Bleacher Report - Articles by Bobby

The Curse of the Consecutive Thursday Night Game

Bobby — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:57:01 -0400

Before the 2009 season began, I picked up on a trend from the prior year involving ACC teams which played consecutive Thursday night games. Upon looking at my team's 2009 schedule, I was concerned and for a good reason. Apparently, as Georgia Tech lost to Miami. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a look at the trend I’m referring to.

Simply put, ACC teams which play two consecutive Thursday night games tend to win the first (typically played at home) and lose the second (typically played away).

Let’s have a look at the 2008 season.

Virginia Tech

Thursday, November 6th 2008: Maryland at Virginia Tech. VT wins.

Thursday, November 13th 2008: Virginia Tech at Miami: VT loses.

Miami

Thursday, November 13th 2008: Virginia Tech at Miami. Miami wins.

Thursday, November 20th 2008: Miami at Georgia Tech. Miami loses.

I know this isn’t really enough games to be a statistical trend but it was enough for me to pick up on.

If I were a Coach or athletic director I would avoid scheduling consecutive Thursday night games like the plague. However, I would welcome with open arms catching other teams on the back end of their consecutive Thursday night stretch.

Now let’s take a look at the 2009 season.

Georgia Tech

Thursday, September 10th 2009: Clemson at Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech wins.

Thursday, September 17th, 2009: Georgia Tech at Miami. Georgia Tech loses.

North Carolina

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009: Florida State at North Carolina: Winner TBD (Prediction UNC Wins)

Thursday, October 29th, 2009: North Carolina at Virginia Tech: Winner TBD (Prediction VT wins).

Virginia Tech

Thursday, October 29th, 2009: North Carolina at Virginia Tech: Winner TBD (Prediction VT wins).

Thursday, November 5th, 2009: Virginia Tech at East Carolina: Winner TBD (Prediction ECU wins). Upset Alert!

So the curse basically predicts that UNC will beat FSU, VT will beat UNC, and ECU will beat VT.

However, this trend thus far has only applied to ACC teams playing each other. So throwing ECU into the mix is an unknown.

Also of note, both UNC and VT get a bye week prior to their consecutive Thursday night games. Will this be a factor?

Has this trend shown up in other conferences that play consecutive Thursday night games?

So fans of UNC and VT, enjoy your home win that first Thursday night, but beware of the curse of the second consecutive Thursday night game.

FSU fans, sorry for your luck.

And ECU fans, you would be wise not to miss this year’s game against VT.

Ranking the ACC Coastal: Six Significant Factors, One Ticket to Tampa

Bobby — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:41:19 -0400

Football season is right around the corner and below you will find predictions about how the teams in the Coastal division of the ACC may finish. (Check my other articles for the Atlantic Predictions) This list rates the teams in order from last to first in how they may finish in their division. No attempt is made a predicting a teams win loss column. Warning, this isn’t your average mainstream media predictions. You may find my list in a significantly different order than most out there right now. Six factors were used in the making of this list and here they are: 2008 wins – in order to be favorable the team must have won at least eight games How they performed in second half of 2008 – The win/loss columns from the second half of last season. ACC away schedule – a simple measure of how difficult the teams ACC away schedule is in 2009 Living up to expectations – Historically how the team typically performs compared to how they are expected to finish in their division. QB Experience – does the team start a junior or senior? Defense – Does the team have a top 25 defense nationally and do they return most starters

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Ranking the ACC Atlantic: Six Significant Factors, One Ticket To Tampa

Bobby — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:07:17 -0400

Football season is right around the corner and below you will find predictions about how the teams in the Atlantic division of the ACC may finish using six significant factors. This list rates the teams in order from last to first in how they may finish in their division. No attempt is made a predicting a teams win loss column. Warning, this isn’t your average mainstream media predictions. You will find my list in a significantly different order than most out there right now. Six factors were used in the making of this list and here they are 2008 wins – in order to be favorable the team must have won at least eight games How they performed in second half of 2008 – The win/loss columns from the second half of last season. ACC away schedule – a simple measure of how difficult the teams ACC away schedule is in 2009 Living up to expectations – Historically how the team typically performs compared to how they are expected to finish in their division. QB Experience – does the team start a junior or senior? Defense – Does the team have a top 25 defense nationally and do they return most starters or lose them?

