After suffering a devastating loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels, coach Ted Roof and Tech’s defense have gone back to the drawing board to figure out what went wrong in Saturday’s game against UNC.

Some credit goes to North Carolina for playing very well on offense, but it just wasn’t Tech’s best day on defense as they struggled to make tackles in the open field all game long.

Coach Johnson commented on the tackling and how players didn’t execute, but he hesitated  when asked about whether Tech’s defense has improved as the year has gone on.

Coach Roof was expected to have his work cut out for him this season after losing six senior starers on defense including All-American defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu.

Even though Tech lost six starters, they returned two more safeties from injury including senior Isaiah Johnson and junior Jamal Golden.

Golden, who also returns punts and kickoffs, has already put the past away and only focused on the upcoming game against Pittsburgh. Even though the team has struggled the past two games on defense, Golden is confident going into the Pittsburgh game.

“We know it’s going to be a physical game. Today at practice, we practiced 80 percent run [defense] because that’s what they do: they want to run the football,” Golden said. “[Pittsburgh] averages 240 yards a game on the ground, and we’ve just been working on being physical and trying to build a wall at the line of scrimmage,” Golden said.

However, Pittsburgh added some new plays in their most recent game against Virginia Tech, where their quarterback, Chad Voytik, had 19 carries in the game.

“They’re similar. They run the same stuff [as last year], but they also added some new plays similar to what Duke and UNC run with their new quarterback they’re starting this year,” Golden said.

Golden noted that Pittsburgh wide receiver Tyler Boyd is a very good player and that the Tech secondary would keep their hands full defending him along with 6-foot-2 250 pound running back James Conner.

The team is expecting to end the losing streak.

“We’re just ready to get the feeling off of us. We’ve lost two straight and nobody likes losing. We hate losing more than we like winning so we’re just looking to drop the losing streak and start another winning streak,” Golden said.

Due to graduation of key secondary players from last year, Golden has stepped into a leadership position for the defense and special teams unit.

“I’m an upperclassmen. I’m a leader on the defense. We have other guys too, Isaiah Johnson, Quayshawn Nealy, Adam Gotsis. [We’ve] just been picking the team up and we still have a chance to do something special. We’ve only lost 2 games. We still have a chance to win double digit games and have a chance to get to a bowl and the ACC Championship game,” Golden said. “There is a lot to play for and we’re just taking it one game at a time to reach our goals.”

Golden and the team have been addressing the problems they had in the UNC game including tackling.

“[UNC has] playmakers, they have guys on scholarship who are going to make plays, but that’s no excuse for us missing tackles. Tackling is 50 percent technique and 50 percent just wanting to get the job done.”

Replacing the production of  Attaochu and former linebacker Brandon Watts has not been easy as the team has struggled to get pressure on the quarterback this season.

“We have guys who can get the job done. Keshun Freeman, Rook-Chungong, Tyler Stargel, it’s just a matter of fact of just wanting to get it done and wanting to be the guy to make the play. We’ll add pressure, and I’m sure Coach Roof will dial up some blitzes to get pressure on the quarterback,” Golden said.

This year, Tech has predominantly run out of the 4-2-5 defensive formation due to having an experienced secondary.

“We mix it up; it just depends on the situation and where the game is going. It’s up to Coach Roof, really.”

Golden believes the defense will step up in a major way this weekend and they hope to have a big impact on the game to take  pressure off of the offense.

Coming off their best season in the past decade, the Tech women’s ultimate team, “Wreck,” is prepared to take the next step towards success.

Wreck competes in the Southeast region where they play against teams such as Georgia, Florida, Emory and Alabama.

For those who are unfamilar, ultimate is played with two teams of seven, and the goal is to get the disc into the endzone to score a point. Ultimate has concepts very similar to basketball such as zone offense and defense.  The two primary roles are handlers and cutters. Cutters are very similar to wide receivers, and a handler is like the quarterback of the offense.

The team has seen recent success due to the outstanding leadership from the coaches and past captains. Fourth year captains, Cate Woodhurst and Donnya Ajdari are prepared to leave a lasting impression on the team and have the goals set high for this season.

When Ajdari and Woodhurst arrived on campus, the team hadn’t made the regionals in 5 years. Both Ajdari and Woodhurst were fairly new to competitive ultimate, but they picked up the game quickly. Ajdari was named to the all-region freshman team.

The following season, many important newcomers joined the season including third year CS major Julia Ting. In the 2012-2013 season, Wreck began to show signs of improvement including a win in the Southeast regional, their first in seven years.

“I saw [Wreck] at FASET, and then I was hooked,” said Ajdari. “Ultimate Frisbee allows you to still play a competitive sport and go play other schools without being on the official Tech team.”

The team has been steadily improving, according to Ajdari.

“We’ve gotten better every year at regionals. We went from losing all our games…and last year we tied for fifth with UGA,” Ajdari said.

During these years, a bond began to form within the team. Wreck does not believe there is another organization with more love for eachother than Wreck.

“I love seeing new players coming in and just getting thrown into this new environment and seeing them adapt and learn the game and seeing how far they come by end of the season. I love playing with my friends. Everyone on the team is my friend and they’re my family away from home,” Woodhurst said.

