could have success based on their natural physical gifts. With Washington, Lee, and Jordan, I don't see that.

Your 6-8 prediction was interesting based on your analysis, But even in 2014 and a losing 2015 season most games can be flipped with a couple of plays going the opposite way from how they actually played.

The 6-8 was what I think is reasonable for expectations. Obviously things could go wrong and we win less than 6, or everything could go right and we win more than 8. But if you're predicting below 6 wins I think you're being overly pessimistic, and above 8 wins is being overly optimistic. Not saying that they couldn't happen, just that expectations shouldn't be based on the extreme scenarios.

 

[GTL]

The 6-8 was what I think is reasonable for expectations. Obviously things could go wrong and we win less than 6, or everything could go right and we win more than 8. But if you're predicting below 6 wins I think you're being overly pessimistic, and above 8 wins is being overly optimistic. Not saying that they couldn't happen, just that expectations shouldn't be based on the extreme scenarios.

Nope. Playoffs, baybeeee! Book your travel now!

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

I've been watching some youtube video of only our offensive plays in several games last year. Video that shows only our offensive plays back to back for the entire game. I was surprised how often we look chaotic and how often our offensive line looks porous, especially in the North Carolina game last year in which we lost 48-20. I'm a big TECH fan, huge fan of of the Triple Option and CPJ but I have some honest questions of you guys:
1. Why was NC able to make us look so bad offensively?
2. Why won't other teams expect to have the same success defensively against us as did NC?
3. Why should we really expect to be better this year?

Perhaps Gene Chizik understood the triple option.

 

[GTech63]

I was more thinking junior year Tevin. Jordan is more athletic in every way imo, but I don't think so much so that there will be a huge difference. He's got okay speed but he's not a burner, and Tevin had enough speed to hit the occasional big play when everything went well. But not really fast enough to make other teams worried about it the way they were with Thomas. Likewise he's a decent inside runner so we'll have more of a midline game, like Washington, but he isn't Nesbitt, and I don't see the comparisons. I think people have been so used to Thomas that they overreact to Jordan's inside running ability thinking he is a lot more of a guaranteed inside runner than he is. Obviously he isn't a clone so there will be difference from any QB, but I look at comparisons to Nesbitt's inside running ability similar to how I would view comparisons to Thomas's speed. I look at Nesbitt and Thomas and see how the team could have success based on their natural physical gifts. With Washington, Lee, and Jordan, I don't see that.



The 6-8 was what I think is reasonable for expectations. Obviously things could go wrong and we win less than 6, or everything could go right and we win more than 8. But if you're predicting below 6 wins I think you're being overly pessimistic, and above 8 wins is being overly optimistic. Not saying that they couldn't happen, just that expectations shouldn't be based on the extreme scenarios.

I wasn't trying to make a prediction. Just pointing out that margins in most of our games are hard fought, narrow, and a dozen plays in an entire season can make a 2014 year or a 2015 year. But as I say that, the overall depth at positions and skill at positions leads to a more positive outlook for the year. I for one believe this is the deepest and most overall talented team of the Johnson era. The real success this year is dependent on improvement on D and not forgetting how to tackle from end of last year.

 

[Longestday]

Given a new kicker and punter with no college data, I can understand a 6 to 8 win pick. This is an easy range to pick given our record... although 6 is too low given GT only had 6 or less wins twice under Paul Johnson (and 11 wins twice). 7 to 9 wins is a better pick given history and the current roster seniority.

I am going with 9 win minimum this year (including the bowl). This is not cool aid, I just think we will be as good as last year and I expect just as much. I am going the balance JT and Harrison versus more experienced junior/senior team and call it a neutral wash.

 

[alagold]

I wasn't trying to make a prediction. Just pointing out that margins in most of our games are hard fought, narrow, and a dozen plays in an entire season can make a 2014 year or a 2015 year. But as I say that, the overall depth at positions and skill at positions leads to a more positive outlook for the year. I for one believe this is the deepest and most overall talented team of the Johnson era. The real success this year is dependent on improvement on D and not forgetting how to tackle from end of last year.

63,
"our games are hard fought,narrow"--yep, close normally -- for EX--Jax State of Ala ,which everyone assumes to be a cakewalk ,is predicted to be in TOP 5 of 2nd level D1. If we come out of uT reeling for some reason, look out.

