November 20, 2000

1. That's a much more interesting question today than it was back on Aug. 26. The conventional wisdom on this game among fans and sportswriters has flipped 180 degrees since the season began.

   Back in those halcyon days of August, Georgia fans were smugly predicting an undefeated season, an SEC championship and an automatic "W" over the Jackets. Tech fans weren't sure how the loss of Joe Hamilton would affect the team and wondered if an eight-win season was even possible.

   How things have changed. Tech is coming into the game with eight wins overall, the momentum of six straight victories, a much improved defense and the hottest quarterback in the country. Georgia comes into the game assured that it will finish 8-3 or worse for the third straight regular season - and remember all those Georgia fans who once told us that an 8-3 record is "unacceptable" to them?

   The conventional wisdom among sportswriters and the talk radio types now is that Tech's program is on the upswing and Georgia's program is on the downswing. The same Georgia fans who once boasted they'd be able to mail in a 30-point victory against Tech are now nervously wondering if their coaches will ever be able to figure out a way to neutralize Ralph Friedgen's play-calling (hint to Georgia fans: they won't). I haven't seen such a bunch of scrunched-up rectums in Dawgnation since . . . well, since the last Florida game.

   This is not to say that all mutt fans have given up hope. There are a number of Georgia fans posting on the Hive - Dave the Dawg is a good example - who seem to believe that a football team's quality is directly correlated to the number of seats in that team's stadium. These muttsters regularly and predictably taunt that there's no way Tech can ever beat Georgia because Sanford Stadium has 86,000 seats and Bobby Dodd Stadium only seats 46,000. (I guess that means Tech's victories in 1998 and 1999 were hallucinations, although I could have sworn I saw Luke Manget's field goal go through the uprights in overtime.) Come on, guys - that stadium capacity argument is really getting stale. Is that the best smack you can bring?

   When you point out the inconvenient facts of the 21-19 and 51-48 scores from the past two seasons, the muttsters then fall back on the tired argument that ACC teams are so inferior that it's impossible for an SEC school ever to lose to an ACC school. Which again ignores the history of the 1998 and 1999 seasons, when ACC teams beat SEC teams in eight out of 10 regular season matchups. The ACC is 2-2 against the SEC in head-to-head games this season, for a regular season record of 10-4 dating back to the beginning of 1998. The SEC has conclusively proved that it can beat Wake Forest and Duke - but so what? What SEC teams cannot do is beat the ACC's upper echelon teams like FSU, Tech and Clemson.

   Call me crazy, but I still cling to the deluded notion that football games are decided by how well a team performs on the field, not by which team has the bigger stadium or is from the more prestigious conference. Judging Tech and Georgia strictly on the basis of how they have performed under game conditions, I think a Tech win is well within the realm of possibility. Tech has been improving from game to game, while Georgia has been going downhill. Tech has faced two teams that were ranked in the Top 10 and held both of them to fewer than 30 points. No team Tech has played this year scored 30 on them in regulation. I think they can hold Georgia under 30 points, and possibly under 20. I don't think Georgia's defense can hold Tech to fewer than 30 points. (For that matter, Georgia's defense gave up 30 points to a team that finished 2-9.)

   Tech has especially improved at quarterback and along the offensive line. Georgia seems to have gotten more disorganized and erratic, especially at quarterback and along the offensive line. Tech has a genuine team chemistry with a bunch of guys who like their teammates, who learn from their mistakes, and who want to do better every week. Georgia appears to be falling apart, with players swinging at coaches and missing games because of phantom injuries.

   On the basis of that wild, irrational train of thought, I think Tech can win - even though its stadium only seats 46,000 and it's not a member of the SEC. That doesn't mean that Tech WILL win. It would be a mistake for fans at either school to assume that this game is already wrapped up. The history of this series since 1995 indicates that the game will be decided by a field goal or touchdown in the final seconds - which means either team could win it. I don't predict a victory for either school, at this point. But it's no longer foreordained that all Georgia has to do is show up to win. That isn't going to happen.