Their passion for ultimate and each other has been a big recruiting tool for them these past years. It has helped turn Wreck into a very competitive program in the Southeast region.

“We say that Wreck is FIERCE…an acronym for ‘Fun, Intense, Energetic, Reflective, Competitive, and Eager’ to describe our values,” said former Wreck captain Leah Tsinajinnie.

Wreck is coached by Allison Douglas and Maddy Frey; the two of them have passed along their knowledge of the game of ultimate. Douglas and Frey both play competitive club ultimate in Atlanta (Ozone and Outbreak) which has become very popular, and many members of Wreck have joined club teams.

Wreck has been practicing all Fall semester, and they have been very impressed with their rookie class.

“A couple of the rookies were here for the summer semester, and they throw all the time, and they are into it. They already caught the bug, and once you catch the bug, it’s only a matter of time until you get really good,” Ting said.

Woodhurst plays for Ozone, the top women’s ultimate club in the Southeast, and they recently qualified for Nationals after winning their region. Nationals will be hosted in Orlando, FL, on October 16-19 Six other members of Wreck play for the newly formed club, Outbreak.

“I tried out in May. I went through all the rounds, and I’ve been playing all summer. We went to four tournaments and won the Shawn Adams Memorial and regionals. We’re going into nationals ranked seventh in the country,” Woodhurst said.

Big news arrived on October 1, when Ajdari, Ting and Woodhurst along with third year Taylor Hartman found out that they had been invited to try out for the U-23 USA Ultimate teams. The tryouts will take place November 22-23 in Orlando, and they have the possibility of being one of 33 women selected to compete in the 2015 World Ultimate championships.

It had been a dream for many of them upon hearing about Tsinajinnie trying out for the 2013 games.

“I talked to one of the coaches that went last year, and she said regardless of who made the team and who didn’t, she just thought that everyone was trying their hardest,” Ajdari said. “You’re playing with top talent, so you’re going to learn a lot from tryouts,”

Wreck’s major rivals are the teams in Georgia, but they have great relations with all teams in their section and region.

“We are the most spirited team in our region, and I really believe that. Other teams recognize that, and we get along well with every team. Of course it’s always fun to beat UGA, and we also get picky about Emory because we want to be city champions,” Woodhurst said.

Most recently the team competed in a scrimmage against fellow in-state foes Georgia, Kennesaw State, GCSU and Emory. Wreck finished 3-1, with their only loss to Georgia on universe point. The captains were very pleased with their performance, but all agree the team has yet to reach its apex.

Wreck will compete next in Classic City Classic on October 25 and 26 in Athens, Georgia. CCC is one of the biggest tournaments of the year, and it will be a big test for the team.

Then they will be going to the Gulf Coast Warm Up. There, Wreck will get to see other teams, such as LSU and Auburn.

Coach Paul Johnson called  his final time out with four seconds left on the clock. Johnson had made up his decision to go for the game-winning field goal instead of trying to score a touchdown.

On the play before, sophomore quarterback Justin Thomas fell down purposefully on the seven yard line to center the kick for sophomore Harrison Butker. With the score tied 24 to 24, Butker made the game-winning field goal triggering the Tech sideline to rush the field celebrating.

Butker was swarmed by teammates. Tech won 27 to 24 and it was Butker’s first game-winning field goal in his football career.

Butker, who previously missed a 30 yard field goal earlier in the game, finished 2-3 on field goal attempts for the game.

This was the first time Tech won on a last second game-winning field goal  since 1999, where Luke Manget kicked a 38 yard field goal against arch-rival UGA.

Going into the game, Tech had not beaten Virginia Tech since 2009, and had not won at Blacksburg since 2006. After the game ended, there was a visible sigh of relief across Johnson’s face.

Tech players have wanted to beat Virginia Tech in the worst way since 2010, where starting quarterback, Josh Nesbitt broke his arm, effectively ending his career as a Jacket. Tech had the lead in that game. but was unable to hold onto it. Tech has suffered heartbreak in the past three seasons as well.

On September 20, Tech started off with the ball in the first half and comfortably drove the ball into Virginia Tech territory. However, the drive stalled and Butker kicked a 43-yard field goal to give Tech a 3-0 lead.

The Hokies responded later in the first quarter to tie the game.

In the second quarter, Tech struggled to move the ball. Virginia Tech scored 16 unanswered points to take a 16-3 lead late in the second half.

Due to several key runs by Thomas late in the second half on a 2-yard touchdown, Tech was able to cut the deficit to 3 .

Tech entered halftime trailing 16-10. This was a very critical game for the Jackets. A win would rally the fan base and a loss would be devastating for the Jackets who have lost several close games to Virginia Tech the last four years.

In the second half the defense dug deep and were able to hold Virginia Tech to only eight points.

Two big interceptions helped the Jackets win the game. Sophomore linebacker Paul Davis intercepted Virginia Tech’s quarterback Michael Brewer and returned the pick 41 yards for a touchdown, giving Tech a 17-16 lead early in the fourth quarter.

On the next drive, Brewer scored on a fluke play where he recovered a fumble giving Virginia Tech the lead.

With Tech down 17-24 with 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Thomas led his team on a nine-play, 67-yard drive to tie the game at 24 with 2:03 left in the game.