Begin Slideshow

Evaluating Georgia Tech's Goals for 2009

Bobby — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:21:15 -0400

At the beginning of last season, the Georgia Tech football team set five goals for 2008.

Let's take a look at what those goals were, how the Jackets handled them, and consider what their goals might be for 2009.

Georgia Tech’s 2008 Goals:

1. Beat UGA

Unless you have been living under a rock, you already know that Paul Johnson’s team successfully accomplished its top goal from last season.

That is quite an achievement, especially when looking from the perspective of last preseason. Tech was written off by ESPN and most media outlets while UGA was ranked No. 1 in the country. The Yellow Jackets truly overcame adversity during that game.

2. ACC Champs

While most of the country is high on Virginia Tech right now, a Georgia Tech fan will tell you that VT only barely squeaked by in winning the Coastal last season. The Jackets did not accomplish their No. 2 goal, but they came damn close.

The Ramblin’ Wreck was 5-3 in the ACC in 2008, a record that tied Virginia Tech for Coastal domination. However, Virginia Tech won the tie-breaker in the head-to-head matchup because they beat GT at Lane Stadium early in the season by three points.

3. Undefeated at home

The University of Virginia wrecked the Wreck’s third goal of the season. Other than this, the Jacket’s were 6-1 at home, with a couple of too-close-for-comfort games, but nonetheless wins.

4. Lead Nation in Turnover Margin

The Jackets finished 49th in the country in turnover margin last season and here's why.

Tech was 19th in total turnovers gained (thanks in large part to Morgan Burnett’s seven interceptions) but 89th in turnovers lost.

I believe this goal was thrown in the mix for two main reasons.

The first is that any new team learning Paul Johnson’s offense will be prone to turnovers. Therefore, having players keep an awareness of this at all times is crucial.

Secondly, a team’s turnover margin correlates very well with championship teams. I will not go into details but have a look at the stats for yourself at www.cfbstats.com. (Guess which team’s finished in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots).

5. Top ten rushing offense and defense

The Jackets accomplished half of this goal last season; they finished fourth in the country in rushing offense and 24th in rushing defense.

So what do you think Georgia Tech’s top five goals will be for 2009?

Here’s my guess:

1. ACC Champs

Paul Johnson had to beat Georgia last year so he could cross that goal off his list and move on to other things in year two. This is not to say that Johnson or the team or the Tech fans don’t want to continue to beat UGA every year.

It simply removes the game from its front and center status. In this sense, beating UGA was more than just an emotional victory, revenge, redemption or bragging rights.

If the Jackets do make winning the ACC their priority in 2009, Virginia Tech and the media would be wise to take note of what the Jackets did to their No. 1 goal from '08.

2. Undefeated at home

Simply bumping up goal No. 3 from last year, the nice thing about this goal in 2009 is that it includes beating UGA.

Paul Johnson seems like the person to me who takes winning at home very seriously and I believe he will always make protecting Grant Field a priority.

Not only does staying undefeated at home give you a base .500 record every year, but it builds the team’s confidence and tears down the opponents. Also, it sells tickets.

3. Lead Nation in Turnover Margin

Again, I’m just bumping up goals from last year.

Morgan Burnett and the rest of the secondary from last season return in 2009 to make sure turnovers gained remains a strength.

If Paul Johnson’s previous teams are any indicator of future performance, expect fumbles to drastically decrease in the Jackets second year.

I can see the Jackets making it into the top 20 in turnover margin in 2009.

