Mailbag 9/22

Who are the biggest Tech villains of all time?

Is this the first time ever that there is such a thing as a “moral” victory? Even if it is moreso the result, than how we played versus Clemson? – Partywaggin

Ben: This is the first true moral victory that I can remember. This game was enough to instill at least a little bit of hope in parts of the fanbase who are tired of watching what we’ve been told over and over is a talented team underperform. For me, I’ll give this moral victory a whole lot more weight after the game against UNC this week. I think it’s vital that Tech not backslide against the Heels. If they go and lose by 20-30 points, that makes the Clemson game look like a complete fluke. I think if they can keep it within a score or even win—which is absolutely doable—I think it would go a long way in inspiring confidence in the team and the fanbase.

Chris: Agree with Ben, this is the first one I can think of in a while.

Jake: It’s only a moral victory if progress (or, heck, even staying in that same place) happens this week and the rest of the year. One game at a time. So, in more words than necessary, I agree with Ben.

Jeff: I will disagree a bit here and not claim it as a moral victory. First, I’m not a fan of them. Secondly, I’m also of the mind that Clemson has major issues on the offensive side and we benefitted from that. I saw plenty of plays that Clemson just missed on. Not to say Tech didn’t show some good things but the whole product wasn’t there.

Sammy: I do agree that this is about as close to a moral victory as we’ve had in a long time. That being said, I think it has something to do with the opponent. I would never say the same about a close loss to uga…

Logan: Moral victory… Does the Miracle on Techwood count for the season it was associated with? I know that was an actual victory but given that we went 3-9 on the year that season that game felt like a huge boost to morale. If beating FSU that season does not count then I would say this is probably the first moral victory for Georgia Tech that I can remember clearly. Usually your team is not in a bad enough spot where you have to consider losing a close game to a good team a “moral” victory.

What is the reason for our terrible red zone offense? What do you think would be the easiest way to make large gainez in that Dept? (Not looking for a Madden ‘just put it in the end zone’ response) – Borojacket2

Ben: I think a lot of it starts up front on the offensive line. The line is improving in parts, but as a whole, it’s still not that great. They have trouble getting push up front, and that leaves nowhere to run for the running backs. Against Clemson, the receivers weren’t able to get separation against the Tigers’ talented secondary, which means they couldn’t pass for a touchdown either. That’s one reason I’m actually coming around on the shovel pass on fourth down at the end of the game. At that point, Tech had tried unsuccessfully all game to get the ball in the endzone. Nothing was working, so they set up an option play to try and pound it in. Unfortunately, a block was missed and Deveney got tackled short. To do better, I think the offensive line needs to do a better job getting push up front.

Nishant: Honestly, after watching the fourth down shovel pass a few times, I can’t hold it against the missed block so much. It was a clever call, and a fifth-year veteran linebacker just made a great play to sniff it out and snuff it out. More broadly, don’t judge the red zone offense too harshly from this game alone—Clemson’s speed on defense and the smaller field near the end zone are a challenging combo for any offense. I think the biggest thing that would help is better interior run blocking, because as Ben said, it hasn’t been where it needs to be. Once you push all the way into the red zone, if you can get four or five yards up the middle a couple times, it becomes a psychological gut punch for a defense that’s already frustrated at giving up so much ground.

Chris: Agree with Ben again, I think a lot of it comes down to the OL. I think another part of it is that a lot of our offense relies on open field (think about what Gibbs is so good at) and that becomes harder to scheme for in the red zone.

Jake: I mean, the holding call on the doorstep of a touchdown before the rain delay was certainly something, and, again, this is a veteran, proven, loaded Clemson team. I would agree that the interior run (particularly with this talented group of running backs) is a huge opportunity waiting to be unleashed. If we can get opponents to respect that as the legitimate threat that it is, I think that goes a long way, too.

Jeff: I don’t dislike the playcalls but I think the goal line is where people get too cute trying to score. The OL certainly needs to be better but Cochran has been excellent at the left tackle position. It’s cliche to say punch it up the gut but at least design something behind your tackle who can get you space to dive in.

