BoiseStateFan's 2017 College Football Predictions/Preview Thread

[BoiseStateFan27]

Clemson Tigers

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Preview: With 2017 now in the books you can definitely add Dabo Swinney to the list of elite coaches in college football (if he wasn't there already.) Entering last year only 5 active college football coaches had won a national championship and that number is now 4 with Bob Stoops retiring and Les Miles not being an active coach and Dabo Swinney winning his first. Swinney is easily the most surprising of the 4 coaches with national championships, Nick Saban, Urban Meyer and Jimbo Fisher were all surefire hires when they were brought in. Swinney on the other hand, was a surprising hire when he became the full time head coach after originally being an interim coach, it took him a while but Swinney has made Clemson a truly elite program.

Last year this team was one of the more interesting in college football. They opened the year struggling offensively and barely beating Auburn, the following week they barely got past Troy. After easy wins over South Carolina State and Georgia Tech, Clemson had a big halftime lead on Louisville, lost that lead and then stormed back to win. Clemson destroyed Boston College and then took advantage of awful coaching to survive NC State's upset bid. Clemson barely outlasted Florida State and crushed Syracuse. Finally after playing with fire for so long Clemson got burned as Pittsburgh kicked a late field goal to upset them. Clemson turned it on after easily dominating Wake Forest and South Carolina, then taking a big lead on Virginia Tech in the ACC championship before holding on from a Virginia Tech comeback. As soon as the playoffs rolled around Clemson turned it on and played their best football of the year, absolutely dominating Ohio State in every way in a 31-0 win, and then making a comeback to beat Alabama with a touchdown in the final seconds in what possibly may have been the best national championship ever.

Clemson had an offense with elite talent but it was error prone. They lose a fantastic QB in Deshaun Watson and now are tasked to replace him. The replacement will either be junior Kelly Bryant or true freshman Hunter Johnson, will the replacement be as good as Watson? No definitely not this year but I think Clemson will be fine either way. Clemson has a trio of backs who could replace the departed Wayne Gallman, chances are C.J Fuller, Adam Choice and Tavien Feaster will all play, they had carries in limited action last year, Choice had the worst ypc of the bunch while Feaster had easily the best, Feaster was the highest rated back entering college too. Clemson loses a ton of receiving production as WRs Mike Williams, Artavis Scott and TE Jordan Leggett are all gone, panic right? No way, Clemson constantly subbed different receivers in and out throughout the year to spread the ball to different targets and in hopes of putting a receiver with fresh legs against a DB who is tired from playing all game (worked to perfection against Bama) so despite all those losses there's still a lot back. National championship hero Hunter Renfrow leads the returning receivers along with Deon Cain, and Ray-Ray McCloud and there's more waiting in the wings also. Clemson's offensive line was very glitchy last year and had some problems at times, but 4 starters are back.

Clemson's defense was mostly very good, only a few teams found ways to score on them. Once again Clemson will have a scary defensive line this year, only Carlos Watkins and backup Scott Pagano are gone and this line is simply loaded with defensive end Clelin Ferrell plus defensive tackles Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence all returning. Clemson loses their leader of the linebacker unit in Ben Boulware but that's it, all the other linebackers are back including Kendall Joseph and Dorian O'Daniel. Clemson loses two good starters in the secondary in corner Cordrea Tankersley and safety Jadar Johnson, but everyone else is back led by corner Ryan Carter and safety Van Smith, and there's backups who have performed well when asked to step in.

Clemson has some challenges on their schedule, they have a big non-conference game against Auburn but the rest of the non-conference is South Carolina, Kent State and The Citadel. Clemson draws Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech from the Coastal division. Overall Clemson might be a slight step down from last year...I think. Don't write this team off though, they will still be very good.

