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17. So, what's your take on the Maryland game?

1. Rule number one for any college football fan is: A win is a win. Tech won, the offense continued to run like a well-oiled machine, and Joe Hamilton didn't just break the school's single-game record for total offense, he nuked it. In that sense, it was a great game for the Tech family, and all props go to Joe and the offense.

17. I sense that you're not entirely happy with the game. Why is that?

1. Three words: defense, defense, defense. Tech's defenders, once again, did a poor job of tackling and allowed Maryland to score about three times as many points as they should have. I have never understood why athletes in a highly ranked program could not be taught how to wrap up a ball carrier and bring him down properly. You can't coach a player to run a 4.3 in the 40-yard dash if he only runs it in 5.2. You can't coach a lineman to be six-foot-five if he's only 6-1. But you absolutely can coach a player how to tackle someone - that's a basic skill that any player can learn, no matter how small, slow or untalented he might be. The fact that Tech players are still tackling poorly four games into the season should be a tremendous cause of concern. If I were George O'Leary, I'd be in Ted Roof's office right now asking him what the hell's going on here. I'll give Maryland credit for this: their coaches made a dumb decisions by insisting on single coverage of Dez White, but the Terps were at least hitting Tech hard and tackling well. Why couldn't the Jackets do that? And I haven't even mentioned that the defense was fooled TWICE on trick pass plays and surrendered an 84-yard kickoff return. Sheeeesssshhh!

17. Was there anything about Tech's defense that you liked?

1. Yes. The defense held Lamont Jordan to 79 yards rushing and less than 3 yards per carry. They finally started forcing turnovers (props to Marvious Hester and Chris Young for their interceptions). Nick Rogers used his speed effectively to chase down a couple of ball carriers when they tried to run wide. Greg Gathers made some big stops and pressured the quarterback into throwing incomplete on a crucial fourth down - in fact, I would say that Gathers is becoming the true force on Tech's defensive line (Tito needs to wake up and realize he's letting a potential All-American season slip away). If they would just start tackling better!

17. Maryland obviously gave Tech a lot more trouble than we expected. What was the turning point of the game?

1. Late in the third quarter, Maryland drove to Tech's 31 and looked like they would score again to cut the margin to four points. On fourth and six, Ron Vanderlinden decided to go for it rather than kick a field goal. Gathers blasted into the pocket and pressured Calvin McCall into throwing the ball short. On the Jackets' first play after Tech regained possession, Joe zipped the ball to Dez for 63 yards to the Maryland six. When Philip Rogers leaped into the end zone three plays later, the game was essentially over.

17. Did you see some of those moves Dez White was putting on the Terps?

1. Dez had 'em spinning like a top all night. I especially liked that 80-yard bomb - a play very similar to the one he took in for 80 yards against FSU - where Dez did a complete 360-degree spin after catching the ball and outran the DB to the end zone. His second score was a thing of beauty also - Joe hit Dez perfectly in stride and Dez stretched out those long arms of his to gather it in. Dez knows football.

17. Any surprises from the offense?

1. I didn't see any new trick plays from the Fridge, but it was interesting that Tech ran a lot of plays from the double wing formation that you see Air Force and Navy use so much. That's becoming one of their most effective weapons on offense. It also said a lot about Tech's offense that they could give up four turnovers and still score 49 points. And it was great to see Joe put up those two quick scores in the last 1:20 of the first half. That guy is a playmaker!

17. Since you were watching the game on ESPN, how were the announcers?

1. Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit were doing a little too much cheerleading for Maryland for my taste, but Corso did have an interesting response to the question of whether Hamilton has a strong enough arm to play in the NFL. "There's plenty of arm strength for Joe," Corso said. But how can that be? Over on the Vent, they keep posting that Joe has a "weak, below-average arm." Who am I to believe? A man who's been a head coach at the college level, or an ignorant redneck buffoon on the Vent? That's really a hard choice (nudge-nudge, wink-wink).