1. I think Ted proved before the Virginia game that he was more than up to the job of defensive coordinator, but it surely was nice to see them get that bagel against the Hoos. I still can't figure out if Tech's defense is that good or Virginia's offense is that bad, but there's no longer any question that the defense is much improved over last season - after all, the number of points they allowed Virginia went from 45 last season to zero this season. The first team defense allowed a total of three touchdowns combined in the Clemson, Virginia and Maryland games. The team is now giving up less than 20 points a game, which is really all you need when the offense is clicking the way it is. It's a good indicator when you can hold the ACC's leading rusher (Antoine Womack) to 44 yards and one of the ACC's all-time career gainers (Lamont Jordan) to 25 yards on 14 carries. The defense should certainly be able to contain all those "next Herschel Walkers" playing for Georgia.

   No one has really talked about him much, but a player who's stepped up and done the job this year on defense is Tony Robinson. He's starting because of the injury to Guenter Kryszon and the grades of Berwin Echols, but Tony's done a solid job at DT with Merrix Watson. What we thought would be a weak link on defense has not been a liability at all. Tony's been a good starter and Bryan Corhen has contributed quality minutes as a backup. They've both redeemed themselves as seniors, and I couldn't be happier for them. Tito Claybrooks is another player who's put in a good performance in his last year. Claybrooks is technically a backup at DE, but he's made as many big plays as any of the other defensive linemen - even on running plays, which were supposedly his weak point. Lastly, you've got to commend Gary Johnson for making the switch from blocking back to DT. He made a great play against Virginia when he knocked down Dan Ellis' pass to send the Hoos to three-and-out.

1. I can't think of a more balanced performance by a Tech team during the O'Leary era - they really had George "Grumpy" Welsh picking his nose on the sideline. The only criticism I would make is that the offense kept breaking down in the red zone during the second and third quarters. Tech should have won the game 55-0 rather than 35-0.

   The offensive performance was as brutally efficient as anything Tech did during the Joe Hamilton years. Not one single time did Tech have to punt against Virginia. Not one. On the first three series in the first quarter, the Jackets looked like a well-oiled machine as they moved the ball up and down the field against Virginia. I don't know that anyone could have stopped them that night.

   The Maryland game, I thought, was very similar. The final score could have been 42-7 or 49-7, but O'Leary was classy enough to sit down the first team early and give the second- and third-teamers some playing time.

   As George Godsey showed against Virginia and Maryland, he just gets better and better every week. He still can't gain more than two yards when running the ball on the option, but who cares? He's playing in a zone right now, and I hope he can keep doing it for at least two more games.

1. No way. While it's true that Tech has won six games in a row, but let's keep them in the proper perspective. Two of those wins were against Wake Forest and Duke, who have won a combined two games between them. Two of those wins were against North Carolina and Maryland, who have already fired their coaches. One of those wins was against Virginia, whose AD is already talking about what will happen when the current coach leaves. The one quality win was against Clemson, which turned out to be just a little overrated (although still a fine team and a good representative of the ACC in the upcoming Gator Bowl). I don't think Georgia is nearly as good as its fans think it is, but its defense may be a little better than what Tech has faced over the last six games.

   The biggest thing to worry about is the law of averages. After six excellent games in a row, Tech is due to play a bad game at some point. Will that point be the Georgia game? Will George Godsey suddenly throw three interceptions? Will the offensive line have an off day and give up five sacks? Will Tech cough up the ball on turnovers? All of those scenarios are possible, and any of them could give Georgia the edge in a close game (and history tells us this will be a close game). Bottom line: nothing is guaranteed. Tech will have to focus, focus, focus!! Fortunately, I think the team has the kind of coaching staff that will keep them properly focused. I also think the guys are fully aware of what it will take to win. Keep your fingers crossed.

1. I'll defer to Coach O'Leary on this, who was asked a similar question on his radio show Monday night. "It won't affect us," said George. "We'll call what we normally call." With so much film available on Tech, I would imagine Georgia is familiar with every play that Friedgen might call. What good will it do them? It doesn't help you to know what play is coming if the play is well-executed. Georgia knew last year that Tech would throw the ball deep at some point to Kelly Campbell, but they still couldn't keep him out of the end zone. Do you think they'll have any more success stopping him this year?

1. Bill Lewis, alas, had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time during his tenure as head coach here. Part of it was his fault - he was not really qualified to be a head coach of a major college program and he was a wretched recruiter. But he was also, in part, a victim of circumstances.

