Playing to Win the Game
Nov. 7, 2007
By Jack Wilkinson -
This was a few seasons ago, when Herm Edwards was still the head coach of the New York Jets, before he jumped starship for Kansas City and the Chiefs. During one particularly contentious press conference with the assembled New York hackerati[cq], Edwards, blood vessels about to burst in his neck, answered one inquiry angrily, his voice and fury rising with every other word.
"You PLAY...to WIN...the GAME!!!"
Which is precisely what Georgia Tech is now trying to do. Virginia
Tech's a memory, albeit a nightmarish one. There is no more Coastal
Division title longshot to aim at. No return to the ACC Championship
Game. Quite likely, there will be no bowl bid as flattering as last
year's Gator.
Instead, the Jackets find themselves en route to Duke Saturday and
playing football for the most fundamental of reasons down the November
stretch.
"You PLAY...to WIN...the GAME!!!"
Not that Tech doesn't have incentives. There are several, some
noteworthy, even if none include national rankings, conference titles
or January football by the beach.
"We can't look back in the past," said junior wide receiver James
Johnson, who caught seven passes for a career-high 136 yards versus
Virginia Tech, but also lost a crucial fumble in the second half of
that 27-3 Halloween Night defeat. "We pretty much have to look forward
to the next three games.
"They're still pivotal," he said. "Maybe we can still do something big."
At 5-4 overall, 2-4 in ACC play, Tech can't win a second straight
Coastal title. With Saturday's non-televised 1 p.m. kickoff in Durham
followed by home games against North Carolina and Georgia, the Jackets
have goals to achieve, if not the big picture they once envisioned.
"We've still got a record with the [consecutive] bowl games," Johnson
said. Indeed, Tech is one of just six teams to play in a bowl game in
each of the last 10 seasons. All of the other five (Virginia Tech,
Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Florida State) have already become bowl
eligible. With a sixth victory at Duke, the Jackets would be
bowl-eligible for the 11th straight season.
"Coach reminded us that Tech's never been below .500 in ACC games
[over the last 11 seasons, the longest current streak in the
conference]," Johnson said. "We can still do that with two games to go
[and extend the run to 12]."
"I do that every week: where we are, where we want to be and what we
need to do to get there," said coach Chan Gailey, who's already
apprised his players of Saturday's - and the season's - implications.
"Whats at stake," he said. "The bowl opportunities, our standing in
the conference. I talked about all of that."
There's more, perhaps enough to warrant a Peek performance. "If we win
these last three games and go to a good bowl game and win," said
sophomore tight end Colin Peek, "we'll have a 9-4 record, which is
better than the record we had last year."
There would be little comparison, really, to that 9-5 disappointment,
which ended with close, consecutive, crushing losses to Georgia [for a
sixth straight year], Wake Forest in the ACC title game and West
Virginia in the Gator Bowl.
Win at Duke, however, and Tech would have 15 ACC victories over the
last three seasons. Only Virginia Tech has won more often in the
conference during that time. Beat North Carolina, and then upset
Georgia, and that would not only give Gailey his first victory over
Tech's bitter in-state rival, but make Peek one happy Jacket.
"Hopefully, we shock the world," he said, smiling. "Shock the state, at least."
For now, Tech must forget its poor performance against Virginia Tech
and subsequent disappointment. "In college football," said senior
center Kevin Tuminello, "you have to have a short-term memory."
Even better, Tech should have Tashard Choice back this weekend. The
ACC's leading rusher, who had knee surgery after the Army game and
could only watch in uniform as Virginia Tech beat the Jackets, expects
to play Saturday. Gailey gladly awaits his return.
"Any time that you've got the leading rusher in the conference back on
the field," Gailey said, "it helps your people."
The return of Choice (averaging an ACC-leading 108.0 rushing yards per
game, with seven touchdowns) will also bolster quarterback Taylor
Bennett, who struggled terribly against Virginia Tech's defensive
pressure (11-for-26, 157 yards and a career-high four interceptions).
It should give Tech its fourth straight win over Duke and 12th in the
last 13 meetings - and also prevent a repeat of the Jackets'
disastrous trip to Durham in 2003. That day in Wallace Wade Stadium,
the Blue Devils - having lost an ACC-record 30 conference games in a
row - trounced Tech 41-17. It enabled Ted Roof, once a great Georgia
Tech linebacker in the '80s, later a Tech assistant coach and then
Duke's defensive coordinator and interim head coach - to get the Duke
job permanently.
On the field afterward, during a delirious post-game radio show, Roof
gave out his home address and invited any Duke students who wanted to
crash a post-game party to drop by. Many did.
These current Blue Devils, 0-8 and 1-6 in the ACC, are now mired in a
23-game conference skid.
"That's not a big thing to me," Gailey said. "I'd rather build on our
positives."
And James Johnson? "Whew. That'd be very bad," he said, when informed
of Duke's 23-game ACC losing streak and Tech's visit in '03.
"Hopefully, we don't even want to go to that level. We're really
planning on jumping on those guys early. We're having a hard time
getting [ahead of] people early. Hopefully, we'll come out on offense,
defense and special teams, and hit on all cylinders."
And play...to win...the game.
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