Being the Little Brother

There are a lot of us who are little brothers, growing up in our big brother's shadow. If you are lucky, your older sibling was several years older so there wasn't as much of a link to you. However, if you are like me, your older brother is a couple of years older, so there is not much escaping to be done. Our actions are often judged by others in the perspective of, "what would their older brother have done?" or "his older brother wouldn't have done that". If you are really lucky (sarcasm), your will never escape being reminded that you are the little brother. The big brother goes on to great things and no matter how successful you are, your achievements will never surpass big brother.

So what I am writing about this? It's simple: Georgia Tech needs to stop thinking and acting like they are the younger brother. We seem to spend more time comparing ourselves against UGA as validation of what we are doing or proof that what we are doing is going wrong. Even our fight song has "To Hell With Georgia!". I don't remember UGA's fight song having one mention of Tech. Even in football, if the team is 11-1 with its only loss to Georgia, we still scream about how the season wasn't great. Seriously? Are we that misguided?

I love a good rivalry just as much as the next guy but this mentality of always comparing what the team has done versus UGA is just silly. So I am proposing changing the mentality of Tech and remove all references to UGA. Changing the words we speak will lead to changing the way we think, go ahead, ask Tony Robbins, he will tell you the same thing.

Here are a couple of suggestions for changing some of our most beloved mottos:
What's the Good Word? - "Ramblin' Wreck!" or "Mash On The Gas!" (my favorite) or "To Hell With (insert opponents name here)!"

To Hell With Georgia! (fight song) - "Buzz is the Greatest!" Ok, so that one is lame, I am no lyricist.

Are you starting to see my point? Tech will never been seen in the same light as UGA if the students and fans continue to compare themselves against them. Are the schools in the same state? Of course. Is there a long history of animosity? Sure thing. Do they play each other every year? Yep! Are they in the same conference? Nope.

Look at other big time schools in the same state. Michigan and Michigan State. State is often thought of the little brother but they are doing what they need to do to move into their own identity as a powerhouse school both academically and athletically. What not Tech?

If you agree with me (and you don't have to), what are your suggestions on how Tech can move past the "Little Brother" syndrome?

Good song, Good game.

Highlights. Song is on the tailgate iPod.

Bad Hands and Bad Calls

I like to preface any column I write with an umbrella statement regarding my sincere respect for all the coaches and players of the Georgia Tech football team. These individuals work hard and the players attempt to balance the demands of the team with the workload of being students at a tough academic school. The coaches work consistently to not only put together a winning program for this year but the years to come and try to bring in players who will represent the Georgia Institute of Technology in honorable ways. Any negative statements I make come from fan's perspective and do not reflect my respect for the team and the university.

That having been said, I want to go over some details that I observed in the game versus Middle Tennessee State University:

Tech has no real passing game and it appeared that the game versus MTSU was an attempt to work on the passing game in a real world situation. Nesbitt passed the ball more in this game that any others as of late, especially in the first quarter. I was pleased to see an increase in this aspect of the offense but it showed one glaring issue that plagues this team: they cannot catch the ball. Obviously, this is a blanket statement, as several really good catches were made, but on the whole the passing game is on a high school level. Three surefire touchdowns were left on the field as the receiver either lost focus or didn't even TRY to catch the ball.

I do expect the young receivers to get better but now you can feel the fans hold their breath every time a pass is attempted, waiting to see if it is either dropped or fumbled.

The other part of the game that really made the entire stadium scratch their heads was the officiating. It is in fashion to blame the officials for terrible calls or having a team lose a game. I am not saying either of those things here. What I do want to point out what that the officials seemed take forever to make a call and then there was a sense of confusion as to what the call was going to be once the flag was thrown. I counted four times where a play was already dead and THEN a flag was thrown. The officials made some truly questionable calls and appeared to be really confused about what was happening.

It even appeared on one occasion that none of them was willing to go over and talk to CPJ to explain why the call was made. If you are afraid to go over and talk to the coach, then there is a problem.

On a lighter note, I was asked a simple question from another fan. She asked, "Why do they say, "Before the snap, false start"? Isn't that a given that it happened before the snap? Can you have a false start AFTER the snap?" It's funny cause it's true.

And now, after great demand, yet another AJC UGA Ridiculous Vent of the Week!
"UGA VIII is just a dog. It doesn't care if a team wins or loses. It just wants to eat, sleep, go potty and make other dogs." Spoken like a true dog lover!