Predictions:

Sep. 2 Kent State: Poor Kent State. W
Sep. 9 Auburn: Clemson uses this game as a statement as they dominate Auburn for a win. W
Sep. 16 @ Louisville: Louisville is a tricky place to play especially with them having Lamar Jackson, I think Jackson manages to make several big plays and leads Louisville to an upset over Clemson. L
Sep. 23 Boston College: W
Sep. 30 @ Virginia Tech: Clemson struggles offensively but their defense plays very well and their offense still does just enough to win. W
Oct. 7 Wake Forest: W
Oct. 13 @ Syracuse: W
Oct. 28 Georgia Tech: W
Nov. 4 @ NC State: Potential trap game, but Dave Doeren has proven before that he isn't capable of pulling off an upset so Clemson survives. W
Nov. 11 Florida State: This game is once again a back and forth battle between these two, Francois ends up making the big plays at the end for Florida State to win. L
Nov. 18 The Citadel: W
Nov. 25 @ South Carolina: W

Predicted Record: 10-2(6-2)

Just hours after I post this, Dabo names Kelly Bryant the starting QB... real sneaky Dabo!

 

[AlaskaGuy]

The oral history of Boise State, CFB's Moneyball

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

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Preview: Paul Johnson's been a funny coach at Georgia Tech, he's been here so long that a lot of today's recruits probably think Georgia Tech has run the triple option all along, Johnson has at least found ways to keep them competitive and sometimes fun. Just trying to guess what this team will do is fun. In 2013 Georgia Tech went 7-6 and was as middle of the road as it gets, in 2014 they surged to a close loss in the ACC championship and a win in the Orange bowl, then in 2015 Georgia Tech collapsed and only won 3 games, one of the 3 wins was over Florida State, then Georgia Tech bounced back to a 9-4 record last year. Now what?

Georgia Tech opened last year with a 3-0 start, then promptly turned around to lose 3 in a row. Georgia Tech won the next two games in somewhat close fashion and then got blown out by North Carolina. Georgia Tech then upset Virginia Tech on the road, beat Virginia, and took down their rival Georgia to close out the regular season. Georgia Tech then beat Kentucky easily in their bowl game to finish the year 3-0 against the SEC East.

Georgia Tech was very solid offensively last year as they ran the option well against most teams. Good news is Georgia Tech returns their top 3 slotbacks as well as their two primary receivers from last year. The offensive line struggled to put the same lineup out there each week because of injuries last year, every original starter missed at least 1 game, good news is 6 players with experience return. Bad news is the only experienced replacement for QB Justin Thomas is Matthew Jordan who hurt his foot and didn't get to practice with the team until a few weeks ago. Fullback is the biggest question mark, they had two good fullbacks last year in Dedrick Mills and Marcus Marshall, Mills was only a freshman last year and had become the key to the offense, well Marshall graduated and Mills got kicked off the team so suddenly there's no experience at fullback.

Georgia Tech still wasn't great defensively last year but they did improve some. Good news starts in the secondary where everyone returns from last year, senior corners Lance Austin and Step Durham are a solid duo and there's a good trio of safeties in Corey Griffin, A.J Gray and Lawrence Austin. Georgia Tech has some experienced linebackers back as well. Bad news is a lot of the starters gone are on the defensive line including it's most impactful pass rusher in defensive tackle Patrick Gamble. Overall the pass rush is a big question for Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech's non-conference schedule has a lot of interesting games they play Tennessee, UCF on the road and as usual face rival Georgia. Even their FCS opponent in Jacksonville State is one of the better teams in FCS. Georgia Tech as usual faces Clemson from the Atlantic division and draws Wake Forest as well. Funny thing is I honestly considered doing a coin flip for Georgia Tech's games, I could see them beating any opponent on the schedule besides Clemson, and I also wouldn't be too surprised if they lost to anyone on the schedule, they're the ultimate wildcard.

