Regression to the mean comes for everyone but man, this was embarrassing.
Game Recap in Three Sentences
The offense punted once all night but had to settle for too many FG attempts in the red zone.
The defense played their worst game we’ve seen in a while, giving up nearly 9 yards per play and almost 600 total yards.
C.J. Bailey played hurt for most of the game but it didn’t matter, we let him stand comfortably in the pocket and throw to open receivers all night.
Above The Line of the Week
- For the millionth time, Haynes King. His second career game in a row saw him throw for 408 and two TDs while running for 103 and two more TDs. Those 511 yards are the most ever by a Tech player.
- Leftover halloween candy that we bought for trick-or-treaters that never came.
- Jordan Allen. 5 catches for 110 yards is a breakout performance for the freshman that we should all be excited about. He’s fast and dynamic with the ball; keep an eye on him for next year in the Gunslinger Philo offense.
Unformed Thought of the Week
I’m getting nervous about how much we’re asking Haynes King to do.
He’s averaging nearly 15 carries per game and we’ve had a single game this season where a RB has gotten more carries than him (Temple, which doesn’t really even count). Multiple games (including this one) have seen him get double the carries of the next guy. It feels like we’re trending towards a dangerous position of not trusting anyone else to do anything, and I’m having flashbacks to Taquon Marshall not pitching the ball against Tennessee. I trust Haynes King with my life but either someone’s gonna figure out how to stop him or he’s gonna get hurt again. Also a quick note to Buster Faulkner specifically (who I’m sure reads this blog): don’t misunderstand me. By “take some load from King” I mean “use your RBs and maybe run a couple jet sweeps”, not “run more weird gadget plays where a TE gets a direct snap”. Cut that nonsense out.
5 Star (7 Star, 5 Star) Developmental Program Haiku of the Week
Lights are just too bright
A program of only pain
Hark, wolves circling
Waste
A Waste of A Ranking Spot
I’ve said it for weeks: this was never a real top ten team. We barely deserved to be ranked even before this game; I’m not sure I’d bet on us against any of the current top 25. We’re a 5-4 team that got lucky a few times. Our new spot of 16th feels more reasonable, but I still think we’re realistically somewhere in the 20-25 range.
A Waste of a Good Season
One stupid loss and all of a sudden the path of our season is a lot muddier. Playoffs? Lmao. ACC Championship? Gotta hope some other teams lose now, goodbye controlling our own destiny. Confidence against UGA? Just kidding, that would never exist. The Pitt game just got 10000x sweatier: there is a razor’s edge between Magical Season We’ll All Remember and Season We’ll All Forget After Losing to Mizzou in a Weird Bowl. We were the darling of 2025 to this point but no one’s gonna care anymore about an 8-1 Georgia Tech team that got badly exposed. Losses matter if you aren’t Alabama and we just gave everyone the excuse they needed to write us off. Should the last 5-6 years have taught me to be more grateful for what will objectively still be a very good season? Sure, but that lesson’s a lot easier to stomach without the prospect of a Playoff berth being dangled in front of my stupid face and then snatched away. Maybe we can still get there, but there’s nothing more maddeningly typical than watching this program faceplant in a very winnable game.
A Waste of Haynes King
I am genuinely upset at the prospect that Haynes King’s career at Tech is going to be one giant what-if. It is downright disrespectful to make him watch this defense always knowing that he’s expected to be the hero that saves them. Making him put up 500 yards of offense by himself in a double digit loss is embarrassing; he deserves a personalized apology from every single person involved in this defense. He cannot be expected to play hero in every single game – at some point someone else has to step up. It feels like he’s on the cusp of becoming a true Tech legend but he can’t reach that upper echelon without some help.
A Waste of My Time
I have better things I could’ve done with my Saturday night than watch some two-hand touch. There’s plenty of flag football on YouTube, I could’ve just watched that and skipped the emotional investment.
* * *
Am I overreacting to one loss? Sure maybe, but what else is the point of a blog other than trying to organize my thoughts and get to a point of rationality? One singular loss doesn’t matter when you’re 4-4 but it sure as hell matters when you’re 8-0; it’s all about perspective. We have to finish this season with our two toughest games and this was a highly winnable game we could’ve banked before hitting crunch time. All I can do is hope that this game lights a fire (or several); someone’s gotta figure some stuff out and make sure this doesn’t happen again. Idk y’all, it’s just stupid.
Look Ahead
Up next is thankfully a bye. Maybe it’ll be enough time to hold open tryouts for guys that can tackle.
