Tech falls short

With the ESPN GameDay crew on campus and Tech starting the season under the lights on primetime television, expectations were high as the Jackets battled No. 2 Notre Dame.

Tech jumped out to an early 10-0 lead against the Fighting Irish, but they were unable to close out their upset bid, losing in a 14-10 heartbreaker.

"I saw both guys in bounds, and I saw a guy going to make a tackle. If you call helmet-to-helmet every time two helmets hit, you'll call it every time. It's the game of football," said Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey when asked about his view of Tech linebacker Phillip Wheeler's tackle of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn in the third quarter of Tech's 14-10 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday.

It appeared that Wheeler had ended a Notre Dame drive by stopping Quinn at the Tech 15, seven yards short of a first down.

However, a personal foul penalty called by the referee for a helmet-to-helmet hit gave the Irish a first down. Tech fans littered the field with debris in protest.

Two plays later, Notre Dame running back Darius Walker, a Buford, Ga. native, dove into the end zone to score the only points of the second half, giving the No. 2 Fighting Irish a 14-10 lead that they would not relinquish. Walker finished the game with 22 carries for 99 yards.

The game was a tale of two halves for Tech. The team dominated the first half from the opening whistle to the waning seconds.

Tech running back Tashard Choice came out strong, rushing seven times for 43 yards in the first quarter alone. He finished the contest with 14 carries for 54 yards.

Tech's All-American wide receiver Calvin Johnson also got off to a fast start. As the first quarter neared its end, Johnson took a swing pass on the right side of the field and darted down the sideline for a 29-yard gain.

On the next play, Tech quarterback Reggie Ball lofted a pass to Johnson into the end zone for a touchdown, putting Tech ahead 7-0 with 35 seconds remaining in the opening period. Johnson added a 45-yard catch in the second quarter that set up a 30-yard Travis Bell field goal with 4:45 to go in the half, increasing Tech's lead to 10-0.

While Tech's offense was putting points on the scoreboard, the defense kept highly touted Notre Dame offense, led by pre-season Heisman frontrunner Quinn, scoreless for most of the first half with an array of blitzes.

"A couple of those plays in the first half [Quinn] was under duress. It's a little different when you're under duress and when you have time to step and throw," said Notre Dame Head Coach Charlie Weis.

However, as halftime neared, Quinn was able to drive the offense down the field using his scrambling ability. He converted a 3rd and 10 with a 16-yard run to keep Notre Dame's drive alive.

Then, with 16 seconds left and no time outs remaining, Quinn dashed up the middle and dove into the end zone to put Notre Dame on the board and close the Tech lead to 10-7 going into the half.

"It was a run-pass check with me. If [Tech's] bringing the house, [Quinn]'s going to throw a pass. I said, `don't make me look stupid, but if you get the look, you run the ball.' He got the look that we were counting on, so he went with the play and got in," Weis said.

The touchdown not only closed the Tech lead right before halftime, but also gave Notre Dame a great deal of momentum going into halftime.

"At the end of the first half, [the Notre Dame touchdown] took a lot out of us. We held them without scoring for that long, and it kind of hurt us," Wheeler said.

After halftime, Tech's offense had a difficult time getting on track. The Jackets did not convert any of their four third-down opportunities and gained only 71 yards in the second half. Johnson, who finished the game with seven catches for 111 yards, only recorded two catches for a total of 16 yards in the second half of the game.

Equally troubling for Tech was the fact that with Johnson constantly double-covered, no other receiver was able to step up.

For the game, receivers other than Johnson only caught five passes for 29 yards, with only seven of those yards coming in the second half.

Ball, who finished the game 12-for-24 passing for 140 yards, actually gained more yards rushing than passing in the second half; he finished as Tech's top rusher with 11 carries for 55 yards.

"I'm going to have to watch the film to get a real feel for [Reggie's play], but he did some good things in the ballgame. He ran the ball well; he made some very good decisions, some good throws at times. Protection broke down a couple of times when we had some critical downs, and that hurt us," Gailey said.

While Tech was struggling to get into gear, Notre Dame's offense finally started to click.

Quinn completed eight of 11 passes in the second half for 142 yards; he finished the game 23-for-38, amassing 246 yards through the air.

Quinn's most popular targets on the night were Rhema McKnight, who had eight catches for 108 yards and Jeff Samardzija, who caught six passes for 74 yards.

In the fourth quarter, Quinn stepped up to keep Tech's offense off the field, completing a critical third down pass to McKnight for 19 yards. Later in the drive, Quinn dove forward to convert a first down that allowed the Fighting Irish to run out the clock.

"[On fourth down,] we had a situation where our offensive line had control the game, and we only had half a yard to go. I wanted the players to know you have confidence in them to get a half a yard when the game is on the line," Weis said.

Although many college football analysts tried to pass the Tech loss off as a moral victory, the attitude was not mirrored by Tech's players.

"I'll never be proud to lose. A loss is a loss. I don't care if it's number one or two or three. Rankings don't mean anything. I'm not proud to lose," Ball said.

Tech will look to rebound tomorrow against the Samford Bulldogs. The game will be an untelevised contest that is scheduled to kick off at 3:30 p.m.