The biggest play on that drive was on fourth and 15, where Thomas found senior wide receiver DeAndre Smelter for a 19-yard gain.

Two plays later, Thomas threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Smelter who finished with 101 receiving yards on the game.

On the first Virginia Tech play of their next drive, junior cornerback DJ White intercepted Brewer at the 40-yard line. Much celebration occurred, but Thomas was not going to wait for overtime to win this game.

Thomas had 20 of his 165 rushing yards on the final drive and once again led Tech on a game winning drive.

With this exciting win, Tech moves to 4-0 for the first time since 2011. The Jackets now get a  much needed bye week before hosting Miami on October 4 at 7:30 p.m. It will also be the school’s annual Whiteout Game, and will be aired on ESPN2. The Jackets are looking for their first win against Miami’s Hurricanes  since 2008.

Thankfully the BCS era is finished and the NCAA college football playoff will commence this season. After begging for years, fans have gotten their wish. The Wicked Witch, which was the BCS, is finally dead. The BCS should have ended five years ago, and regretfully, we all had to witness the turmoil of the 2012 BCS Championship, which was a rematch between LSU and Alabama.

Those three and a half hours were the biggest waste of time in my life, and the BCS system showed it wasn’t suitable at choosing who plays for the championship on its own.

A team that didn’t win its division never should have been allowed to play for a championship. It was a catastrophe that fans, especially LSU fans, will forever remember. That game is when people realized real change needed to occur because the bias in the BCS was too high. The SEC bandwagon was at a tipping point and needed to be derailed, as it eventually was by Florida State.

Leaders of the new college football playoff chose a college football selection committee, and those members are several athletic directors, former head coaches and other college football fans.

In total there are 13 members in the committee. The only female is former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice is a former Stanford graduate and has been a long time college football fan. Archie Manning and former Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich are also on the selection committee.

There was much controversy as to who was chosen because each person on the committee might have a bias towards their team or conference.  Nine of the thirteen members are not allowed to vote for the schools that they each work for or still have connections to.

The SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences all have three members of the 13 that have affiliation to that conference. The ACC only has Radakovich and the Big 12 Conference has West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck, who has ties to University of Texas and Stanford University as well.  There are also two independent representatives on the selection committee including Lieutenant General Mike Gould who was the former superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy.

Looking at the numbers, it appears the ACC and Big 12 conferences are at a major disadvantage.  The SEC conference having a major advantage on the selection committee is what people were afraid of. Frankly, Americans are sick of the SEC hype train that occurs every year. Currently, there are seven SEC teams in the top 15 of the AP Poll. The past weekend, many members of the media were bragging about how many SEC teams are ranked so highly when they are the ones who ranked themselves. Fans shouldn’t have votes, and in the last ten years, it appears every media member has become a fan of the SEC.

Even though I think Kenny Hill and Texas A&M are legitimate but good trying to finish the season undefeated. Georgia losing this past weekend guarantees that no one from the SEC East will finish undefeated. Even if the SEC champion has two losses, I guarantee you they will have a representative in the playoff. The SEC is the only conference where a two-loss team would be chosen because the national perception is that they are better than everyone.

But this is the first year where the polls are worthless in determining who will participate in the first playoff. The selection committee will start releasing their own top 25 ranking list on October 28.

Committee members will come up with their own top 25, and teams that appear in at least three will be discussed. When a school comes up that one of the nine voters has a connection to, they will leave the room.

Personally, I think if  you attended the university or played football there, you should not be allowed to talk on behalf of that school. Tyrone Willingham (Michigan State), Steve Wieberg (Missouri) and Tom Jernstedt (Oregon) will all get free passes to vote for their alma maters.

Selection Sunday is when the committee will select the teams to participate in the playoff as well as who will participate in the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange and Peach Bowls. There are six bowls that will rotate each year. This year the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl will host the semifinals of the playoff, and the national championship game will be hosted at AT&T Stadium.

Once the selections for the playoffs are released, expect there to be plenty of backlash. I don’t want to imagine the backlash that will ensue if two SEC teams are picked to make up the four playoff teams. There are five power conferences, and it’s most likely that the Big Ten conference won’t have a member this season.

Florida State is the front runner for the ACC, but if they lose a game, chaos could ensue. The same can be said for Oregon. Either Baylor or Oklahoma State will represent Big 12, and the most likely SEC representatives are Alabama, Auburn or Texas A&M. There are seven teams fighting for four spots, and that doesn’t include BYU, which is a shoo-in to go undefeated.

Fans wanted a playoff so teams like BYU would have a shot if undefeated after Boise State was passed over in their best season in 2008.

It doesn’t appear that four teams are enough for a playoff, but that is better than what we had. Maybe they should move to eight teams, but don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. On December 7, the fate of the college football playoff will be known. Brace yourselves America, winter is coming.

In his first start of his career, sophomore quarterback Justin Thomas has already had himself a record-breaking day. Thomas scorched Wofford for 282 passing yards including 202 in the second half. Those 282 yards were the most by a Paul Johnson-coached team in his 14 years of being a head coach at the Division 1-A level. The previous mark was set by former quarterback, Tevin Washington, against Western Carolina where he threw for 271 yards.