Sammy: Jeff took the words out of my keyboard… I think we try to get too cute. We had a couple nice gains on the ground and short passes through the air right before getting stuffed and trying the shovel pass. Clemson’s defense was tired. Our OL hasn’t shown a consistent push all year, so I understand not wanting to go up the middle, but our strength is in our RB group and I’ve been impressed with our WR blocking so far this year. Would love to see some more jet sweep or read option down close. OR — just let Jordan Yates roll out/sprint and make a play. His decision-making has been stellar this year.

Logan: Based on all the anime I watch, I’m gonna say we aren’t believing enough in the power of friendship.

Who have been the biggest Tech “villains” of recent history? People who have just been a thorn in Tech’s side. I’m thinking guys like Hunter Renfrow or Jeremy Cash (Duke safety that single handedly shutdown the option a couple of times). Of course Public Enemy #1 has got to be Mark Richt. – thebugman10

Ben: Pittsburgh kicker Chris Blewitt. I would also posit Duke head coach David Cutcliffe.

Nishant: Just going back ~10 years… Jeremy Cash, Jaylon Smith, Kyle Fuller, and Logan Thomas rise to the forefront. Maybe Alec Ogletree and George Pickens too, each for one specific moment. If we’re throwing in coaches, Cutcliffe and Narduzzi stand atop the list. (Richt too, but he’s been such a lovable persona on the ACC Network that he’s done a heel-face turn in my book.)

Ben (again): Damn it Nishant, I forgot about Jaylon Smith, Kyle Fuller AND Logan Thomas. Thank you for bringing back those memories.

Chris: Lol my first thought was also David Cutcliffe.

Jake: Jose Alvarado’s arm breaking will make me see red for as long as I live, and I still don’t think Steven Williams’ three run bomb to walk off Tech in our own park has landed, but I think the question here implies it is about football. In that case, I think the logical answer is the man who played his punter at QB and still ran up the score, Mr. Dabo Swinney.

Jeff: Charlottesville, Virginia… seriously. We’ve beaten Uga more times since 1990 than we’ve won there.

Sammy: I’m well aware that this answer is the equivalent of playing as the Patriots in Madden ‘12, but…. Gotta be Clemson, Dabo, and more specifically, Brent Venables. Over the past six matchups (all losses), Tech has only scored 67 points against Clemson. Sick.

Logan: Playing games on Thursday night. Its been a thorn in my side at least.

Just how good is Clemson this year, and what does that mean for Tech? Is their defense truly still lights out, and does it look like we have a shot to score enough to keep up with UNC this week? Is their offense that bad, or do we have a chance to shut down contain UNC just enough? Can we draw any conclusions so far about how we will do overall this season, or just hang on for the ride? – SullyGT

Ben: I think Clemson’s defense is absolutely one of the best in the country. I have no reason not to believe that. I think Clemson has a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball, but they haven’t quite clicked yet. I think a lot of that hangs on DJ Uiagalelei, who has struggled mightily to begin the season. He’s got a running game with Will Shipley and a lot of talent at receiver. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be playing better.

As for how Tech looks against UNC, I think this will certainly be a tougher test for Tech’s defense. The biggest key will be keeping Sam Howell off-kilter. If Tech can cause some disruption and force Howell to make mistakes, I think Tech contains the Heels’ offense. I think this game will do a lot to really gauge how Tech can do the remainder of this season. Right now, the only team I feel comfortable saying Tech can beat is Duke. A win (or even a competitive loss) would certainly change that opinion.

Chris: I think we’ll discover they’re definitely not up to their standards of recent years, but they’re still the bar-setter of the conference. They’re gonna win at least 10 games easily. The defense is easily still their biggest asset; it’s more the offensive side of the ball they’re struggling with. Personally I’m feeling pretty good that we were able to hang 300 yards on them (more than UGA), so I’m decently confident about our ability to turn those yards into points against UNC.

