A lot of you were surprised back in July when I picked the entire ACC schedule and I had Georgia Tech knocking off Florida State in the season opener. I'll detail this more in the JOL TV show tonight, but my reasoning was pretty sound in my mind. I thought Tech had a very good offensive line, the Noles were had a good defensive line and that running Haynes King would be the difference-maker on that side of the ball.
I also had plenty of experience watching DJU play quarterback. I watched a lot of Oregon State games in my hotel room on the road or the couple of Friday night games they played and I saw the same dude I saw play against Georgia Tech twice. He is a game manager and isn't an elite QB, but to run what FSU runs it really leans hard on the QB and we all saw that when Jordan Travis got hurt and really watching the development of Travis during his time there with Norvell. I learned everything I needed to know about FSU's trust in DJU in the second quarter when the Noles had the ball with 3:13 and they ran literally the worst-designed two-minute drill I've ever seen. They got bailed out by a strong wind assisting their talented kicker on a 59-yard FG thanks to a weak PI on LaMiles Brooks. My main question about the GT defense was stopping the run. I knew FSU didn't have the same WRs they had a year ago and that showed very clearly in the game as they basically just threw to the RBs most of the time on short passes or swing passes or screens. The run defense stepped up after the first drive and allowed pretty much nothing on the ground, 35 yards on 25 carries or something like that.
My prediction was further fueled by what I was hearing from the Flats, my observations of Brent Key and his reactions to his team and his confidence level and seeing two very capable coordinators going after each other every day in camp and spring ball. We all knew about Buster Faulkner and I had seen the work Geep Wade had done with that O-line and then I knew how Key felt about Santucci all the way going back to the hiring process after the season ended in December. All of my thoughts were backed up from sources based on what they heard/saw/knew and that gave me the confidence to make that pick of GT winning a close one.
I said before the game to some people I bumped into in Ireland and on here that the optimal scenario was to have a one-score game going into the final drive and GT has the ball.
Credit to Key and his staff for chewing the crap out of the clock and playing CPJ-style keep-away with long drives of bully ball. That annoys the piss out of every OC/play-caller in the country and was a classic trick CPJ and a the type of blue-collar football that is enjoyable to watch, grown-ass men imposing their will.
The hubris on the FSU side and even the national media also was a huge red flag to me. GT had their entire offense back with basically a couple of changes like Jordan Brown playing most of the LT snaps because he jumped the returning starter, especially with the run-heavy game plan and Big Red (Keylan Rutledge) replacing Connor Scagilione at RG which was an upgrade and Jackson Hawes as a very capable replacement for Dylan Leonard at TE. I knew that Chase Lane was an upgrade from Dom Blaylock as well who never impressed me as a WR, but was very good on PR.
Early games are weird and the first weeks of the season you are finding your team's identity and GT had a lot coming back to aid their transition there and the defensive expectations were so low that the bar was easy to clear with just competent run defense and some pass rush. The exceeded that greatly.
So that moves my thoughts to Ga State who will be playing their Super Bowl against the Jackets this week. I saw that Ben Moore dude already chirping after the game on X doing himself no favors trying to call this a trap game.
To me, this is a game where Georgia Tech needs to show they are entering that third phase of what Brent Key was talking about with good teams. First, you learn how not to lose (2022 after he took) and then you learn how to win some games (2023) and the next step is winning the games you are supposed to win and more. That is the jump you want to see.
We will find out on Saturday, but I can tell you I have not laughed harder about CFB in a long time than seeing pretty much everyone including UGA and Clemson fans being entertained by GT shutting down the problem child of the ACC Florida State after their complaining over the playoffs screwing them last year and then suing the ACC to get out.
They got what they deserved and if they aren't careful the GT game could mess them up on Monday night in Tally when they play the Notorious BOB and his BC Eagles in the Doak in front of what I would expect to be a lighter crowd than it would've been coming off a win over GT...
Here are a few of my favorites FSU jabs from this weekend on X
I also had plenty of experience watching DJU play quarterback. I watched a lot of Oregon State games in my hotel room on the road or the couple of Friday night games they played and I saw the same dude I saw play against Georgia Tech twice. He is a game manager and isn't an elite QB, but to run what FSU runs it really leans hard on the QB and we all saw that when Jordan Travis got hurt and really watching the development of Travis during his time there with Norvell. I learned everything I needed to know about FSU's trust in DJU in the second quarter when the Noles had the ball with 3:13 and they ran literally the worst-designed two-minute drill I've ever seen. They got bailed out by a strong wind assisting their talented kicker on a 59-yard FG thanks to a weak PI on LaMiles Brooks. My main question about the GT defense was stopping the run. I knew FSU didn't have the same WRs they had a year ago and that showed very clearly in the game as they basically just threw to the RBs most of the time on short passes or swing passes or screens. The run defense stepped up after the first drive and allowed pretty much nothing on the ground, 35 yards on 25 carries or something like that.
My prediction was further fueled by what I was hearing from the Flats, my observations of Brent Key and his reactions to his team and his confidence level and seeing two very capable coordinators going after each other every day in camp and spring ball. We all knew about Buster Faulkner and I had seen the work Geep Wade had done with that O-line and then I knew how Key felt about Santucci all the way going back to the hiring process after the season ended in December. All of my thoughts were backed up from sources based on what they heard/saw/knew and that gave me the confidence to make that pick of GT winning a close one.
I said before the game to some people I bumped into in Ireland and on here that the optimal scenario was to have a one-score game going into the final drive and GT has the ball.
Credit to Key and his staff for chewing the crap out of the clock and playing CPJ-style keep-away with long drives of bully ball. That annoys the piss out of every OC/play-caller in the country and was a classic trick CPJ and a the type of blue-collar football that is enjoyable to watch, grown-ass men imposing their will.
The hubris on the FSU side and even the national media also was a huge red flag to me. GT had their entire offense back with basically a couple of changes like Jordan Brown playing most of the LT snaps because he jumped the returning starter, especially with the run-heavy game plan and Big Red (Keylan Rutledge) replacing Connor Scagilione at RG which was an upgrade and Jackson Hawes as a very capable replacement for Dylan Leonard at TE. I knew that Chase Lane was an upgrade from Dom Blaylock as well who never impressed me as a WR, but was very good on PR.
Early games are weird and the first weeks of the season you are finding your team's identity and GT had a lot coming back to aid their transition there and the defensive expectations were so low that the bar was easy to clear with just competent run defense and some pass rush. The exceeded that greatly.
So that moves my thoughts to Ga State who will be playing their Super Bowl against the Jackets this week. I saw that Ben Moore dude already chirping after the game on X doing himself no favors trying to call this a trap game.
To me, this is a game where Georgia Tech needs to show they are entering that third phase of what Brent Key was talking about with good teams. First, you learn how not to lose (2022 after he took) and then you learn how to win some games (2023) and the next step is winning the games you are supposed to win and more. That is the jump you want to see.
We will find out on Saturday, but I can tell you I have not laughed harder about CFB in a long time than seeing pretty much everyone including UGA and Clemson fans being entertained by GT shutting down the problem child of the ACC Florida State after their complaining over the playoffs screwing them last year and then suing the ACC to get out.
They got what they deserved and if they aren't careful the GT game could mess them up on Monday night in Tally when they play the Notorious BOB and his BC Eagles in the Doak in front of what I would expect to be a lighter crowd than it would've been coming off a win over GT...
Here are a few of my favorites FSU jabs from this weekend on X
