plezWorld on 2008 Georgia Tech Football

For the second time in one week,
let's hear the "Ramblin' Wreck Song"

A year of contrasts concerning the state of college football in the state of Georgia. Georgia Tech started out the college football season in late August as a BIG A** QUESTION MARK; our chief rival, University of Georgia (known as UGA to some and the Bulldogs to others) started the season ranked number one and apparently a lock on a national championship bid like their SEC brethren LSU and Florida. What a difference a season makes...

Week after week of stunning victories pulled from the jaws of defeat, the Yellow Jackets and their old school triple option offense and their blistering & intense defense finished the season at 9-3 and the only ACC team ranked in the Top 15. On the other hand, the Bulldawgs watched their season flame out after getting throttled at home by Alabama (who still doesn't look that good, but will be representing the western half of the SEC in this weekend's SEC Championship game), losing while getting outclassed by Florida at the World's Largest Cocktail Party, and then getting a seven year winning streak halted at home by Georgia Tech. To make matters even worse, Tech ends the season ranked higher than the UGA!

Well, the total dismantling of UGA and their slackjawed fans (except my wife) was the cake. What has happened over the past couple of days to celebrate the return of Georgia Tech Football is the icing on said cake:

• Head Coach Paul Johnson has been recognized as the ACC Coach of the Year. After taking over a program that was wallowing in mediocrity, it took one spring practice to turn the entire thing around while using another coach's players to incorporate his new scheme effectively. I have no doubt that this was a unanimous decision... and it is only a matter of weeks before he is recognized nationally for the job he did at Georgia Tech.
  
  
• Jonathan Dwyer was named ACC Player of the Year. Dwyer is the standout running back who would single-handedly break opponents backs with his stunning 40-, 50-, and in Georgia's case 60-yard runs for touchdowns. He led the ACC in rushing yards (1,328), rushed for over 100 yards nine times (a school record), and he also scored 12 touchdowns. If there was a missed assignment on defense, Dwyer ended up in the end zone!
  
  
• Tech had the most players named All-ACC First Team: Sophomore running back Jonathan Dwyer, left tackle Andrew Gardner, defensive end Michael Johnson, and defensive tackle Vance Walker, all seniors. plezWorld is surprised that standout sophomore safety Morgan Burnett (who is tied for the nationally in interceptions with seven and will be playing on Sundays in a few years) was All-ACC Second Team. And my frat brother, sophomore defensive end Derrick Morgan (who will also be playing on Sundays in a few years) received honorable mention.
  
  
• Lastly, Tech will play on December 31st in the Chik-fil-A Bowl here in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome. More than likely, we'll be playing LSU or SEC bottom feeder South Carolina. The Chik-fil-A Bowl has the first choice of any bowl-eligible ACC school that is not playing in a BCS game. The winner of the ACC Championship game goes to a BCS Bowl.

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plez sez: this football season far exceeded my expectations, i'd even toyed with not purchasing my normal full compliment of season tickets... that would've been a BIG MISTAKE!

congratulations to paul johnson... he did a tremendous job in coaching these boys up... they were ready to play every week (except for the UNC game).

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plez sez, "hmmm": as micheal wilbon (of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption") said earlier today, "the SEC is the ACC with Florida!"

this has definitely been a down year for what many claim is the toughest conference in college football. but if you remove Florida from the mix - and look at Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, LSU, Kentucky, Auburn, Vanderbilt, the two schools in Mississippi, and Arkansas - you're not looking at the top conference in the nation. if you look at the Big 12 with Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma State (all of whom have been in the Top 10 this season), you'd be hard pressed to find a team in the SEC other than Florida that would give them a run for the money. the only reason Alabama is undefeated is because they haven't played Florida yet - and that will definitely change on Saturday evening.

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in other college football news plezWorld: charlie weiss - the overpaid, overblown, overhyped, underperforming head coach of notre dame football - has been asked to hang around south bend for a fifth year, even though he hasn't had a winning record for the last two seasons, and his record over the past two seasons is WORSE than his two predecessors last two years - bob davie and ty willingham - willingham was fired after only THREE YEARS. he didn't get the opportunity to watch his first recruiting classes finish four years. and if you haven't figured it out by now, ty willingham was notre dame's only Black head coach... ever!

over the past couple of weeks, the fighting [sic] irish lost to lowly Syracuse, notre dame's first loss to an 8-loss team, and this past saturday, they suffered the worst blowout loss against USC - the score was 38-3. the irish have lost 15 games the past two seasons, the most by any notre dame team in a two-year span. some would say they have hit rock bottom. some would say had ty willingham still been the coach, he wouldn't be the coach today!

let plezWorld go on the record: i think ty willingham sucks as a head football coach, he is winless this year at washington in that cupcake Pac 10 conference (and knew he was getting fired before the season ended). that said, he was given a much shorter leash at notre dame and the tolerance of his losing was much lower than the historic losses that weiss has posted the last two years. and i'm gonna break off right there...

~ ~ Citations ~ ~

Read the AJC.com article about Paul Johnson - ACC Coach of the Year.

Read the AJC.com article about Jonathan Dwyer - ACC Player of the Year.

Read the AJC.com article about GT players with All-ACC honors.

Read the AJC.com article about GT playing in the Chik-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.

Read the ESPN.com article about Charlie Weiss hanging on at Notre Dame.

Read the ESPN.com article about Ty Willingham's coaching career at Washington ends.

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