Friday, September 04, 2015

GT 69 Alcorn State 6


Nice win by Georgia Tech. For the most part they did everything right. The new crop of running backs look capable of competing against better opponents. The defense did their job. Tech only punted once. Justin Thomas only played one quarter, and I wished Johnson pulled him earlier. Thomas jittered like a waterbug all over the field and displayed an accurate arm. As expected backup Byerly proved able, but there’s not much talent behind the top two QB’s. The third-string QB was fast and tough, but that’s about it.
 
Alcorn State did little right, literally tripping over themselves time and time again with stupid penalties and dropped passes. Not to mention their ugly Russell uniforms – worse than Tech’s and even Maryland’s. The 2015 GT uni was thankfully plainer than previous variations. The jersey only had a partial navy color pain under the arms, and the pants had their usual disambiguous “stripes” running here and there. I wouldn’t call it an improvement, just less ugly. No wonder they didn’t have a big unveiling like every other school with new uniforms.
 
While Tech fullback Patrick Skov bulled for 72 yards, freshman Marcus Marshall (above) broke off two long touchdown runs in his debut. He will be fun to watch. Like past “greats” Jonathan Dwyer and Josh Nesbitt, I predict Marshall will add a dark helmet shield, gain weight, and slow down by his senior year.
 
The announcers did a decent job, providing personality as well as stories about both teams. The little known George P Burdell story was told. Line of the night came from the color analyst after Marshall’s second run TD run: “Tech fans will be reminded of the Brady Bunch – it’s Marshall! Marshall! Marshall!” Pretty good. Nice shots of the Atlanta skyline. On the bad side they seemed fixated about fellow announcer Wes Durham, mentioning him a few too many times during the broadcast.
 
Tulane, Tech’s next opponent, was drubbed by Duke. This bodes well for next week – another Fox Sports South telecast.
 
UNC handed their game to South Carolina. The Gamecocks did not impress on offense nor defense. Poor tackling. Any TV announcer this fall opening their broadcast by gushing praise about Marquise Williams will have quickly forgotten how the veteran UNC QB lost this game with two interceptions in the end zone.
 
Speaking of quarterbacks, this ridiculous Yahoo Sports article does a terrible job ranking all 128 college QB’s. Clemson’s Deshaun Watson ranks fourth after one injury-plagued season, yet Orange Bowl MVP Justin Thomas supposedly only merited a number twelve rank. No way does Williams deserve 13. Thomas finished in the top five in the 2014 Total QB Rating while Williams was in the 30’s. For the past two years Penn State’s Christian Hackenburg ranked among the worst QB’s in the nation while “leading” the Nittany Lions to mediocre finishes - but here is ranked among the tops in the country. Many small college QB’s are ranked in the middle, far ahead of QB’s deemed talented enough to start for schools like Georgia. Doesn’t make much sense. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/college-football-s-quarterbacks-ranked-1-128-185449884.html

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