   If you look at Lewis' record at Wyoming, East Carolina and Tech, you see a man who was essentially a career 5-6 coach. He was able to catch lightning in a bottle and go 11-1 at East Carolina in 1991, but he never matched that record in any other season as a head coach. In retrospect, it's obvious that the one great season at East Carolina was due more to Jeff Blake's monster performance at quarterback than to Lewis' coaching abilities, but Homer Rice was dazzled by that 11-1 record and hired him to replace Bobby Ross. Big mistake.

   It was bad enough that Lewis was not qualified to be a head coach at a Division I school and never should have been hired in the first place. It also didn't help that Tech's recruiting fell off drastically in the two seasons before he was hired. Bobby Ross won a national championship in 1990 with some Bill Curry holdovers and some young kids from two great recruiting classes. The 1988 recruiting class - which included Shawn Jones, Marco Coleman, Willie Clay, Kevin Battle, Emmett Merchant, Bobby Rodriguez, Ken Swilling and Jerrelle Williams - was arguably the most talented class in the school's history. The 1989 class - which included Coleman Rudolph, William Bell, Jeff Wright, Marlon Williams, Calvin Tiggle, Scott Sisson, Richard Kimsey, Marcus Coleman and Brian Baxter - wasn't far behind. Those guys were the nucleus of the national championship team, but Ross could not follow through on that success and did not have good recruiting classes in 1990 and 1991. Does anyone remember Wade Mancil, Damon Wilson, Raleigh Boulware, Harry Jackson, Chuck Vernau, or Greg Badio? Those were some of the players recruited during Ross' last two seasons.

   Lewis followed up those two subpar recruiting classes with three classes that were even weaker, if that's possible. When you add to that his shortcomings as a head coach, it's easy to see how the program went downhill so quickly.

   Lewis was not an evil man, and he was hardly a "satan." He was simply a good assistant coach who should never have been promoted to a head coaching position. He's certainly been punished in the past few years - he was dismissed from the Tech job in the most humiliating way possible, and one of his sons was later killed in a helicopter accident. I think the man has suffered enough, and it's time for all of us to quit bashing him on the Hive. He was not a very good head coach, but that's no reason to keep cursing his name. Can we please call a moratorium on it?

1. The best answer I've seen to this question was posted on one of the Georgia message boards a couple of hours after Auburn beat the mutts. It was posted by someone with the handle "Sausage Dawg" and I really couldn't improve on the insights it offers:
   
   Subject: Here's how to cope
   Posted by: Sausage Dawg
   

   I think I've found the answer that makes coping with losses a snap. I mean, until I decided to take a peek at this board, I hadn't even thought about the Dawgs' loss tonight since a few minutes after the game. The answer...Expect to lose.

   Expect to run the option when everyone in the civilized world knows you're going to run the option. Expect to lose.

   Expect Jonas to jump early in a critical situation -- c'mon, he's only a 5th year senior. Expect to lose.

   Expect the opponent to pile up unbelievable yardage after contact while the Dawgs, conversely, are routinely stuffed 1-on-1. Expect to lose.

   Expect to get most plays off with only milliseconds to spare -- with the occasional delay calls of course -- when a little hustle and better clock management would come in handy (do you think there's a chance in hell we could run a no-huddle -- HA!). Expect to lose.

   Expect Randy McMichael to push and shove and smack-talk and generally show his ass . . . and drop about 2 or 3 passes in the process. Expect to lose.

   Expect Bruce Thornton to run about as far sideways on kickoff returns (without crossing the 20) as opponents generally do running straight ahead, which is to say about 40-50 yards. Expect to lose.

   Expect Musa to make cameo appearances. Expect to lose.

   Expect pathetically poor blocking about 75-80% of the time. Expect to lose.

   Expect to be soooooo close on many plays, but to not quite execute properly. Expect to lose.

   Expect to see someone else wearing the SEC crown year after year after year after year . . . Expect to lose.

   You see, my friends, the expectation of winning is a burden that must be cast off if our Dawgs are to be enjoyed under this current regime. Just appreciate the trappings of the games and seasons without harboring hopes of actually winning games.

   Then, if we slip up and do the fundamental things that other good teams do to win and -- voila! -- WE WIN, the experience will be that much more special because we expected to lose.

   I love the Dawgs and I look forward to our game with Ole Miss 'tween the fences next week which, I expect, we will lose.

1. There are so many Tech players I admire that it would be impossible to pick only one favorite. Now, among non-Tech players, it's no contest: my all-time favorite is Big Jim Slade, former tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. That guy really knew how to go to the hole!