FanHouse Georgia Tech

A two-time draft selection at Georgia Tech, Luke Murton returned for his senior baseball season to enjoy the college experience and improve his draft status. The first has been accomplished and the second will be determined in next month's major-league amateur draft.

At the moment, however, Murton and teammates are not happy campers.

The Duke Blue Devils ruined the Yellow Jackets' extended stay in Durham, N.C., by winning two of three games and spoiling Georgia Tech's opportunity to win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and accompanying No. 1 tournament seed.

Before March was mad, the ACC was already basketball crazy.

Since 1955, the granddaddy of all conference tournaments has put one heck of an exclamation point on the end of the season, the twist ending to an Oscar-worthy film. Even in an era when six bids out of the league are as routine as Billy Packer ripping apart mid-majors or Mike Krzyewski having a colorful conversation with the referees, the ACC tournament still matters.

And in 2009, the ACC tournament has a to-do list the size of Barack Obama's.

When Paul Johnson was hired at Georgia Tech, he assured fans, players, recruits and the media -- and anyone else who'd list -- that he'd adjust his triple option offense to the ACC and throw the ball. With the departure of yet another Yellow Jacket wide receiver Johnson may not have any choice. Even if he wanted to throw the ball, there's no one to catch it.

The latest pass catcher to leave, James Johnson, didn't blame the new offense as his reason for giving up his final year of eligibility. He simply said he was just tired of football. Tech's depth chart at wide receiver now includes one freshman, two sophomores and one walk-on.

Johnson's offense only averaged 5.6 completions a game last season. Yet, the Middies scored at will averaging 39.9 points per game and more than 440 yards of offense per game. If Johnson can get his new QB and running backs to pick up his system quickly, there is no reason why Georgia Tech can't compete in the ACC without throwing. However, the necessisity of running in Year 1, will probably undermine his ability to recruit WRs and passing QBs down the road. But no one will care if he wins...and beats Georgia.

Georgia Tech lost to Boston College Saturday night in part because they only managed to score 10 points. However, Demaryius Thomas was not part of the problem. The redshirt fresham did his part catching five passes for 68 yards. In addition to making plays, Thomas thinks he has the solution to the Yellow Jackets' problems. According to Thomas,

"We're going to have do a better job with play calling."

As you can imagine, Thomas' armchair quarterbacking and not so subtle dig at new Georgia Tech offensive coordinator John Bond did not go over well with Yelllow Jackets head coach Chan Gailey. He reprimanded Thomas to the press and defended the play calling. But beyond brow beating the precocious Thomas, what else can Gailey do? Tech needs to rebound from the BC loss and is headed to UVA, where the Jackets haven't won since 1990. Gailey needs Thomas to step up...and shut up.

No slight intended against either Georgia Tech or Boston College. As a resident of Atlanta and a BC grad, I am glad that both teams have arisen to the top of the conference and this Saturday's game could be a preview of the ACC Championship Game. However, as a football fan and a defender of the ACC expansion, there is part of me that is a little disappointed. I like that BC and GT are playing well...what is bothersome is that no one else in the conference is. The marquee teams in the league (Miami, Virginia Tech and Florida State) all have quarterback problems. Maryland got run over by West Virginia Thursday night. Defending Champ Wake Forest is 0-2. Expansionists envisioned a new super conference. After Saturday there may be only two ranked ACC teams.

These shifts in power tend to be cyclical, so it is just a matter of time before the ACC is good again. And if your marquee teams are struggling, it doesn't hurt to have programs like Boston College and Georgia Tech filling the void. Both are respected academic institutions. Both have respectable football traditions and both are in major media markets. (It there is one thing the ACC does right, it is play the TV game.)

While the loser of this game will face a setback, the winner will also have the added burden of carrying the conference mantle. From a respect standpoint, the ACC needs a Top 10 team to win the conference. If either Georgia Tech or BC falter down the stretch and the conference sends another three or four loss team to the BCS, the ACC critics and haters will be out in force.