Predictions:

Sep. 4 Tennessee (Atlanta): I think Tennessee's defense having more time to prepare for Tech's offense should help them. L
Sep. 9 Jacksonville State: W
Sep. 16 @ UCF: L
Sep. 23 Pitt: W
Sep. 30 North Carolina: W
Oct. 14 @ Miami (Fl): L
Oct. 21 Wake Forest: W
Oct. 28 @ Clemson: L
Nov. 4 @ Virginia: W
Nov. 11 Virginia Tech: W
Nov. 18 @ Duke: L
Nov. 25 Georgia: L

Predicted Record: 6-6(4-4)

 

[ckhokie]

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

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Nov. 11 Virginia Tech: W

 

[belcherboy]

Well GT has won 2 out of the last 3 games against VaTech. Although I don't think I would bet on them winning again this year.

 

[Chewbaccer]

Georgia Tech has that Auburn thing working them. When they're expect to be good, they suck and when they're not expected to to much, they usually have a pretty good team. They're also a lot like Iowa in that they'll extend Paul Johnson for having a top 15 season every 5 years or so.

 

[Hitman Hart]

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Sep. 9 Wake Forest: W

Kill me now

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Louisville Cardinals

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Preview: Bobby Petrino's second stint at Louisville has officially taken off, after two years of struggles he has gotten his team together. Petrino's stints have mostly been the same, he doesn't do as well in his first two years, picks it up in year 3 and by year 4 he usually has his best team. So now we're in year 4 of Petrino's second stint at Louisville, what does he have in store?

Louisville opened the year with 4 ridiculous blowout wins, all easy competition? Almost, one of those was an impressive yet meaningless 63-20 destruction of Florida State. Louisville took on Clemson on the road and after falling behind Louisville charged back to take a double digit lead before Clemson came back and won it. Louisville struggled with Duke and then destroyed NC State. Louisville got in trouble as they were behind 25-24 late against Virginia and ended up winning on the late touchdown. Louisville crushed Boston College and Wake Forest. Then came the collapsed as they were thoroughly dominated by Houston in a 36-10 loss, then made errors in an upset loss to Kentucky. Louisville ended the year getting dominated by LSU in their bowl game.

Louisville's offense was pretty much unstoppable for most of the year, but suddenly faded late. QB Lamar Jackson doesn't require much introduction he is an extremely good playmaker and can carry a team on his back, for being a QB he is so electric running the ball. Louisville does lose a solid RB in Brandon Radcliff, but they have backs in Jeremy Smith and Malik Williams who have performed well in limited roles and there's former QB Reggie Bonnafon who moved to RB. Louisville's receivers struggled late in the year with drops and now top receivers James Quick and Jamari Staples are gone, so is tight end Cole Hikutini. There still are some players back though, junior receivers who contributed in Traveon Samuel and Jalen Smith return, and Samuel was one of the more reliable receivers Louisville had. The star of the spring though was freshman Dez Fitzpatrick who could have a breakout year this year. The offensive line was a big reason for the late season fade, can it be fixed? Louisville only gets two starters back in both their tackles, so yes still a lot of questions up front.

Louisville was pretty good defensively a lot of the year but definitely struggled more on defense as the year went on. The defensive line loses a good defensive tackle in DeAngelo Brown, but defensive end Drew Bailey is back and so is Trevon Young who was good in 2015 but missed all of last year. James Hearns is also back and he will likely play on the defensive line a lot more this year. Louisville has a few questions at linebacker with some starters gone, it's possible some young players may be forced to step in. Louisville's secondary struggled as the season went on thanks to injuries but now there's a lot of experience back. Corner Jaire Alexander is the star of this defense and he is back, so is corner Trumaine Washington and safeties Chucky Williams, Dee Smith and Zykiesis Cannon.

Louisville has about as favorable of a schedule as you can have in the ACC Atlantic. Their non-conference schedule is even easier than last year's with games against Purdue, Kent State, Murray State and Kentucky. Louisville draws North Carolina and Virginia from the Coastal division. I'm not sure if Louisville is quite at a conference title contention or playoff contention level, there's just too many questions but this should still be a fun and good team to watch.