It was a tale of two halves for Thomas. In the first half Thomas played like a player who was making his first career start as he overthrew several wide open receivers and didn’t look as sharp running the option offense. However, the second half was a completely different story; Thomas looked like a seasoned veteran as he marched the Jackets on four touchdown scoring drives and did not throw an incomplete pass the entire half. The way Thomas was checking down on routes, hitting the open man in stride, he appeared to be the most talented passing quarterback Johnson has had at Tech.

Thomas is definitely the fastest quarterback to ever play for Paul Johnson and has the potential to finish his career as the best to ever play for Johnson, but he and the offense have a lot of work left to do.

At halftime, the mood around the stadium was pretty gloomy.

“I would say the mood at halftime was kind of mellow. The defense played a great half beside that long run. We knew what we’re capable of doing. We just stayed together as a group and weren’t pointing fingers or yelling. We came together and did what we were supposed to do in the second half,” Thomas said.

After losing 7 starters on defense, fans expected the offense would have to carry the team to victories this season, yet only 10 points were put up on the board in the first half. Several potential touchdowns were missed.

Thomas overthrew wide receiver DeAndre Smelter near the end zone and missed a couple pitches that would have had the chance to go for touchdowns. Although learning the triple option is a growing process, this is already Thomas’ third year in the system.

“In the first half I missed a few guys. I overthrew them a little bit. In the second half I calmed down and made the throws I was supposed to,” said quarterback Justin Thomas. “Coach Johnson was telling people to calm down and play our game like he knows we can.”

During the first offensive possession in the second half, fans could tell that Johnson made the necessary adjustments on offense. Wofford was stacking the box by putting 9 men within seven yards of the line of scrimmage to sell out on stopping the run and chose to take out the rushing attack the Jackets have.

Wofford played tough assignment football and didn’t make many mistakes when Tech ran their option plays. As so many players were close to line of scrimmage, wide receiver DeAndre Smelter was left in one-on-one coverage.

With excellent hands and a rare combination of size and speed at the wide receiver position, there are not many players in the country who can cover Smelter one on one. Smelter has appeared to have made a giant jump in his second season playing football at Tech.

His performance  made Tech fans wish the former baseball player chose to play football from the start. He finished the game with 5 receptions for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Smelter had a 71 yard touchdown catch in third quarter to set the tone for the Jackets in the second half.

“It was pretty much just a streak route. I knew Justin would get me a good ball. After I caught it, I just wanted to make a play. I didn’t want to go down,” said senior wide receiver DeAndre Smelter. “I expected to come out and play hard. I know that if everyone does there job then we have a good chance to be productive.”

Not only did Thomas set a Johnson-era record for passing, but the offense also passed for more yards than they rushed for. It was the fourth time in 7 years that has happened at Tech.

Thomas’ final stat line was 11-for-15, 282 passing yards and 2 TD. His quarterback rating was 275.3 which is currently the highest QB rating in the country.  The new starter also completed 73.3 percent of his passes which is usually unheard of for a triple option quarterback.

On his 282 yard passing performance as a predominantly rushing team:

“I feel like if we can [pass like] that it opens up our running game even more. It just keeps the defense even more balanced. When we do get the opportunity to throw we take advantage of it,” Thomas said.

One big issue the last couple of seasons is when Tech would pass, they wouldn’t complete a very good percentage.

Last season, Vad Lee only completed 45.6 percent of his passes, and between him and Thomas, Vad was supposed to be the quarterback with the superior arm. Lee threw 11 touchdowns last year and had 10 interceptions in only 180 attempts.

An interception per 18 passing attempts is not a great stat to have. Too many times last year, Lee looked for the home run pass which led to a waste of a play and a very low completion percentage.

In the game against Wofford, Thomas showed poise and patience in the pocket which is a rare trait for a Tech quarterback to have. Thomas’ exceptional elusiveness allows him to stand in the pocket much longer than his predecessors. In the game against Wofford, the new quarterback didn’t get sacked and was not tackled in the backfield either.

“I think the offensive line did very well. Especially in the passing game. I don’t think I got touched at all. They came out there and did what they were supposed to do,” Thomas said.

Not taking sacks or getting tackled in the backfield will be the biggest improvement in the running game by a quarterback in Coach Johnson’s offense. Thomas’ agility will allow him to escape much easier than previous quarterbacks at Tech.

Thomas only ran for 71 yards against Wofford, but he averaged nearly six yards per carry which is almost three yards more than Lee from last year. His long from the game was 16 yards, and even though he was the fastest player on the field when A-back

Although Broderick Snoddy was not on the field, credit needs to be given to Wofford for doing a terrific job containing him on the outside.

Thomas will look for similar success against Tulane, but don’t expect Tech to finish with so many passing yards in that game. Tulane will do a better job at trying to defend the Tech passing attack and will probably let Tech establish the dive play with Zack Laskey more easily than Wofford.  It won’t be surprising if Tech scores more points against Tulane  than they did against Wofford.

The biggest key for Thomas this year is maintaining his current level of high play. If Thomas can go into Tulane with another outstanding passing game, it will do a lot of good for the young quarterback.

