Technical Tidbits 9/16

If there was in fact a clear turning point during Georgia Tech's near-loss to Georgia Southern on Saturday, you could easily argue that it was the unsportsmanlike penalty on Tech linebacker Paul Davis in the third quarter while Tech was still firmly in control. The specific cause of the foul was unclear on Saturday when it first happened, but it has since been determined that a clearly disgruntled Davis took a swing at a Georgia Southern player and, well, pulled a BJ Upton by completely whiffing on his intended target. Had the penalty not occurred, it would have been fourth-and-31 for GSU and a stop for the Tech defense -- GSU was still in their own territory when ghost-punch took place. I couldn't find the actual video for you, but please enjoy this artistic interpretation by Muhammad Ali instead:

Even after all of the fantastic wins by ACC schools over the course of the first three weeks (including a  fantastic 27-5 mark against out of conference opponents), the underdog conference is still missing one critical thing: consistency. This trend was highlighted most recently by Louisville's upset loss to a surprisingly scary UVA team and Virginia Tech's lol-worthy home loss to the ECU Pirates; both teams were ranked in the top 25, and now both are this week's co-laughingstocks of the nation. If the ACC ever hopes to be regarded as highly as the SEC is in terms of football, they will absolutely have to start delivering against lesser competition (and, you know, drop those pesky academic standards). Big wins mean nothing when they are followed up by embarrassing losses.

Week two of the NFL season came to a close last night, and it was an overall good week for Tech's alumni in the pros. Andrew Gardner made his first career start for the Eagles on Monday night against the Colts, doing a great job run-blocking for the explosive Chip Kelly-run offense and quarterback Nick Foles, who (hilariously) ran a few read option plays during the game. Jeremiah Attaochu did not see nearly as much success in his second game as he did in his first, finishing with just one tackle on the heels of his fantastic Chargers debut. He was the only rookie out of Tech to play a down this week.

The Sean Poole fake punt in last season's Music City Bowl couldn't possibly be topped, could it? The sheer atrocity that would ensure after the snap (see: Sean Poole tripped and faceplanted) couldn't be outdone, right? Wait, Arkansas State did what? Oh... That flat out deserves its own echelon of fail. I mean, it had two fails in one play -- the punter threw an interception AND that one player just kinda fell over and died. Man, he was either really tired or has been spending too much time with Josh Gordon...

What can the ACC do to improve its consistency going forward? What games are must-wins for the conference to hopefully gain some ground on the juggernaut SEC?

Go Jackets!