Five weeks of the college football season are in the rearview mirror. The type of season each team will have is starting to come into focus. Heading to the mid-point of the season many teams are in desperate need of a win.
TSS associate editors Bart Doan and Terry Johnson join staff writer Kevin Causey in this roundtable discussion about the most desperate teams in college football.
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Question: Which team is in most desperate need for a win this week?
Bart Doan:
On Twitter @TheCoachBart
Truth be told, this is the “what kind of beer do you want” question of the week. There are innumerable answers to these questions.
Virginia Tech seems like an obvious answer, though there are many. Hallowed programs Nebraska and Tennessee are bleeding on the side of the road while everyone watches.
The Hokies? They have North Carolina State (4-1) at home. If they can’t get this one, you start wondering if there will be one of those pushes for a regime change. I have zero idea of the pulse of Virginia Tech’s fan base right now, and they can probably look to Tennessee about what might happen when you push out a legendary coach, but at some point it comes down to wins and losses, and the Hokies just haven’t been doing that.
Dropping to 2-4 would almost certainly mean a bowl-miss season, and too many of those lead to drastic things, sorry to say. You’ve got to get this one.
Kevin Causey:
On Twitter @CFBZ
The buzzards are circling….
Almost everyone thought this would be the year Tennessee football got back on the map. Twice in three weeks, Tennessee couldn’t hold a lead as it fell to Oklahoma and Florida. Last week, the Vols lost to a struggling Arkansas squad at home.
After starting 2-3, things are piling on the Vols. There are multiple accusations of Butch Jones getting (inappropriately) physical with players at practice.
Winning cures a lot of things, and Butch Jones is in desperate need of a win. Another interesting twist to the story this week for the Vols is they play a Georgia team that got embarrassed last week. Georgia wants to come out and make a statement this week against the Vols.
The Vols are in a tough situation, but they are also in a must-win situation.
Terry Johnson:
On Twitter @SectionTPJ
It has to be Georgia Tech, which has dropped three straight.
Make no mistake about it: the Jackets have to right the ship immediately in order to save the season. After blowing a 21-0 lead against North Carolina last week, Tech enters Saturday’s game with Clemson with an 0-2 mark in league play. A loss to the Tigers would eliminate the the Jackets from contention in the ACC Coastal Division.
More importantly, a loss by Georgia Tech would make it possible – not probable but possible – for the Jackets to miss the postseason. After all, the Jackets still have to play Florida State, Miami, and Georgia. While you never say never in college football, it’s not a stretch to think that Tech could lose all three of these games and end up with seven losses.
That, my friends, is why the Yellow Jackets need to win this weekend. A win over a top-10 team like Clemson would give Tech the confidence it needs to defeat the opponents above. It certainly did last year, as the Jackets closed out the season with wins over Georgia and Mississippi State.