Jake: This is the challenge with only being three games into the year. I honestly don’t know. Are the boys from Athens secretly bad? Have they come light years from game one? I just don’t know how to make solid conclusions from what we seen, considering Michigan at this point would transitively blow the doors off of Clemson by way of them beating NIU and NIU beating Tech. I know, very analytical. Giving the real numbers is Robert’s job. Getting into a boatrace with UNC terrifies me, though. It’s got to be up to the defense to tighten the screws on Sam Howell and the North Carolina offense, because what we’ve seen from our offense hasn’t exactly inspired me of late.

Jeff: That Clemson is bad. Shipley is about their lone bright spot and for some reason they quit running him after he shoved the ball down Tech’s throat on their first TD. That’s also a testament to how good Clemson’s defense is for having to deal with that and not give up an offensive touchdown through three games.

I think UNC scores pretty easily on Tech this week. They like to push tempo and have a speedy WR in Josh Downs and Tech has struggled to deal with tempo.

Logan: tough question… part of what makes college football great is that teams can change performances wildly from week to week, even though each game matters. Despite their performance last week (which oddly enough we view as a good thing for Tech) I view Clemson as still being the best team in the ACC at the moment. That probably says more about the ACC than it does about Clemson but that’s my opinion. What the performance for Tech meant last week is a good showing for Yates as a leader and ability of our defense to step up in crucial situations. Week to week though we have not proven that we can be consistent. I think we’re gonna learn more about Tech’s future this week than seeing one good performance last week.

If you could reverse the result in one game in the last 20 years for tech, which would it be? – ramblin gooner

Ben: I’m going to slightly not answer your question while also answering your question. I would reverse a result of the 2010 Georgia Tech–Virginia Tech game. The final score isn’t what I would change that. What I would change is that Joshua Nesbitt would not get injured in that game. After losing to Virginia Tech, and more importantly losing Nesbitt, the Yellow Jackets dropped three of their last four games, including a close loss to UGA and the bowl game. If Nesbitt stays healthy, I think Tech beats the Hokies and UGA (and maybe Miami).

If I have a second choice, I would reverse the result of the 2012 ACC Championship Game. Tech [Foreigner]ed around and ended up in that game. In that game, Florida State jumped out to a 21-0 lead, and it looked like Tech really didn’t belong in that game. But then Tevin Washington started engineering a comeback. The defense locked down and didn’t let the Noles score another point. With the score at 21-15, Washington was leading the Jackets down the field, but unfortunately, he threw a game-ending interception. I remember watching this game, cutting it off at halftime, and then coming back during the fourth quarter, and it would have been incredible to see Tech pull that off.

Nishant: If it’s just the one game: 2012 ACC title game, not because of what Ben said but because I’m still sad that we were denied a BCS bowl matchup between a 7-6 ACC team and Northern Illinois. If we’re allowed to account for long-term consequences: 2009 UGA, and it isn’t remotely close. It was a chance for Tech’s biggest win in the series in decades, a chance for Paul Johnson to plant his flag with two straight wins over Mark Richt, a chance to make a statement to recruits all over the state that the tide was turning. In the end, it was one of the most embarrassing and damaging losses in program history. (And for the record, everyone who pins that loss on Demaryius Thomas for his drop at the end is full of [Steely Dan]. He’s one of the last people who should be held responsible.)

Chris: Probably the 2014 ACC Championship Game. We were so close, and having to watch FSU get absolutely smoked by Oregon afterwards kinda sucked. A win in this game probably puts us into the Playoff conversation and that could’ve been huge for us as a program. As a bonus answer, I’ll say the Duke game of that same year. I’m convinced that Fall Break screwed us over there and that we only lost the following game to UNC because we lost to Duke. So in my mind, a win against Duke means an undefeated regular season. And who knows, maybe that’d be the difference maker against FSU in the title game.

