For Georgia Tech, Time To Be Counted Is Now

(Paul Johnson says great teams don't lose twice in a row. Time to find out if he's got a great team, then.)

Cometh the moment, cometh the man. And if that saying is true, then there are a lot of boys in the Georgia Tech locker room right now.

Gripe, Bee fans, all you like about the defensive gameplan, or the injuries, or the four straight passes to end the game. The Jackets just got plain out-executed—Georgia came out focused and strong, and they won the battle at the point of attack on both sides of the ball almost all night long.

Conversely, Georgia Tech arm tackled. The Jackets came off the ball high. And rarely did the home team look interested in playing with the intensity requisite of a game like that.

In short, Georgia more than deserved to win.

But now comes the important test for Georgia Tech. Because while losing to Georgia means a whole year of insufferable trash talking from up Highway 316, there is still much left that can be accomplished; namely, a conference championship.

As noted in the caption, Paul Johnson is fond of the idea that great teams do not lose back-to-back games.

There were many who believed Georgia Tech a great team as recently as Saturday morning. I was one of them.

Now, like many others, I'm not so sure. Luckily for the Jackets, they don't have to wait long to prove themselves—again.

I understand the magnitude of the Georgia loss, believe me. And I understand there may be some out there who will view this season with a black mark no matter what comes next.

But many an ill could be cured with a win—even moreso with a convincing win—this Saturday in Tampa Bay.

So many times in Georgia Tech's football history, the program has looked ready to turn a corner, ready to finally bridge the gap between very good and great. And so often, the Jackets have come to that particular chasm, only to turn around and run full speed the other way.

Yellow Jacket fans will remember all too well 2006, when Georgia Tech started 9-2 and won the ACC Coastal, only to lose to Georgia, then Wake Forest in a dreadfully forgettable ACC title game, then West Virginia in the Gator Bowl.

That shouldn't happen this year.

This team is more talented, better-coached, and vastly more capable of rebounding from the tough loss they just suffered. But just as the Georgia loss came down to the players and their lack of execution, so too must any future success this season come from those players' desire to change their program's fortunes.

Get it done against Clemson, and so much is forgiven. Fall to a talented but slightly overmatched Tiger team, and no bowl game will save them from the familiar malaise that settles over a program forever incapable of taking the last and most necessary steps toward greatness.

Cometh the moment, cometh the man. We'll see.