GAME OF FIELD GOALS
Wake Forest 9, Georgia Tech 6
Dec. 2, 2006
Jacksonville, Fla.
Reggie Ball followed the worst passing percentage game of his career with the second worst, and No. 16 Wake Forest defeated No. 23 Tech in the ACC Championship game.
Championship-game MVP Sam Swank kicked the game-winning 22-yard field goal with 2:55 left. Wake Forest set it up with one big play, Riley Skinner’s 45-yard pass to Willie Idlette.
Swank tied the score less than six minutes earlier on a 33-yard kick set up by Skinner’s 39-yard pass to John Tereshinski.
Both passes were longer than anything Tech completed all day.
When Tech threw deep, Wake Forest committed pass interference (three times), or the ball fell incomplete, or Wake Forest intercepted. Ball followed his 6-for-22, two-interception game at Georgia the week before with a 9-for-29, two-interception game against Wake Forest.
Tashard Choice ran 21 times for 100 yards, and Calvin Johnson caught eight passes for 117 yards. But the offense couldn’t convert those yards into points.
Tech had a first-and-goal from the 9 on its first possession, but settled for Travis Bell’s 21-yard field goal. Tech reached the Wake Forest 32 in the second quarter and threw an interception on fourth-and-8. It reached fourth-and-1 at the Wake Forest 13 in the third quarter and got nowhere on Ball’s quarterback sneak. It reached the Wake Forest 32 later in the third quarter and threw incomplete on fourth-and-8. And it reached the Wake Forest 17 in the fourth quarter and settled for a 34-yard field goal after Choice was stopped for no gain on third-and-1.
That’s five trips inside the Wake 33, and six points.
There hadn’t been a game without touchdowns between two ACC teams in a dozen years.
Wake played turnover-free, fumbling twice but recovering both. Skinner completed 14 of 25 passes for 201 yards. Tech’s defense held Wake to 91 yards rushing and four field-goal attempts. Swank made a 19-yarder in the first half after missing a 45-yarder.
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