ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to shoot what I consider to be the best football game of my college career. I have long considered the Yellow Jackets’ improbable win in 2004 at Clemson to be the best game of my college career, but this tops it. In that game, the Jackets came back from a 24-14 deficit with just 3 minutes remaining behind Calvin Johnson and several Clemson mishaps.

UGA is different. Tech lives to hate UGA. Our fight songs focus on it. Those of us who were raised as Tech fans pull for two teams: GT, and whoever is playing UGA. My dad, who is a very gentle, nice, quiet man, has been heard yelling “C’mon, break their legs!” at the TV during GT vs. UGA games. As you can guess, I hate UGA.

I’ve been in college for five years. This was my last football season. My last away game. My last GT vs. UGA game. We’d lost four games, painfully, under Chan Gailey, Reggie Ball, and a rash of bad luck, bad bounces, bad calls, and bad blood. As we drove to Athens Friday night (before littering the UGA campus with THWUGA issues of the Technique), Akshay and I talked about the game. Never before had we wanted to win a football game so badly.

I walked onto the field Saturday morning in a drizzle with the other Technique photographers. We walked past security guards and in between the hedges. Past UGA’s ugly self and his doghouse. We stood and talked as the players stretched. We talked about who was going to shoot what, but mostly about beating the Dawgs. The Tech team went to the big G in the middle of the field while the baseball team was being honored and started jumping up and down. I could tell they wanted it. Every Tech fan wanted it.

The game started. The points flew. I spent my time on the UGA sideline, loudly cheering on the Jackets in my old gold windbreaker and hopefully annoying those around me. At halftime (28-12 UGA) we had photographers taunting us with calls of “It’s ok guys, you can come back from that!” in the media center.

Then came the third quarter. I got to watch from the sidelines on the UGA 5 yard line as the Jackets scored, recovered UGA’s return fumble, and scored again. Best seat in the house. All of a sudden, we were up 35-28. Here’s a real, straight-from-the-AJC quote from UGA scholar-athlete and senior defensive tackle Corvey Irvin:

“We lost our edge in the second half. I guess we lost our composure. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but it sounds good.”

As time ran out and we won 45-42, I ran onto the field with the other media people. Shot the celebration, watched as players trimmed the hedges. Sung the fight song at the top of my lungs. Enjoyed myself. Watched the Tech fans taunt the UGA fans for the first time in 7 years. Waited until the players finally left the field for the locker room, and began to decompress. Posed for pictures in an empty stadium. Finally left and began the walk back to our car. Yes, I have called my UGA friends to rub it in. It’s the start of a long run during which we’ll see UGA’s decline and Tech’s rise. The player with the most rushing yards during the game, Roddy Jones (and 214, if you’re counting), is a freshman. Our quarterback and B-Back, Nesbitt and Dwyer, are sophomores. We’ll be good for some years to come.

What an experience. What a way to end Paul Johnson’s first year at Tech - if he doesn’t win Coach of the Year, I don’t know who should. The Jackets are now ranked 15th or 16th, depending on what poll you look at - now ahead of UGA for the first time in years.

What a delicious win.

Rain feels great after a drought. Victory is sweeter now because there was sour fruit for years before. And it only gets sweeter from here.

It’s thanksgiving tomorrow. I’m thankful that I get to talk crap about ignorant hillbillies that live across town. That’s right, you know who I’m talking about, the Georgia Bulldogs, or, as some people (many who have never been to Athens), the “Dawgs.”

Saturday the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets play the “Dawgs” in Athens, between the hedges, and I’ll be there. I’ll be on the field, shooting photos for Georgia Tech Student Publications. It’s my job to capture the embarrassment on the faces of the Bulldogs as they lose to Tech in what caps off their most disappointing year ever, and the most exciting year for Tech of late.

UGAg started off the preseason ranked #1. Picked to win the title. They were stacked on offense. But their defense sucks, their offense isn’t quite as good as people thought, and they’re not even in the running for a BCS bowl after two UGLY losses.

Tech started off the year with a new coach installing a new offense on a team of players he didn’t recruit. He was picked to win 2-3 games by several major publications. And they’re sitting at 8 wins right now. 8-3. One embarrasing loss, two losses that could have been changed by one play, one series, one little x-factor. The Jackets are coming in off a game in which they piled on Miami’s decent defense for 472 rushing yards.