 

[GTech63]

63,
"our games are hard fought,narrow"--yep, close normally -- for EX--Jax State of Ala ,which everyone assumes to be a cakewalk ,is predicted to be in TOP 5 of 2nd level D1. If we come out of uT reeling for some reason, look out.

I won't argue about Jax state. 4 days to prepare and a good short passing game QB. How many passing QBs have we made look like Heisman candidates over past 8 years?

 

[Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau]

Given a new kicker and punter with no college data, I can understand a 6 to 8 win pick. This is an easy range to pick given our record... although 6 is too low given GT only had 6 or less wins twice under Paul Johnson (and 11 wins twice). 7 to 9 wins is a better pick given history and the current roster seniority.

I am going with 9 win minimum this year (including the bowl). This is not cool aid, I just think we will be as good as last year and I expect just as much. I am going the balance JT and Harrison versus more experienced junior/senior team and call it a neutral wash.

Nine wins would be exceptional. But we do this every summer. Dodd told us football is all about defense and kicking. And once again, here we are with a suspect defense, and an untested kicking game. We rely on offense, offense, offense for any success we hope to have. It is fitting I guess since everywhere else you look in the world, up is down and down is up. But nine wins, back to back, would be quite an achievement I think.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Win or lose our fan base, and much of the world, tends to focus on how well the offense played. Last year we lost to UNCheat because our performance on D was putrid. I don't remember all the details just my thoughts immediately post game....primarily that it was one of the worst performances on D I've ever seen Tech have. Thankfully it got turned around a bit.

 

[Longestday]

@Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau ... not that you meant it, but my post was not all offense. The biggest loss if JT and Butker, but you can make the case we lost our lear in sacks and leader in tackles as well. 9 is not a fact, but my projection of a minimum. 7 to 9 is not out of reason and 6 to 12 is not out of plausibility.

Truth is a have no clue how to predict the future. Anything can happen from losing 7 people in one position to an opposing team turning over the ball 5 times in the 1st quarter.

 

[swampsting]

Like the man says, if you don't think you can win, you won't.
I'm stoked for this season

 

[swampsting]

Also, after 35 years, there isn't much defensively PJ hasn't seen. Other teams know this and they know PJ will come up with an answer for what they have in store. The question is ... can they execute it better?
VT may have prepared for JT but got a lot of midline, zone dive and some belly instead. Against Georgia, PJ called very little rocket toss until the last series.

 

[alagold]

I won't argue about Jax state. 4 days to prepare and a good short passing game QB. How many passing QBs have we made look like Heisman candidates over past 8 years?

a BUNCH--I;m hoping that the FR class brings some speed and athleticism to LB corps to slow that down.

 

[FlakJacket]

No faith in T. Lewis? How much more speed and athleticism are we really expecting?

 

[AE 87]

No faith in T. Lewis? How much more speed and athleticism are we really expecting?

Is this question directed at Roof?

 

[FlakJacket]

No. The post above mine. It appears that TL will be relied on heavily this season.

 

[1979jacket]

Win or lose our fan base, and much of the world, tends to focus on how well the offense played. Last year we lost to UNCheat because our performance on D was putrid. I don't remember all the details just my thoughts immediately post game....primarily that it was one of the worst performances on D I've ever seen Tech have. Thankfully it got turned around a bit.

That's what I remember as well. The defense was even worse than a game we had at Clemson a few years back. It was deplorable. I'm sure the offense was thinking like me that they better score every time or the game was over. I have not gone back and looked at film but my memory of the UNC game was we had some big plays on offense until CPJ just tried to get the game over because the defense was soooooo bad.

 

[Sideways]

I wasn't trying to make a prediction. Just pointing out that margins in most of our games are hard fought, narrow, and a dozen plays in an entire season can make a 2014 year or a 2015 year. But as I say that, the overall depth at positions and skill at positions leads to a more positive outlook for the year. I for one believe this is the deepest and most overall talented team of the Johnson era. The real success this year is dependent on improvement on D and not forgetting how to tackle from end of last year.

Well, from a tackling standpoint you have nothing to fear from the Austins. They may not be exactly shut down in pass coverage but they generally put people on the ground with regularity. They have, what someone once called, short field quickness. They are good athletes who are experienced and know how to play the game.