Game Week - Georgia Tech

I have a cousin that plays for us, and he is good friends with 2 or 3 of GTech's players.  He has said it and seems to me like the team knows it too that there is going to be a noticeable talent gap.  And about the Vegas odds oh yeah I'm with you on that, I'm hoping for the extraordinary too, I'm just trying to have realistic expectations.  Yeah I watched that App State Tennessee game last week.  Nobody should ever be a 21 point favorite against App State, but then again we aren't App State.

Watched a lot of these games.  The issue is depth, not talent.  

The thing that would worry me as a GT fan is that Mercer just defended the option last week and (I'd wager) has been practicing against it for weeks.  A lot of the difficulty of the option is having to prepare for it in a couple of days.  Mercer has probably been doing little else but practicing against the option since mid-August.  

Just stop, you are giving GT fans a bad name, there was no point in you coming on this forum and talking trash. They have their opinion and you have yours, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is no need to bad mouth them. This isn't a UGA forum where they are just running their mouth.

It's their thread though, they can say what they want. They didn't ask GT fans to come on here is my point. And I went to college in Macon and I have played baseball against mercer.

I have a relative who has played for 'us' for the past 3 seasons, after transferring from an FBS program. He has 2 or 3 good friends on GT's Team. I have also Coached and/or Coached against more than a few of the Players on both teams back when they were in HS. My relative says that he has played against several players, at both the FBS and FCS levels, who are now in the NFL and that the difference in talent-level of those players and the players who do not make it to/in the NFL is completely or almost imperceptible during a game. Having stood on the sidelines...(Digression ALERT - well, I did actually PLAY FCS Football on a Team that beat team 1 SEC Team and 3 ACC Teams (including 1 with a GT on their helmets) during my tenure there as a Player and Coach, but that was a LONG time ago)...with these kids when they were in HS, I can support my relative's assertion. An inch taller here, a 0.1 seconds faster there...and that's about it.

But here's the deal (and the TRUTH)...multiply those small differences times 22 (# of players on the field each play). Now, take away 35% of the depth (85 scholarships vs. 63) of 1 team in a sport that causes and punishes player attrition like no other sport and you have the REAL difference in FCS and FBS Football.

So, here's how FCS Teams beat FBS Teams from time to time...4 of them did just that last weekend, in fact.

1) The cumulative small talent difference factor is overcome because an FCS Team is REALLY talented for FCS and is playing against an FBS Team that is REALLY not talented for FBS (Northern Iowa over Iowa State this past weekend might be a good example of that).

2) Multiple events occur which dramatically alter the depth differential - multiple injures/suspensions for the FBS Team vs. Few or None for the FCS Team, for example. Weather (Heat) can also play a part in this and the point in the season when the game is played can as well. Mid-Season, with cooler temperatures hitting and before season-long attrition begins to accumulate, FCS Teams can get back some of this differential as Starters can go the whole game and they aren't playing as many early-season non-starters as they will be later in the season, due to injuries.

3) Physical Execution differential - This can happen in any football game. Cumulative Small Talent differences don't matter nearly as much if the FBS team turns the ball over and has numerous drive-killing or opponent drive-sustaining penalties called against them. This can clearly change the outcome of any football game.

4) Mental Execution - FBS has no inherent advantage in this area. Some people call this 'motivation' (which is a lame-a$$ excuse - if you aren't motivated to play in a football game, then you have no business playing the sport). I don't think that's it. When the Teams that I played on / Coached upset FBS Teams 4 years in a row, I believe a large factor in each of those games was that my team EXPECTED to win - not hoped we could win, not thought we could win, not even believed we could win. We took the field EXPECTING to win those games. This is the most difficult quality to cultivate in a Team, but when you see it (as a Coach) or are part of it (as a Player), you KNOW it...and there's nothing like it. I always found it funny when Freshmen came in (maybe your cousin is a young buck still believing in 'Recruiting Stars' or that the Team that's on the Front page of the AJC every day MUST be populated with Football Gods) and realized that we honestly EXPECTED to win those games. They were shocked - "Really...c'mon, that's the Gamecocks...I mean, I know y'all are good and are gonna play hard, but they're the...Gamecocks." "Yep. We EXPECT to win. Don't worry. You'll get it soon." (I think Richmond's victory over Virginia (an ACC Team that beat GT last year) contained this element. I saw a Spider Team that EXPECTED to win that game from Kickoff to the Final whistle)

I don't know if Mercer is in a position to capitalize on any of those 4 things or not. We'll see. If there's one wish I have for them though, it's that they take the Field - each one of them, including your cousin (if he is dressing for the game) - for this game & every one they play after it - truly EXPECTING to win. If they can do that, regardless of #1-3, they'll have a chance. If not, they probably don't.

GO BEARS! MAUL 'EM!!

PS - Also, not that it matters a whit in this context; my personal record against App St was 5-0...so...there's that, FWIW.
Hey, don't blame me. You brought up those ShineDrinkers.
Want a laugh? Watch this! 2,000,000 other people have.

Just FYI I followed up with Mercer Atheletic Department and it is Georgia Tech that is selling us $20 tickets for $44.50. Mercer is not making a dime off the tickets. Thanks Georgia Tech.