Predictions:

Sep. 2 Purdue (Indianapolis): W
Sep. 9 @ North Carolina: Upset! Louisville gets caught looking ahead to the big game the next week and North Carolina surprises them. L
Sep. 16 Clemson: Louisville does manage to turn it around and take down Clemson in an upset. W
Sep. 23 Kent State: W
Sep. 30 Murray State: W
Oct. 5 @ NC State: Louisville might struggle but they still get away with the win. W
Oct. 14 Boston College: W
Oct. 21 @ Florida State: Last year's destruction was something else, but this game being on the road and all I feel like Florida State wants to make Louisville pay for what they did to them last year. L
Oct. 28 @ Wake Forest: UPSET!! Wakey Leaks comes full circle! Louisville comes out turnover prone and ends up struggling to move the ball against Wake Forest. L
Nov. 11 Virginia: W
Nov. 18 Syracuse: W
Nov. 25 @ Kentucky: I don't see Kentucky winning two in a row. W

Predicted Record: 9-3(5-3)

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

Miami Hurricanes

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Preview: Miami has been a program down for a long time now and they turned to Mark Richt in hopes of finally turning it around and for the first time ever win a Coastal division title. Mark Richt's first year was a success, but it ended with a very Richt-like 9-4 record and just short of a division title. What will Richt have in store for his 2nd season?

Last year started off very well Miami easily rolled to a 4-0 start and once again faced their biggest test of facing rival Florida State. Miami took a 13-0 lead in the 2nd quarter and seemed like they could finally turn it around, until they didn't Florida State reeled off 20 unanswered points to take the lead then Miami scored right near the end of the game for what should have been a tie except Miami's kicker missed the extra point. Once again Miami went into a post-Florida State funk, losing at home to North Carolina, getting crushed by Virginia Tech and somehow being the only team in the nation that figured out how to lose a close game to Notre Dame. Suddenly Miami turned things around in a big way with a 51-28 destruction of Pitt, and then cruised to win their next 3 games to close out the regular season. Miami dominated West Virginia in their bowl game.

Miami's offense was capable of exploding for good games at times but they also struggled a lot too. QB Brad Kaaya was never consistent and struggled at times, he was a disappointment and left for the draft anyways. The new starter will be junior Malik Rosier, it took him a while to seize the job but he's the only QB who has any sort of experience. Rosier made one start in 2015, he struggled but was only a freshman at the time. RB Mark Walton has proven to be a very good back when the offensive line gives him a chance. Miami loses their top receiver in Stacy Coley but they do return sophomore Ahmmon Richards who was one of the best freshmen receivers in the country last year and broke Michael Irvin's school record for freshman receiving yards, they also have a solid slot receiver in Braxton Berrios and they love utilizing tight ends, David Njoku is gone but Christopher Herdon IV is back. So about that offensive line, it was all sorts of a mess last year but at least there's a trio of experienced seniors back, this line needs to be better or it could bring down this offense.

Miami's defense meanwhile proved to be very good last year and it just might get better. The defensive line was rather young last year, but it played very well and now everyone is back including defensive ends Chad Thomas, Trent Harris and tackles R.J McIntosh, and Kendrick Norton. Miami's linebackers were also very good and it was led by a trio of freshmen in Shaquille Quarterman, Michael Pinckney and Zach McCloud, now all 3 are returning sophomores, junior backup Darrion Owens was good as well. Miami's secondary is a bit of a question mark though, the anchor for the unit in corner Corn Elder is gone and so are safeties Rayshawn Jenkins and Jamal Carter. Former backup safeties Jaquan Johnson and Sheldrick Redwine seem ready to step up and sophomore corner Malek Young impressed when he played, it will also be interesting to see how Dee Delaney a former FCS all-american corner tranferring in from The Citadel will perform.

