I hate Geoff Collins y’all.
Week 6 had a 5 way tie at the top with 8 correct picks. Maddox, EducationalEngineer, wsecor, donkeygoatrunner, and @LeeNobody all had a stellar week when in came to predicting games. Great job everyone! Our overall picks race has two familiar faces. mrbuzz1885 is now sharing the top spot with YankeeJacket who has bounced back after falling behind last week. Both mebuzz1885 and YankeeJacket have 41 correct picks on the year. wsecor is close behind them in second with 40 correct picks overall and in third EducationalEngineer has 39 correct picks. A tough battle as we get into the meat of the season.
Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Starting with other teams this week, Alabama followed up a big win against the school in athens by losing to Vanderbilt. A five-point win does not do justice to how good Vandy looked against the Crimson Tide last week. The Bama fans I’ve talked to seem to be on a IV bag full of copium right now. Hopefully this is the lowest point for Bama this season, otherwise I expect fans to start turning on DeBoer.
Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Clemson handed another loss to FSU and the Tigers sit at the top of the ACC. SMU, the team FSU said would weaken the overall strength of the ACC, is now tied for the second spot for the ACC after pulling off an upset against Louisville on the road. Looking at the rest of SMU’s schedule I could see them going to the championship game.
Jamie Rhodes-Imagn Images
Georgia Tech looked fine last week. They didn’t look great, but they got stops where they needed, and the offense was able to execute in the second half to get us a ten-point win. Despite beating the spread, I think most Tech fans who watched the game will tell you it was much more stressful than a ten-point win should be. Georgia Tech will need to be more focused at the go on the road this week against UNC.
Speaking of UNC… Who else among you hate Geoff Collins? I’m not one to throw around the term “hate” lightly, but I definitely hate Geoff Collins. I don’t think I have to tell anyone reading on this site, but Georgia Tech fell to its lowest point in program history under Geoff’s tutelage (technically 1979-1981 could be viewed as worse in terms of overall wins if you want to nitpick). Georgia Tech paid Temple $2.5 million just to get Geoff Collins, then paid Collins $3 million a year to coach with us. In return Geoff gave us 3 seasons in a row where we won only 3 games. So we basically paid Geoff a million dollars for every win he gave us each year, and that’s if you don’t count the last year because we technically paid him $3 million for his one win that year.
Geoff Collins was so terrible as a head coach at Tech we had to pay him to leave — another $10.5 million just to go away. So, Collins gets about $22 million dollars to drag our program, the program I love, through the mud to rock bottom. In response to being paid a bank vault worth of money to go do anything else with his life, Collins gives a bunch of critiques about how bad our fanbase is and how it’s so difficult to recruit and win at Georgia Tech. Brent Key then takes over and immediately proves Collins wrong using the same athletes Collins struggled so hard to win with. I don’t know if Geoff was just a bad coach or if he felt he didn’t need to work too hard for his meager salary while here, and honestly, I’m not sure which is worse, but clearly Geoff was doing something wrong.
Side note, while I know there are some Brent Key critics at this point in the season, at least Key has won more than 3 games every season since he has become head coach. I know it’s not asking much, but that’s where we are coming from as GT fans who lived through the Collins era.
Since leaving Collins has thrown a few pot shots the way of Georgia Tech over twitter but was mostly quiet until taking the D-coordinator job at UNC. I actually felt pretty bad for UNC when they hired Collins because I had been through it before. The excitement of a new coach, the fact that he says all the right things, the fact that the media hypes him up as a defensive guru. I’ve been through it, so I felt bad for UNC given how excited their fanbase because I also knew Geoff is more of a used car salesman than a coach.
And maybe Collins will prove me wrong as the season goes on, and UNC will run the table the rest of the way… I just have a hard time believing that knowing what Coach 404 did to our program. UNC fanbase I do not wish your team ill, so if Geoff proves me wrong then good for y’all. If Geoff doesn’t prove me wrong (the more likely scenario), then I hope you and your program wake up from the Geoff Collins nightmare and move on earlier than we did.
Honestly this may be the most important game of the schedule for me this year. Sure, I want to win against uga, but if we don’t, I can live with losing to a top 10 team on the road. What I can’t live with is having the guy who nosedived the GT football program as a whole give GT fan another reason to rub our faces in it. As a GT fan who lives in the Raleigh/Durham Research Triangle I do not want to hear Geoff Collins hee-haw at the after-game press conference about how great he is because he beat GT. I think we have established that GT isn’t going to be in the playoffs this year, but we are good enough to win this game and I hope with all my heart that we do.
picks:
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (-6.0) @ UNC Tar Heels
Logan: I don’t really care how many points we win this game by as long as we don’t lose this game. UNC is a talented team which has been hampered on offense due to an early injury to their 1st string QB this year. While Jacolby Criswell was not expected to be the starter, he has done well in that role. Criswell has succeeded thanks in part to the cast surrounding him, in particular Omarion Hampton and JJ Jones have been standouts. There is also a familiar face in Nate McCollum who is a talented receiving threat. So while this may be a winnable game, it will not be an easy one. I expect the UNC defense to bring the heat and try to get King to make poor decisions. We need to avoid turnovers and use quick passes down field to open the run game. Hopefully Faulkner is willing to open up the play book a little if we prove we can move the ball. Defense will need to step up and work on shutting down the run. We cannot allow Omarion Hampton to run all over us, and have to put the onus on Criswell to play an outstanding game. If we do all that… I think we can win by maybe a touchdown.
