Georgia Tech -5½
The most important thing to consider in the "early" Bowl affairs is which team actually has more MOTIVATION to win. That all important motivation is NOT in the favor of Syracuse tonight for several reasons. Paul Pasqualoni has led Syracuse to three different 10-victory seasons and nine bowl games in the past 14 years. However, the most recent three seasons have been rather rough as the Orange have gone only 16-19 since the start of the 2002 campaign. In the current college football world of "win now or else", that 16-19 mark has put Pasqualoni's job in serious jeopardy throughout the season. According to star RB Walter Reyes, the uncertainty regarding Pasqualoni's future has put undo STRESS on the players. Syracuse played in the severely weakened Big East Conference this season. To give you an idea just how weak the conference was, two of the teams that bolted the Big East in the offseason (Virginia Tech and Miami) actually squared off against each other in the final week of the regular campaign for the right to attain the ACC Conference Title. That alone tells you that the competition in the Big East was relatively weak. Just how weak? In the second last regular season game, Syracuse ended up losing outright to a Temple team that was so bad, they have just been booted out of the Big East Conference. In hindsight, that loss cost the Orangemen a shot at a BCS game berth against Utah. Syracuse wrapped up the regular season with an underdog outright upset that knocked Boston College out of a BCS game, but note that BC had just lost the services of their regular starting quarterback the week before due to injury. In what turned out to be a 4-way logjam atop the Big East, the conferences' automatic BCS berth ended up going to Pittsburgh who was able to win via tiebreakers. The bottom line is that Syracuse has fallen all the way from a monster BCS payout, to a meaningless early Bowl game. I have a feeling that coach Paul Pasqualoni will not make it through next year for the very simple fact that Orangemen fans STOPPED coming to the Carrier Dome in droves this season. Those empty seats I predict will cost Pasqualoni his job. On the other side of the ledger, former Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey is still in his "honeymoon" period at Georgia Tech, so his job is not in jeopardy even through the Yellow Jackets posted only a 6-5 overall record and struggled down the stretch. I mentioned earlier that MOTIVATION looms large "early" in the postseason. Georgia Tech QB Reggie Ball has plenty of motivation to have a sensational outing tonight becuase his starting job for next year is already in serious jeopardy due to the serious mistakes (17 interceptions) that he made this campaign. In the Yellow Jackets' regular season finale against rival Georgia, Ball actually alternated series with reserve Damarius Bilbo, so he is being pushed. The big news for G-Tech tonight is that star RB P.J. Daniels (2003 All-ACC running back) WILL play tonight. Daniels hopes to celebrate his 22nd birthday by showing that he has made a complete recovery from a late October knee injury that required arthoscopic surgery. Ho important is Daniels' presence in the lineup tonight?? Last year in the Humanitarian Bowl he rambled for 307 yards and four touchdowns! G-Tech's postseason affair last year was played out in the middle of nowhere in Boise, Idaho. The Georgia Tech fans are much happier to be CLOSER to the site of this year's Bowl affair which is being played in the warm conditions in the state of Florida. There is no question that the Yellow Jackets will have much more fan support this evening as interest from Syracuse fans is waning. The Georgia Tech faithful treasure the memories of their last bowl trip to Orlando, when the Yellow Jackets beat Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl on New Years Day 1991 and claimed a share of the national championship. That means we should have some good "karma" going for a G-Tech team that played a much more difficult schedule than Syracuse. There has got to be a reason why Georgia Tech is a prohibitive favorite even though all 5 of their losses came against teams that are participating in the postseason. There has got to be a reason why Syracuse is a huge underdog even though they finished strong by WINNING 3 of their final 4 games. Do note that G-Tech is 5-1 ATS FOR THE SEASON following a game where they were actually cast as an underdog. The fact of the matter is that the Yellow Jackets are a completely different team with their star running back (P.J. Daniels) in the starting line-up. Daniels missed 4 games, and was limited in 4 others due to that knee injury that has been given sufficient time to heal. Daniels' primary back-up Chris Woods has also been deemed ready to go following a bout with the "injury bug". The return of the G-Tech running game will take serious pressure off QB Reggie Ball who has been plauged by mistakes when forced to throw too often.