Miami doesn't have a bad schedule, they open with Bethune-Cookman and surrounded a big road game against Florida State with games against Arkansas State and Toledo, but the Notre Dame game will be a task. In addition to Florida State, Miami gets an extremely favorable draw as they get Syracuse from the Atlantic. Miami's been aiming to win the Coastal division since joining the ACC and has failed to do so each time, this perhaps could be the year.

Predictions:

Sep. 2 Bethune-Cookman: W
Sep. 9 @ Arkansas State: W
Sep. 16 @ Florida State: Once again they lose to their rival. L
Sep. 23 Toledo: Miami always struggles right after losing to Florida State, Toledo is tricky but other than an upset of Arkansas a few years ago Toledo usually cooperates with the bigger teams. W
Sep. 29 @ Duke: W
Oct. 12 Georgia Tech: W
Oct. 21 Syracuse: W
Oct. 28 @ North Carolina: Miami randomly suffers an upset loss to North Carolina. L
Nov. 4 Virginia Tech: Miami does rebound and picks up a big win over Virginia Tech. W
Nov. 11 Notre Dame: Still incredible how Miami hasn't beaten Notre Dame since 1989, seeing that they couldn't find a way to end it last year, I don't have much confidence in them changing that this year. L
Nov. 18 Virginia: W
Nov. 24 @ Pittsburgh: Miami gets upset by Pitt to add anticipation in the division race. L

Predicted Record: 8-4(5-3)

 

[belcherboy]

Georgia Tech has that Auburn thing working them. When they're expect to be good, they suck and when they're not expected to to much, they usually have a pretty good team. They're also a lot like Iowa in that they'll extend Paul Johnson for having a top 15 season every 5 years or so.

Having moved to Georgia about a decade ago, I'll never understand how GT beats UGA in Athens so much. Paul Johnson has a winning record in Athens over the past decade. It has been a fantastic rivalry, especially over the past 5 seasons. Last year's game was pretty wild, and they've had 2 OT games in the past 4 meetings.

 

[Chewbaccer]

Having moved to Georgia about a decade ago, I'll never understand how GT beats UGA in Athens so much. Paul Johnson has a winning record in Athens over the past decade. It has been a fantastic rivalry, especially over the past 5 seasons. Last year's game was pretty wild, and they've had 2 OT games in the past 4 meetings.

Georgia Tech is 3-13 vs Georgia since 2001, and undefeated at Bobby Dodd IIRC. But I do miss the days when Reggie Ball was throwing the ball away on 4th down to give UGA the win and when Calvin Johnson was Paul Oliver's bitch in college.

 

[belcherboy]

Georgia Tech is 3-13 vs Georgia since 2001, and undefeated at Bobby Dodd IIRC. But I do miss the days when Reggie Ball was throwing the ball away on 4th down to give UGA the win and when Calvin Johnson was Paul Oliver's bitch in college.

That's what makes Paul Johnson's record impressive. UGA has MUCH better recruits, yet he goes into Athens and wins. I mean, he's 3-2 in Athens, and has won 2 out of the past 3 games (the 4th game was an OT loss), and he has yet to have a top 25 recruiting class. Pretty impressive that he is able to compete with UGA, but he has even beaten UGA the past few seasons with mostly 2*-3* recruits.

 

[Chewbaccer]

That's what makes Paul Johnson's record impressive. UGA has MUCH better recruits, yet he goes into Athens and wins. I mean, he's 3-2 in Athens, and has won 2 out of the past 3 games (the 4th game was an OT loss), and he has yet to have a top 25 recruiting class. Pretty impressive that he is beating UGA with mostly 2*-3* recruits.

3-2 in Athens, but 0-5 in Atlanta. Take the good with the bad I guess.

 

[belcherboy]

3-2 in Athens, but 0-5 in Atlanta. Take the good with the bad I guess.

