In this Tech-Tech slugfest, the Jackets are undone by a punch
Georgia Tech's Tevin Washington scored three touchdowns. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Technically speaking, this wasn’t the ACC championship game, but you can’t go wrong assuming the winner between the Techs will play for the conference title. It has happened every year the league has staged a championship game, and it figures to happen in 2011, too.
But which Tech might it be this time? The one that was ranked in preseason and is ranked still, or the one that began play unranked, worked its way to No. 12 in the polls, fell out after two ugly road losses but wedged its way back after upsetting No. 5 Clemson? The former is officially known as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the latter as the Georgia Institute of Technology. For purposes of space, we’ll call them Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech.
For a series only in its ninth installment, this has become a corker. The past three meetings — those since Paul Johnson arrived here — had been decided by a total of 15 points. What transpired Thursday night at a not-quite-full Bobby Dodd Stadium was more of the same. One Tech got ahead. Then the other Tech did. Then the first Tech scored 16 consecutive points to retake the lead. Wild, wacky stuff.
Details? Sure. Georgia Tech led 7-0. Then Virginia Tech went ahead 14-7. Then Georgia Tech kicked a field goal to draw within four points. Then — shades of the Miami game — the Jackets allowed a touchdown inside the half’s final minute. The Hokies led 21-10 and seemed to have taken control. But no.
Georgia Tech drove 61 yards in 44 seconds to a catalytic field goal as the half expired. Then the Jackets, aided by a Virginia Tech personal foul, opened the second half with a drive to one touchdown. The Hokies’ lead was two points. Virginia Tech moved inside the GT 20, at which point Julian Burnett smacked the ball from David Wilson’s grasp. Soon Georgia Tech was ahead by five points and poised to throw a hammerlock on the proceedings, whereupon linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu threw a punch.
The Jackets had stopped Virginia Tech. Attaochu was about to complete a third-down sack of quarterback Logan Thomas. But Thomas, who weighs 254 pounds — 31 more than Attaochu — didn’t go down, and Hokies linemen rushed to his aid, and Attaochu wound up taking a swing at an opponent. He was flagged for a personal foul; he was lucky he wasn’t ejected, and he might yet face a suspension.
To his credit, Attaochu didn’t t dabble in denial afterward. “It was an overdose of adrenaline,” he said. “There’s no excuse for it.”
Said Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech’s coach: “The big penalty kind of changed the game.”
Handed its mulligan, Virginia Tech did what a good team is supposed to do. It fashioned a drive that changed the careening game yet again. The massive Thomas scored on, of all things, a 12-yard quarterback sneak, and the Hokies were back ahead. Then Paul Johnson did the Paul Johnson thing and went for it on fourth down on the wrong side of midfield — at the Tech 31, to be exact — and Tevin Washington was halted.
“Maybe we could have called a better play,” Johnson said. “But we didn’t execute the play that was called very well, either.”
Why had he gone for it? “I felt like we needed to score. From the second possession of the game, we couldn’t stop them.”
Again the Hokies took their windfall and cashed it in. A Thomas touchdown pass made it an eight-point game. Washington slipped and fell trying to pass on third down, and Georgia Tech had to punt. By now Virginia Tech’s offensive line was pushing the Jackets’ defense backward, just as had happened over the final 10 minutes of the first half, and a field goal with 3:02 to play pushed the Hokie lead to 37-26.
And that was that. A crackling game had, at least for the home side, fizzled at the end. The winning Tech is again in playing-for-a-championship mode, while the losing Tech has been eliminated from the division race. To be blunt, Virginia Tech seemed the more talented team for much of the game, but Georgia Tech will long wonder what would have happened had Jeremiah Attaochu kept his hands to himself.
By Mark Bradley
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534 comments Add your comment
Brent Cheez-burger
November 11th, 2011
11:35 am
Your looking live……… at historic Bobby Dump stadium
Where once again another arrest is being made on North Ave
UGA OWNS gtu
November 11th, 2011
11:36 am
LMAO… yep, 9 outta 10! We STILL OWN gtu. Best stat of all! lol
UGA OWNS gtu.
Always have, always will.
Flat Tire on I-95 in Jacksonville
November 11th, 2011
11:36 am
Atlanta87
Here’s a stat Richt still beat Tech during that span of time
boz
November 11th, 2011
11:38 am
Last week Georgia Tech thought they were world beaters. Now they’re back to their more customary role as dick beaters.
UGA OWNS gtu
November 11th, 2011
11:43 am
Looking forward to win #62 over gtu on November 26th!!!!
UGA OWNS gtu.
