[dmoney416]

Georgia Tech Over 7 wins (-115):

Last year: 9-5 (9-4 in the regular season)
Returning starters: 15 (7 on offense, 8 on defense)
Avg points per game: 24.9
Avg points allowed per game: 18.4
Head Coach: Chan Gailey (6th season as GT coach, 37-27 in five seasons)

Offense

They lose the best receiver in football in Calvin Johnson, so they will have to adjust at WR. They do return #2 receiver James Johnson, who had 608 yards and 7 TDs last season. Starting QB Reggie Ball is gone, but this is addition by subtraction. Ball may have been the worst 4-year starter in college football history. He had a 44.4 completion % last season with the best receiver in the country. Taking over is Junior Taylor Bennett, who started the bowl game against West Virginia last season. He led them to a narrow 38-35 loss as 10 point underdogs. Last season, he was 35-58 (60.3%) with 523 yards, 5 TDs, and 2 INTs. They also return one of the most underrated RBs in the game in Tashard Choice. He ran for 1473 yards and 12 TDs last year (5.0 average). They return 4 of the 5 O-Linemen who paved the way for Choice last year.


Defense

They lose their top tackler in KaMichael Hall (91 tackles last year), but they return five of their six top tacklers overall, including sack man Philip Wheeler (9 sacks). They return 3 of their 4 D-Linemen that only allowed 3.3 yards per carry last season. This unit may be one of the top five D-Lines in the country. They also return two of their three starting LBs and three of the four starters in the secondary.


Special Teams:

They return punter Durant Brooks, who may be the best punter in the country. He averaged 46 yards per punt last season and landed 35 of his 79 punts inside the opponents 20. Kicker Travis Bell return after hitting 43-43 XPs and 12-18 FGs last year.

SCHEDULE

Date Opponent Time/Result
Sep 1 @Notre Dame 3:30pm
Sep 8 Samford 1:30pm
Sep 15 Boston College 8:00pm
Sep 22 @Virginia TBA
Sep 29 Clemson TBA
Oct 6 @Maryland TBA
Oct 13 @Miami (Fla.) TBA
Oct 20 Army TBA
Nov 1 Virginia Tech 6:30pm
Nov 10 @Duke TBA
Nov 17 North Carolina TBA
Nov 24 Georgia TBA






Games they will win (90-100%): Samford, Army
Games they should win (70-90%): @Duke, North Carolina
Games they should lose (10-30%): @Miami, FL

Besides this, I see a good amount of toss-ups here. The rest of the majority of the games could go either way and I don't see them being a huge underdog in any of their games. They should be slight favorites against BC and Clemson. This team would beat Virginia and Maryland on neutral fields, but the games will be more challenging on the road. This team is strong on both lines and at RB, which I consider to be the three most important positions in college football. So, overall I like this team's chances at 8 wins or more.