Will Georgia Tech Be The Most Improved Team in ACC This Year?

[stinger 1957]

Most improved and we beat at least 2 of our toughest opponents of Clemson, UNC, ND, UGA, Miami. I'm like many here seeing big improvement on OL and DL, my question is with Sims and ability to read the open man/play and it is just a question, not saying he can't do it, just need to see it done fairly consistently. Like everyone I'm ready for TML!!! Would not surprise me to see this bunch on a mission, they have that feel to me.

 

[wesgt123]

Most improved and we beat at least 2 of our toughest opponents of Clemson, UNC, ND, UGA, Miami. I'm like many here seeing big improvement on OL and DL, my question is with Sims and ability to read the open man/play and it is just a question, not saying he can't do it, just need to see it done fairly consistently. Like everyone I'm ready for TML!!! Would not surprise me to see this bunch on a mission, they have that feel to me.

I agree we beat at least two out of our big 5 opponents. I really feel good about this season. We have a good bit of talent. No way we don’t see vast improvements with talent and experience

 

[bobongo]

Most improved and we beat at least 2 of our toughest opponents of Clemson, UNC, ND, UGA, Miami. I'm like many here seeing big improvement on OL and DL, my question is with Sims and ability to read the open man/play and it is just a question, not saying he can't do it, just need to see it done fairly consistently. Like everyone I'm ready for TML!!! Would not surprise me to see this bunch on a mission, they have that feel to me.

I don't know how many of those four we'll beat, but I think we'll be in every game. The gains made between last year and this will be astonishing. Sims with an year under his belt should be much improved, and by reports he's been focusing on his reads.

 

[takethepoints]

I voted "wait and see". I know from past years that improvements in both lines are hard to see when you are playing inter-team. You never know until you play actual opponents. If we improve substantially on both lines and the kicking stabilizes at average, then we win more, no question. Here's hoping …

 

[forensicbuzz]

I don't know how many of those four we'll beat, but I think we'll be in every game. The gains made between last year and this will be astonishing. Sims with an year under his belt should be much improved, and by reports he's been focusing on his reads.

pssst! There's 5 teams listed.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Simple question. How likely will GT be seen as the most improved team in the ACC this year? Not necessarily in terms of wins/losses only, but improvement versus last year in all aspects accounting for the schedule.

Maybe they will be but there is no way of knowing until the Jackets beat Pitt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke, and BC. Win all or almost all of those and I will be convinced getting beat or even stomped by the likes of UGA, Clemson, Notre Dame, Miami, and UNC does not bother me that much.

 

[bobongo]

pssst! There's 5 teams listed.

Lost a finger in a typewriter accident and can only count to four.

 

[Tech Lawyer]

90% - Yep. Wins, stats, eyeballs all way up.

Admittedly, there's a lot of 'gold koolaid' in me. But I have a sneaking suspicion (or delusion) that we might actually be pretty good this year.

Nate Burton was quoted in a recent AJC article saying that he's confident in the pass rush from the front 4 helping the secondary this year. On paper, this is the most talented D-line we've had since... '09? Some of them are young. I'm skeptical (but hopeful) Clayton is going to finally put it all together in year 5. But the potential is there.

Burton also stated "we have a good offensive line". That's a bold statement. But again, on paper, this is the biggest, deepest and most talented OL we've had since... the O'Leary era? (2014 was a special group, the sum was way better than the parts.) As bad as the OL has been, I actually think Key has done a decent job given what he's had to work with, especially after injuries and unexpected departures. He now has the personnel he needs. I'm excited to see what 'the best OL coach in the country' can do with a depth chart of legit P5 players.

If Tech is just above average on the lines, instead of awful: Our RB group might be the best in the ACC. Sims has the talent to be a top 3 QB in the league. We have talent at WR, just need one or two to breakout. We have guys that can block at TE, we could use more receiving there. But that's surmountable, especially given Gibb's receiving skills out of the backfield. On D, our secondary is talented, deep and experienced. Any pass rush from up front and the secondary will look way better. LB is a question mark, but we have talent there. If the transfer, Eley, lives up to his ability, he can help bridge to some of the younger talent. The UT transfer kicker, Cimaglia, is a proven commodity. I have to imagine the coaches will have fixed the blocked-kick issues. So our kicking game might not be terrible again.

Barring too many injuries, our starting 22 might be about as good as any in the ACC, outside of Clemson. I'm not sold on UNC and Miami. UNC has Howell, who is great, but they lost a lot of production around him. They have question marks at RB and WR. They return all 5 starting OL, but PFF rated them 102nd in D1 OL last season. (Tech was 123rd. So, not judging. But, no one is picking us to win the ACC.) UNC was 90th in DFEI last season 2 spots worse than Tech's bad D. They lost their best player to the NFL and return basically everyone else. And I'll believe 'da U is back' when I see it.

Granted, with this schedule, a 'good team' might still go 7-5. But I'm hopeful it'll be a fun year. Tech will be much improved, pull an upset or two. Surprise some folks. Be competitive in every league game. Give us reason to be really excited about the future.

The only team that might be more improved in the ACC would be FSU. They were almost as bad last year and have more talent.

