We talk with CollegeFootballNews.com, Senior Writer, Richard Cirminello. We talk the state of the ACC and his expectations for Georgia Tech this season.
Richard Cirminello Interview.mp3
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Four Things to Do To Prepare For The Season
As we slowly approach the beginning of the football season there are a few things that need to be accomplished before the kickoff. Everyone will be getting their new grills and pimp out their pick-up truck, so I strive to bring you a few of the things off the beaten path:
- First I would like to applaud Coach Johnson on his decision to wear white uniforms at home. No this isn't Bravo so I don't care about the aesthetic feeling on the field or how each color motivates our fans. This isn't about the players, really would they play with any less motivation if they wore magenta?? No this is about the fans. Every Saturday Tech fans have the question of what to wear, which game did we do best and what was I wearing at that moment. It's complicated even further by the fact that WHAT COLOR IS OUR GOLD!?!?!?! IS IT YELLOW, GOLD, BRONZISH!! What in the world are our colors. AND THEN PEOPLE START WEARING BLUE!!! It is quite annoying. But now we have white home uniforms, so let's go for the WHITE OUT!! Think about how excited people get when they see some snow on the ground in Atlanta, we could make Bobby Dodd look like it got hit by a avalanche. There's only one shade of white, unless you go to Home Depot. (Eggshell is not a color, its trash)
- Speaking of snow, now is a good time to get caught up on the winter shopping. I'm sure plenty of fans were surprised when they had to travel to Boise for the Smurf Bowl, (Did anyone even go??) so in hopes of avoided that situation, start buying those heavy coats now. I think the bowl streak won't end, and if it doesn't it won't be in sunny S. Florida. A heavy coat would come in handy when traveling to San Fran., Boise or even Washington D.C.
- On your way back from JC Penny's make sure to stop by your drug store and stock up on those Tums, especially the fruity ones, they're like candy!!! With an offense that is still developing and a defense that can easily hold almost every opponent below 20 points, there will plenty of tense moments late in games. Expect a lot of 10-7 or 14-13 scores, especially early in the year. Those little white tablets will really help digestion, and that's a win-win for everyone.
- Staying on the Gastric Intestinal Tract, may I suggest consulting a local physician about inserting a catheter for those really tense moments. There are plenty of benefits for this out of the box medical procedue:
- Coach Johnson's offense has been predicated on scoring quickly. He has been tops in the NCAA in average time of scoring drives. Do you really want to be in the bathroom when Dwyer puts together an 80-yard run? I didn't think so.
- New Clock rules will be in effect this year. Officials are claiming the same number of plays will occur, just the game will take a lot less time. The prediction is 10-12 minutes being cut in average game length. Big plays will be happening more often and the time can't be wasted standing behind the guy with 'stage-fright'
- It was easier before to take a break when Tech's offense had 2nd and 30 to assume we'd get our best player on the field, Durant Brooks, and allow for a little free time to visit the concession stand and a few other places. Now Coach Johnson brings his military academy mentality and the penalties will be down the tube. No penalties, no free-time. MORE SCORING!!!
Honestly, please don't do Item #4, but if you do when the police ask, make sure you say it was Mark Richt's idea.
So there you go, just a few things to remember when getting ready for Kickoff 2008.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
And this means what....
With the kickoff to the football season quickly approaching all the prognosticators are coming out of the woodwork to give their predictions on the Conference Champions. The latest is Heather Dinich of, the new ACC beat/blogger for ESPN.com. Nothing really shocking, as she picked VT to take the Coastal Division, but when you look at here reasoning for putting GT and VT in their respective positions, is it really all that unfathomable that Georgia Tech could be in Tampa come December??
In an earlier post I talked a little about why I'm so confident this team will do better than most think come September. And Dinich's reasoning doesn't make me feel any less confident. I mean seriously, here's a team in the Hokies who lose their top running back, Branden Ore, their top three receivers, Morgan, Harper and Roayl, along with their defensive studs, losing Vince Hall, Xavier Adibi and Brandon Flowers. I know we have a new coach and all, but the biggest thing we have to replace are our kickers.
If you went to Vegas and a guy walked up to you and said, "Hey I got a bet for you. I'll give you a 1000 dollars if you tell me which will do better this season. One team lost a 990 yard rusher, and three receivers who caught 60% of their team's yards along with their top sack man, tacklers and leaders in interceptions. While the other lost a quarterback who couldn't start ahead of one of the most criticized quarterbacks in team history, a running back who was oft-injured, and their kicker and punter."
