Clemson vs. Georgia Tech 2008

On Saturday, September 29th, the orange-clad Clemson Tigers and their fans will come to the "big city" for an ACC showdown. Clutching a well-deserved Top 15 ranking, Clemson brings that vaunted "Thunder & Lightning" backfield of James Davis and speedy C.J. Spiller to Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta to pile on yardage after last year's 31-7 drubbing of Tech.

Tech has a slim hope of winning the game if they can keep these two backs from breaking out on long runs and keeping the score close. Last year's score was a bit of an anomaly since most games in last 10 years have been pretty close (decided by five points or less). Tech's defense if going to have to play their best game of the year, after whipping on the pansy 0-4 Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and Div II-A Samford. We were brought back down to earth after getting dismantled by BC and then losing a shocker in Charlottesville last week to Virginia. We are now 0-2 in the ACC and facing probably the best team we'll meet all year!

In order to win, Tech must do the following:

The defensive line has to keep "Thunder and Lightning" to under 100 combined yards rushing

The defensive secondary has to eliminate the big play (no 40+ yard gains)

The defense has to keep Clemson from scoring (if I hear the "Tiger Rag" more than 3 or 4 times - Clemson's band plays this little ditty after every touchdown - we're gonna lose)

The offensive line has to open up the running lanes for Tashard Choice to gain more than 100 yards (when he goes over 100, we usually win)

The wide receivers have to get open down field quickly, so Taylor Bennett get the ball out of his hands and not take any sacks for negative yardage

The offense has to have long time-consuming drives and keep the score close (this way our defense can stay fresh during a hot afternoon in Atlanta)

Over the past two weeks, Taylor Bennett has shown why he was behind Reggie Ball on the depth chart: he hasn't shown the ability to win the close (and BIG) games (see West Virginia in Gator Bowl and last week at UVA).

We have a good defense, but if they are spending well over half of the game on the field backpedaling and running around after Davis & Spiller, we are going to lose. I gotta root for the Yellow Jackets, but I also gotta call 'em as I see 'em!

And if I hear that damn "Tiger Rag" one more time, I'm gonna puke!

GO JACKETS! STING 'EM!

Boston College 24, Georgia Tech 10

On Saturday, September 15th #21 Boston College came to Atlanta and shocked the #15 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The game was not as close as the score indicates, as the BC quarterback Matt Ryan threw for a career high 435 yards. He picked Georgia Tech's highly touted defense apart like they were the JV squad.

On the flip side, the BC defense held GT's star running back Tashard Choice to only 31 yards on 15 carries, ending his 9 game streak of 100+ yard games. And GT quarterback Taylor Bennett looked downright pedestrian in his vain attempts to complete a down field pass. It was total domination on both sides of the ball from the first quarter and after Tech's first possession, the outcome was never in doubt.

These are two quality programs (possibly the two best in the ACC) and this may be the preview of the ACC Championship Game, which I predict Georgia Tech will win. This was Tech's first true test after thrashing listless Notre Dame (who fell to 0-3) and running up the score on Div II Samford. I'm sure that they learned a lot about themselves and have good game film on what needs to be corrected over this week.

I was at the game on Saturday evening and my two takeaways are as follows:

1. Boston College should be in the Top 10 because they are vastly underrated; they have a solid offense and defense.
   
   
2. We'll be seeing QB Matt Ryan at the Heisman Trophy presentation in December. He is a better passer and has more yards than the QB's at Kentucky and Louisville (currently ranked #1 and #2, respectively), and he plays on a much better team than Hawaii.

Per the challenge from my buddy David, over at SullsBlog, the MIGHTY BC Eagle mascot will be prominently displayed on plezWorld for the remainder of this week.

Georgia Tech - The Motivator

This is Georgia Tech Chaplain Derrick Moore's pre-game speech before the Notre Dame game in South Bend on September 1, 2007.

The Yellow Jackets went out and crushed the Fighting Irish 33-3.

plez sez: he must've had a similar speech before Tech's home opener against the Samford University Bulldogs today, because Tech went out and demolished the Samford Bulldogs 69-14! The score was 45-0 at halftime.

all together now... I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva engineer!

Hat Tip: Georgia Tech Sports Blog for the YouTube Video.