Football looks to impress against Duke

For Tech this homecoming game is about more than proving to the fans and media that they do not just play to the level of their opponents. This weekend’s homecoming duel against Duke encompasses a coaching battle between former Tech Assistant Coach Ted Roof, who now coaches the Blue Devils, and Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey.

Roof’s connections with Tech go deeper than coaching. Roof shined for Tech as an All-ACC linebacker under Bill Curry’s squad in the ‘80s. Two decades after his graduation, Roof found work at Tech as an assistant coach under George O’Leary from 1998-2001. He was then was supposed to take up the defensive coordinator position at Notre Dame under O’Leary. When O’Leary’s job, and consequently Roof’s, failed to materialize, Roof attempted to come back to his original assistant coach job at Tech under Gailey. Instead, Gailey could only offer the displaced Roof a lower coaching position, which Roof turned down.

Finding himself on the road, Roof found work under Carl Franks’ system in Durham and was picked to be the Devil’s new head coach when Franks was fired. Ironically enough, Roof solidified the head coach position with a 41-17 shellacking of his alma mater last year -Duke’s first conference win in its last 30 attempts.

Roof does not seem too worry too much about the history surrounding this weekend’s game.

“I don’t really have time to worry about it.” Roof said in a press conference earlier this week. “There are some special people who have made [Tech] a really good place and I have a lot of good memories there. But what we’re trying to do is build some memories here at Duke. That’s what our focus is. It’s not about the past...I have a lot of respect for Chan Gailey and the job he’s done there.”

Gailey returns the favor and applauded Roof.

“He has a way of being tough with [his team] and getting them to understand what needs to be done to win,” Gailey said in a press conference earlier this week. “He’s doing a nice job over there. They were right there at the end with UConn, Navy and had Maryland in a dogfight.”

Returning to the present, the building rivalry, and perhaps revenge factor between the coaches, shifts over to Gailey’s turf. An upset in Atlanta would be devastating to a team looking to build momentum. But Gailey has little to worry about with history on his side.

In the two years that he has under his belt at Tech, Gailey sports a perfect record in homecoming games at Tech with recent wins over Virginia in 2002 and N.C .State in 2003, and he is not alone in this respect.

Setting a career-high for passing yards, quarterback Reggie Ball threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns against N.C. State in a win that kept Tech’s bowl hopes alive with a 29-21 win and continued what would be a season-high four-game winning streak. A year earlier, quarterback A.J. Suggs led the Jackets to a 23-0 halftime lead against Virginia throwing for 220 yards while the Ramblin’ Wreck ran for 211 yards. The Jackets would hold on for a 23-15 win.

This year the Jackets hope to continue this winning tradition by running the same successful game plan: pounding the defense with the run and then scorching the secondary with timely passes. If the Jackets can hold to this formula for victory, then they will be sure to succeed.