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Sunday, September 3, 2006
A new era of TV football
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
The scene was Romanesque, the glaring light from the lamps above Bobby Dodd Stadium turning Grant Field into a grassy stage. Fifty-five thousand or more jurors in their pews, and not an impartial one among them. Georgia Tech matched against Notre Dame, the lead item on the menu of a new era in television football.
“Saturday Night Football” is the intercollegiate spinoff of ABC’s aging Monday night commodity, but the network tables were turning. This was the first of “ESPN on ABC.” ESPN, the wimpy little sports production that shyly began with a diet of lacrosse, field hockey, soccer and other “non-revenue” sports gasping for a whiff of air time. That was about 27 years ago, or thereabouts, and now the tail is wagging the dog, not to coin a phrase.
There hasn’t been a football season opener to match this in these parts in a lot of memories. This was more than another football game, it was a match of the gladiators. The town had been breaking out in a rash, and the rash had developed into shingles as kickoff grew nearer. Notre Dame came to Atlanta ranked No. 2 in preseason polls, Georgia Tech somewhere down the line. But there was serious support for the home team, and not just a few of the wise foresaw the Yellow Jackets as winners. And the way the game began, they were beginning to look wiser.
Chan Gailey and his debuting play-caller, Patrick Nix, opened logically. They threw to Calvin Johnson, the “Pride of Sandy Creek,” and soon led, 7-0, on his jump-ball catch in the end zone. (A few years ago Notre Dame had a co-captain from Sandy Creek, defensive end Jabari Holloway.) Meanwhile, Notre Dame went to its strength, the thrown football, going for the bomb, the killer strike, in which it was only killing itself. You’ll rarely see more wild pitches than Brady Quinn threw in the early going. What many of us, both in the house and at the tube, couldn’t fathom was where was Darius Walker, Charlie Weis’ ace running back.
Meantime, in the ESPN booth, Brent Musberger, Kirk Herbstreit and Bob Davies were getting in their promotional licks for this historic telecast. Davies is of particular interest here, for nine years ago he broke in as head coach at Notre Dame on a Saturday in South Bend against Georgia Tech, then coached by George O’Leary. With the help of some Midwest officiating, the Irish won that one.
There would be some reference to some of the same after this one in Atlanta, but that’s getting ahead of the story. Travis Bell kicked a field goal, Tech led 10-0 but would not score again. Meanwhile, Weis, who calls his own plays, finally discovered Walker, cut the kid from Buford loose and the offense opened up. On the other hand, Georgia Tech lost track of Johnson and Reggie Ball began taking off on his quarterback draws, and that suited the Irish fine. They could handle that, Johnson would have been more a problem.
I’d suppose you might say there were a couple of points on which the game evolved. When Georgia Tech came to a crucial fourth-and-one, Gailey backed down and punted. When Weis came to an even more crucial fourth-and-one, he called timeout for consultation, then sent in Quinn for a dive over the middle for the first down. Quinn later took matters into his own hands, called his own number and ran a draw of his own for a touchdown that pulled Notre Dame to 10-7. Walker would score in the third quarter, and the final 14-10 score was fairly representative of the wrestle that the game turned into. More wrestle than finesse.
From Georgia Tech’s point of view, I’d surmise that the outcome didn’t settle anything. The Yellow Jackets still feel they’re as good as the Irish. They’d like to have a few plays back and insert a few that didn’t get called, and they surely question some of the officiating, but I’ll have to say the Big Ten crew did a pretty even job.
Offhand, I’d say “ESPN on ABC” had a fairly smooth night, though Davies in the booth is hardly an improvement on Davies on the sideline. And, I might add, I’ve never seen as many weird commercials in one stretch of television as that one, which is neither here nor there. Somebody had to pay for it.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Furman Bisher, Tech / ACC
Good first step for Jackets
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The question of whether Georgia Tech will be a seven-win program again this season wasn’t answered Saturday. If anything, it was reaffirmed that it doesn’t have to be.
Hang with Notre Dame? Then you can hang with Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech. Hang with Notre Dame? Then suddenly everybody else in the ACC should worry about hanging with you.
There were no complaints Saturday about high academic standards or unreasonable expectations. Nobody whined about being dwarfed by an opponent with perceived recruiting advantages. There was only Tech in a football game, leading the second-ranked Irish into the third quarter, with a chance to win on its final possession.
What does that tell you?
“I don’t know anyone who comes to work here every day who carries those excuses with them,” Jackets athletics director Dan Radakovich said Sunday. (I can only assume he didn’t get the memo from his predecessor, Dave Braine.)
“We’re all looking to try to do what we can do, within the circumstances we have. Yeah, it’s more difficult here than other places. But we’re not going to make excuses. We also have so many positives to work with.”
I lived in the Bay Area when Stanford was a doormat in basketball. Some used academics as an excuse. Then Duke became Duke. When the question was posed to then Stanford AD Andy Geiger, “What’s the difference between Duke’s academic standards and Stanford’s?” his basic response was, “Not much.”
Funny. Then Stanford got better.
There are no limitations at Tech. To think otherwise is a crutch. One day after a 14-10 loss to Notre Dame, Radakovich was asked if there’s a realistic comparable for Tech.
