BAH!

We lost against Georgia. Again. Sigh.

I hate those guys soo muchhh! Arghhah! One Georgia fan yelled, "Furrstt Downnn, Geeeoorrrrjuhh!" after EVERY first down they made. I've never heard that many syllables in those three words before. He annoyed me so much that after one key stop by our defense in the first quarter, I yelled, "FOURRTHH Down, GEOORRGIAAAA!" But I didn't get in a fight with anyone, which is certainly evidence of God growing me! Plus, Kennan told me I wasn't allowed. Shucks.

But I'm actually not too angry, just sad. We played a good game. They only beat us by a touchdown (although to hear their stupid fans after the game, you'd have thought it was fifty touchdowns, not one). We played "toe-to-toe" with them, and Reggie (our QB) made some decent decisions. Of course, there was the interception that pretty much ended the game... but Shockley (their lousy, rotten, good-for-nothing... was that out loud? quarterback) had two interceptions, compared to Reggie only having that one...

Earlier, Kennan & I were talking about being proud of our team and feeling that we fought hard and just lost to a slightly better team. But after looking at the stats, I don't think they really are better, overall. I think it came down to two things: the quarterback battle, and special teams. The stats are interesting: we had 327 offensive yards to their 266. We had 20 first downs to their 13 (take THAT, stupid "First Down" guy!) and our D had three sacks to their one. We had the ball for almost 10 more minutes (34:10 vs. 25:50) than they did. BUT... Shockley is more mature and has a crazy good arm. His two interceptions didn't come at the worst possible time (i.e. with just over a minute left in the 4th quarter when we were poised to score from the Georgia 26 yard-line), and he had no fumbles, where Reggie had 3 fumbles, one for a loss.

And then there's special teams. When I was teaching in DeKalb County, the term "Special Education" was changed to "Exceptional Education" to remove the stigma. Stay with me here, I've got a point. I think that our "special teams" should now be referred to as our "exceptional teams." An average of 5.5 yards per punt return when they had an average of 19.8?!? Are you kidding me? WHAT was poor Pat Clark thinking when he signaled Fair Catch and then tried to run with it? I guess he got excited, and come to think of it, I probably would have too... that is, if I didn't scream like the girl that I am and run away from the ball hurtling toward my head, in the first place. But I digress.

Although Ben Arndt didn't have the STUNNING, DEAD-SEXY 78-yard punt that he had against Miami, he did okay... but what happened to Travis Bell?!? I still maintain that it was aliens. Amusingly enough, their star kicker, Brandon Coutu, missed a 48-yard attempt, and no one was too down on him. Poor Travis missed a 47-yard attempt, and we were all pissed. Why? Because we know he is capable of such things. Good grief... as Charlie Brown would say.

So, another football season is over. How sad. I love college football season. But we do still have our 9th-in-a-row bowl game to play (screw you, NCAA sanctions; and screw you, Rudy, while I'm at it!), so that's fun. And although it's sad that we're all but out of the running for a Gator Bowl bid, we'll probably play a lower second-tier or upper third-tier game and whomp the snot out of some poor WAC (hee hee... it makes me laugh to say that) or Pac-10 team.

I'd have to say that I'm prouder of my team after losing with dignity to Georgia than I was even after we won with a ho-hum against Connecticut. We're 7-4, and that's nothing to sneeze at. We beat Auburn and Miami, and that's incredible. But... I think I'd give up some of the more thrilling wins and take maybe one more dignified loss (if there is such a thing!) all for the sake of consistency. Of course, I say that now, but if we'd played more consistently this season (more often playing the way that we're capable of, rather than cracking up against mediocre teams), beaten NC State like we should have, but lost to Miami and Auburn (and thus ended with a 6-5 record), I'd probably be more pissed right about now. Ah, well. It's the life of a Tech fan, and I know it. I'm a sucker for my team, and that just can't (and shouldn't!) be helped. Now on to basketball season. Go Jackets!