Let me start off by saying I'm not one of those people who say that rioting is disrespectful to the Maryland tradition or makes the Terps look bad. Screw all that. It's great. However, rioting and rushing the field should only happen when it's deserved. Rushing the field otherwise just makes you look like idiots and, as an alumn and Terp fan, that's something that I can have.

I think the current students watched the Terps from 2000-2005 and saw all the great riots. I'm lucky. I was a freshman in 2001-2002. The first major riot of the modern era -- meaning not Vietnam -- was a year before when the Terps lost to Duke in the Final Four. That was an angry riot. The next year, there were some good football riots, such as after Maryland beat Georgia Tech in overtime on the Nick Novak kick and when they beat Clemson to go undefeated at home. Of course, the National Championship is riot worthy and the ACC Championship in 2004 was as well. The ACC Championship one is my favorite because that's when the students lit a fire in the middle of Rt 1, although tipping the buses during the Women's Championship last year looked pretty good.

However, since the defeat of #5 FSU in 2005, there hasn't been anything worth mass celebrating in football. So don't. Beating unranked FSU and Miami at home does not deserve rioting at all. As fans, you need to acknowledge when a team isn't as good as you. When you run onto the field, it's because you either won a title of sorts or beat a team that's ranked much higher than you. By rushing the field against two unranked teams, it's showing them respect they don't deserve.

Unfortunately, this post is poorly time. If the Terps beat Wake Forest and advance to the ACC title game that is reason to rush the field. Unless Maryland had a tradition that the fans can celebrate with the team on the field after every win, which would be pretty cool, the fans need to show prudence in when to rush the field. Save it for the best games. Rioting or rushing is often a show of respect for the team you beat. So before you do it, make sure they deserve it.

Well, the last two weeks Maryland's combined margin of victory has been a mean two points. However, they have been two victories. In fact, the Terps rattled off five in a row to improve to 8-2 and 5-1 in conference. The last two games haven't been pretty, but the outcomes have been tough wins and the fact they were wins at all is all that counts.

The Miami game was a huge pitfall game. Being Miami, they always have the talent and ability to come out strong every single game. The fact they were playing for a teammate that had died earlier in the week would just add to that fact. It looked like the death of defensive end Bryan Pata was weighing heavily on the players and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them just didn't want to be there. None-the-less, they played on and played hard the entire game.

Maryland's defense, although they held Miami to only 13 points, did not look as sharp as they did against Clemson. They were giving up way to many yards and won with the help of Miami. Miami's go ahead touchdown was straight up dropped when Ryan Hill was wide open in the end zone and just dropped the pass. With the way Maryland's offense was lacking in the second, as it was against Clemson, that would have been the game. I thought many times that the Bend Don't Break defense was finally going to break today. Instead, it bent to maximum capacity. When it looked like Miami was going to do it, a Miami tipped pass was picked off by Trey Covington and after Maryland punted it away, Bruce Johnson fumbled after a nasty tackle.

I was right. Don't be too surprised; it happens often. After Maryland's win against Florida State, they were in the receiving votes portion of both the AP and the ESPN rankings. If they beat Clemson -- big if -- I believe they will receiver a ranking.

Once again, the game will be televised on ESPN2 Saturday morning. (I believe noon is still the morning on a Saturday.) The Terps are a double digit underdog going into the game. That's OK thought. It's fine with me. As long as the Terps have been undogs, they've shown up. In fact, I'll be worried when they do get some national attention. Even though it was televised, the win over FSU didn't really get the Terps much press outside of the Maryland area. Hell, during the game, Florida State was the story, even as they were getting beat by Maryland.

That being said, this is the biggest game of the Terps season to date. I've said that a lot, I know. I've said that about Georgia Tech and West Virginia, both which resulted in losses. Those were the only ranked teams the Terps played all year, and if they want to be considered a legit team, they'll need to beat some ranked teams. Since Clemson is a ranked team and have been billed as the best team in the ACC for awhile -- if it's true, I don't know -- this is now Maryland's biggest game of the season. Third time the charm, Maryland?

Clemson won't be an easy win by far. Maryland will be on the road, where they Terps have struggled mightily this year. Clemson is coming over a rough loss -- aren't all losses rough? -- on the road against Virginia Tech so we can be sure they'll be looking to release some aggression.