17. Hey, how about them dawgs, woof-woof-woof?

1. After another lucky win over a mediocre program, how about calling them the most overrated 4-0 team in the country? Georgia has now sweated out two games in a row by the margin of a missed conversion against teams they should have beat by 20 or 30 points. Of course, the dog-happy Atlanta media laps it all up. Coming into the LSU game, Beau Bock, a pimple on the underside of Atlanta radio for the past 25 years, was boasting that Georgia would easily cover the nine-point spread and "make a statement" with a "break-out game" that would "give Tennessee something to think about." Wrong on all counts, Beau. The only thing Tennessee is thinking about is how much fun they'll have pounding Quincy Carter into the Neyland Stadium turf. After the LSU game, Journal/Constitution lap dog Mark Bradley wrote another of his notorious suck-up columns brown-nosing Jim Donnan to eternity. Memo to Donnan: despite all those hugs and kisses from Bradley, don't expect the officials to bail you out in Knoxville with another bogus offensive pass interference call.

17. Yeah, but Quincy's really in the running for the Heisman Trophy, right?

1. Since Quincy completed 12 out of 28 passes for the grand total of 110 yards, we can safely conclude that his Heisman "campaign" (which only existed in the minds of deluded Georgia fans) has effectively ended.

17. Let's get down to the really important question: Who cut those doughnuts in the Sanford Stadium turf?

1. I talked to the head of the campus police, Capt. Cletus "Bassen" Dawgge, who said, "Our number one suspect is ESPN. After all, they've been out to get Georgia for more than a year. It all started last season when they deliberately kept running highlights of Ricky Williams to make sure Champ Bailey wouldn't get the Heisman trophy. Now, they're trying to rub it in by trashing our field!"

17. Getting away from Tech and Georgia for a minute, which school has the most underrated football program?

1. The winner of this year's "Rodney Dangerfield Award" for unappreciated football programs has to be East Carolina (which makes a serious run at this award almost every season). Steve Logan gets no respect (or mention) when the pundits and sportswriters talk about great coaches, but he's done a helluva job since replacing the man whose name must never be mentioned on this message board. East Carolina beats the pants off one or two ACC/Big East/SEC teams almost every year: N.C. State, South Carolina, West Virginia, Miami (twice in the past four seasons). Yet, no one takes them seriously. Dr. Football has always contended that East Carolina would be a great addition to the ACC and would upgrade the conference tremendously, but that's never going to happen for two reasons: 1. Greenville, N.C. is a minuscule media market and, 2. The "Tobacco Road" schools would never lower themselves to allow such a mongrel school into the conference. The very idea! Oh, well - it's the ACC's loss. Jeff Bower and Southern Miss are another contender for the Rodney Dangerfield Award. Over the past decade, the Golden Eagles have laid the wood to FSU, Alabama, Auburn, and - what was the name of that other SEC school they whipped? Oh, yeah - Georgia.

17. Well, then, what are the most overrated football programs?

1. This year's easy winner is Miami. Dr. Football never bought into the BS that the Hurricanes were back and were going to contend for the NC. They've already blown two games, are about to lose another (to FSU) and will probably lose a fourth (to Virginia Tech). What a joke! After watching Georgia play Central Florida and LSU, it looks like Miami may have some competition for the "most overrated" designation from one of the SEC schools.

17. Why are Jim Donnan's cheeks so big?

1. Dr. Football presumes you are talking about the coach's facial cheeks. If you're talking about the other variety, then I just don't want to go there. Now, Dr. Football is no entomologist (he holds a degree in reflex kinesiology from Life University), but his considered professional opinion would be that Coach Donnan has probably been stung several times in the facial area by a member of the insect family Vespidae, more colloquially known as "Yellowjackets." Either that, or like some larger-than-life squirrel he's storing away a lot of nuts for the winter.

17. Is George O'Leary God?

1. I know that adoration of the head coach among some Tech followers rises nearly to the level of religious worship, but it might be a bit premature to start comparing him to God. He is certainly Buddha-like in his physical appearance and sagacious pronouncements. On the other hand, he once hired John Anselmo to coach the defensive secondary, which proves that he is not omniscient (one of the qualifications that all God-like leaders must have). At this point, I think Coach O would settle for being compared to Old Testament prophets like John the Baptist or Ezekiel. If he can run the table and finish 10-1 this year - and teach his players how to tackle - then Dr. Football will be open to the idea of reconsidering the coach's application for God-hood.

17. Is Beano Cook senile, or is he just a stupid cementhead?

1. Sadly, yes.