GOOD LUCK
The most important thing to consider in the "early" Bowl affairs is which team actually has more MOTIVATION to win. That all important motivation is NOT in the favor of Syracuse tonight for several reasons. Paul Pasqualoni has led Syracuse to three different 10-victory seasons and nine bowl games in the past 14 years. However, the most recent three seasons have been rather rough as the Orange have gone only 16-19 since the start of the 2002 campaign. In the current college football world of "win now or else", that 16-19 mark has put Pasqualoni's job in serious jeopardy throughout the season. According to star RB Walter Reyes, the uncertainty regarding Pasqualoni's future has put undo STRESS on the players. Syracuse played in the severely weakened Big East Conference this season. To give you an idea just how weak the conference was, two of the teams that bolted the Big East in the offseason (Virginia Tech and Miami) actually squared off against each other in the final week of the regular campaign for the right to attain the ACC Conference Title. That alone tells you that the competition in the Big East was relatively weak. Just how weak? In the second last regular season game, Syracuse ended up losing outright to a Temple team that was so bad, they have just been booted out of the Big East Conference. In hindsight, that loss cost the Orangemen a shot at a BCS game berth against Utah. Syracuse wrapped up the regular season with an underdog outright upset that knocked Boston College out of a BCS game, but note that BC had just lost the services of their regular starting quarterback the week before due to injury. In what turned out to be a 4-way logjam atop the Big East, the conferences' automatic BCS berth ended up going to Pittsburgh who was able to win via tiebreakers. The bottom line is that Syracuse has fallen all the way from a monster BCS payout, to a meaningless early Bowl game. I have a feeling that coach Paul Pasqualoni will not make it through next year for the very simple fact that Orangemen fans STOPPED coming to the Carrier Dome in droves this season. Those empty seats I predict will cost Pasqualoni his job. On the other side of the ledger, former Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey is still in his "honeymoon" period at Georgia Tech, so his job is not in jeopardy even through the Yellow Jackets posted only a 6-5 overall record and struggled down the stretch. I mentioned earlier that MOTIVATION looms large "early" in the postseason. Georgia Tech QB Reggie Ball has plenty of motivation to have a sensational outing tonight becuase his starting job for next year is already in serious jeopardy due to the serious mistakes (17 interceptions) that he made this campaign. In the Yellow Jackets' regular season finale against rival Georgia, Ball actually alternated series with reserve Damarius Bilbo, so he is being pushed. The big news for G-Tech tonight is that star RB P.J. Daniels (2003 All-ACC running back) WILL play tonight. Daniels hopes to celebrate his 22nd birthday by showing that he has made a complete recovery from a late October knee injury that required arthoscopic surgery. Ho important is Daniels' presence in the lineup tonight?? Last year in the Humanitarian Bowl he rambled for 307 yards and four touchdowns! G-Tech's postseason affair last year was played out in the middle of nowhere in Boise, Idaho. The Georgia Tech fans are much happier to be CLOSER to the site of this year's Bowl affair which is being played in the warm conditions in the state of Florida. There is no question that the Yellow Jackets will have much more fan support this evening as interest from Syracuse fans is waning. The Georgia Tech faithful treasure the memories of their last bowl trip to Orlando, when the Yellow Jackets beat Nebraska in the Florida Citrus Bowl on New Years Day 1991 and claimed a share of the national championship. That means we should have some good "karma" going for a G-Tech team that played a much more difficult schedule than Syracuse. There has got to be a reason why Georgia Tech is a prohibitive favorite even though all 5 of their losses came against teams that are participating in the postseason. There has got to be a reason why Syracuse is a huge underdog even though they finished strong by WINNING 3 of their final 4 games. Do note that G-Tech is 5-1 ATS FOR THE SEASON following a game where they were actually cast as an underdog. The fact of the matter is that the Yellow Jackets are a completely different team with their star running back (P.J. Daniels) in the starting line-up. Daniels missed 4 games, and was limited in 4 others due to that knee injury that has been given sufficient time to heal. Daniels' primary back-up Chris Woods has also been deemed ready to go following a bout with the "injury bug". The return of the G-Tech running game will take serious pressure off QB Reggie Ball who has been plauged by mistakes when forced to throw too often.
GOOD LUCK