The 2014 ACC football media day wrapped up this week as representatives from Tech’s football team attended the event in Greensboro, NC to talk to the media about the upcoming football season. In attendance were senior offensive guard Shaquille Mason, senior linebacker Quayshawn Nealy, and head coach Paul Johnson. There were several questions for the attendees mostly about the quarterback situation and how the offense is going to change from last year now that Vad Lee has left the program.  The media also addressed the suspensions that occurred this season where several key players were suspended because of academics and several others because of violating Tech’s student conduct policy.

The biggest takeaway from the event is that Tech was predicted to finish fifth in the coastal division. That prediction is no surprise to followers of Tech’s football program because Tech has long been predicted to finish in the bottom half of the coastal division almost every year Coach Johnson has been here. Johnson has finished with a winning ACC record in every year except one, 2010, where he finished 4-4 which was good for third place in the coastal division.

Over the past few years the medias favorite teams have been Miami and North Carolina.  At the beginning of each year you always hear about how this is the year Miami football comes back to prominence and how UNC is the dark horse of the ACC. They have been labeled dark horse to win the ACC almost every year since Johnson arrived, including this year. UNC and Miami have always failed to live up to expectations yet the media continues to love them.

This year, Miami was predicted to win the coastal division and UNC was predicted to finish fourth even though they had the second most votes to win the division behind Duke.  Fifth, is the lowest Tech has been picked to finish during Johnson’s tenure, which says a lot about what the media thinks of where Tech’s program with Johnson at the helm is headed. Several other media outlets are predicting Tech to finish sixth this year, which if came true would be it’s worst finish in ACC play since 1994 where Tech won zero ACC games.

Some of the reasons for the low predictions are because of the improvements Duke’s football program has made. For years Duke was predicted to finish dead and they never competed for the coastal division until last year. Even though Tech beat Duke for the tenth straight year, Duke still finished 6-2 in ACC play and won the outright coastal crown despite being predicted to finish last in the coastal division. With Duke now viewed as an emerging program that is one less team the media can put at the bottom so other teams have slid down. Another reason for the low prediction is the media seems to believe that Tech will lose to it’s biggest conference rivals, Miami and Virginia Tech, every year that Johnson remains as coach. Tech has not beaten Miami since 2008 or Virginia Tech since 2009 and due to those schools always recruiting great athletes, the media believes they will always figure out a way to stop Tech’s offense.

In Johnson’s six year tenure, Tech has finished higher than it was projected four of the six years including two years where they won the coastal division and the other two years they finished at the same spot they were predicted. If it hadn’t have been for losing to both Miami and Virginia Tech almost every year, Tech could have won even more ACC coastal division crowns.

In 2008, when Johnson first became Tech’s coach most of the media predicted them to finish around the bottom and a 4-8 record seemed to be the most popular pick. They didn’t believe that Johnson could turn a pro style offense into a triple option offense and have success the first year. What the media didn’t realize is how much NFL talent Tech had on that team.  There were NFL players at all the key positions on both sides of the ball. Even though it took Tech a little while to figure out the offense they managed to win nine games and win at Georgia, the preseason number one team. Those nine wins are the second most in the Paul Johnson era. The following year Tech was predicted to finish second in the ACC, but Tech went onto win the ACC Championship and finished the season with 11 wins.  Those 11 wins were the most since Tech’s 1990 national championship team.

So after two seasons, Johnson had won 20 games, an ACC Championship, beaten Georgia, and was 3-0 against Clemson. At that point everyone was amazed that Johnson was winning all these games with very few players he recruited. It seemed that Tech was here to stay and would compete at the top year in and year out, but when Jon Dwyer, Demaryius Thomas, Morgan Burnett, and Derrick Morgan declared early for the NFL Draft it was the beginning of the end. Tech hasn’t been able to field a team with that kind of NFL talent and hiring Al Groh as defensive coordinator set the program back three years. The most games Tech had won since that moment was eight in 2011, which included a 6-0 start and a 2-5 record over the last seven games of the season.

If Tech ever wants to regain respect from the media, then this is a huge year for Tech football. The expectations by the media and analysts are lower than they have been in awhile, but Johnson has a good record at surpassing their preseason predictions. To do so again this year, he will need consistent play out of his defense and new quarterback Justin Thomas run the offense effectively.

The state of Tech athletics is close to a breaking point and new Tech athletic director, Mike Bobinski, will have to make some tough choices within the next year. Bobinski was a former athletic director at Xavier, which has had one of the most consistent basketball programs in the country over the last 15 years. He has hired several top notch basketball coaches in his time at Xavier including current Ohio State coach Thad Matta and current Arizona coach Sean Miller. Bobinski has an eye for basketball coaching talent which will undoubtedly put pressure on the current Tech coaching staff to show improvement this year. 

Fans are the unhappiest they have been since the mid-1990s and there are a lot of bleak expectations for the major sports programs. Tech’s football and basketball programs are the biggest and most popular sports programs on campus. They are having more and more problems selling tickets and getting students to come to games. You’ll find many older students at Tech who have become very indifferent to Tech sports and some have stopped attending games all together.