It’s going to be a close game. But the last 7 years no longer count. We have a new head coach, a head of steam, and I think I’ll be standing on the sidelines as the Jackets eek by the Bulldogs for the first time in recent history. It’d be a fitting endcap to each teams’ season. Jackets exceed all expectations (save their own), and the Bulldogs fail miserably to capitalize on what was supposed to be their coronation.

What’s the good word? To Hell With Georgia.

How ’bout them Dawgs? Piss on ‘em.

I hate UGA. Everyone at Tech hates UGA. It’s time to get some payback.

Colin

PS - And go Virginia! Beat VT!

I thought he was crazy. I liked his attitude, but I thought he was crazy. Paul Johnson, at his first GT signing day, said “It’s great to be here at Georgia Tech - I’m excited to announce our first recruiting class on our way to winning a national championship. Along the way, we’re going to be UGA a lot.”

In the spring of last year, you would have been crazy to buy that line. But one thing is clear - Paul Johnson believes he can compete for a national championship while at Tech.

Right now, we’re 7-2, leading the ACC Coastal division, have a great defense, and are looking towards the UGA game with salivating mouths. There’s nothing we’d love more than to knock off the Dawgs - in Athens - as the endcap to a season they started ranked #1.

In April, nobody would have thought that we would be thinking that way. This season was going to be a bust, it was going to be a learning year, it was going to be a year that we’d have to spend watching some bad football in exchange for some good years ahead. Instead, we’re being treated to a glorious display of enthusiastic football on the Flats. We’re ranked #20 in the BCS system. We finally beat FSU. We’re a couple of lousy fourth quarters away from being 9-0.

And this is just Johnson’s first year. Nobody in the offense is really used to this thing yet. Nobody has settled in, really learned their reads, and become an expert. They’re getting the hang of it, but they have their fumbles and their miscues.

What happens next year and the year after that, when Josh Nesbitt knows the offense like the back of his hand, Jonathan Dwyer has established himself as a back nobody wants to mess with, and our defense is even better?

I submit we can only go up from here. And that, my friends, is something to be excited about.

Paul Johnson was the right hire. And as long as he’s here, we will compete in the BCS system. And don’t tell him he can’t win some national championships. I sure as heck won’t bet against him. He’s the man for the job.

Go Jackets. And To Hell With Georgia.

Colin

I hate UGA. You should know that if you know me. I hate the assumed dominance by the media, the arrogance of their fans, and the arrogance portrayed by their players and coaches, not to mention the crap Heisman talk over Knowshow Moreno.

So you can imagine I loved the outcome of Saturday’s UGA vs. Florida game, formerlly referred to as The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.  That’s right, the “Dawgs” were dismembered play after play. They lost by 39 points. Ouch. So much for “best team in the country,” “best team in the SEC,” and “2009 National Champion.”

While the Bulldogs have underperformed to many (I expected them to fail, so I’m just thrilled), the Yellow Jackets have overperformed. Who - except Paul Johnson - would have expected them to be 7-2 right now, in contention for the ACC championship, and just a few plays away from being 9-0.

In fact, we’re ranked only 7 spots behind UGA in the BCS rankings. We’re picked by a few analysts to be playing in the Orange bowl while UGA will miss BCS bowls alltogether, most likely.

I like that. This college football season is shaping up nicely. Next up is UNC, which will be a good, tough game. Looking forward to that matchup in November.

To Hell With Georgia,

Colin

I don’t pull for Alabama all the time, even though I have friends who wish I would.  I was raised to root for two college football teams every Saturday… Georgia Tech, and whoever is playing Georgia. For as long as I can remember, I’ve pulled against Georgia and now, more than ever, I’m glad I do so.  This was supposed to be their championship year, their year of undefeated football. And they got destroyed by ‘Bama this past weekend.

More than ever, I’ve noticed how obnoxious UGA fans can really be - they’re not normal obnoxious, it’s like they’ve taken obnoxiousness classes… And with majors like “Pre Business” and “Building,” who can blame them? Got to fill hours somehow.

So - go Alabama - that was a great game, if you’re not a “Dawg” fan.  And I’m not just NOT a “Dawg” fan, I pull against them.  Now, excuse me, I should really go buy the shirt from the bookstore that says “I pull for GT and whoever is playing UGA.”

I bleed white and gold, sucker. And I’m impressed with our team, and looking forward to November.

Colin

PS - Hope KnowShow is healthy in time for the Jackets defense…