Football - Jackets Bowl Eligible !!!!!!...... and want more

Georgia Tech beats the Wake Forest Deamon Deacons 30-17 and our next match-up with the Deacs will be in 2009. Good riddance............


- Hard to judge the result listening on the radio, but once again you have to give most of the credit to the GT defense for really shutting down a top notch running game. Yes, WF had some drives, but when Chris Barklay has 7 rushes for 3 yards at the half, you're doing something right. He ended the game with 14 carries for 24 yards, and the Deacs only run for 102 yards.


- This might have been close to the most complete game the Jackets have played all season. It wasn't the best in any particular facet - O/D/ST. However, it might have been the best overall balance of the three. For a change the Jackets have an outstanding first half on both sides of the ball, going into the locker with a 17-3 lead. Things got a bit loose in the 2nd half, as the defense gave up 2 TD's, but Travis Bell continued to put the game out of reach with 3 FG's over 40 yards.


- Speaking of Bell, nobody has missed a FG AGAINST Wake Forest this season. Crazy - 14/14. Travis Bell decided he like what he saw and hit 3 of them over 40 yards. Just some of the best coaching by Chan Gailey that I've seen. That's a bit of sarcasm, because of course there was a fan group that wanted to blame Gailey for missed Bell FG's. Having said that, Coach did say in the post-game show that they made an adjustment to Bell's kicking this past week in practice, so maybe coaching had something to do with it after all.


- The Jackets sacked Cory Randolph 3 times. Vance Walker had his motor running early. Vance was given the starting job replacing the injured Joe Anaoi......... Chris Reis and Dawan Landry played big all day long, making play after play after play. Eric Henderson did his thing again, forcing another fumble/turnover.


- On offense, Reggie Ball goes 13/28, 201 yards, 2 TD's, 0 INTs. Another sub-50% completion percentage "no mistake" game. He didn't win it, but he didn't lose it either. I guess that's what we have to be happy with. I guess the natural progression is mistake maker to no-mistake maker to playmaker. Maybe Reggie will make it to "playmaker" by next week. Our final stretch of 3 games could be as difficult as any any years, so playmaking should be on the agenda.


- Calvin Johnson doesn't catch a ball in the 2nd half. However he does catch 4 for 96 yards and TD in the 1st half.


- PJ Daniels carries 18 times for 109 yards and T.Choice rambles for another 58. So the Jackets do to the Deac's what they were trying to do to us. However, PJ tweaked an ankle during the game. We'll have to keep an eye on that during the week.


- Once again a win is a win is a win. Wake is a team that was 3-3 in the ACC coming in and almost beat some good teams. So just savor the 6-2 record, bowl eligibility and a decent chance for an upset or two heading into the home stretch.


Wes Durham Quotes of the game:


"He wanted it but the little engine just couldn't take it to the house" - on the PJ 52 yard run where he was pulled down inside the 5 yard line.


"There was a movie on that one" - on a Ryan Placemeier punt from the endzone that was 65 yards.


"6'3" 220lb of twisted steel sitting on Josh Gattis" - after a D-Bo 40+ yard pass play ended in a tackle.


- The crowd sounded great on the radio.


- UNC helped our strength-of-schedule by beating Boston College today. Great win for them.


- Coach Gailey was asked about the importance of being bowl eligible in the post-game show. He said he senses that this group is looking for something more special than just "going to a bowl". He said he could only focus on next week's game, but I liked what I heard.


IF YOU CAN'T ENJOY THIS VICTORY, THE FACT THAT YOUR TEAM IS 6-2 (4-2 ACC), IS BOWL ELIGIBLE, ENSURES ANOTHER WINNING SEASON WITH STILL 3 GAMES TO GO, THEN YOU NEED COUNSELING............ SEEK HELP!!!!!


GO JACKETS!!!!!!!