Jake: I am forcing myself to pick a game I actually watched live, so, really, a game since I became a student at Tech. For that, I pick the Tennessee vs. Tech Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game on Mercedes Benz’ opening weekend. Setting aside the emotional gut punch that the specific game was, because it was truly awful, a win there makes it four in a 12 month span for Tech over SEC teams and sets the tone for Tech early in the season. It really felt like that game took a ton, if not all, of the air out of the sails of a 9 win season and rattled the confidence of a team looking for a new identity in the post-Justin Thomas era. Who knows? If the defense is slightly more competent in that game, then they probably could be in the Miami game, too. By the time Duke rolled around at the end of the year, especially off a heartbreaker in Charlottesville, the 5-4 Tech team just seemed out of steam. Flipping Tennessee already makes them 6-3, and a 0.01% more lucky/invigorated defense turns Miami, making them 7-2. With more to play for, I’m not saying that Tech beats Athens, UVA, or Duke necessarily, but has momentum, confidence, and success to turn what was, in the end, a mediocre 5-6 finish into at least 7-4 or 8-3 and giving Tech the opportunity to fight for another 9 win season and reload once more in the Paul Johnson era.

Jeff: I’ll go back to 2008 and the third game for Paul Johnson, at Virginia Tech. The lead in all year was how bad this team was going to be running the option for the first time. I remember most estimates were predicting two wins. Had Georgia Tech won that game, and they probably should have except for a bogus late hit call, then GT would have claimed the Coastal in year one and gotten a very beatable BC team they beat week 2 in the title game. Imagine two back to back ACC titles in the first two years. The perception of the option would probably be different to recruits.

Sammy: See Nishant’s answer. THWg.

Logan: Oh man, the last 20 years? I was gonna pick our 1980 game against the dwags to block them from a championship. 2006 ACC championship game, because that was the most miserable game I have had the misfortune to watch us lose.

I’ve always thought the 2015 season was one of the biggest missed opportunities in Tech history. What happens if instead of the disaster it was, we rattled off another 9 or 10 win season? We would’ve really established ourselves as a real contender in the CFB landscape, instead of 2014 now being a fluke year. – thebugman10

Ben: The 2015 season was plagued by injuries and the loss of Shaq Mason on the offensive line. Losing Mason shouldn’t have tanked Georgia Tech’s offensive line, but unfortunately, that’s what happened. If Tech had performed better that season, I think it would have done a lot to help recruiting by showing that Tech can perform at a high level more consistently. I don’t know that Tech would have been established as a real contender in the CFB landscape, but they would have been a whole lot closer.

Carter: I looked back at that schedule yesterday, and would you believe five of that teams’ losses were by a touchdown or less? (Not including the Notre Dame game, which only finished close.) That team, with all the injuries it faced, was incredibly close to being 8-4. Winning 28 games in three years would have been huge for Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech as a whole.

Nishant: I think this misses one of the reasons that 2014 was so successful, which was that the offense was packed to the brim with smart and disciplined seniors. Guys didn’t really miss assignments, and that allowed Justin to play more confidently as a first-year starter and bring out his own skills in full force. It was easy for all of us to ride the 2015 hype train at the time, but looking back, it wasn’t reasonable to lose that much skill talent (think something like 97% of WR/RB production was from guys who graduated) and expect to sustain things. Granted, that doesn’t explain why the 2015 OL with four returning starters and three seniors was a sieve, or why the 2016 OL with three true freshmen was weirdly good, so… (shrug)

Chris: I’ve thought about this way too much. To Nishant’s point, I think 2014 represented pretty much an absolute high point, so it’s probably reasonable to think we would’ve backslid a bit in 2015 anyways. But to your question, 9 or 10 wins feels reasonable. I honestly don’t know. It seems like CPJ still would’ve retired in 2018 but who knows. College football tends to be a sport of momentum, so maybe two back to back stellar years would have boosted recruiting enough to mean the success continued into 2016 and beyond. Maybe we could’ve risen to the top of the Coastal Chaos Machine and been a consistent opponent for Clemson in the title game. I still doubt we could’ve really competed with Clemson at that point given how good they started becoming, but certainly I feel like we could’ve had a few straight years of being a top 15 team. And who knows where that would put us in 2021.

Jake: See my previous comment, but adjusted for the 2015 season. Tech lost 6 one score games in 2015. Even given the attrition the team faced from 2014, there was absolutely a path to a bowl and that goes a long way to showing sustained success. If that string from 2014-2017 looked something like 11-3, 7-6, 9-3, 8-4, then I think the team probably has the clout to sit on top of the morass of mediocrity that is the rest of the Coastal in the intervening years.