“I’m not saying this just because we played them, but Notre Dame has a lot of the same academic requirements that we do,” he said. “They’re not in a major city but they’re near one, and they have a great history. There are some parallels that we can point to. It’s true Notre Dame is a national team. They’re a brand. They’re like the Coca-Cola of college football. But being in the ACC is great for us. With the conference going to 12 teams, and the SEC being here, the best college football in the country is being played [in the South] and we’re in the middle of that. That’s a positive for us.”
This season will not be defined by what happened Saturday. This season will be defined by what happens next. Indeed, Chan Gailey’s critics always have been fueled by what has happened next.
The Jackets upset Auburn and Miami last season but went 5-5 in 10 other games and finished in something called the Emerald Bowl. How does that happen?
Three years ago, Tech opened with a loss to BYU. Then it upset Auburn and went to Tallahassee and nearly stunned Florida State (losing 14-13). That was good. Then the team came home and got drilled by Clemson 39-3. That was bad.
When a program lives on a roller coaster, it’s not because of academic standards. It’s coaching, preparation and resolve.
The next two weeks finds Tech at home against Samford and Troy. Anything less than lopsided wins would be a warning that little has changed. Then comes the meat of the schedule: Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Clemson, Miami.
If Tech can duplicate Saturday’s performance in those games, then you have a season. Then you have a program.
“I see the players as they are today — I can’t look at what went on in the past,” Radakovich said. “I look at these young men and see they want to win championships. Last night doesn’t derail our season and it doesn’t keep us from reaching one of our goals, which is to win the ACC championship.”
No excuses. Just high expectations.
What a nice change of pace.
Permalink | Comments (53) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
Tech can’t finish what it started
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
This was Georgia Tech’s moment to conquer everything. The dwindling clock on a gorgeous Saturday night over Bobby Dodd Stadium. The 14-10 deficit after dominating what supposedly was the No. 2 team in the country early and often before an absolutely delirious packed house. The mystique that is Notre Dame in these situations, when something often happens to make the Fighting Irish the Lucky Irish.
Too bad for Tech that there isn’t the Lucky Jackets. At least not this time, with the Notre Dame offense converting in the clutch near the end, and with the Tech offense vanishing after doing all sorts of wonderful things against the Notre Dame defense during much of the first half.
In the end, after Tech came a Calvin Johnson something away from pulling another Auburn or Miami, somebody asked quarterback Reggie Ball if he was proud of the Jackets’ effort. “I’ll never be proud to lose,” said Ball, inconsistent during his previous three seasons, but mostly decent against Notre Dame. “A loss is a loss. Proud? Nah.”
Good answer. Tech always plays adequately in these types of games. It’s those other types of games that the Jackets will encounter the next three weeks against Samford, Troy and Virginia that traditionally make them look ordinary. Not only that, Notre Dame is slightly flawed, with no kicker, a Heisman Trophy candidate (Brady Quinn) who was spooked for long stretches against Tech and a defense with holes.
Tech could have won. Tech should have won. Instead, the Jackets had the Tech Nation grumbling less about how they couldn’t find ways to pad a quick 10-0 lead and more about an official’s call (involving Philip Wheeler’s questionable blow to Quinn’s head) that contributed to Notre Dame’s winning touchdown drive. Said Tech coach Chan Gailey, clearly peeved, “What did I see? I saw both guys in bounds, and I saw a guy going to make a tackle. You call helmet to helmet every time two helmets hit, you’re going to call it every time. That’s the game of football.”
What’s also the game of football is overcoming an official’s call. That is, if you’re a championship team. Tech remains a good team in progress. In fact, for the longest time, the evening was overwhelmingly flavored old gold and white, but with five minutes left before halftime, a couple of things happened that signaled woe for Tech. First, after Patrick Nix showed frequently that he gets it when it comes to Johnson (you know, you keep calling plays for the gifted receiver), the Jackets offensive’ coordinator suffered brain lock or something.
I mean, here was Tech on third-and-11 from the Notre Dame 13 with a chance to increase their 7-0 lead by a bunch, and Nix didn’t call for a pass to Johnson.
Nix didn’t even call for a pass. Tashard Choice rushed for a yard, and Tech settled for a field goal and a 10-0 advantage. Moments later, Quinn ended the half by plowing into the end zone from 5 yards out on a draw with no timeouts left. The combination of Nix’s conservatism and Quinn’s guts sent Notre Dame toward a burst of momentum in the second half. The Irish methodically moved 64 yards on their first possession ahead for good on mostly runs and that official’s call.
Something had to happen to push Tech back toward a miracle. That “something” had to involve their historically underused miracle named Johnson. Still, as has often been the case, Johnson was the invisible man down the stretch. According to Gailey, Notre Dame’s double teams against Johnson were to blame. But here’s the thing: Tech should have stayed with its early checklist that involved Johnson, Johnson, Johnson. All you need to know is that Nix became the smartest man in recent history among Tech coaches by calling a play for No. 21 on the Jackets’ first series. It was a 6-yard completion with the greatest of ease.
Suddenly, all things were possible. Not only for Johnson, but for the entire Tech team that also flashed more than a few nice things on defense to confuse Quinn and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis. So, with the wildest crowd in decades on this side of North Avenue heating the warm night even more, the Jackets just needed to hold their noses and adopt a slogan from the hated Bulldogs: “Finish the drill.”
The Jackets didn’t.
Permalink | Comments (103) | Categories: Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