Coach Ralph Friedgen has said that the team's goal is more than six games. He also believes that a two loss team can make the ACC Championship game -- both reported on his press conference you can watch on FridgeTV.com. A loss to Clemson wouldn't kill the Terps, but a win could do so much. A win would probably get them a ranking, a thought that was preposterious just four weeks ago. A win would get them national recognition as a legitimate team. And a win would let them at least preserve the three way tie for first in the Atlantic division. Now all they have to do is beat Clemson. That can't be that hard, right? (It can.)

Maryland is starting to finally get some recognition as a football program again. Of course, they aren't ranked. They shouldn't be. They're not even getting those additional votes that ESPN will show you below the rankings. They shouldn't be getting those either. However, ESPN has given them another shot not to get their arse's whipped on national television.

Maryland is winning the game they should, which they have all year since their two losses are to ranked programs, and that scored them the 7 PM game on ESPN2 next Saturday. That's right, people. The Terps are back in prime time! For all you displaced Maryland fans like myself, you know longer have to sit in sports bars where you can't really hear the game.

This is a must win game if the Terps want any national respect. The last thing the nation remembers was that thumping West Virginia delivered the Terps week three on ESPN. But since then, they've been competitive in every game and lost only one game that went down to the wire against Georgia Tech. They're now 5-2 and 2-1 in the ACC and ESPN is giving the Terps another chance. This is the perfect game for the Terps. Even though Florida State is only a shadow of what it was just a couple years ago, their name still carries enough weight so it will be impressive if the Terps beat them. It's in College Park so it's a winnable game for the Terps.

If they win, they probably won't be ranked, and once again, they probably shouldn't be. But they'll probably start getting those "additional votes." Only with a win over Clemson and some Top 25 losses can the Terps sneak into a ranking. So let's not think about anything but earning back that national respect that would come with beating Florida State. This is a perfect time for Maryland to change their image again and remind the world that they're a football team that should be taken seriously.

The 12th-ranked Tigers take on the 13th-ranked Yellow Jackets from Georgia Tech this weekend in what is clearly the biggest game for Clemson this year--so far.

Tech comes in at 5-1 with their lone loss to Notre Dame, while the Tigers enter the contest 6-1, a loss to BC the only blemish. Saturday may, in fact, be a preview of the ACC Championship--assuming things go Clemson's way the rest of the season.

So how will Clemson beat Georgia Tech this Saturday?

1. Contain Reggie Ball. I know what you're thinking ... why not stop Calvin Johnson? Well, someone has to throw Johnson the ball. I figure, if you keep the quarterback flustered and running and scared you can keep the ball out of CJ's hands. Reggie Ball has had an uncanny ability to make stupid mistakes in his career. He's an interception machine and is completing just north of 50% of his passes this season--most of them to Johnson. If Gaines Adams and company can keep the short Reggie Ball hemmed in with no throwing lanes, look for Reggie to screw up. Calvin Johnson can't outscore Clemson on his own--he needs someone to throw to him. Stop the throwing and you stop the Tech offense. Now, isn't that simple?

2. Run Baby Run! Let's see, James Davis is leading the ACC in rushing yards per game as well as touchdowns. You think we should give him the ball? Yeah, I'd say so. I recognize that Tech has played well against the run this year, but they haven't played anyone with as much talent as this group of running backs. Run early. Run often. And keep running until the Jacket defense is bent over at the waist panting and trying to recover from the constant punishment. And then run some more. 175 yards rushing--and it'll be hard to bet against the Tigers. If it's 200 yards rushing--I'm guaranteeing a win.

3. Um, well, so, ya know, um ... DEFEND THE KICK RETURN. I think at this point I need to make this one a permanent "key". If Clemson can keep the Tech returners from pretending to be All-American's this week, then perhaps the Tigers can maintain some semblance of field position control. Kick the darn ball in the end zone. Please. Pretty please.

So there ya go, three simple things Clemson needs to do to beat Georgia Tech this weekend. It's not a complicated philosophy--the Tigers just have to execute.

Final Score? Clemson 32, Georgia Tech 24