Angle Plays For The Syracuse-Ga.Tech Game

[GoSooners]

Syracuse vs Ga.Tech in the Champs Sports Bowl.

This is yet another bigtime bowl that I've never heard of. But it makes for a nice Florida vacation trip anyway.
It's really hard for me to make an argument for either team here. Both of these teams are 6-5 and lucky to be bowling at all. Ga.Tech beat Clemson earlier this season because of a late game fumble where Clemson just had to take knee and run the clock out. But the Tigers had one of those brain fart moments and Tech recovered the fumble and scored in the closing seconds. So they very easily could have been 5-6 instead of 6-5.
After Syracuse dropped their first game of the year 51-7 against Purdue, I just knew the Orangemen were headed for the Big East cellar. A lonely place in a conference that bad. But they changed QB's after that game (smart move) and got their offense rolling again. They've played musical chairs at halfback this year because of injuries. But evey RB that filled in has had good rushing stats. That's due mainly to Syracuse big talented offensive line which averages 6-6 and 314 lbs.
Ga.Tech has had an up and down year. They've played good at times against teams like N.C. St. and Va Tech, who they had all but beat until giving up a couple lucky late game TD's. But in every big game this year they've found a new way to lose.
On paper Ga. Tech should win this game. They've got the #20 defense in the country. Syracuse is #70 in the country on defense. And rated #51 on offense. With Tech coming in at #76 on offense. However, Syracuse under coach Pasqualoni is a very respectable 10-3-1 SU and 10-4 in bowl games including 5-3 as bowl dogs. Ga.Tech is 2-5 SU and 3-4 ATS against bowl teams this year. Syracuse is 4-4 SU and 6-2 ATS vs bowl teams this year.
The intangibles tell me Syracuse is going to give em a good game. Since they haven't been bowling in a couple years I believe Pasqualoni will have his troops ready to play.
With a weak Cuse defense I expect Ga.Tech to have some success on offense. With that big Cuse offensive line that outweighs Ga.Tech's by over 40 lbs. a man, I expect them to have some success on offense.
I'm not crazy about taking either of these 2 unpredictable teams ATS. But I believe on a nice Florida night there will be some scoring going on. The o/u is 44. I'm taking the OVER.

 

[FNGinFL]

I posted this in Right Side's thread...

Tech baby!!!
<HR style="COLOR: #fdde82" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by El Iguana
This might be a case of an early bowl game where the line is way off based on public perception of GT being in "tougher" conference...
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That tougher conference is absolutely correct. See how they played VTech? 3 late TD's in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter (the last was a pick)! Ball got picked twice, and that score wasn't at all indicative of the game. GT outrushed VTech, and if you take away the two 4th quarter TD's of 131 yds, GT out-passed 'em too.

See how they played Georgia? It was a tough defensive struggle, and between the two teams, there were only 58 yards gained the whole game. That's not a typo, that's fifty-eight. They actually got 5 more 1st downs than the GA Bulldogs, and had a time of possession 3.5 minutes longer! You can say GA wasn't motivated, blah blah, but the fact is Coach Richt is a huge competitor, and instills that in his players 200%.

Do you remember how they did in a bowl last year? They were favored against a very tough Tulsa team by just a TD, probably because of the "tougher conference" inference you mentioned above. I remember a large number of people on this very forum taking Tulsa and the points, and Tech just bit*h slapping the be-jesus out of 'em, 52-10. I remember it was like yesterday, because I had a large play against them. Book>:hump: FNG<FNG p <>

Lesson learned, BELIEVE THE TOUGHER CONFERENCE hype, and Tech smothers this Syracuse team.

Good luck on your picks all, and thanks for your insight Right Side! :digit:
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[Redneckman]

The Cuse about beat Fla. State. Take the Cuse on the moneyline I'm thinking.

 

[Brock Landers]

The Cuse about beat Fla. State. Take the Cuse on the moneyline I'm thinking.

agreed...Cuse wins this one with a better all around team.

 

[GoSooners]

FNG I agree with you about the best conference usually wins these games. I was all over Ga Tech last year when they played Tulsa. Tulsa was outmanned at just about every position in that game. Not so this year. Syracuse is a big physical team who will wear on you on offense. I watched the Georgia-Ga.Tech game and it was a defensive struggle. But remember that was an intrastate rivalry, and Georgia has struggled on offense in many games this year. If you look at the game before, Ga.Tech had 30 points scored on their defense at home against Virginia, who like Syracuse has a big physical offensive line. I'm not saying Tech won't win the game tonight. I'm just saying the way these 2 teams match up it looks like an over play.
Good luck.