4. Top ten rushing offense and defense

I think it is a very safe bet to say that Georgia Tech will lead the nation in rushing yards in 2009, after all Navy has successfully done it for the past four seasons thanks to none other than Paul Johnson.

Tech averaged 273 rushing yards per game last season. I can see the Jackets averaging 350 in 2009. In Paul Johnson’s 12 years as a coach, his teams have averaged 327 rushing yards per game.

The defense, however, is less predictable. While Tech lost three very valuable starters on the front line, their secondary is extremely talented. It will be interesting to see how Dave Wommack and the Jackets defense perform in 2009.

5. Special Teams

Since I ran out of goals from last season to bump up, I figured that maybe the fifth goal in 2009 will be related to special teams. This was a weakness for Tech last season and has a lot of room for improvement.

Toe meets leather in 55 days!

What do you think GT's top goals should be for 2009?

Tyrod Taylor Vs Jaybo Shaw

Bobby — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 02:46:34 -0400

There are a few articles out there right now comparing Virginia Tech’s starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor with Georgia Tech’s starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt. Many comparisons can be made, as the two have very similar characteristics.

However, to mix things up a bit, I thought it would be interesting to compare Tyrod Taylor instead with Georgia Tech’s backup quarterback Jaybo Shaw.

To be fair, I wanted to follow up this article with another comparing Josh Nesbitt with Virginia Tech’s backup quarterback Ju-Ju Clayton; however, he is a freshmen this year, and has had no college experience for which to compare.

Overview:

There are some major differences between the two quarterbacks. Tyrod will be a junior this year while Jaybo is starting on his sophomore season.

In his first two years, Tyrod has started fifteen games with Virginia Tech, winning 13 of them. He has played in a total of 23 games.

In Jaybo’s first year with Georgia Tech, he started just one game and played in a total of seven, so Tyrod has started fourteen more games then Jaybo and played in over three times as many.

The data I will be looking at for each quarterback is from last season and includes; estimated quarters played, passing yards, passing touchdowns, rushing yards, rushing touchdowns, total yards, and total touchdowns.

Quarters played:

Twelve quarters are what I estimated Jaybo to have played in last season, and this will be used to estimate yards per quarter.

Jaybo started only one game (against Duke), but in addition played nearly the entire game against Mississippi State, half of the Florida State game, and parts of the Miami, UNC and Jacksonville St games. He also came in for three snaps against UGA. Of these seven games, Georgia Tech was 6-1 losing only to UNC.

Thirty-six quarters are what I estimate Tyrod to have played in last season.

He started ten games last season against Georgia Tech, UNC, Nebraska, Western Kentucky, Boston College, FSU (injured on first play), Duke (pulled after first half), Virginia, the ACC Championship and the Orange Bowl. He also played parts of the Furman and Miami games. Of the eleven games Tyrod played in (I am not counting FSU), Virginia Tech was 8-2 losing to Boston College and Miami.

Passing:

Tyrod Taylor’s completion percentage last season was 57.2 percent, with a total of 1,036 passing yards, seven interceptions, and two touchdowns. Tyrod averaged six yards per attempt and 29 yards per quarter, which yields about five pass attempts per quarter.

Jaybo Shaw’s completion percentage last season was 60 percent, with a total of 321 passing yards, one interception, and two touchdowns. Jaybo also averaged 12.8 yards per attempt and 27 yards per quarter, which yields about two pass attempts per quarter.

First off, we can see that while both quarterbacks averaged very similar passing yards per quarter, Tyrod made many shorter passes. Jaybo passed much less, but when he did, threw the ball much farther. This is, of course, indicative of each team’s offensive style, Georgia Tech relying more heavily on the running game, but passing deep whenever they did throw.

While the data shows that Tyrod achieved many more passing yards than Jaybo last season, it seems that this was primarily due to the additional twenty-four quarters of playing time Tyrod received, and not passing ability (again refer to their averages per attempt, per quarter, and completion percentage).