It’s safe to say in the eyes of all Tech fans that the 2013-2014 sports calendar year was a major disappointment. The football team was expected to compete for the ACC Championship and fans wanted to win at least one game out of Virginia Tech, Miami, Georgia, and Clemson. But, for the second straight year Tech went 0-4 against their biggest rivals. After a lackluster showing on a Thursday night game against Virginia Tech it became obvious that the high expectations most Tech football fans had entering the year would not come true. The team had one last chance to salvage the season on senior day vs archrival Georgia, but a 20-0 lead in the second quarter was not big enough as Georgia won in double overtime. It was the sixth loss to Georgia in a row and the 13th loss out of the last 14.

Tech’s last coach, Chain Gailey, was fired for not being able to beat Georgia and for only winning 7 games each year outside one season where he won nine games. Gailey was also the coach who recruited NFL stars Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas, Morgan Burnett, and Michael Johnson. Coach Johnson inherited many future NFL stars when Gailey was terminated and he helped lead Tech to a vacated 2009 ACC Championship.

The only real difference between Johnson and Gailey is that Tech played in its lone BCS bowl under Johnson. Johnson has averaged seven wins a season over the last four years. Those are good numbers for an ACC football program and Tech has been one of the most consistent programs in the country since 1997, but when you’re record against your four biggest rivals is 1-15 since 2010 fans are going to start to expect more. Tech has had a field day the last 5 years beating Duke, UNC, UVA, Wake Forest, NC State, and Virginia almost every time they have played them. If our last coach got fired for not being able to beat Georgia and for going 7-5 one too many times, you have to wonder what will happen to the future of Tech football if Tech wins 7 games or less this year. The pressure will be on as Duke and UNC are much improved so those games can no longer be checked as automatic wins.

The basketball program has hit a major rough stretch since the firing of former coach Paul Hewitt. Tech is still paying Hewitt due to the outrageous buyout clause that former athletic director Dave Braine gave him. Coach Brian Gregory has had a very rough go since arriving at Tech. His teams have been plagued by suspensions and injuries. The expectations for Tech basketball last year were to reach postseason play, but injuries and suspensions derailed the goals for the team. Several key players have either graduated or transferred out so this year will be a major test for Coach Gregory. Entering his fourth year Gregory has never had a winning season at Tech so you have to hope to see improvement from the program. It’s hard to turnaround a basketball program in just 4 years, but losing 66.67% of your conference games each year is not a step in the right direction. Due to all the players transferring out from the previous coach and other circumstances many other players have transferred in. Tech has had at least one player transfer in the past 3 seasons.

By next March there should be a much clearer picture of which direction Tech athletics is heading.

This past Friday, big names like Jeremiah Attaochu and Euclid Cummings competed in the 2014 Pro Day in the John and Mary Brock indoor football facility.

Thirteen Tech graduates were on display to show the NFL scouts that they have what it takes to play professional football. On the defensive side of the ball, Tech had six participants. The linebackers participating were Attaochu and Brandon Watts. Attaochu also worked out in the defensive lineman group along with Cummings and Emmanuel Dieke. Jemea Thomas and Louis Young worked out as defensive backs.

On the offensive side, Ray Beno, Jay Finch, Will Jackson and Omoregie Uzzi worked out as offensive lineman. Running backs David Sims and Robert Godhigh also participated, and punter Sean Poole was the lone special team’s member. Uzzi, who graduated in 2013, was participating for the second year in a row with the hopes of getting another chance to make the NFL.

Attaochu and Thomas were invited to the 2014 NFL Combine in Indianapolis, but Attaochu was unable to work out in drills due to a torn hamstring he suffered at the senior bowl. Thomas looked to improve on his 40 time from the NFL Combine. He did.

Because Attaochu was hurt for the NFL Scouting Combine, 40 NFL scouts from all 32 teams showed up to Tech’s Pro Day, including two from the hometown Atlanta Falcons and three from the New Orleans Saints. A scout from the Canadian Football League also attended. Attaochu’s injury allowed Tech’s other players to get the extra attention they needed to impress the scouts.

The day started off with the players weighing in and collecting their measurables like height, arm length, hand size and wingspan. After this, the players were tested for their vertical jump and broad jump. Top performers for their position were Attaochu, Watts, Sims and Finch. Watts recorded a 37.5” vertical jump, which would be sixth at the NFL Combine for linebackers. Watt’s broad jump was 10’2”, which would be fifth best at the NFL Combine. Attaochu recorded a 36.5” vertical, which would have been eighth best for his position.

The players then left the locker room and walked over to the indoor facility where they were tested in the 40 yard dash, three cone drill, shuttle runs and the bench press.

Watts stole the show in the 40 yard dash. If Watts wasn’t on NFL team’s radar, he definitely will be now as he put up unofficial times of 4.40 in both runs. Some scouts had him as low as 4.38. Watts would have been first in the NFL Combine for all outside linebackers by a tenth of a second and in the top eight out of all combine participants. 4.40 would have been fastest by linebacker in eight years. It is very rare to find an outside linebacker who is 6’2 230 pounds with that kind of speed.

“I was pretty happy about my 40 time,” Watts said. “I had good jumps in the locker room to start my day off well and it carried over here. The lowest I heard was 4.38 and 4.39 [on the 40 yard dash time]. I had never timed myself. I didn’t want to time myself until today, I just wanted to come run and see whatever the time was.”

