Hello and welcome to the 8th (!!!) year of Tuesday Thoughts, my weekly fall column where I try to make sense of what’s going on with Georgia Tech football. Part blog, part recap, part self-therapy session, part journal, this is where my thoughts and feelings come spilling out in the format you know and love loosely recognize. If you’d like, scroll back and read previous iterations.
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Yet again we find ourselves on the precipice of a new year, a new season. It often seems that every new iteration
of college football comes with its own unique weight or theme, and I don’t think 2025 is any different. To me, 2025 feels like an inflection point for the Jackets, an audition for a role in the future of college football. We’ve certainly had people hype us up before, but it’s been a while since there’s been this many eyeballs on our program. Various national media outlets are saying we’re a conference contender, people are arguing about us being overrated, the Shutdown Fullcast crew is saying we’re going to be one of the most fun teams to watch…all of a sudden we’ve broken contain and become a team that people perceive. That’s obviously awesome for a program that’s been in the basement for a while but it’s also uniquely terrifying – you can only be the fun media darling for so long and second chances are few and far between. Success in college football often boils down to momentum: a leg up on your rivals this year can turn into a wider gap next year. A bad season might shut the door for the foreseeable future while a good one can prop it open for a little while longer; a great one might blast it off its hinges.
Lately I’ve been struggling to interact with college football in a way that’s free of anxiety about what the next ten years will fundamentally look like. At the core of that is the fear that Tech isn’t doing enough to not get left behind when things evolve – every year that we don’t take share in the national mind is a step backwards. A lot of my thoughts leading up to kickoff center around the feeling that 2025 is our audition to be taken seriously. A strong showing this year puts us on a path that leads somewhere. If you’ve read this column before you know I talk about tennis a lot: I feel like the 20 year old who just got seeded at a major for the first time and is aware that people are now expecting some wins – it’s a mentality shift that not everyone handles well.
On paper, all of the pieces are in place. We’ve got the star quarterback. We’ve got the star running back. We’ve got the improving offensive line and high potential WRs. We’ve got the experienced defense. We’ve got the easy schedule with good home matchups. We’ve got the coach that inspires the team. We’ve got the bought-in fanbase. You wouldn’t be laughed at if you predicted 10-2, far from it. But the giant looming question is staring us in the face: can we handle the bright lights? Don’t get me wrong, I’m very excited for this year and what it could be. But I’m also legitimately nervous for the first time in a while. Maybe that’s a good sign.
Break a leg.