 

[FNGinFL]

Another thing I see is previous like-opponents. So Syracuse was close to FSU's score. OK. IF Gtech had played FSU, we could compare those. But they didn't. The only one opponent these two shared was UConn. They both played Conn at their respective homes; 'Cuse in a dome, GTech in a stadium. What do we see?:

Cuse vs. UConn: Final score Cuse 42, Conn 30
2 picks for 'Cuse, 1 returned for a TD
Cuse Ryd: 281 Conn Ryd: 121 Conn total = 566
Cuse Pyd: 125 Conn Pyd: 445 Cuse total = 406
Sorry, Conn hammered this 'Cuse defense all over the place, but couldn't put it over the end zone line.

GTech vs. UConn: Final score Gtech 30, Conn 10
Tech Ryd: 122 Conn Ryd: 20 Conn total = 225
Tech Pyd: 288 Conn Pyd: 205 Tech total = 410
This game's TRUE final score is 30-3. They GAVE them a touchdown when the time ran out in the 4th quarter on the last play of the game. Even the Conn field goal was a 50-yarder, whoa! Can you say lockdown?

I'm still not convinced by your O-Line size statement. Georgia Bulldogs have a huge O-Line too, but the Tech defense and defensive coaching will be the difference! And the bottom line point of the comparison above is that Conn and Cuse are in the same conference. GTech didn't beat a winning team in the ACC, but THAT IS THE POINT HERE, is that the ACC is a TOUGH conference!

This will be a "home" game for GTech, and the 'Cuse out of the dome is like a fish out of water.

No disrespect GS, but we'll see tonight. Best of luck to you.

 

[kunie_45]

I agree that G Tech played in a tougher conference, but that doesn't mean they are the better team. G Tech did not beat anyone with a conference record of over.500. It means one thing to be in a good conference and another thing to be competitive in a good conference. Yes they beat the average and poor teams but were beaten by everyone above them in the standings. I am taking the Orangemen in this one as well. Sooner may have talked me into the over as well. Good Luck to all!

 

[TheOdyssey]

Using common opponents is something I hate to do. It can give you some insight but can also be very misleading. Lets take a scenario. If Texas A&M and Texas State would play. They have one common opponent. Baylor. Both teams lost to Baylor in close games. Does this mean Texas State would be competitive against the Aggies???? I know this is an exaggeration but just trying to let people see that using common opponents isn't the best strategy. Good luck to all on the game.

 

[Anonymous1]

all very good thought...but what 6-5 team wants to go home 7-5...in other words...who has the desire to win tonite...my thought is cuse has had a more disappointing season than gtech...so cuse seems the play to me...

 

[OccamsRazor]

Another thing I see is previous like-opponents. So Syracuse was close to FSU's score. OK. IF Gtech had played FSU, we could compare those. But they didn't. The only one opponent these two shared was UConn. They both played Conn at their respective homes; 'Cuse in a dome, GTech in a stadium. What do we see?:

Cuse vs. UConn: Final score Cuse 42, Conn 30
2 picks for 'Cuse, 1 returned for a TD
Cuse Ryd: 281 Conn Ryd: 121 Conn total = 566
Cuse Pyd: 125 Conn Pyd: 445 Cuse total = 406
Sorry, Conn hammered this 'Cuse defense all over the place, but couldn't put it over the end zone line.

GTech vs. UConn: Final score Gtech 30, Conn 10
Tech Ryd: 122 Conn Ryd: 20 Conn total = 225
Tech Pyd: 288 Conn Pyd: 205 Tech total = 410
This game's TRUE final score is 30-3. They GAVE them a touchdown when the time ran out in the 4th quarter on the last play of the game. Even the Conn field goal was a 50-yarder, whoa! Can you say lockdown?

I'm still not convinced by your O-Line size statement. Georgia Bulldogs have a huge O-Line too, but the Tech defense and defensive coaching will be the difference! And the bottom line point of the comparison above is that Conn and Cuse are in the same conference. GTech didn't beat a winning team in the ACC, but THAT IS THE POINT HERE, is that the ACC is a TOUGH conference!

This will be a "home" game for GTech, and the 'Cuse out of the dome is like a fish out of water.

No disrespect GS, but we'll see tonight. Best of luck to you.

You made a big oversight. Conn was NOT the only opponent these two played. They BOTH also played and lost to Virginia. 10-31 and 10-30.Check it out.

 

[GoSooners]

FNG, good play on Ga.Tech. It looks like we both won tonight!

 

[FNGinFL]

Congrats on your OVER GS!!! Looking forward to reading your other writeups, and winning with you. Thanks for your time and insight to both you, and all the others that input their insight on this thread. That's what this is all about.

Looking at the articles I've read in other places as well (e.g. C*vers), looks like they were trying to get us to go the other way, with headlines like "Coach Chaney is trying a new quarterback rotation for this bowl game..." and "it seems like Coach Chaney doesn't really want to win this game because of the rotation..." What a load of BS. He was challenging Reggie Ball, who came through. He is a competitive Sophomore who'll do well in future years.

Peace all, and let's get the books!