Next, it is even more interesting to see that Tyrod achieved no more passing touchdowns on the season than Jaybo did, even though he played so much more time. Now this doesn’t mean Virginia Tech didn’t capitalize on those additional yards in one form or another (be it possession time or a rushing score) but it does make the case that Tyrod is less efficient in converting those yards gained into points.

On average, Tyrod scored a passing touchdown for every 518 passing yards gained or, put differently, for every 887 total yards gained (he had 1,774 total yards on the season).

On the other hand, Jaybo scored a passing touchdown every 161 passing yards gained or every 261 total yards gained (he had 521 total yards on the season).

So those are some major differences.

Finally, one should note that while Tyrod played three times as many quarters as Jaybo last season, he had seven times as many interceptions. No further analysis required on this one.

Passing goes to Jaybo Shaw.

Rushing:

Tyrod Taylor rushed for 738 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging five yards per attempt and 21 yards per quarter, which yields about four rush attempts per quarter.

Jaybo Shaw rushed for 200 yards and three touchdowns, averaging three yards per attempt and 17 yards per quarter which yields about six rush attempts per quarter.

First off, we can note that Jaybo attempted to run the ball slightly more often than Tyrod. Again, this reflects Georgia Tech’s offense; the quarterback keeps the ball more often.

Next, we can see that once again Tyrod’s additional play time contributed toward much higher rush yards on the season, but also again Jaybo seemed to capitalize on his rush yards more efficiently.

Tyrod averaged a rushing touchdown every 105 rushing yards gained or every 253 total yards gained or every 5.1 quarters.

Jaybo averaged a rushing touchdown every 67 rushing yards gained or every 173 total yards gained or every 4 quarters.

Rushing is too close to call. While Tyrod averaged more rush yards per carry and more rush yards per quarter, Jaybo was better at converting his yards into points on the scoreboard; after all, points win games, not yards.

Total Offense:

Tyrod Taylor

1,774 total yards (49 total yards per quarter)

9 touchdowns (averaged a touchdown every 4 quarters played)

7 interceptions (averaged an interception every 5.1 quarters played)

On average Tyrod scored a touchdown every time he moved the ball 197 yards by either passing or rushing.

Jaybo Shaw

521 total yards (43 total yards per quarter)

5 touchdowns (averaged a touchdown every 2.4 quarters played)

1 interception (averaged an interception every 12 quarters played)

On average Jaybo scored a touchdown every time he moved the ball 104 yards by either passing or rushing.

So Tyrod was able to gain six more yards per quarter than Jaybo but it took him an additional 93 yards between touchdowns. In every other category Jaybo has the edge so while Tyrod did gain more yards and scores than Jaybo last season this seems to be simply due to the additional play time he received.

Total offense goes to Jaybo Shaw.

Summary:

In summary, Jaybo appears to be a better passer and a more efficient quarterback at converting yards into points. Tyrod likely gets the edge in rushing, but in Georgia Tech’s run-heavy offense Jaybo doesn’t lag too far behind.

Does this mean Frank Beamer would trade Tyrod Taylor for Georgia Tech’s backup quarterback Jaybo Shaw if he could?

Certainly not, after all Tyrod is the face of Virginia Tech right now, and much of the hopes and dreams (and consequently pressure) of VT fans ride on his shoulders.

But for a Georgia Tech fan, looking over these numbers sure does make you sleep well at night. Oh, and did I mention Ju-Ju Clayton has no college experience?

Roddy Jones: The ACC's Best A-Back

Bobby — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:31:20 -0400

I’m no sports expert, and I don’t get face-time interviews with players or anything like that, but as a fan I can tell you at least a little something about one of Georgia Tech’s best active players.

His name is Roddy Jones.

As a red shirt freshman last year, Jones played the A-back position with the Ramblin’ Wreck. He racked up 690 rushing yards and averaged 8.5 yards per carry doing it!