WHICH WOULD YOU TAKE????
Stats sometimes are misleading, in a vacuum they are just numbers, because while numbers don't lie they can be made to say anything. (Favorite statistic quote: The average human has one breast and one testicle) But in this case when you take away the emotion why shouldn't this team challenge for an upper echelon bowl.
You have a coach in Paul Johnson, coming from one of the military institutions, who will instill discipline in a team that was in the Top 15% of penalties committed. (Navy had 52 penalties last year putting them in the Top 5 overall) The defense brings back its brightest young star from last year in Morgan Burnett and has two All-ACC performers ready to stop the run in Vance Walker and Daryl Richard. If Michael Johnson comes anywhere close to the potential we've heard the last few years the defensive line will be the best in the ACC. With that type of pressure along with Dave Wommack's new system, the often criticized secondary will not be put into the same pressure situations as before.
As I've always said, the kicker and punter are one of the lowest worries on a team's totem pole. If everything else takes care of itself those positions become obsolete. Name the punters and kickers on any of the last five national championship team's?? Exactly like a referee if they are average the game will run smoothly. Travis Bell shouldn't have been in the situation to make game-winning field goals, and when a punter has a high net punting average that means you are close to your own endzone.
There is a lot of excitement to see what Coach Johnson brings to the table come August no matter what the expectations. But we should expect more from this team simply because we've suffered in mediocrity before. Set the bar high and let them shoot for it.
And plus, when they do make it to Tampa I'll make sure to get a front row seat with a shirt saying "I told you so" on the back. And being right, that's all that really matters.
In an earlier post I talked a little about why I'm so confident this team will do better than most think come September. And Dinich's reasoning doesn't make me feel any less confident. I mean seriously, here's a team in the Hokies who lose their top running back, Branden Ore, their top three receivers, Morgan, Harper and Roayl, along with their defensive studs, losing Vince Hall, Xavier Adibi and Brandon Flowers. I know we have a new coach and all, but the biggest thing we have to replace are our kickers.
If you went to Vegas and a guy walked up to you and said, "Hey I got a bet for you. I'll give you a 1000 dollars if you tell me which will do better this season. One team lost a 990 yard rusher, and three receivers who caught 60% of their team's yards along with their top sack man, tacklers and leaders in interceptions. While the other lost a quarterback who couldn't start ahead of one of the most criticized quarterbacks in team history, a running back who was oft-injured, and their kicker and punter."
WHICH WOULD YOU TAKE????
Stats sometimes are misleading, in a vacuum they are just numbers, because while numbers don't lie they can be made to say anything. (Favorite statistic quote: The average human has one breast and one testicle) But in this case when you take away the emotion why shouldn't this team challenge for an upper echelon bowl.
You have a coach in Paul Johnson, coming from one of the military institutions, who will instill discipline in a team that was in the Top 15% of penalties committed. (Navy had 52 penalties last year putting them in the Top 5 overall) The defense brings back its brightest young star from last year in Morgan Burnett and has two All-ACC performers ready to stop the run in Vance Walker and Daryl Richard. If Michael Johnson comes anywhere close to the potential we've heard the last few years the defensive line will be the best in the ACC. With that type of pressure along with Dave Wommack's new system, the often criticized secondary will not be put into the same pressure situations as before.
As I've always said, the kicker and punter are one of the lowest worries on a team's totem pole. If everything else takes care of itself those positions become obsolete. Name the punters and kickers on any of the last five national championship team's?? Exactly like a referee if they are average the game will run smoothly. Travis Bell shouldn't have been in the situation to make game-winning field goals, and when a punter has a high net punting average that means you are close to your own endzone.
There is a lot of excitement to see what Coach Johnson brings to the table come August no matter what the expectations. But we should expect more from this team simply because we've suffered in mediocrity before. Set the bar high and let them shoot for it.
And plus, when they do make it to Tampa I'll make sure to get a front row seat with a shirt saying "I told you so" on the back. And being right, that's all that really matters.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Your Coastal Division Champs
During last week’s show I said something that most considered to be ridiculous, claiming that GT had as good a shot as anyone to win the Coastal Division. Most detractors claim the biggest problem for the Jackets is the tough early schedule for Tech, much in the way that experts have said UGA can’t get through their gauntlet of games.