Jeff: I believe Paul would still be here had we won a few more of those games. The naysayers really came out after that. Paul got shafted a lot when it came to paying his staff and upgrades he felt was needed. Sitting among the top 15 and beating uga three straight years would have made him golden.

Sammy: Agreeing with the sentiment that CPJ would still be at Tech for a few more years, we would be running the triple option and still winning 7-9 games most years. I miss bowl games 🙁

Logan: I’m not a big one on speculation. It definitely means better things for the program if we do well that year. 2015 was a turning point for us and for Florida State. That season redefined a few things in the ACC. If we do well that year I wonder how the ACC looks in general in the present.

OOC games about over, do you feel this is a down year for the ACC? If not what have you seen in the first weeks to suggest otherwise? If you’re like me and see this as a down year, should the win expectation be increased as the schedule doesn’t seem near as tough (ND struggled with juggernauts such as FSU, Toledo, and Purdue) or do you worry about the offensive generating enough points given against fbs opponents tech is next to last in scoring, last being Clemson (though of course they managed a win)? – gtbadcarma

Ben: Interestingly, I don’t know that it is out of the ordinary. David Hale tweeted this out the other day:

I think it’s far from unordinary. Sure, there are some losses that are worse than others (here’s looking at you, FSU), but I don’t think that’s enough to call it a down year. I think what hurts the ACC right now is that there isn’t a title contender. Normally, the ACC shows poorly in OOC play, but Clemson is still really good. This year, Clemson’s defense is really good, but their offense has yet to click through three games this season. I think if Clemson can get their offense clicking, it turns into an average season for the ACC. But right now, I’d say the ACC is slightly below average.

Chris: I kinda think it is a down year. Clemson is a bit off their normal pace, and there isn’t really a great next team. Miami and UNC both have their problems, and the rest of the conference is just meh at best.

Jake: Feels like a down year, but, quite honestly, that is good for us. If everyone else stinks, perhaps there’s more wins on the table for the Jackets. I get that it’s good for the conference to be perceived as good, but, right now, I care more about us getting some hacks at winning football games. The rest will work itself out through the natural process. If we start putting up more clunkers, then, yeah, I’d probably be even more upset that the conference is down, haha.

Jeff: It’s a mess in that the teams predicted to be good aren’t. Wake and BC could probably pop a few top 25s in the mouth. Louisville just shut the space cowboys up for a week. UNC has issues but could win some shoot outs. Honestly, a lot of teams across several conferences who are usually good don’t look as hot this year.

Sammy: So far, there have been some pretty ugly losses throughout the conference, but whenever the team at the top is struggling, it exacerbates the problem. The narrative that the ACC is a weak league will always hold water until there are at least two/three teams in the playoff conversation near the end of every year. In terms of Tech’s win total, I want to see how we perform against UNC first… If we can’t pull off the upset but it’s another close loss with some offensive production (say 38-35 or 28-24), I’ll feel pretty good about 5-6 wins.

Logan: One thing I have consistently seen out of the ACC in my years as a college football fan is complete chaos. Does that necessarily mean the teams are bad? No, maybe inconsistent but I wouldn’t call them bad. This is a pretty standard year for the ACC, some teams you expect to do well don’t perform how you expect and some teams you expect to do poorly overperform against opponents… Now that my being a proud ACC fan spiel is out of the way, it definitely feels like a down year based on the bigger teams (Clemson, Miami, VT) OOC performances. If you look back though this is a pretty standard year for OOC performance.

How good is the UNC defense? And if you are creating a game plan for this game what does it look like to? UNC will be hard to stop. I imagine we will have to play super clean on offense and finish drives to be able to score. – DTGT

Ben: You know, that’s an interesting question, and I don’t know that I really have an answer for you. The Tar Heels have held both ACC opponents to season low outputs this season, but those are very different numbers. Virginia Tech only managed 17 points, but Virginia scored 39 and let Brennan Armstrong through for more than 500 yards. I decided to watch the condensed game for Virginia-UNC to see what I could find.