I just looked up the recruiting rankings from the past four classes for GT on Rivals:
2014 :84th
2015: 47th
2016: 39th
2017: 42nd

Paul Johnson is a miracle worker to even put on a competitive game with the talent disadvantage against UGA. 2-2 with 2 wins in Athens, and one loss in OT and the other by less than a TD with those recruits over the past 4 seasons.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

North Carolina Tar Heels

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Preview: North Carolina has always been mostly a basketball school but their football programs always seems so tantalizingly close to being good and never quite finishes the job. Larry Fedora has stabilized them somewhat and finally has helped them live up to some of their hype, but this year could get rather interesting.

North Carolina opened the year once again dropping an egg in the opener as they collapsed late in the game to lose to Georgia. North Carolina did rebound quite well, winning their next 4 games two of which were in exciting fashion over Pitt and Florida State. North Carolina collapsed completely in a hurricane game against Virginia Tech and lost 34-3. North Carolina once again got back going though and won their next 3 to stay alive in the division race. North Carolina quickly found their way out of that though as they collapsed down the stretch, going 1-2 to close out the regular season only beating The Citadel and losing upsets to in-state rivals Duke and NC State. North Carolina ended the year with a bowl loss to Stanford.

North Carolina's offense was pretty good for the most part but did have some issues. Ummm let's start with the bad news. QB Mitch Trubisky is gone, RBs Elijah Hood and T.J Logan are both gone, WRs Bug Howard, Ryan Switzer and Mack Hollins are all gone and so are 3 offensive line...ouch. So let's find some good news shall we? Well North Carolina brings in well-known transfer QB Brandon Harris from LSU, Harris was highly touted entering college but was an extreme disappointment, Harris did seem to be better fit for a more wide-open offense so maybe he can salvage his career. There is at least one experienced receiver back in senior Austin Proehl and he had some good performances last year, former walk-on Thomas Jackson just might contribute he was only targeted 18 times last year but made the most of it because he caught 17 of those. The offensive line has two experienced starters back and there's a few grad transfers who could help.

North Carolina's defense was mostly solid last year, definitely better than Fedora's early years. Gene Chizik was actually the coordinator for this defense but retired this year to spend more time with his family. John Papuchis former defensive coordinator at Nebraska during the Bo Pelini era takes over. Good news is a lot of inexperience up front last year means a lot of returnees this year. Defensive ends Malik Carney and Dajuan Drennon are both back and so are defensive tackles Jeremiah Clarke and Aaron Crawford. There's also a solid trio of linebackers returning in Cole Holcomb, Andre Smith and Cayson Collins. North Carolina also gets corner M.J. Stewart and safety Donnie Miles back. Bad news is other than Miles and Stewart the secondary is very unproven.

North Carolina does have a tricky schedule they have non-conference home games against Notre Dame and Cal, as well as a tricky game against Old Dominion on the road. North Carolina also draws Louisville from the Atlantic in addition to rival NC State. I think Fedora will be able to squeeze out a bowl bid this year, but wow this much uncertainty is scary, with how competitive this league is Fedora better find the right pieces or they could collapse to the bottom.

Predictions:

Sep. 2 California: North Carolina for whatever reason has had a habit of losing these season openers, and then looking at the result in hindsight makes no sense, I'll pick that to continue. L
Sep. 9 Louisville: UPSET! North Carolina catches Louisville looking ahead and pulls off an upset to rebound. W
Sep. 16 @ Old Dominion: W
Sep. 23 Duke: W
Sep. 30 @ Georgia Tech: L
Oct. 7 Notre Dame: L
Oct. 14 Virginia: W
Oct. 21 @ Virginia Tech: L
Oct. 28 Miami (Fl): North Carolina pulls off another upset. W
Nov. 9 @ Pittsburgh: L
Nov. 18 Western Carolina: ACC has joined the SEC in doing scrub week these days. W
Nov. 25 @ NC State: L

Predicted Record: 6-6(4-4)

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

I just looked up the recruiting rankings from the past four classes for GT on Rivals:
2014 :84th
2015: 47th
2016: 39th
2017: 42nd

Paul Johnson is a miracle worker to even put on a competitive game with the talent disadvantage against UGA. 2-2 with 2 wins in Athens, and one loss in OT and the other by less than a TD with those recruits over the past 4 seasons.

