Tuesday Thoughts 8/27: I Root for a Winning Football Team

In which we give ourselves permission to annoy our coworkers with our fandom.

Starting the season off HOT with a heart attack, what a way to begin Year 2. Can y’all imagine being a Dubliner and that being the first game you’ve ever seen? It had all the best drama college football can afford.

Game Recap in Three Sentences

On a rainy day in Dublin the ground game took center stage and chewed up 5.3 yards per carry while sustaining long scoring marches down the field.

After allowing a quick opening TD drive, the defense held FSU to just 40 rushing yards for the rest of the game.

The weather and run-heavy offenses made this a clock-churning rockfight – 14 total possessions was the fewest since November of 2020.

Above The Line of the Week

• Driving down the field. Tech had four scoring drives: 6 plays for 79 yards in 3:32, 14 plays for 75 yards in 7:53, 11 plays for 89 yards in 6:22, and 12 plays for 45 yards in 6:33. Big plays are fun and all, but it’s a really good sign that we can march down the field and eat clock with that kind of consistency. The second two TD drives in particular must’ve had CPJ smirking from whatever golf course clubhouse bar he was watching from.
• David Shanahan. We didn’t ask him to punt much in his home country, but a 46.5 yard average with a long of 49 was a solid showing for the local guy. The broadcast said over 50 of his family and friends were there; I hope he had an awesome time enjoying the spotlight.
• Zach Pyron. One carry for one yard and one TD on the opening drive; my explosion-themed Pyron-maniacs shirt continues to pay dividends and generate a lot of questions from uneducated passers-by.

Twitter Roundup

This is a new trial segment where I’ll show off some of my favorite tweets from the previous game – let me know if you like it and want it to continue!

5 Star (7 Star, 5 Star) Developmental Program Haiku of the Week

Guiness be my guide
Year 2 off to a neat start
DJU, yikes dude

I Root For A Winning Football Program

Sometimes I remember this simple fact. Since the Gasparilla Bowl gave us our first winning season since 2018, it’s come to my mind every so often this offseason. I no longer root for a team mired in embarrassment and lucky to win any conference games, I root for a team that competes and wins. The ethos of the Georgia Tech football experience has been shifting, and Saturday in Dublin was just another catalyst to the growing belief that we’re on our way to something special.

I’ve said this after several recent wins, but I think we probably lose this game two or three years ago. For years we struggled to put together 60 minutes of good football; third quarter adversity put us in tailspins and one possession games would turn into blowout losses. Slowly but surely though, the way we handle adversity has changed. Key has talked about this a few times (including after Saturday’s game) when riffing on a famous Bobby Bowden quote: first you learn how to not lose, then you learn how to win, then you learn how to win consistently.

There were several points in this game where the team could’ve let the adversity get the best of them and fallen apart – FSU’s kicker coming up huge at the end of the first half, a missed FG of our own, a poor three-and-out midway through the third, FSU going on an insane eight minute game-tying TD drive late in the fourth that included two long fourth down conversions, a crazy Haynes King scramble and fumble recovery on the edge of FG range with under a minute left. Any one of these moments could’ve been the beginning of the end or the end itself but none of them were; each and every time, this team responded. FSU’s two drives after our missed FG and three-and-out drives went for just 22 yards and 11 yards before being shut down. Their backbreaking 8 minute TD drive to tie the game was followed by a 12-play 6:33 drive of our own (capped off by the game-winner). King’s fumble was miraculously recovered, and he hit Singleton for a crucial 12 yards on the very next play. Aidan Birr stepped up in the biggest moment after missing earlier from a very similar spot.

Was I a nervous wreck for the fourth quarter? Of course I was. But I didn’t feel that impending dread I felt circa 2021, the “I know we’re going to mess this up, I just don’t know how” feeling that was a Collins era special. I felt the regular stress that makes college football what it is; the regular stress that all good teams feel. As far as I’m concerned that’s a revelation – and not one that I’m going to take for granted.

Every one of us in this community has always believed that this program is special, but it’s intoxicating to see that belief slowly gain national attention. With GameDay and the whole country watching we showed up and looked every bit the part of a team deserving that attention. Everyone in the college football world saw us dominate a top 10 team in the trenches and announce ourselves as a program to be taken seriously. So then what’s next? Now it’s your turn: shove your Tech gear down everyone’s throats this week; flood your social feeds with the sassy content the official GT Football account has been putting out; be a menace at the office water cooler (does your office still have a traditional water cooler? Mine doesn’t, is coffee machine a better metaphor now?); let your voice be heard a little. You root for a winning football program and nothing else matters.

Look Ahead

Up next is Georgia State (8/31, 8:00pm), projected to be QBed by none other than Zach Gibson. We’re currently around a three touchdown favorite so this is a great opportunity to work out some of the kinks from Dublin before our next possibly-tough ACC matchup against Syracuse. In particular I’d like to see more from the passing game – obviously it was pouring rain for most of this past game so we didn’t attempt to throw that much, but I’m interested in seeing what that air attack is gonna look like moving forward. Overall I’m looking to get an early lead, play loose, and win by 25+.