I think there are some things they do well and some not so well. I think they did a good job of pushing the OL, but Armstrong was able to stay upright in the pocket and make his passes. And he made some good ones, despite pretty solid coverage from UNC defensive backs. The Heels defense also managed to get a couple turnovers. It’s tough to say how they did against the run because Virginia doesn’t run the ball.

If I’m Davey P, that’s the first thing I’m gonna do. I would argue that Georgia Tech has a better rushing attack than any other team the Heels have faced this season, and I don’t know that it’s particularly close. I think a steady stream of Gibbs, Mason and Dontae Smith will keep the defense off balance and give Yates plenty of breathing room to work in the passing game.

Jake: More points and pray the defense that showed up last weekend in Clemson made it onto the bus home (unlike the equipment dudes that the Hokies left in Morgantown – oops).

Jeff: UNC doesn’t seem to have a dominating defense rather than a few guys who really fly to the ball. You can have success if you scheme around them. Like Ben said, the running game is our strength and seems to be something the Heels really haven’t had to deal with yet.

Sammy: Similar to the Clemson game, running the clock as much as possible and limiting the amount of time the UNC offense is on the field will be a key to success. Short passes early, let Jordan get into a rhythm. This defensive line won’t be nearly as scary as Clemson’s, but they do bring pressure from all over, so we should be able to set up some nice screens or quick passes to empty areas. UVA threw for 553 yards against UNC. I had to check multiple sources, but it’s true. We’ll need a more balanced attack, but we can beat them through the air.

Logan: Power runs, screen passes, and short passes. Don’t try to take everything all at once. Dip and dunk it down the field and hold onto the ball as long as possible. The only game I really watched of UNC was the VPISU game, and the Hokies used that strategy. I think the game will ride more on our defense performing, but hopefully the offense can get enough scores this way to stay ahead.

I caught “Muhammad Ali” on PBS last night; excellent! What sports documentaries make your all time top 3 list? Yeah, I guess we can include “30 for 30’s” by ESPhrickN. – DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Jake: Oooooooh, this is tough. Personal top 3 are probably The Last Dance, Catching Hell, and The History of the Atlanta Falcons, but that’s only because I’m on the spot right now. There’s plenty more that I’m just not thinking of. If you’ve never heard of the last one I mentioned, you can check it out here. It is a 7 part series made by Jon Bois, who is perhaps the most interesting man in sports coverage. I mention his stuff here kind of a lot, but whether it’s a serialized science fiction fever dream of what college football looks like in the far future, short snippets about history, like the Cumberland Game, or the multi-part documentaries, Jon does such excellent work.

Sammy: The Last Dance, The Battered Bastards of Baseball, and The Four Falls of Buffalo. Honorable mention – Untold Stories: Malice at the Palace. Honorable, honorable mention – Untold Stories: Crime and Punishment. I tried to stay away from picking a 30 for 30, but I love all of them. Four Falls of Buffalo makes me feel a little better about being a Falcons fan.

Logan: 1) The Last Dance, because it just covered everything regarding Michael Jordan and the players around him on the Bulls team and was so well directed. I both learned alot and enjoyed the humor, music, and attitude that the documentary brought.

2) History of the Seattle Mariners by Dorktown on youtube. Same guys who did history of the Atlanta Falcons. It covers everything in the Mariners history. It is such a wild ride, starting from 140 acts of arson through the modern era. This one is more interesting because of how insane the facts behind how the team continued running are. The visuals aren’t the best but I love having it on in the background as a sort of podcast.

3) Fantastic Lies 30 for 30. More of an off the field drama than a sport documentary. It’s a heavy subject around the rape scandal for the Duke Lacrosse team, but is a fascinating look at the justice system, politics, and how misrepresented news can quickly get out of hand and risk ruining the lives of others.

Carter: I’m struggling to name specific docs at the moment, but just this morning the YouTube algorithm recommended I rewatch Fighting in the Age of Loneliness. I’m not a big MMA person but I thought it was a fascinating look into the history of the sport.

Who’s your game ball for the last game? And who’s your X-Factor for the game against UNC? – Anuj Bhyravabhotla

Ben: For me, it’s Charlie Thomas. He’s been the best player on defense all season, and he’s playing all over the field. I think he’s easily the best linebacker Tech has had in a very long time.

