An overdose of adrenaline in Thursday's 37-26 loss to Virginia Tech may have cost Georgia Tech a chance at playing for the ACC championship .
Fresh off a touchdown and leading Virginia Tech 26-21, Yellow Jackets outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu appeared to hit Hokies quarterback Logan Thomas in the back of the head during a sack on a third-and-19 play at the 17-yard line in the third quarter.
Attaochu was penalized for unnecessary roughness, but not ejected. However, the infraction gave the Hokies an automatic first down and cost the Yellow Jackets a chance at a short field and an opportunity to increase their lead. The Hokies made them pay by scoring to take a 27-26 lead.
"It was an overdose of adrenaline," Attaochu said. "There's no excuse for it."
Attaochu said he was trying to hack the ball away from Thomas as he and several other defenders attempted to wrestle him to the ground. It was something that he said the players work on during practice.
Thomas, who is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 254 pounds -- bigger than Attaochu -- said it felt like a club over his shoulders.
"It kind of caught me by surprise," he said.
Both Johnson and Attaochu said they thought the referees waited too long to blow the whistle and stop the play.
"I was mad he wouldn't go down," Attaochu said.
Johnson said after the game that he didn't see the play and hadn't had a chance to talk to Attaochu.
When play resumed, running back David Wilson took advantage with two long runs, including one in which he appeared to be stopped in the backfield only to break the tackle and run all the way back across the field. Thomas capped the drive by bulling through Georgia Tech's defense for a 12-yard touchdown run on a keeper. The two-point conversion failed, leaving the Yellow Jackets trailing 27-26 with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
"I thought we had some really good momentum and then we got the big penalty that I think really changed the game," Johnson said.
Attaochu's mistake wasn't the only one made during the game.
The Yellow Jackets couldn't stop Thomas, who rushed for 70 yards, or Wilson, who rushed for a career-high 175 yards on a 7.6 yards-per-carry average. The Hokies torched the Yellow Jackets secondary, with Thomas completing seven passes for 209 yards, a Georgia Tech-like 29.9 per-catch average. Virginia Tech also converted 10 of its 16 third downs, including several long conversions. Johnson said the team failed too frequently to get enough pressure on Thomas in those situations.
"I should have put more pressure on the quarterback," Attaochu said. "It's something I hold myself accountable for."
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