While I agree on GT as the most improved, I will put BC as number 2. Although they had a decent team last year- I see them as an 8-4 team at worst. We have drawn them in the wrong year. They have a great OL and a really good QB. While the trend is up at FSU, they are in year two of a major rebuild. If you listen to Bud Elliott and Ingram Smith on the Nolescast podcast-FSU really doesn't have a clue about their OL. The Nolescast is a pretty objective podcast, although this time last year they were totally wrong in their prediction of an easy win against Tech in the opener. They have been burnt year after year- this year they are being far less ambitious in their predictions in order to maintain some credibility. Also, the word is Jordan Travis is running neck and neck with McKenzie Milton in the QB battle.

 

[BCJacket]

While I agree on GT as the most improved, I will put BC as number 2. Although they had a decent team last year- I see them as an 8-4 team at worst. We have drawn them in the wrong year. They have a great OL and a really good QB. While the trend is up at FSU, they are in year two of a major rebuild. If you listen to Bud Elliott and Ingram Smith on the Nolescast podcast-FSU really doesn't have a clue about their OL. The Nolescast is a pretty objective podcast, although this time last year they were totally wrong in their prediction of an easy win against Tech in the opener. They have been burnt year after year- this year they are being far less ambitious in their predictions in order to maintain some credibility. Also, the word is Jordan Travis is running neck and neck with McKenzie Milton in the QB battle.

I agree BC might be a pretty good team this year. 4 of their 5 loses last year were to ranked teams and they return alot. Their OLine is supposed to be really good. I only wouldn't pick them for most improved because they won 6 last year. Played Clemson and UNC pretty close. So, I don't know how much improvement they have til they hit their ceiling.

 

[a5ehren]

We could be way better and still only win 4 games. Brutal schedule.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

We are going to win at least 67% more games and make FGs longer than 35 yards.

Likely to be most improved.

 

[GT33]

We're going to be most improved in just about every category. People will look back to this year as the one where we turned the corner and never looked back.

 

[iceeater1969]

We will be very improved - but tough schedule will let some of the pitts and bc s sneak by us. i went with 50% - and a big step up by dbacks against UNC in MB on national tv.

Kind of need to wait for NFL draft to see if we are actually improved. To keep improving our recruiting we need skill players getting drafted because we coached them up.
.

 

[YJMD]

“Improvement can only be measured by wins and losses.”

This is just flat out not true. Improvement could be measured in point differential, yards gained or allowed, first downs, points per drive, comparison to the spread, etc. Hell, we could even measure improvement by changes in attendance compared to 2019 or years before (Obviously, comparing it to 2020 would be foolish). The point is, there are many ways to measure improvement, not just one.

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What @Coloradojacket means (despite what he says) is that all he cares about is winning or losing.

As you point out, that is dumb. It is one of the worst indicators of the process of improvement, and you point out several discrete ways to measure it that collectively are much more useful.

I get the urge to look at W/L. I care about winning now. But it's not all I care about. I want to see both winning and a good process of improvement. These things are correlated, but at best winning is a crude proxy for the latter. But I say process of improvement and not improvement itself because the best process for long-term success sometimes comes at the expense of short-term success.

 

[Coloradojacket]

What @Coloradojacket means (despite what he says) is that all he cares about is winning or losing.

As you point out, that is dumb. It is one of the worst indicators of the process of improvement, and you point out several discrete ways to measure it that collectively are much more useful.

I get the urge to look at W/L. I care about winning now. But it's not all I care about. I want to see both winning and a good process of improvement. These things are correlated, but at best winning is a crude proxy for the latter. But I say process of improvement and not improvement itself because the best process for long-term success sometimes comes at the expense of short-term success.

So we are in year 3. I would expect improvement in the Wins and losses column. And by the way, looking improved but continuing to lose gets you fired as a coach. And as a fan of the sport only, of course I care about winning.

 

[YJMD]

So we are in year 3. I would expect improvement in the Wins and losses column. And by the way, looking improved but continuing to lose gets you fired as a coach. And as a fan of the sport only, of course I care about winning.

It sounds like the players and coaches are on board with this, no longer disregarding results for the sake of improvement. Everyone cares about winning, and there is an urgency to do that now. However, we're not really in a financial position to dump Geoff after 3 years anyway. Will we make some concessions in games to work on getting better in the long run? Dunno. The more realistic question here is: how many wins does it take to stave off desire to can CGC and staff? To me, that's not a question in a vacuum. We could win 6 and have me feel like he's not gonna get it done or we could win 4-5 and feel confident about the future. I can't imagine stomaching 3 or fewer regardless of anything else. I also think we'll win 6+ anyway.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I keep saying that 7 wins is very doable. I’m optimistic. Could Tech win fewer and I still be satisfied? Sure!

Improvement to me would be clean, crisp, mistake-free football in all phases of the game. If we get that then 7 wins is not a prerequisite for me feeling like we are on the right track. But five wins or fewer is only going to happen if we continue the mistakes of last season.

 

[UgaBlows]

Improvement to me would be clean, crisp, mistake-free football in all phases of the game.

If we accomplish that then the wins will come

 

[Northeast Stinger]

If we accomplish that then the wins will come

Agreed.

 

[SteamWhistle]

Penalties and Turnovers...