However it’s more likely that Tech’s most difficult opponents will come later in the year, at a point where Coach Johnson will have had a few months to implement in his offense. It is apparent, without seeing a single regular season play, that the team will have to rely on their defense in the early part of the season. And the benefit of the early games is the two teams don’t pose a great offensive threat.
Boston College is looking to replace their starting quarterback, Matt Ryan, and the replacement, Chris Crane, won’t have consistent weapons offensively to help him out early. They will rely mostly on their All-ACC tight end Ryan Purvis, a position Tech’s defense seemingly forgot come last season. However, the defense has changed and now that the linebackers will stay at home more often, the last guy on the line is less likely to be forgotten.
The following week sets up the battle of Tech’s, as the REAL Technical Institute will try and continue the trend of the road team winning. Now while Blacksburg is an extremely tough place to play, could there really be a better time to try and knock off the Hokies at home. It’s not their first home game, so the crowd won’t be extra raucous, and VT won’t have played extremely tough opponents to polish their offensive game. Most likely they will still be attempting to solidify all three skill positions, in hopes of replacing running back Branden Ore and four receivers who graduated from last year’s Division Champion. Plus it can’t get any worse now that Eddie Royal and Brandon Flowers won’t draw up nightmares in Jacket fan’s head. But maybe Josh Nesbitt should still have his jersey stolen for good karma, it helped out Sean Gelnnon.
And the best part about these two roadtrips is that they’re in early September!!! You could have easily been sent to Boston and Blacksburg in late October or November and then you would have had to dealt with not only two polished teams, but the weather conditions as well. In my opinion there is no place more beautiful than Boston in early fall, and yet a city more treacherous just a few months later.
Now while it seemed like a gauntlet early, Tech fans should be excited about the schedule. Now you don’t have to wait through multiple mediocre opponents before getting to the ACC schedule. Along with getting bay breezes and sunshine instead of hail storms and frost bite.
However it’s more likely that Tech’s most difficult opponents will come later in the year, at a point where Coach Johnson will have had a few months to implement in his offense. It is apparent, without seeing a single regular season play, that the team will have to rely on their defense in the early part of the season. And the benefit of the early games is the two teams don’t pose a great offensive threat.
Boston College is looking to replace their starting quarterback, Matt Ryan, and the replacement, Chris Crane, won’t have consistent weapons offensively to help him out early. They will rely mostly on their All-ACC tight end Ryan Purvis, a position Tech’s defense seemingly forgot come last season. However, the defense has changed and now that the linebackers will stay at home more often, the last guy on the line is less likely to be forgotten.
The following week sets up the battle of Tech’s, as the REAL Technical Institute will try and continue the trend of the road team winning. Now while Blacksburg is an extremely tough place to play, could there really be a better time to try and knock off the Hokies at home. It’s not their first home game, so the crowd won’t be extra raucous, and VT won’t have played extremely tough opponents to polish their offensive game. Most likely they will still be attempting to solidify all three skill positions, in hopes of replacing running back Branden Ore and four receivers who graduated from last year’s Division Champion. Plus it can’t get any worse now that Eddie Royal and Brandon Flowers won’t draw up nightmares in Jacket fan’s head. But maybe Josh Nesbitt should still have his jersey stolen for good karma, it helped out Sean Gelnnon.
And the best part about these two roadtrips is that they’re in early September!!! You could have easily been sent to Boston and Blacksburg in late October or November and then you would have had to dealt with not only two polished teams, but the weather conditions as well. In my opinion there is no place more beautiful than Boston in early fall, and yet a city more treacherous just a few months later.
Now while it seemed like a gauntlet early, Tech fans should be excited about the schedule. Now you don’t have to wait through multiple mediocre opponents before getting to the ACC schedule. Along with getting bay breezes and sunshine instead of hail storms and frost bite.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Baseball America Interview
An Interview from Wednesday's show with Baseball America's College Baseball Writer Aaron Fitt. Aaron discusses the NCAA Tournament and more specifically the Athens Regional.
Aaron Fitt Interview.mp3
Sean Moth Interview
An Interview from Wednesday's show featuring Sean Moth, the Play by Play voice of the Louisvile Cardinals Baseball Team. hear Sean talk about what to expect from U of L in the NCAA Tournament.
Sean Moth Interview.mp3
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