Only one other college player last season who rushed for at least 200 yards averaged higher than this—Percy Harvin (the junior from the University of Florida who was taken in the first round of the NFL draft, and rushed for 660 yards last season averaging 9.43 yards per carry).

It’s not just about the numbers; Roddy showed that he can perform very well, perhaps his best, in the biggest games against ranked teams.

Case in point:

On Nov. 29, 2008 in Athens, Roddy ran for 214 yards and two touchdowns on just 13 carries against the preseason No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs to help lead the Jackets to a 45-42 victory.

After the game, Jones said, “Growing up, all I heard about was how great Georgia was. It’s great to be a part of the team that ends that streak.”

On his first touchdown, Roddy dove into the end zone. His second was a 54-yard tight-rope sprint right down the sideline, breaking two tackles along the way (see the associated picture).

In addition to doing his duty on the offensive unit, Roddy was Georgia Tech’s primary kick returner last season, averaging 23.6 yards on 15 returns.

So, while much of the spotlight this preseason is shone on Jonathan Dwyer, it would be foolish for any opposing team or fan to overlook Roddy Jones.

At Georgia Tech, it seems there is always another great running back in the shadows, lurking, just waiting to break out (see Dwyer’s predecessors in Tashard Choice & P.J. Daniels).

(Very recently Roddy dislocated his wrist during some routine weight workouts and is reportedly wearing a brace. While he may miss some preseason practices reports are that he should be ready to go come September. Here’s wishing you a speedy recovery Roddy!)

Please leave your comments on Roddy Jones and the rest of the Georgia Tech team below.

Statistics on Georgia Tech's Side

Bobby — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:38 -0400

Are Coaches Better in Their Second Year?

So as a Georgia Tech fan and alumnus, and being that our new coach Paul Johnson is entering his second year at Tech, I wanted to do an analysis of how coaches fair in year two versus year one.

Now since I can’t do this for every coach out there I chose to specifically look at the “best” coaches. I understand the word best is subjective so I quickly put together a list of fifteen very good college football coaches in no particular order based on polls I found on line.

Also because this analysis uses the best coaches it is not in any means an accurate reflection of the overall coaching population however it may reflect a trend among those elite coaches.

The following is the list of the fifteen coaches used (again, in no particular order):

Pete Carroll

Jim Tressel

Urban Meyer

Frank Beamer

Butch Davis

Joe Paterno

Jim Grobe

Les Miles

Bob Stoops

Mark Richt

Nick Saban

Rick Rodriquez

Tommy Tuberville

Steve Spurrier

Bobby Bowden

The data used was taken from each coach’s current team or most current team from where he coached at least two years.

The results were very telling:

First, Let’s Look at the Win Column:

None of the above coaches lost more games in year two than in year one. None.

The smallest increase in wins was zero by Les Miles at LSU (2005, 2006). The largest increase in wins was seven, by Jim Tressel at Ohio State (2001, 2002).

The average increase in wins from year one to year two was 3.8.

In terms of percentage increase the average increase in the win column from year one to year two was 71 percent. That’s nearly double the wins.

So all of the coaches had an increase in wins in their second year of between 0 and 7 and of those 67 percent* of them achieved an increase in wins of between 1 and 6.

So how about losses?

Only one coach out of the above fifteen had one more loss in his second year than in his first, Jim Grobe at Wake Forest (1987, 1988). All other coaches either broke even or had fewer losses. The largest decrease in losses was five, by Jim Tressel at Ohio State (2001, 2002).

The average percentage decrease in losses from year one to two was 48% or about half the losses.

So all of the coaches had a decrease in losses in their second year between -1 and 5 and of those 67 percent* achieved a decrease in losses of between 0 and 4.

*Assuming a normal distribution and rounding

Summary

So if you want to make predictions about how a team will do under a coach in his second year, and assuming (a big assumption, mind you) that the coach in question is of elite status, one can predict that he will at least break even or do better than his record in year one.

