Georgia Tech's Collins on Verge of Firing, Will UCF Be Ready to Play?
The UCF Knights are playing a Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets team that’s struggling and one with an embattled head coach in Geoff Collins. He could be the next head coach to get the ax after Arizona State parted ways with Herm Edwards.
Sometimes that leads to a lackluster effort from a favored team. Will that be UCF and its players?
There’s no way around it. Georgia Tech is a bad football team. The first two seasons provided 3-7 and 3-9 records, and the start of 2022 has seen a 1-2 start with the only victory coming over FCS opponent Western Carolina.
The fans and alumni for Georgia Tech are restless. They should be. This is a once proud football program. The Yellow Jackets were named the 1990 National Champions by the Coaches Poll, in fact.
Moving to this season, there’s no reason to discuss titles. It’s about finding a way to win a game against a FBS opponent. Could Georgia Tech find a way to defeat UCF?
For that to happen, coach Collins would need to be able to get his players focused and fired up enough to actually play to their potential. There’s some talent on this team, but it’s constantly shot itself in the foot during this season and Collins’ tenure overall.
For instance, the 2021 GT team finished No. 84 in turnover margin. It also finished at 110th in scoring defense by allowing 33.5 points per contest.
This season, Georgia Tech is actually plus-two in turnovers which ranks it as being tied at No. 18 (six turnovers created, lost two), but the defense is still allowing 33.3 points a game, a slight improvement to No. 104. Offensively it’s been a disaster. Note the following national statistics.
Scoring: 15.0 points per game, No. 121.
Rushing: 123.0 yards per game, No. 98.
Passing: 141.7 yards per game, No. 120.
Total Offense: 264.7 yards per game, No. 126.
With numbers like that, it’s no surprise that Georgia Tech faithful are very unhappy and voicing their displeasure. It still gets worse. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the following headline about Collins being the GT head coach.
“Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins Experiment Needs to End.”
That’s bold for a newspaper to make such a statement. It’s also why the GT players could rally and place forth their best effort against UCF. They have nothing to lose and that’s dangerous for the Knights if they take the Yellow Jackets lightly.
College football history is full of tales where a team was not emotionally invested and it cost them dearly. Will the GT players rise up this week and provide their best effort against the Knights?
Regardless of what the Yellow Jackets do, and in spite of Collins likely to be fired in the very near future, every UCF player needs to be dialed in and stay focused on their responsibilities and for the 4:00 p.m. kickoff on Sep. 24.
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