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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Georgia Tech ready to roll in the ACC
By Terry Bowden
Special to BCSfootball.com
Bowden's Weekly Chat Show
Skip to your team: Florida State, Georgia Tech, Maryland and the BCS
Georgia Tech is the team to beat in the Atlantic Coast Conference next season. Nine-time league champion Florida State is not the preseason favorite and will be challenged by the Clemson Tigers for the runner-up spot.
|  | | George Godsey threw 23 TD passes in 2000. |
There, I said it. The cat is out of the bag. No take backs. I'm not saying that when I sit around the house looking at all the family pictures that I don't secretly hope that FSU wins all of its games, but when the analyst cap is on, I tell it like it is.
The Yellow Jackets have 16 starters coming back from last year's 9-3 squad and have key returnees at every position. George Godsey has all-star potential at quarterback and has an abundance of skill to distribute the ball to. The defense is one of the fastest in school history and capable of shutting down the high-powered offenses of FSU, Clemson and N.C. State. More importantly, those they can't completely shut down, they will outscore.
The biggest loss of the season is offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen, who left Tech for the head coaching job at Maryland. If Bill O'Brien can come close to running the offense as well as last year's (33.8 points per game), then the Ramblin' Wreck will be gunning for a Rose Bowl berth.
Rebuilding in Tallahassee
Florida State just finished up spring football and although the Seminoles are not as experienced as usual, there doesn't seem to be any drop-off in the talent level. But talent alone won't be enough. Not only are the Seminoles breaking in two new quarterbacks who have never taken a college snap, but they also have themselves a new play-caller in first year offensive coordinator Jeff Bowden. Faithful followers can forget about the championship game next year and start worrying about that 10-win streak ending at 14.
Two-sport questions
New head coach Ralph Friedgen has a big task ahead of him at the University of Maryland. Turning that football program into a winner won't be easy. The offense that he ran at Georgia Tech is complex and whoever takes over the quarterback position better be committed. That is why it is no surprise to me to see Calvin McCall give up football to focus on basketball. It sounds to me like he wanted to play both sports and Friedgen would have no part of it. Good move. You can't build your future on a two-sport quarterback. Just go ask Michigan.
Messing with a good formula
John Swafford is trying to take margin of victory out of the BCS equation. Fuhgetaboudit. Nothing he does is going to satisfy those that want a playoff. Nothing shows the difference between a dominant team and a good team like margin of victory. At the most, there could be a cutoff, at 21 points or so, after which the margin of victory would not be factored in. Besides, you have to be a coach to understand the feeling on the sideline that no lead is ever good enough. I was watching ESPN Classic the other night and they showed the 1984 game between Miami and Maryland. The Hurricanes were up by 31 points at halftime and ended up losing the game. Besides, there's an old saying that you can't legislate morality. If a coach tacks on a few more points at the end of a game that he already has won it's still a ridiculous thing to do just like it always was.
Terry Bowden was the head coach at Auburn from 1993-98. He is ABC's college football studio analyst and writes a daily notebook for BCSfootball.com.
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