With that being said I predict the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets win at least nine games in 2009, with a high probability that they win more than nine.

However, people love to debate the hell out of such predictions no matter what any statistics say.

Case in point: statistics correctly predicted the outcome of last years Presidential election well before the election took place, based on simple but very telling historical data going back nearly sixty years; however, the media debated the hell out of it every hour of every day leading up to the election and both sides had people completely convinced that there guy would win.

I digress. Go Jackets!

A Preview of The Georgia Tech 2009 Football Season

Bobby — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:07:54 -0400

Toe meets leather at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Grant Field at 1:00 pm eastern time September 5th, 2009. Here is an inside look at the jackets schedule this year.

9-5 Jacksonville State – The Jackets crushed Jacksonville State last year in their very first game under Coach Paul Johnson. They put up 349 rushing yards and 135 passing yards. Being way more disciplined now then they were a year ago there is no reason to believe this will be anything less than a spanking. The score will probably be run up early and a lot of second and third string players will see game play so the first string can rest.

Also of note: Jacksonville State's team will again be led by former LSU quarterback Ryan Perrilloux who in 2007 led the LSU tigers to victory in the SEC Championship against Tennessee.

9-10 Clemson – This game was somewhat close last year but GT played with confidence for sixty minutes, something it did all season, which helped reach victory. This year it is a Thursday night game at home for Tech and will be nationally televised on ESPN. In addition it is rumored that this game will be a “white out”.

Also of note: Last year Tech hosted a white out on a Thursday night against Miami and we all know the outcome of that game.

9-17 @ Miami – This will be Georgia Tech’s second nationally televised Thursday night game of the season and its third game in just twelve days! Unlike last year I think Miami will put up much more of a fight. Miami was very on and off last year (They beat VT exactly one week prior to losing to the jackets). I believe this game will be a very good indicator of how GT will fare the rest of the season.

Also of note: GT currently has a 4 game win streak going against the U.

9-26 North Carolina – Paul Johnson will not have forgotten the loss in Chapel Hill last year and will have the Jackets ready to win. While many people hype Butch Davis and his team I just don’t see UNC being a football power house.

Also of note: UNC’s defense gave Tech problems last year (Tech rushed for 326 yards but only got 7 points out of it) and all four defensive line starters are returning along with most of the rest of their defense. For this reason this game will be an interesting gauge of the so called “you can figure Paul Johnson’s offense out after a year” syndrome that many people seem to have. If UNC beat Tech last year they should be able to do it again right? Right??

10-3 @ Mississippi State – Last year Mississippi State was the first of three “Bulldogs” that the Ramblin’ Wreck knocked off (the others being Gardner Webb and UGA). At the time last year most people were still very skeptical of GT’s apparent success and dismissed the victory as a win over an SEC “bottom feeder”.

Also of note: Josh Nesbitt was injured in GT’s first drive of this game last year and Jaybo Shaw did an excellent job leading the jackets to victory.

10-10 @ FSU – This will be perhaps the Jackets hardest game of the regular season and here are the reasons why; it’s an away game, the Jackets are 1-12 against Bobby Bowden, FSU’s players will be out for blood after last years last minute defeat and finally because FSU has a very solid team this year that could make a run for the ACC championship. Like the Miami game this will be a good indicator of just how good the jackets are.

Also of note: This was another game last year where Nesbitt got injured (in the third quarter) and Jaybo came in to cover. This time Jaybo did not perform as well, turning over the ball twice which helped lead to FSU’s “almost” comeback.

10-17 Virginia Tech – While I have already said that the FSU game will be GT’s hardest game in the regular season this one will be the most important. The winner of the GT - VT game has gone to the ACC Championship every year. It’s even true before VT joined the ACC when in 1990 GT defeated VT and went on to get a piece of the National Championship. Paul Johnson and the jackets know the importance of this game and will come out playing with everything they have. With both teams having strong offensives I believe this will be a high scoring and close game.