Attaochu also ran an impressive 40. He was clocked by scouts around 4.55. However, his 1.55 10 yard split was far more impressive as it would be the best time for any defensive end or outside linebacker in the Combine. That was the first time Attaochu had run the 40 at full speed since tearing his hamstring.

“Brandon is a really good athlete. He’s a fast guy. We said all along that he might be one of the fastest guys on the team and certainly he ran well today,” said Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson. “Jeremiah [Attaochu] is an awfully good football player. He’s a tremendous pass rusher—was for us. He was the all-time leader in sacks. He’s a great person and he brings the total package. Not only is he a good player, but he’ll be a great representative off the field as well.”

Currently, Attaochu is projected by NFL scouts and draft insiders to go from the late first round to early third round. The only other Tech player who has been getting draft buzz before the pro day was Thomas. Thomas is projected to be a late round pick in the 2014 NFL draft.

The player who helped his draft stock the most was Watts. Watts performance at pro day could push  him into a late round pick.

In the bench press workout, Ray Beno had the highest total as he completed 30 reps at 225 pounds. Godhigh outperformed his career best by three reps, completing 23 reps. Godhigh proved to scouts that he is very strong despite his height.

Godhigh worked out with a team from the Canadian Football League following his pro day.

“I did pretty well. I had certain numbers I was trying to get and I feel like accomplished all of them,” Godhigh said. “I was shooting for 20 on the bench and I got 23 so I’m pretty happy about that.”

Attaochu works out the next two weeks with the Patriots, Colts and Eagles. He says his injury is fully healed and he was very surprised and happy with his 40 time.

“I think I did great. I surprised myself a little bit. I pushed through, worked hard and that’s all they want to see,” Attaochu said.

Most people are projecting Attaochu to play outside linebacker in the 3-4 defense, but this past season at Tech, he excelled as a defensive end. He played both positions in college and has no preference to which one he will play in the NFL. He described himself as a football player and will make plays no matter what defense he plays in.

“I’m getting a lot of great feedback,” Attaochu said. “The league is split half and half between the 3-4 and 4-3 defense. Being a pass rusher who can cover and rush the passer very well, that plays to both types of defenses. The league is becoming more versatile and they need guys like me who can stand up and rush the passer or put their hand on the ground and do it.”

Attaochu is represented by agent Pat Dye Jr. He has never had a favorite team—only favorite players, which are Denver Broncos linebackers Von Miller and Demarcus Ware.

Dye Jr. also represents Demarcus Ware and there is going to be a meeting set up for Attaochu to meet his idol.

Spring practice for the 2014 football season has started and the Jackets will practice every day up until the spring game on Friday, April 18. This is the first time since the bowl game loss to Ole Miss that coaches have been able to host formal practice and get a preview of what the team will look like once the season starts.

It has not been a quiet offseason on the Flats as much has changed within the program. Starting quarterback Vad Lee has transferred to James Madison University.

With the news of Lee leaving the program, redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Thomas was elevated as one of the team leaders and the favorite to be the starting quarterback for the first game against Wofford. Thomas has embraced his new leadership role with open arms.

“I’m just trying to get to know the guys a lot more and trying to put myself out there as more of a team leader,” Thomas said. “The coaches told me to do what I’ve been doing—to keep working hard, continue to get better every day—and the guys will be looking to me for leadership and to step up.”

Thomas will have three years to show his talents on the Flats and his speed and dynamic play on the outside will instantly make him a fan favorite. There may not be a faster quarterback in the country than Thomas. In high school Thomas won the 100 meter track title for the state of Alabama. Opposing defenses will have a very challenging time this year containing Thomas’s speed.

“I guess it can be more difficult to stop because you never know if I’m going to keep it and bust it open for a long run, I could pitch it to the A-back who is just as fast and they could bust it for a long run or even run the dive to Laskey and the new B-backs we have. They all have pretty good speed and the more speed you have the easier it is to read the play and get the job done,” Thomas said.

This season will be the first since 2011 where Tech will only play with one quarterback. The past two seasons Coach Johnson has given meaningful playing time to the top two on the quarterback depth chart. Thomas does not believe there was ever pressure the past season when he and Lee were competing for the starting QB spot.

“I wouldn’t ever say there was a pressure. I just go out there and do what I’m supposed to do and try to do it to the best of my abilities no matter if I’m a starter, backup or third string. Every time I touch the field I try to give 100 percent,” Thomas said.

The past few weeks Thomas and the other receivers have been participating in drills to gain some chemistry and practice passing routes. Thomas feels confident in his passing abilities and wants people to know that just because he is fast doesn’t mean he won’t throw.

Thomas looks to be only the second quarterback in the Johnson era to finish the season with higher than a 50 percent completion percentage. The wide receiver core will be the deepest it’s ever been in the Johnson era. The Jackets return their top three receivers from last season.

“Right now we’re trying to keep people as healthy as possible. We’ve been throwing every Monday and Wednesday at 1:30 before workouts. We have a good group of guys that come out, and we just go through all the routes,” Thomas said. “I feel real confident. Where I come from, that’s who we are. We like to run and gun. It’s not like I can’t throw the ball. If I had the option I would really like to throw it anyway. The speed part just comes along with my arm.”