Always have, always will.
boz
November 11th, 2011
11:50 am
Post of the Year: “When did GATech fans start disguising themselves as empty seats?” Love it!!!!
douglasville dawg
November 11th, 2011
11:50 am
PJ called the game he had to call. It never should have been that close with GT lack of talent. Every year Tech is beating teams they should not, and it is because of PJ. The lack of talent is not his fault. Why would a top level player want to come to GT when they are being recruited by UA, AU, UGA, FL, TN, and if they are smart then Stanford is coming in. He takes what he can get and makes them compete against some of the best in the country. Sometimes that lack of talent comes back to bite them in the arse. GT fans are worse than UGA fans. You start 6-0 and PJ is great, lose two and he is garbage, beat Clemson and is a savior, lose a close game to #9 VT and he should be fired. GET A LIFE
Mountain DAWG
November 11th, 2011
11:52 am
Existential question of the day—If Tech wins a ball game, and there is nobody there to see it, did it really happen? GO DUKE!!
Mountain DAWG
November 11th, 2011
11:53 am
boz- LMAO!!!
oledawg
November 11th, 2011
11:57 am
Ole Constipated P.J is bound and determined to keep running that high school offense. I mean let’s be honest here for a moment——-could Tevin be a starting QB—–anywhere else in the country? Not in Division I. Tech is as predictable as the sunrise. But if they like 6 to 7, to 8 win years, with NO chance at a National Championship,it’s fine by me. Oh, and by the way, P.J. is an arrogant twit who needs some humility. He hates getting that chip knocked off his shoulder.
Nate
November 11th, 2011
12:03 pm
Say what you want Dawg fans, but I follow Tech and Georgia blogs, and the Dawg trolls are 10 times as bad as the Tech trolls. I hope I never meet any of you people in real life as you must have serious problems.
I bet that 80% of the people on this blog calling for CPJ’s head are GA fans posing under Tech names… get a life people.
Tech fans, for what it’s worth, this basically means that our team can concentrate on the GA-GT game to make or break this season. We won’t be looking ahead to an ACC championship that’s for sure.
Man up and support your team GT fans, we are not a football factory, never have and never will.
HokieNGa
November 11th, 2011
12:25 pm
Va Tech came prepared to play and did. A perfect game? No. But good enough. We had a plan, use Wilson and Thomas to POUND the ball and keep GT offense off the field. Va Tech’s pass defense has always had problems, that is when the QB has enough time to pass. Sort of hard to throw a strike when you are eating turf. Enought whining about fourth down play and a flagrant fowl. Hokies would have won regardless, GT is a GREAT 7 win team as my son (a GT grad declares). GT, there is always basketball season!
HokieNGa
November 11th, 2011
12:27 pm
flagrant fowl – that would have been Marcus Vick a while back stomping on the leg of the Louisville defensive player, my bad.
WnE
November 11th, 2011
12:40 pm
I hated Chan Gailey as GT’s HC, that being said, Chan was 7-5 at GT for $1.0 mill per yr. vs. tougher schedules, compare that to Coach Kung Fu Panda going 8-4 vs. easier schedules in a down era of ACC FB for $2.5 Mill per yr. and most logical GT Fans can see that we aren’t getting our money’s worth out of this so-called Offensive genius.
Look at CPJ’s Record vs. VT/UGA/Miami, teams on our paltry schedule that generally have the best physical specimens that go on to the NFL and you’ll quickly see that CPJ is NOT getting more from lesser athletes, he’s simply beating up on weaker teams and then proclaiming himself a “genius”.
I can’t believe that the GT Fanbase cannot see through this scamming con-artist.
Bruce
November 11th, 2011
12:45 pm
“The Hokies’ lead was two points. Virginia Tech moved inside the GT 20, at which point Julian Burnett smacked the ball from David Wilson’s grasp.” This is incorrect. If you watch the game film you will see that it was another Virginia Tech player that bumped into him knocking the ball out of his hands.
Big Daddy Roy T Goodnuff
November 11th, 2011
2:08 pm
Ga Tech….a bunch nerdy girly girls …..can’t wait til the 26th.
GTGrad77
November 11th, 2011
2:21 pm
Fire Paul Johnson! His recruiting has set our university back for years.
Gobble Gobble
November 11th, 2011
2:24 pm
Hokie Hokie Hokie Hi!!! Loved being at the game, sad to see all the empty seats, so glad we get to play GT every year so I can get a chance to see my Hokies at least once in the regular season in Atlanta. Can’t wait to drive up to Charlotte to see them win another ACC championship
aclemsonman57
November 11th, 2011
2:53 pm
Well…..Thanks Jackets for destroying my hopes that my Tigers would whip that fanny at the ACC championship……thanks alot….
aclemsonman57
November 11th, 2011
2:54 pm
Not going to happen Gobble Gobble…..take it to the bank…..!
DawgFever
November 11th, 2011
3:33 pm
In the SEC, va tech would have trouble winning 7 games each year. In the creampuff ACC, they can play for the title every year!!! march on gobblers!
Gorilla Biscuit
November 11th, 2011
3:33 pm
“We just didn’t make enough plays, we didn’t get it done,” Johnson said. “Offense, defense, special teams – nobody got it done.”
Hmmmm….sounds like a coaching problem.
CoolCD
November 11th, 2011
4:15 pm
I am a VT fan but the punch changed the momentum. I was a little surprised by it and it gave us the ball back. What’s most interesting as I read some of these comments, you guys feel the same about your punter as we do ours. I have written before, in a school the size of tech, we can’t find anyone else that can kick a ball farther than 9 yards?
CoolCD
November 11th, 2011
4:17 pm
Also, one thing on Paul Johnson, he recruits players for his system and his system is actually good. Most teams hate to play against that offense. But, how many players does he put in the league? I think that hurts his recruiting.
buzzengineer
November 11th, 2011
4:19 pm
The jackets will pull and huge upset and beat Ga this year in Atlanta–bank on it!
Gorilla Biscuit
November 11th, 2011
4:24 pm
Haw..haw..haw!
Braves #17 Fan
November 11th, 2011
4:30 pm
Tough game, but I’m not convinced firing the coach is the answer.
TN. Jacket
November 11th, 2011
5:21 pm
That PUNCH was the most boneheaded play I’ve seen a Tech player make in a long, long time! The ripple effect will be felt by both Techs for years to come. It cost us the game and I’ll tell you why. Some have wanted to talk about Orwins dropped pass but as bad as it may have been we overcame it and can just chaulk it as football. The PUNCH is totally different. We had a 5 point lead, VT would have had to punt and we would have had the ball around midfield. With the wind at our back and our offense clicking at the time, I think it’s safe to say we probably extend our lead. That being the case, we probably never face a fourth and one with the consequences we did and all the second guessing associated with that and everything that happened after the PUNCH would have been mute. Everything that happened after the PUNCH would have played out differently and we’d probably be celebrating a victory today and making plans for the ACC Campionship game and Maybe the Orange Bowl instead of VTech doing so. My son and I talked at the game and on the ride home how ONE PLAY can have such a lasting affect on both teams for years to come. The PUNCH cost us last nights game, changes how the rest of this season plays out which effects our recruiting which more or less determines how our future seasons will turn out and on and on. It is hard to believe that someone smart enough to get in GTech could do something so dumb! It’s not a stretch to say we’ll deal with the consequences of this bone-headed play for years to come!
Will
November 11th, 2011
8:25 pm
yes that game sucked, but at least we played 2 games against some of the top ACC teams after playing a bunch of cupcakes. the uga folks on here keep saying that UGA is on the rise, but thats been against their cupcakes, just like Tech at the beginning of the season. Id like to see a UGA matchup against LSU or Alabama and see the outcome. UGA hasn’t upset a top 5 team this year either.
At least on georgia team though is playing Alabama and that GA southern.
UGA OWNS gtu
November 11th, 2011
9:52 pm
I can’t help but laugh at you PATHETIC gtu fans… you’re all so delusional. We can’t wait to STOMP on you again on the 26th!! It’s almost here… TICK TOCK!!! LMAO
UGA OWNS gtu.
Always have, always will.
dawgs have fleas
November 13th, 2011
9:56 am
what about rich rod to ga tech as next head coach we could do damage with him vad lee and orwin smith….stephen hill might not get so bored on the outside
dawgs have fleas
November 13th, 2011
9:58 am
man uga is sooo great beat a bunch of nobodies yeah you may beat us but going to sec title game to get crushed by LSU thats what i cant wait for
Yowsa
November 13th, 2011
11:30 am
jackets will lose to Duke at Duke. I’m calling it now. Our D has given up after making strides and Duke’s Offense is no joke (for once). This is an upset in the making. Jackets lose to Duke then get leveled by UGA (probably a 30+ blowout at this point). I root for my team, but I’m also smart enough to know when the other team is much better. UGA will KILL Gt at this point.
game changer
November 13th, 2011
11:34 am
I agree with TN jacket. Its very conceivable that GT would have won that game w/out the punch. 5 point lead w/ very good field position. Give CPJ a 8 point lead at the very least (w/ a field goal at the very least) and we would have run things out or at least played the clock to help chances. That one punch totally changed the game….just like a fumble can totally change a game. So yes, one PUNCH lost the game for GT.