Also of note: You can’t read an article these days about Virginia Tech football without seeing the name Tyrod Taylor. Is this a good thing or a bad thing for VT? One thing is certain; VT has very little depth at quarterback beyond him. For this reason and a number of others I believe VT is somewhat overrated in preseason rankings.

10-24 @ Virginia – Let me start off by saying Paul Johnson likes to break streaks. In his first year at Tech he broke the 12 game losing streak to FSU, the 7 game losing streak to UGA and the 12 game homecoming winning streak for Tech. (Every GT fan would gladly trade breaking those first two for the latter). And that homecoming loss came at the hands of Virginia, a team that most people believed GT could beat handily. So based on the first sentence of this paragraph the fact that Tech hasn’t won in Charlottesville since 1990 bodes well for the Jackets.

Also of note: This year Virginia is switching to a spread offense and gets a new offensive coordinator, a new defensive coordinator (their head coach Al Groh), and a new special teams coordinator.

10-31 @ Vanderbilt – It’s a Halloween game in Nashville! Tech will be playing its fourth away game out of the last five. I have heard some say that since Vanderbilt plays army every year, which runs a somewhat similar offense to Tech that they will be better prepared for the triple option offense. However I believe that no other offense can prepare you for what Paul Johnson brings, he’s offense is completely unique.

Also of note: Vanderbilt will have played Tech’s arch nemesis UGA exactly two weeks prior so it will be interesting to compare the scores of these two games. Of course everyone knows that that sort of circular connection means nothing in college football, especially when a rivalry is on the line.

11-07 Wake Forest – The last time these two teams played was in the 2006 ACC Championship where Wake Forest won. With the exception of that 2006 run Wake Forest hasn’t necessarily been a football power house under Jim Grobe and a lot has changed for GT since then with a new coach and a new offense. A possible advantage for Jim Grobe however is that he played Navy twice last year which still runs the same triple option offense under Paul Johnson’s previous apprentice Ken Niumatalolo.

Also of note: Paul Johnson and Jim Grobe have played each other twice before, in 2002 and 2007, when Paul Johnson coached at Navy. Paul Johnson lost both of those match-ups. Could it be time for revenge with a new team of players under his command?

11-14 @ Duke – This game is always an expected win for Georgia Tech for obvious reasons, Duke has never been known for its football program. As with UNC many people have hyped the arrival of David Cutcliffe to Duke but I think it will take many years to turn that program around if ever. GT currently has a five-game winning streak against Duke.

Also of note: This was yet another game last year where Nesbitt was out on an injury and Jaybo Shaw stepped in, his first and only start at Tech. He performed very well with 230 yards passing, the most ever by a Tech quarterback in his first career start (and they say the jackets don’t ever pass).

11-28 UGA – The game to end all games, its clean old-fashioned hate. Last year this game was by far the most important game for every Georgia Tech player and fan. At the beginning of last season any true Tech fan would tell you that they would gladly lose every game of the season if only to beat UGA. Luckily Paul Johnson has much higher standards and not only did something that Chan Gailey couldn’t in his six years with Tech but also lead the team to eight other wins. This year things are different for the jackets, while always wanting to beat Georgia the team now has much higher goals such as winning the ACC Championship (which they came very very close to doing last year).

Also of note: Mark Richt has had a great track record at Georgia averaging ten wins per season over eight years but I wonder if the winning streak against Tech was the lucky rabbits foot in Richt's pocket which he just lost. I know there is no logic to this suspicion but I have a feeling Georgia is due for a poor season in 2009.

So that wraps up my analysis of the 2009 Georgia Tech schedule. It seems to me that they are on the cusp of greatness under Coach Paul Johnson. Could he lead the team to a National Championship in the years to come? I’m not sure but I do believe that that is why he came to Atlanta and anyone who knows Paul Johnson can tell you that he stops at nothing less than perfection. Could he be the perfect option?