The Friday Five.....

As always, our counting may be suspect so just enjoy & click the links....

• Winning is the tonic that cures all. According to the Athletic Association (by way of the AJC), we are ahead of last year's pace for season ticket sales. We're happily surprised that we're selling more tickets for a home slate that includes MTSU, South Carolina State, NC State & Duke (as opposed to last season's Clemson, VPISU, & U(sic)GA slate). Goes to show you that winning does matter. Hopefully we finish strong & beat last year's 26,308 mark by a good bit....
• The New York Time's Quad Blog takes a look at how we're going to replace Demaryious Thomas & Derrick Morgan. Hopefully we can get some production from WR's other than Stephen Hill this year & look for Embry Peeples to play an increased role in the passing game this Fall. Replacing Morgan will be tough but the scheme change should help out & Jason Peters looks like a new man at DE.
• Just in case you're itching to buy an NFL jersey this Friday here are the numbers for Tech's draft class: Morgan Burnett #42, BayBay #88, & Dwyer #41. The Titan's haven't released Derrick Morgan's number.
• Speaking of Morgan Burnett, the Packers plan for him to push incumbent strong safety/video game Atari Bigby for playing time this season. We expect Burnett to be an instant contributor in Green Bay. Here's a nice interview with Morgan about the draft, etc....
• A piece on Al Groh & our conversion to the 3-4. Some nice quotes from Jason Peters & CPJ reminds us, "I'm a bottom line kind of guy". Never would have guessed....
• The Reck needs a new home. This can't be that complicated, can it? Ummm, an integral piece of our identity needs a garage. Stop the bullshit & find a home for the Reck. "Optimistic" everything will work out? Quit posturing & get this done....
• OH MY GOD! HOLY SHIT! WE'RE DOOMED!!! NO ONE WILL EVER SCORE ON UNC!!! HOLY SHIT, THEY HAVE 89 FIRST ROUND NFL DRAFT CHOICES. OH MY GOD! WHY ARE WE EVEN GOING TO PLAY THIS SEASON OUT? LET'S JUST GIVE UNC THE ACC CROWN BECAUSE THEY HAVE THE GREATEST DEFENSE EVER!!! Not really fair to Doc Saturday & we're not trying to take a cheap shot because he's honestly one of the very best college football writers around. But the season is three months away & all we're hearing about is how great Carolina's defense is going to be. Yes, Carolina has a wealth of talent returning on the defensive side of the ball. Yes, they will be very good. Yes, we will score our fair share of points on them because our offense is beastly & Paul Johnson is infinitely smarter than Butch Davis. No, having first round NFL draft picks doesn't necessarily prove an accurate indicator of on-field success (see 2009 Oklahoma Sooners who despite four first round NFL draft choices including #1, #3, & #4 finished with an 8-5 record). Yes, TJ Yates is an offensive albatross who will shit all over himself in a big game when his team needs him this year. Also answer yes because TJ Yates is the greatest "check-down" quarterback in ACC history. No, we shouldn't be this worked up over a team that hasn't won a conference title since 1980. Yes, Carolina offensive coordinator John Shoop is related to Patrick Nix & is the same type of offensive genius/savant. Therefore the answer is yes that Carolina will ALWAYS run a draw on 3 & 12 or longer. Stop it! Enough! Carolina has talent on defense. Loads of it. They also have questions on offense. All this talk about UNC as a "darkhorse" national championship contender (see ESPN's Mark May & Chris Spielman): poppycock. They're in the hunt along with VPISU & GT for the Coastal Division crown. That's what we know right now....