That's what his option is all about, he knows he's not going to recruit like Georgia does so he's going to try to control the ball the best he can to offset the advantage.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I just looked up the recruiting rankings from the past four classes for GT on Rivals:
2014 :84th
2015: 47th
2016: 39th
2017: 42nd

Paul Johnson is a miracle worker to even put on a competitive game with the talent disadvantage against UGA. 2-2 with 2 wins in Athens, and one loss in OT and the other by less than a TD with those recruits over the past 4 seasons.

The 2017 game hasn't been played yet.

2014 was the best Georgia Tech team I can remember(that 09 team was pretty good, and that was one of the biggest upsets UGA has pulled off that I can recall, either that one or 06 vs Auburn), top 10 team that season. Impressive win for GT though since UGA also finished ranked in the top 10 that season(we didn't deserve it but it is what it is)

2015 was probably the most frustrating Georgia team I can remember, a guy who couldn't win the starting job at Virginia was our QB and we lost to every team we played that had a pulse. Terrible GT team that year, and good thing for us, because had they had anything on offense, they would have pushed our shit in, but luckily their offense was just as bad as ours and we squeaked one out.

Last season was inexcusable for UGA, yeah we were a pretty bad team, and GT wasn't great, but having a better season than us, but a lot of rookie mistakes by both Kirby Smart and Jacob Eason let that one slip away.

Paul Johnson running the triple option offense will make GT more competitive than they should be in when it's ran well.

But at the end of the day, he's 3-7 against his forever underachieving biggest rival.

 

[BoiseStateFan27]

North Carolina State Wolfpack

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Preview: NC State has been a program that has pretty much been stuck in mediocrity for over a decade now. They had one good 9-4 year under Tom O'Brien in 2010, and that is the only season that they've surpassed a middle of the road record since Phillip Rivers was the QB. Rivers is nearing retirement in the NFL so that tells you just how long it's been. O'Brien faded back after that 2010 season and was fired, Dave Doeren took over and after a one year reset he brought NC State back to the same exact level again. Big question is can he do any better?

NC State started last year in an interesting way, after an easy season opening win they were upset by an East Carolina team that wound up going 3-9. NC State did roll past Old Domionion and Wake Forest for easy wins and then won a ridiculous and wild hurricane monsoon game against Notre Dame after blocking a punt to win 10-3. NC State followed that up by seemingly having Clemson beat as they wore down Clemson's defense with their run game as they neared the goal line, then instead of running NC State called passes for some reason, went backwards and their kicker missed the field goal so NC State lost in overtime. They collapsed from there losing the next 3 games, one of which was a stinker to Boston College. They beat Syracuse, lost to Miami and Doeren perhaps saved his job with an upset of North Carolina. NC State easily dominated Vanderbilt in their bowl game.

NC State's offense was mostly solid but simply had nothing to offer against better defenses or in monsoons. Good news is NC State brings back very talented players in Nyheim Hines and Jaylen Samuels and they make it a priority to give them the ball, both tend to line up in different positions they both can play receiver and they also can take carries from the backfield. There is a trio of experienced receivers in Kevin Harmon, Bra'Lon Cherry and Maurice Trowell returning and the offensive line has 4 starters back. QB Ryan Finley also returns and was mostly solid. Bad news is while Finley was solid a lot of the times, he struggled miserably against better defenses. NC State wasn't the best running team and that was with a fantastic running back in Matt Dayes who is now gone.

