A mixed day of emotions

"It was the best of times........... it was the worst of times".

I think that about sums up the emotions of the day.

THE GOOD:
Things started great with the Jackets crushing Tulsa in the Humanitarian Bowl 52-10. An absouletly outstanding performance by the defense, the offensive line and PJ Daniels. That was the game - end of story. The defense held Tulsa in check, pressured the QB all day long, forced fumbles, made sacks and just dominated. The Offensive Line created holes big enough to drive a dumptruck through. Not taking anything away from PJ Daniels but I think I could have run for about 100 yards today. But PJ was the man. He ends with over 300 yards and barely even plays in the 4th quarter. No doubt he would have broken Eddie Lee Ivory's all-time GT rushing record had he stayed in the game. My only real concern about this team going into next year was the complete lack of a passing game. Not that they needed it, but when they tried, it wasn't there. Either Ball was pressured or he just plain threw bad passes. He threw over receivers, behind receivers and never really seemed comfortable in the pocket. Gailey has yet to show us he can develop a strong offensive passing game, but let's give it time. I am convinced Reggie will be our man for the next 3 years, but you cannot say he progressed steadily this year. Great progress from game 1-5, but then it was hard to tell where he was the rest of the year. In the end, let's chalk it up to a true freshman, admire what he did accomplish in a season where expectations were low, and be proud of our Jackets as they did us proud in Boise. GREAT JOB!!!!

THE BAD:
Our high-flying hoops team came down to earth losing a heart-breaker to arch-rival UGAy in double-overtime. Georgia played an outstanding game, out-hustled us for a lot of the game and hit a lot of shots. As we knew would happen, missing some free-throws at the end of a game proved to be costly. I'll cover more on the articles and coverage later, but I knew we were going to lose - but did it have to be to the Bull-Pups? Anybody but them. However, as we all know, this is just the start of a marathon. We need to build on this going into the UNC game later this week (UNC lost today also to KY).

So while the day was bitter-sweet, it was really more sweet. The Bowl game is what really mattered the most today, and GT got the job done. Congrats to C.Gailey and crew. They represented us well and we expect even better things next year. For Paul Hewitt and Co, what you have accomplished so far cannot be diminished by the loss today. Time for another 12 game winning streak. Shake it off and move on.

It is exciting to be a Yellow Jacket!!!!!!!!!!!!!