During spring practice the team looks to show improvement from last year. Nobody was happy with a 7-6 record, as Paul Johnson said in an interview with the AJC, and success for this season will start with the offense playing better as a unit.

“This spring there’s a different group of guys out there playing together. We need to try to come [together] as one and correct all the mental mistakes we had last year and just get better,” Thomas said.

There have been many freshmen that have caught Thomas’ eye, and he is confident in the potential the team has. Three seniors graduated from the offensive line and he believes freshman Chris Griffin and Shamire Devine will turn heads this fall.

“[Chris and Shamire] can make a big impact. We have a few missing puzzles on the line because of the seniors that graduated last year. If they can step up and play well, that would be big,” Thomas said. “On the defensive side we have defensive backs, linebackers like PJ [Davis] who didn’t even have to redshirt. We have a good group of young athletes that will come in and contribute,” Thomas said.

Thomas and the team have lofty goals next year. They want to get the program back on track and he wants to be the one that breaks the losing streaks against Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia. Thomas has been hitting the weight rooms hard this offseason. He is working on improving his conditioning, agility, endurance and strength. Thomas  is the smallest quarterback Tech has had since Johnson arrived, but he is going to use his size and his elusiveness to his advantage. He has been watching film to give himself every edge to get better for next season.

“I’m hoping to win every game. Every game matters. Clemson, Georgia and Virginia Tech specifically especially those two in the conference. As long as we take it one game at a time and focus on beating each opponent each week then we should be alright,” Thomas said.

For their final road game of the regular season, the Tech men’s basketball team travelled to Syracuse, N.Y. and beat the No. 7 ranked Syracuse Orangemen 67-62.

Syracuse, who is two weeks removed from being 25-0 and the No. 1 team in the country, was favored by nearly 16 points in this game against the Jackets. The Jackets came into the game on a four game losing streak but came out on top and shocked the college basketball world. Syracuse was also entering the game on losing streak. They had just recently suffered a 19 point loss at the University of Virginia, which took them out of contention for an ACC regular season title.

Syracuse was celebrating their senior night where they honored four seniors, including star forward C.J. Fair. It had been 12 years since a Syracuse loss to an unranked team on senior night.

“Never a dull moment with this group,” said Tech head coach Brian Gregory. “I’m just so happy for them. Our guys have been through a lot and to get this win and [trying] to build some momentum headed into the tournament is very important. I’m just so proud of our guys. There’s been a lot of challenges this year and our guys have never lost hope, never lost their resolve and you just got to give them a lot of credit.”

Tech came into the game the healthiest they have been in over two months as both Trae Golden and Robert Carter Jr. seemed to be fully recovered from their injuries.

The game’s first points were scored by forward Marcus Georges-Hunt, who received a deep outlet pass from freshman Corey Heward and laid it in on a fast break. However, things seemed bleak for Tech when Georges-Hunt, Tech’s second leading scorer, picked up his second foul with 16 minutes left in the first half. Syracuse scored four points in three seconds to take a 9-6 lead five minutes into the game, but it would be the only lead they would have the rest of the game.

Syracuse is known for their 2-3 zone that future hall of fame head coach Jim Boeheim has been running there for over 30 years. Tech was able to break their full court pressure and beat the zone by the great passing and movement without the ball by seniors Daniel Miller, Kammeon Holsey and Golden.

Miller finished the game with 16 points on 7-10 shooting, six rebounds, six blocks, four assists and two steals. Tech played to their pace throughout the first half and controlled the tempo most of the game.

Patience and great ball movement helped the Jackets get the easy open look and it was the most comfortable Tech had look on offense all year.

Sophomore guard Chris Bolden swished a three pointer to give Tech a 16-11 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. On a desperation heave from Carter, Stephens swished a three to give Tech a 21-14 lead. Coach Boeheim called a timeout following the shot and, at that point of the game, Syracuse knew they were in for a battle if Tech was making those tough shots.

Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis scored nine straight points trying to keep the game close, but Tech kept responding at the other end. At the end of the half, Kammeon Holsey converted a tough and-one to put Tech up 31-23 at the break.

In the second half, Syracuse cut the lead to four early in the half, but Tech did not panic and continued to execute their game plan of making smart passes in their half-court offense to set up high percentage shots. Syracuse decided to go to a full court press, but Heyward and Golden refused to turn the ball over.

With 15 minutes remaining, Golden hit his second three of the night to put Tech up 42-33. They later stretched their lead to double digits when Kammeon Holsey made two free throws with 14 minutes left. Tech continued to hold their double digit lead and coming out of a timeout, Carter threw an alley-oop to Miller to give Tech a 50-38 lead with nine minutes remaining.

The game began to get much closer towards the end of the game as Tech started to be careless with the ball, missing four free throws in a row on one and one opportunities.

C.J. Fair started to knock down three pointers as he was trying to forcefully will a comeback by himself and ended up finishing his senior night with a career high 28 points.

After Syracuse cut the lead to 61-59, Tech got the ball to Golden and he made six free throws in the final 35 seconds to seal the win for Tech. Golden finished the game with 16 points and, most importantly, turnovers.

It was the second straight year coach Gregory has led his team to beat a top ten ranked opponent. Tech moves to 14-16 (5-11 ACC) and will be having senior night March 8 against the Virginia Tech Hokies.