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Georgia Tech looks to exorcise one more demon in time for Halloween
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The streak. Like the spectral image we think we see floating across the top of the stairs in an antebellum house, such a thing may or may not be real. At a time of year when many of us delight in the pursuit of that which remains numinous, let us consider that unseen force which has haunted every college football fan and program: the often inexplicable “we haven’t won there since Kirstie Alley was skinny” syndrome.
You’ve seen it before. Your team is on the five yard-line with just over a minute to play, about to score the game-clinching touchdown when...gasp...choke...expletive...the defense scoops up a fumble and returns it for a touchdown. Game over. That’s the seventh time in a row your Ouachita A&M Crop Dusters have lost in Butterburg, home of the Southeast Pennsylvania State Fightin’ Amish. Why, dear lord, why?
For an apt case study we need look no further than the corner of Techwood Drive and Bobby Dodd Way. This Saturday, Georgia Tech travels to Charlottesville to take on Virginia, where the Ramblin’ Wreck has not won since a thrilling 41-38 victory over the top-ranked Cavaliers in 1990. That’s right...19 years ago. Eight games in a row. Many of Tech’s current players weren’t even born at the time. In 1997, Tech lost 35-31 on a last-minute touchdown run by UVA’s Anthony Southern. In 1999, Tech jumped out to a 24-7 lead, only to take the rest of the afternoon off on defense and lose 45-38, despite Virginia playing with first-time starter David Rivers at quarterback. In 2001, a clearly inferior Virginia team won 39-38 in the infamous hook-and-lateral game. In 2007, a freak interception return for a touchdown and a dropped punt late in the game doomed Tech’s hopes to break the trend. In ’92, ’99, ’01, and ’05, Tech was ranked and favored, yet still went home with a loss. Overall, Tech is 7-12 against the Cavs since 1990.
Surely what happened on the field ten years ago, six years ago, or two years ago has nothing to do with what will happen this year...right? Many of the players are different, and most of the coaches have changed, too. Morgan Burnett had nothing to do with all those missed tackles in 2001. I promise you...the players won’t be thinking about breaking any streak as they cut-block a Virginia linebacker or try to knock a Cavalier receiver into next Tuesday. They’ll be playing to win just like they always do, and will realize they ended the streak after the game. No, the mysterious “streak” will not be fed by the trepidation of Tech’s current players.
Who knows...maybe it’s our fault as fans. Maybe it’s in our heads. If you believe in the Law of Attraction, the power of intention, the Secret, or whatever you want to call it, we could be creating this mess by becoming accustomed to losses in Charlottesville and half-expecting them, or through our collective thoughts of “here we go again” when the first thing starts to go wrong on the field. All that negative energy and expectation from so many people directed at the result of losing is enough to make Rhonda Byrne’s head catch fire.
Philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Perhaps the fault was in the tendency of previous regimes not to acknowledge Tech’s woes in Charlottesville...to treat the biannual contest as just another game on the schedule. We can’t deny it—that attitude prevailed for much of the past decade or so. You can’t escape karma. Perhaps a streak continues because there isn’t enough acknowledgment from upper management to create the resultant pride associated with clearing a nagging hurdle. It is quite likely that Tech’s ghost is really just the manifestation of several years of a blasé attitude toward playing in Charlottesville that is about to get its first kick in the grundle from a surly North Carolinian named Paul Johnson.
Rest assured, Paul Johnson is conscious of the drought in Charlottesville; he recently mentioned that Tech “hasn’t won there since Methuselah was a boy.” He mentioned it to the team in the locker room after the victory over Virginia Tech. Every coach and player knows that leaving Charlottesville with a win is an absolute must if Tech hopes to win the ACC. The streak matters, but not for fear of continuing it. It matters because this Saturday is an elimination game in the ACC Coastal race. It matters because winning would give this year’s team the added mental edge that comes with even more proof that it can do what many other Tech teams could not. It matters because it once again reminds Tech players and fans that while they might remember past adversities, there comes a time when we have to spit in the face of such maladies, talk about their mommas, and get over the hump.
Fortunately, Tech has a field general in Paul Johnson who treats negative trends like a 12-pack of Charmin. If you have followed Tech for even just a few years, you know that Paul Johnson has changed the attitude of the entire program and fan base. Other “streaks” have fallen like arthritic geriatrics on a fast-moving treadmill. Since Johnson took over at Tech, the Jackets have (1) snapped a seven-game losing streak to Georgia; (2) snapped a 12-game skid to Florida State; (3) won for the first time ever in Tallahassee; and (4) beaten a top-5 opponent at home for the first time since 1962. The trends are now working in Tech’s favor. The “same-old, same-old” about which Tech fans have grumbled under their breath for years has given way to mental toughness, solid leadership, and just damn good coaching. Paul Johnson has not only made the players expect to win—he has made the fans expect to win...no matter who or where Tech is playing. Ending one streak is a good result, ending four of them in a season and a half is a streak of its own. Paul Johnson is the exorcist.
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