Chris: Agree with Ben, I’d go Charlie Thomas. Maybe Jordan Yates.

Jake: My game ball goes to Kyric McGowan and the X-Factor is pressuring Sam Howell. Let’s get at it.

Sammy: Charlie Thomas for the game ball. Malachi Carter is the X-factor for me – he’s had some solid performances but hasn’t had that breakout game yet this season. Would love to see him go for 100+ and a couple TDs to compliment a solid outing from Kyric.

Logan: Yates and Yates… no I have no real justification for this. The team has looked better with him at the helm, and I want to continue congratulating him for it. If he performs well against UNC who know what happens down the line.

You ever notice that every pic of Jordan Yates in game looks like he’s running for his life from some disaster? – DTGT

Ben: Yeah, the offensive line has improved, but it’s still not amazing. Yates does an incredible job of avoiding pressure while keeping his eyes downfield, so the offense has been able to keep moving.

Carter: Yeah, it’s not great! Brent Key should do something about that.

Chris: Uhhhhhhh huh.

Jake: And yet, not everything is a complete disaster. Not the worst it could be.

Jeff: Yep, and I watched the sequel with Matt Ryan the next day too.

Sammy: I want to see his “Catapult” readings… dude probably runs 5 miles a game.

Logan: The O-line just wants to make sure Yates gets his cardio workout in for the day.

Ryder Cup: ‘Murrica or TechnoPopEuroTrash? – DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Ben: I don’t know much about golf, but I recognize more people on the U.S. Team, so I’ll go with them.

Logan: ‘Murica

Sammy: Bryson and Brooks get in a yelling match on the 18th fairway because Bryson shanks one out-of-bounds trying to drive the ball 500 yards and USA ends up losing by one point. JK they won’t get paired together. USA by a million.

Hello my Dudes,

Honestly pretty happy with the game last week despite the loss. I don’t know that the game had much to do with us being good, as much as it had to do with Clemson being a bit overrated this year, but it was a nice surprise either way. Yates looked good and I’m glad he got the opportunity to start. The Defense seems to be figuring something out in terms of team cohesion. Overall not a bad loss, not sure I would’ve paid money to see it in person but it was a nice surprise.

The standard Coastal chaos is appearing more consistently than the weather at this point. Pitt and VT lose, Duke proves their the biggest nerds of all, and Miami wants to bury their head in the sand. This does seem to bode well for the rest of our season (outside of Duke and UNC looking good).

With that in mind, my question this week is “which team that you previously thought we would lose too, do you think we matchup well against right now?”

It’s a bit messier than some of my other questions, but take it as you will. I hope it makes the fans happy.

With Love,

Naughty Fred (submitted via email)

Ben: Until I see the results of this week’s game, I’m not ready to say I feel comfortable picking Tech to beat anyone on the schedule not named Duke. I think there are certainly some beatable teams on the schedule, specifically Miami and Notre Dame, but I’m far from confident Tech can win those right now, so ask me again next week.

Chris: At this point I’m somehow confident we can always be a thorn in Miami’s side.

Jake: Echoing Chris, Miami hasn’t beaten us in a game that wasn’t COMPLETE nonsense since 2015. I’ll believe they can do that when I see it. Elsewhere, Boston College minus their starting QB, along with shaky performances from Notre Dame, Pitt and UVA make them look rosier than they did, and who the heck knows about Virginia Tech. Please, let’s still beat Duke. Oh dear, now I have a dangerous thing called hope.

Jeff: Miami, I gave them a pass against Bama but they don’t look like they could beat a wet paper bag right now. Their whole offense is King and he may have some injury issues as much as he is getting hit.

Sammy: Miami, partially because I don’t think there will be much of a home field advantage against them. ND will probably still be Top 15 or Top 20 and their fans will show out in November. Plus it’ll be cold…

Logan: I also think Miama, but I’ll take a wildcard and say getting Pitt at home felt a bit daunting until I saw their game last week against Western Michigan. Now I feel a win is at least possible if we bring our A game.