NC State had a strong defense last year, at least most of the time. Good news starts with defensive end Bradley Chubb who's one of the best defensive linemen in college football and he is back. Chubb is not alone, defensive tackles Justin Jones, B.J Hill and Eurndraus Bryant are all back and were all very sturdy against the run, Kentavius Street and Jerod Fernandez are defensive ends that return as well. NC State gets their linebackers back in Jerod Fernandez and Airius Moore, both are 4-year starters. Bad news is NC State's secondary is a huge question mark with several of their top safeties gone, including a star player in Josh Jones, and while they get corner Mike Stevens back they will have to rely on an unproven player on the other side.

NC State faces a tough schedule, in non-conference play they face Notre Dame, and have a tricky game against South Carolina, they also face Marshall. NC State draws Pitt in addition to their rival North Carolina. I'm a big fan of this team's talent, this is some of the best talent they've had in a while, problem is I just don't have faith in Dave Doeren and I think this team will disappoint as a result.

Predictions:

Sep. 2 South Carolina (Charlotte): L
Sep. 9 Marshall: W
Sep. 16 Furman: W
Sep. 23 @ Florida State: L
Sep. 30 Syracuse: W
Oct. 5 Louisville: L
Oct. 14 @ Pittsburgh: W
Oct. 28 @ Notre Dame: No hurricane to save them this year, I think. L
Nov. 4 Clemson: L
Nov. 11 @ Boston College: W
Nov. 18 @ Wake Forest: L
Nov. 25 North Carolina: W

Predicted Record: 6-6(4-4)

 

[belcherboy]

The 2017 game hasn't been played yet.

2014 was the best Georgia Tech team I can remember(that 09 team was pretty good, and that was one of the biggest upsets UGA has pulled off that I can recall, either that one or 06 vs Auburn), top 10 team that season. Impressive win for GT though since UGA also finished ranked in the top 10 that season(we didn't deserve it but it is what it is)

2015 was probably the most frustrating Georgia team I can remember, a guy who couldn't win the starting job at Virginia was our QB and we lost to every team we played that had a pulse. Terrible GT team that year, and good thing for us, because had they had anything on offense, they would have pushed our shit in, but luckily their offense was just as bad as ours and we squeaked one out.

Last season was inexcusable for UGA, yeah we were a pretty bad team, and GT wasn't great, but having a better season than us, but a lot of rookie mistakes by both Kirby Smart and Jacob Eason let that one slip away.

Paul Johnson running the triple option offense will make GT more competitive than they should be in when it's ran well.

But at the end of the day, he's 3-7 against his forever underachieving biggest rival.

No doubt UGA has had their struggles the past few years, but you can't deny the fact that the past 4 recruiting classes have had a HUGE difference in the quality of the recruits between both schools. Heck the past 10 seasons for the matter when comparing recruits for each school. I'm honesly surprised that GT has won 3 of those games with the talent difference...I'm even more surprised that GT is 2-2 in the last 4 games and every game has come down to the wire during that time. Maybe it is just a rivalry thing...although most UGA fans I talk to don't really view GT as much of a rival.

 

[Chewbaccer]

No doubt UGA has had their struggles the past few years, but you can't deny the fact that the past 4 recruiting classes have had a HUGE difference in the quality of the recruits between both schools. Heck the past 10 seasons for the matter when comparing recruits for each school. I'm honesly surprised that GT has won 3 of those games with the talent difference...I'm even more surprised that GT is 2-2 in the last 4 games and every game has come down to the wire during that time. Maybe it is just a rivalry thing...although most UGA fans I talk to don't really view GT as much of a rival.

Georgia Tech might not be UGA's biggest rival, but UGA is GT's biggest rival, so that does play a factor. I'd say Florida is UGA's biggest rival simply because we can't beat them. Ever. But another part of it that GT is the only P5 program that runs the triple option, a scheme designed to give lesser talented teams a fighting chance against superior competition. It's a system that generally has a high floor, but a at the same time, a fairly low ceiling. 7-9 wins most seasons. 2014 was an outlier that went above the ceiling, 2015 was an outlier that fell below the floor.