Logan’s pick: Georgia Tech
Ohio Bobcats (-2.5) @ Central Michigan Chippewas
Logan: We check in on MACtion here. Since the season is still early teams are trying to find where they stand in the running for the MAC. Early on I was impressed by how Ohio played against Syracuse in their opener. Central Michigan QB Joe Labas has put up amazing numbers, if you ignore the 7 INTs he has thrown. Turnovers have been the issue for both teams, and I think they will be the determining factor in this game. Ohio has done a much better job at forcing fumbles and intercepting the ball so I will take Ohio in this game.
Logan’s pick: Ohio
Louisville Cardinals (-7.0) @ Virginia Cavaliers
Logan: I mentioned SMU above, but Virginia is also 2-0 in the ACC. The Cavaliers haven’t had this kind of start to the season in a while, and now the Cavaliers get another “prove it” game against Louisville. Louisville has been on a 2-game slide, losing to both Notre Dame and SMU by a touchdown in the past 2 weeks. I want to find a reason to pick UVA, but despite Louisville’s losses the Cardinals still have a stronger resume that Virginia right now. I will take Louisville to cover.
Logan’s pick: Louisville
Syracuse Orange (-4.0) @ NC State Wolfpack
Logan: NC State lost a tough game last week to Wake Forest. This is not unusual for NC State as Wake Forest tends to give them fits. The unfortunate aspect is that their starting QB Grayson McCall took a bad hit and had to be carted from the game to a nearby hospital. We are not sure at this point if McCall will play again this season but it seems unlikely. I think this could be a tight QB battle if McCall is able to come back and play. If McCall cannot play then backup QB CJ Bailey the NC State defense will need to have a standout performance to win against Syracuse. With things as they currently stand I will pick Syracuse to cover.
Logan’s pick: Syracuse
Marshall Thundering Herd (-2.5) @ Georgia Southern Eagles
Logan: Our friends to the south are looking to take their shot at the Sun Belt title. Currently it is early in the season but Georgia Southern is one of 3 teams in their division without a Sun Belt loss. Marshall and Coastal Carolina are the others. Fair to say the winner of this game will significantly improve their odds to make it to the Sun Belt title. Other than their loss to Ole Miss, the Georgia Southern offense has looked outstanding, and Marshall has struggled to keep opponents from scoring. I think Georgia Southern will win this game outright.
Logan’s pick: Georgia Southern
#11 Iowa State Cyclones (-3.0) @ West Virginia Mountaineers
Logan: Heck Yeah Iowa State! Undefeated right now and holed up at the #11 spot. I don’t know if things will stay this way, but Cyclone fans have got to be feeling pretty good right now. West Virginia may not be undefeated, but they don’t have a loss in the BIG 12 yet, so this game is going to mean plenty for both sides. Both teams have pretty similar numbers and have fought tough opponents. I will take Iowa State, probably because they have a number next to their name, but I could see this match going either way.
Logan’s pick: Iowa State
Arizona Wildcats @ #14 BYU Cougars (-3.5)
Logan: Another undefeated BIG 12 team in BYU. This one is easier to pick a side on for me than the Iowa State and West Virginia game because BYU get the Wildcats at home, and because Arizona has lost a game in the BIG 12 already. I don’t doubt Arizona will put up a good game, but I expect BYU to win by a touchdown.
Logan’s pick: BYU
Magnolia Bowl:
#9 Ole Miss Rebels (-2.5) @ #13 LSU Tigers
Logan: The first of 2 big matchups in the SEC this week. Ole Miss bounced back much better than I expected them to against South Carolina, but LSU is a different beast. Ole Miss has one of the most powerful offenses in the whole NCAA, but Kentucky showed that the Rebel offense can be slowed down. I think LSU can pull their Voodoo and use their defense to win one against the Rebels.
Logan’s pick: LSU
Red River Rivalry, Played at The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX:
#1 Texas Longhorns (-14.5) v #18 Oklahoma Sooners
Logan: Texas is #1 in the land, and they deserve that title at the moment. Texas is a fantastic team, but I always struggle when I see massive spreads in big rivalry games. Texas should win this game by a large margin, but rivalry games always tend to be closer than people expect. I don’t have any good logic for this pick, but I will take Oklahoma to at least cover in this big time rivalry matchup.
Logan’s pick: Oklahoma
#4 Penn State Nittany Lions (-5.5) @ USC Trojans
Logan: USC has fallen hard since week 1. Last week the Trojans lost a tough game to Minnesota on the road. Penn State on the other hand has looked like they just might be the best team in the BIG 10 this year. The one thing USC has going for them is that this will be a home game, but I don’t think that will save them. Penn State should win this one handily.
Logan’s pick: Penn State
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes (-3.5) @ #3 Oregon Ducks
Logan: This is the matchup of the week people. Oregon struggled through its first few games, but they are now coming into form. Ohio State hasn’t struggled at all and look every bit as talented as the media tells you they are. Despite being on the road this is another one where I just feel that Ohio State has looked so good I can’t see them losing. I’ll take Ohio State to win by more than a touchdown.
Logan’s pick: Ohio State