Tech fumbles against UGA

For the fifth consecutive season, the Jackets lost to arch rival Georgia, this time 15-12 between the hedges at Sanford Stadium. The game was a defensive battle to the end and was filled with odd twists and turns.

"We're taking the loss hard [and] bad. How would you expect us to be taking it?" said Head Coach Chan Gailey.

One such twist involved a 3rd-and-15 play at the Tech 25-yard line where quarterback Reggie Ball scrambled to his right and then turned back toward the middle of the field. He then fumbled the football after taking a blind side hit from Georgia defensive end Marcus Howard. The ball bounced forward two yards and fell into a pile of Jackets and Bulldogs alike. While the replay appeared to show that Nate McManus had covered the ball up, Georgia linebacker Tony Taylor ripped the ball out from underneath the pile and ran 29 yards untouched to give the Bulldogs a 7-3 lead, their first of the evening.

"Well, we dove on it. A couple of guys knocked [the ball] around. Nate [McManus] had it cradled under his knee. Then we saw on the replay that the Georgia guy took the ball out of the pile and scored," said center Kevin Tuminello.

The Jackets responded with a 24 yard field goal by Travis Bell, and a 10 yard touchdown run by Tashard Choice on the next drive that gave Tech the 12-7 lead in the fourth quarter.

On the next possession, Georgia drove down to score the go-ahead touchdown on a four-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Mohammed Massaquoi with 1:45 left to go in the game. The Bulldogs converted the two-point try to make the score 15-12.

On the ensuing drive, Tech was faced with a 4th-and-18, but were bailed out as Georgia defensive end Kelvin Moses was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty which continued the drive with 1:05 left in the game. The drive came to an abrupt halt on the next play as Reggie Ball threw his second interception on a pass intended for Calvin Johnson into double coverage at midfield.

In the last four meetings between the two teams, the Jackets have dominated the line of scrimmage in three of those games, only to lose. This year, Tech ran for 146 yards to Georgia's 84. Last year, Tech outran Georgia 172 to 68. In 2004, the Bulldogs out rushed the Jackets, but the two teams totaled just 58 rushing yards for the game.

Running back Tashard Choice was the lone bright spot for the Jackets offense. