Georgia Tech’s Attaochu suspended half-game
Georgia Tech outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu will sit out the first half of the Yellow Jackets’ game against Duke on Saturday as punishment for throwing a punch at Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas last Thursday.
Tech coach Paul Johnson made the decision after reviewing the game video. He said he decided on a half-game suspension as that would have been the punishment had he been thrown out of the game and because the strike was out of character for Attaochu. Johnson said he gave Attaochu additional disciplinary measures that are between him and Attaochu.
“It’s out of character for him,” Johnson said. “Certainly, that’s not his M.O., and that’s why it’s not more. But I think that certainly, we don’t condone that and I know he’s learned his lesson, but there still needs to be something. You have to pay a price when you mess up.”
Johnson said Attaochu, whose strike of Thomas drew a personal foul penalty and was a momentum-changing play in the Hokies’ 37-26 victory that dropped the Jackets out of ACC title contention, was embarrassed and sorry for his action.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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385 comments Add your comment
RedandBlackDawg
November 15th, 2011
6:31 am
GA Truth,
I am a big UGA fan, but your comment about it being convenient for this young man with the Duke game coming up is not something CPJ can control. This is the NCAA’s ruling like they always do on Tuesday, when any team gets a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. It is almost always going to be a half game suspension, unless the player was seriously hurt by the incident. It can’t be appealed and just like the one’, our guys got for Vanderbilt, it is the standard penalty. I am sure the kid feels bad enough about it as it is. Doo Doo happens sometimes in the heat of the game. The other players for VA. Tech. kept their cool pretty much. I wouldn’t recommend he do that against UGA though, as I am sure the team would react as a whole, and there would have been quite a skirmish due to that. The refs. tend to be a little more strict and watch closer when it is a big rivalry game.
RedandBlackDawg
November 15th, 2011
6:34 am
TRIP,
Indeed you are one. It is football man, that kind of stuff is going to happen occasionally if you get frustrated. Don’t place your team on any kind of pedestal and think they are above it. It happens when you play a physical game of football, not tennis or chess, which is probably as physical as you get, sitting on your mighty throne and watching the game.
Thomas Brown
November 15th, 2011
6:36 am
THUG
Honestly
November 15th, 2011
6:55 am
@RedandBlackDawg
You’re wrong. The NCAA isn’t handing down suspensions for blatant personal fouls. I don’t know about the ACC, but the SEC mandated the suspensions against the Georgia, Vandy, and Arkansas players earlier this year.
GT
November 15th, 2011
7:13 am
All Richt could talk about in the biggest win Georgia had this year was a blow up hit on a kick off play. I think and still think this aggressiveness without thought is what holds Georgia from playing like Alabama or LSU. The one column Tech was definitely ahead of Georgia until this game was maturity. I wonder If Attaochu missing those games in mid season set his mental maturity back a little too. Sport is still a game of brains and while Richt is bragging about knock out hits Johnson is trying to teach his guys to think. You pay these coaches millions of dollars for their brains not to be sideline cheerleaders. I might add Tech has a very talented group of cheerleaders that actually do that for free.
Ekim
November 15th, 2011
7:25 am
@DoWhat — CPJ didn’t take him out of the game immediately perhaps because he didn’t see the play until well after the game. In his post-game interview he said he hadn’t seen it yet.
But go ahead and criticize. We know where you’re coming from.
GT
November 15th, 2011
7:35 am
CPJ is true to himself which drives people crazy but step by step he is heading in a direction. He may blow off conventional thinking on 4 and one but he is consistent and that consistence effects the other team. He in his mind has a team he is trying to put on a field. Disciple is so much part of that team. I listened to people talk about how dull the Ala. LSU game was and wonder what they were watching. To me it was two teams that understood the value of each down and played like the game and down meant something. At the end of the day what separates LSU and Ala. from the pack is this disciple and few understand it like Johnson does.
SuperB
November 15th, 2011
7:49 am
The ACC should have suspended this idiot for at least an entire game. Paul Johnson’s “slap on the wrist” speaks volumes about Johnson. And when it happened, the referee should have ejected the player. Any good official would have. Too bad getting to the ACC is more about politics than ability.
Dr.DAWG
November 15th, 2011
7:56 am
Once again the GT nation is coming up with excuses. They blame the VT loss on a kids personal foul so tell me what happened the rest of the game
The Grinch
November 15th, 2011
8:02 am
I think the punishment is fine. UGA (actually the SEC) suspended Geathers for a half game for throwing a punch during the Vandy game. Done, end of story.
Harvey D. Pooka
November 15th, 2011
8:05 am
Re-review the tape, and you’ll see a VaTech player on Attaochu’s back just before the offending moment. No excuse, but, makes it somewhat more understandable.
Old Gold Britches
November 15th, 2011
8:07 am
I sure as heck don’t blame this one penalty on the loss. One or two people say that and now it is the whole Tech nation. We got beat by a better team that night. mr mutt ….go to your own blog. super b .. how is sounding like an idiot working out for you?
FDawg
November 15th, 2011
8:10 am
That’s seems like a fair punishment…and you know CPJ is having him perform some “extra work”.
David
November 15th, 2011
8:14 am
GT- What???
Richt was saying how proud he was of a special teams guy making a momentum- building great form tackle. You sir, are an idiot.
aa
November 15th, 2011
8:20 am
I was mad until I saw the video replay, then I started laughing. I could see his determination to bring the big horse down, first by riding on his back, then as a last resort, the punch……Attaochu was as frustrated as a blind lesbian in an open air fish market on a hot summer’s day…..
The Grinch
November 15th, 2011
8:22 am
GT
November 15th, 2011
7:13 am
Oh brother, you can’t be serious. Are you truly that big of a hack? When asked, at HALFTIME, about how his team was playing Richt said the play that stood out to him was the torpedo hit on the kickoff.
Postgame quote: “I thought the most impressive play of the game was when Quintavious Harrow had that knock-’em-back, get-everybody-in-the-stadium-excited tackle. That ignited our football team.”
Only a blind, partisan fool would look at this as “aggressiveness without thought”.
If this bothers you so badly what were your thought about when CPJ went on the radio and advised any Tech fan getting a hard time from a Georgia fan to “punch him in the face.”? Was this another example of what you refer to as “aggressiveness without thought”. ?
BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Dude, it’s football, not Barbie Doll.
The Grinch
November 15th, 2011
8:23 am
aa
November 15th, 2011
8:20 am
Ewwww. Now I can’t get this weird mental image out of my mind.
The Grinch
November 15th, 2011
8:25 am
GT
November 15th, 2011
7:35 am
“…but step by step he is heading in a direction.”
Maybe so, but in which direction? BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Thomas Brown
November 15th, 2011
8:40 am
“Guy giving you a hard time and you get tired of it, punch him in the face,” Paul Johnson said. THUG coach. Then, 1 of his THUG football players from Nigeria does JUST THAT. And, he SUSPENDS him for half a game. Not in retaliation, mind you but because he was mad that the guy had thrown for 3 TD against him and run in 2 more TD against him, already.
THUGS from THUG SCHOOL on NCAA PROBATION back-to-back repeat offenders.
CloudmanJacket
November 15th, 2011
8:55 am
Just was reading the recruiting update on the AJC….it is embarrassing that we are competing for a RB that has only been offered by teams like Mid Tennessee State. No top recruits want to play for our joke of an offensive system. This is what we have become. Thank you CPJ.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
8:58 am
GTBob, please clean my UGA blow-up doll before you return it!
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
9:06 am
Why is it when one of GT’s players (and we know who) throws a punch he is “playing hard” according to some on here, yet when another school’s player does the same he is labled a thug or worse?
William
November 15th, 2011
9:08 am
Let’s see “Half a game is what he would’ve gotten had he been ejected.” Then sit him for a game and a half to make it even rather than sitting out against Daisy Duke.
Edward
November 15th, 2011
9:09 am
Rice gets a three game suspension for violating “team rules,” Attaochu gets a 1/2 game slap on the wrist for throwing a punch. I wouldn’t feel safe as a Georgia Tech coed around campus either.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
9:22 am
Supersize, why are you so concerned with what GA does?
robinva
November 15th, 2011
9:33 am
Johnson’s “punishment” is that he lost the game. Grow up guys.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
9:40 am
Once again, why is it ok for a GT player to throw punches and not be labled the same as if another school’s player does it?
Gorilla Biscuit
November 15th, 2011
9:42 am
Well, at least it’s against Duke. Ya’ll are going to need every swingin’ dick on the field come the 26th.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
9:46 am
Interesting and true statement, Gorilla. I can’t wait for the rash of excuses when GT loses yet again…10 – 1 that we will see a flurry of “we are better than you in the classroom” statements…
GTJeff
November 15th, 2011
9:52 am
He cost the team the momentum they had & the game which would have put them in the ACCCG. He deserves to be suspended for the rest of the season.
vicki
November 15th, 2011
9:54 am
I think Paul Johnson handled this correctly. The player never has done this before, and it is probably pretty embarrassing for him to be suspended for 1/2 of a game. In the words for Mark Richt…”these boys will make mistakes, and we have to just try and guide them in the right direction”. I doubt if had been a Georgia player, we would have been suspended at all. I was at the game, and we could not see what happened. I have seen it on TV several times. PJ did the right thing….
GT/GS
November 15th, 2011
9:56 am
HOW FUNNY IS THAT, THAT SOMEONE WOULD BRING UP A PLAYER BEING SUSPENDED FOR THE DUKE GAME, WHEN CMR SUSPENDED HIS FOR THE NEW MEXICO STATE GAME.
WHY NOT HOLD THEM OUT FOR THE AUBURN OR KENTUCKY GAME?
Gorilla Biscuit
November 15th, 2011
9:57 am
“I doubt if had been a Georgia player, we would have been suspended at all.”
Wrong. The precedent was set against Vandy.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
10:02 am
Vicki, wrong once again. GT/GS – the rules state that the suspension comes the next game, not two or three games down the road.
Typical excuse making from GT fans…
Supersize that order, mutt
November 15th, 2011
10:19 am
GT Joe, you asked why I was so concerned about what UGA does. I wasn’t aware that I was so concerned. But my question for you is why do you, who are obviously a mutt, come on a Tech blog using a name that would make one think you were a Tech fan? Are you that obsessed with Tech? C’mon now, surely you don’t expect anybody to think you are a Tech fan based on the posts you have made this morning. Why are YOU so concerned about what Tech does?
TampaDawg
November 15th, 2011
10:20 am
I have read at least 6-8 GT Joe posts on here that I can not possibly agree with more. Listen, he threw a punch and CPJ dealt with it. Right or wrong punishment? Doesn’t matter now because it’s done and over with so move on. UGA losing two players for a half came against UF of all teams. It’s just the nature of when it happens and who is playing the next Saturday. My problem with how the SEC does it is the lack of consistancy. Like last year when Cam Newton threw a punch MID-PLAY against Bacarri Rambo but got not even a letter from the SEC. At least with Geathers, he was reacting to an incredibly dirty play by Vandy’s moron center.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 15th, 2011
10:21 am
UGA Joe the troll, so if you agree that the rules state that the suspension comes the next game, then why are you lambasting Tech and Johnson for suspending Attaochu for time in the next game? Is Tech supposed to play by different rules than the mutts do?
TampaDawg
November 15th, 2011
10:33 am
Pretty sure GT Joe isn’t a Dawg …. he just plays both sides of the line. Cuz that dude can really rile up the UGA boards in a hurry.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
10:34 am
Ah yes, supersize…what comes around goes around. Not once did I lambaste tech for suspending him – I simply asked the question as to why the GT fans call other school’s players ‘thugs’ and such for the same actions when nothing is said about their own.
If I was a Dog fan, the question is why would I be worried about what GT does? After all, the dominance displayed by the ‘Dogs over GT leaves nothing to be worried about…
TampaDawg
November 15th, 2011
10:36 am
Again, if GT Joe is a Dawg, he is one hell of an actor. He comes on the UGA blogs as “GT JOE” and takes a beating from us. But like I said, Geathers and Williams were suspended for UF .. why? Only because it was the next game on the schedule.
UGA Law Grad Genius
November 15th, 2011
10:37 am
It could be worse. You could be a UGA law graduate posting thoughts like this on your personal blog:
Who wants a law degree at UGA? They are just giving those things away these days. http://therealjmar.tumblr.com/post/1518263699/non-lawyers-love-to-complain-about-lawyers-being
Future clients of this firm would love to see this guy’s thoughts about his clients.
Customer service goes a long way.
TampaDawg
November 15th, 2011
10:39 am
Plus, GT Joe was pitching GT’s offense earlier this year as the most exciting offense in college football. That will never come from the keyboard of a Dawg fan.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
10:39 am
UGA Law Grad, why are you so concerned with what GA does?
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
10:42 am
Thats because GTs offense was, and is, unstoppable. No one can stop it.
UGA Law Grad Genius
November 15th, 2011
10:42 am
I dont know. Maybe it has something to do with UGA fans obsessing over GA Tech recruits. The better question you should ask is why is GA so concerned with Tech since they are clearly “superior”
vdjacket
November 15th, 2011
10:44 am
When executed properly, our offense is for sure a bear to stop.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
10:47 am
vdjacket, our offense hasn’t been stopped all year.
UGA Law, an even better question is why do GT fans resort to trying to pull the “superior in the classroom” bit when they lose?
TampaDawg
November 15th, 2011
10:52 am
What’s up with the filters on here? I am just trying to tell UGA Law Grad (not good enough for that) that if I applied his same logic that because some UGA grad (allegedly) posts mindless drivel on a blog doesn’t mean that they are just giving away law degrees at UGA. If I were to apply that same logic to some recent GT grads, you wouldn’t really want to hear it.
GT Joe
November 15th, 2011
10:53 am
I am still waiting on an answer as to why other school’s players are labled as thugs and such for the same actions when GT players are not put in the same group?
vd jacket
November 15th, 2011
10:55 am
GT joe, in our losses (v tech included) our offensive production was limited.
I don’t think uga law grad is pulling superior academics but showing what a retard a recent uga law grad happens to be. Definitely not a very good representative of UGA or the University System of Georgia as a whole.