Music City Bowl???

I decided to wait and read reports and columns around the Internet before I made my observations regarding Tech and last weekend's game. The one article that caught my eye was located on CBS Sports and is a projected Bowl match-ups. It is hard to believe that we are only 6 games into the season and the experts are already looking at how the season will end. If you are interested in knowing what Bowl Tech might be playing and who they might be facing, click here. READ IT!

I have never been a big believer in forecasting (as my financial portfolio will demonstrate) and especially so in sports. Tech is now 4-2 with a 3-1 record in the conference. If you just look at the record, it is hard to think that Tech is not getting any respect around the league. Isn't Florida 4-2 as well? I think the reason that the sports community isn't ready to buy Tech's stock is how they are playing overall. They are 3rd in the Nation in Rushing but 117th in Passing (seriously?) and the defense has been just as questionable as they are 65th in Rushing Defense and 47th in Passing Defense.

Essentially, we are running well and barely passing and not doing fantastic job at stopping the offense. Over the last two games, the defense has been coming along and I hope that they continue that streak this weekend but time will tell.

Tech vs. Virginia

I had the pleasure of being at this game and was impressed at the improvements that the team is exhibiting. The defense, other than missing some tackles and assignments, played well and hard throughout the game. There was a sense of urgency and aggression that the coaches have been demanding. The linebackers played better than expected as well. Overall, I am pleased.

The offense is also coming along nicely except for fumbles. For a rushing team, ball security continues to be a real issue. They were lucky on a couple of them but I always hold my breath on the pitches to either side. I do want to congratulate Anthony Allen for his monster game last week. His 25 carries for 195 yards and 3 touchdowns was an amazing feat and his is getting recognized across the country for his efforts. I want to tell him (if he reads this blog) that I appreciated his actions once he crossed the goal line more than anything else. This year has not gone as well for Allen as he or the team had hoped but in his breakout game, he did not go nuts with celebrations. He acted as if he had been there before. Kudos Anthony!

Tell us your end of season predictions!

Tech vs Wake Forest!

I know all of you have been waiting patiently for me to write my next post and now your patience has been rewarded. I was fortunate this time in being able to watch a good deal of the Wake Forest game at my local orange short location. I had no idea that the UGA was not being televised so I had to only deal with listening to Florida and Alabama fans, which aren't nearly so annoying.

As part of my reporting duties, I thought it would be better to make notes as the game progressed to give you an idea of my thoughts. In order to save you valuable time, they are here in a bulleted listing:

• Run, JoshUA, run! Can anyone else carry the ball???
• Yet again, no passing accuracy
• Wow, another long range pass that didn't work! Who knew??
• More Missed Assignments on Defense
• Woah, is that David Pollock doing commentary on the game? Vince Dooley not available?
• Another game, another fumble...or two.....or three
• A completed pass! Awesome!
• Bostic is almost as fast as The Flash
• The offensive line cannot pass block or just block
• They have only 69 yards rushing by the second quarter? For shame!
• Anyone else notice the Defense just kind of standing around?
• A short pass! Hey everyone, a short pass!
• Was that intended to be a screen pass? Who cares? Big gain.
• Thank you, Scott Blair!

Well, the comments went on like that but got a bit better when Tech started the rally. I was much too absorbed in the game to make any more written comments, but you can imagine that they were solidly in the "Holy Crap" category.

I think Wake Forest should thank Georgia Tech because if there was ever a defense that could make your offense look good, it's this one. A lot of people have said that it is because of the new 3-4 system and the adjustment to it that is making the defense ineffective. I can agree with that to a degree. However, I think that this line of thinking could be a crutch. Look at Stanford, for example. I know, they got killed by Oregon but who hasn't lately?

Stanford had 4-3 last year and this year there is a new coach from the NFL as defensive coordinator who brings a new system to players recruited to play in a 4-3. So what happens? The defense actually got better, minus the Oregon game. Stanford has been able to quickly adapt to the 3-4 and is now a highly effective defense that does a lot of cool blitz schemes. So why not Tech?

Don't give the adage that Tech can't recruit like a Stanford or a UGA. Both of those schools have high standards as well and yet they can get athletes who are fast, big and strong. I don't see why we can't recruit some big linebackers and even bigger linemen.

What do you think?