First, congratulations to LSU and their fans for the win. As a Tech fan, it was hard to watch the Chick-Fil-A Bowl but certainly, I won’t shy away from admitting that Georgia Tech was dismantled in all aspects of the game… offense, defense, and even special teams. I was severely disappointed in the way our defense played last night; they simply looked unprepared to play the game of football. I could easily blame the offense for being unproductive but hopefully our defensive unit would be the first ones to admit that it was their job to get themselves off of the field and keep the other team out of our end-zone. Likewise, our special teams had yet another dismal game. Our team was fooled by a surprise onside kick and a fake punt, the latter being during the middle of the blowout which is quite irksome but not against the rules or anything.
This loss in no way diminishes the great season the Yellow Jackets had in 2008. I honestly expected Tech to go 6-6 mainly due to the introduction of the new coaching staff, new offense, and being the youngest team in the ACC. A 9-4 season with some great wins (especially to U[sic]GA) brought Tech some high-profile coverage of its season and games.
I intend to keep up with whatever news that comes out about Tech during spring practice like I did for last year. I am biased but I think there are some great things ahead for the GT football program in the years to come. I can’t wait to see what our guys can do after a Spring and Summer of maturing with this past season under their belts. It’s great to be a Tech fan.
Tech was down 16 points at the half then the offense clicked into place. What an absolutely amazing comeback victory by Georgia Tech against our rival!
My brother-in-law forwarded this video to me. I could not believe what I was seeing and at first was trying to find evidence of this being one of those viral videos. No, apparently, this really happened during the college football game between University of South Carolina and Louisiana State University on October 18th, 2008. How crazy does this look?
Admittedly, I think some angles make it look worse than it is. For example, the camera angle actually on the field in slow-motion does undoubtedly make it look like the referee pushed himself toward Garcia. The normal TV camera doesn’t make it look as bad. In the end, I think it’s all about the referee’s position as an umpire. According to wikipedia:
The umpire (U) stands behind the defensive line and linebackers, observing the blocks by the offensive line and defenders trying to ward off those blocks — looking for holding or illegal blocks. Prior to the snap, he counts all offensive players. … As the umpire is situated where much of the play’s initial action occurs, he is considered by many to hold the most dangerous officiating position.
So according to that definition of an umpire, it looks like Hackett is out of position but on the other hand it could have been because he thought the play was developing to his left and stepped to the right and didn’t realize that Garcia would counter the run to his side. On that same token though, this is not the first time I’ve seen a run that was originally supposed to develop to one side and instead the running back or quarterback tries to make an adhoc play of its own. Anyway, I’m a huge football fan and it’s the first time I’ve seen this type of thing happening except for in this Buffalo Wild Wing commercial.
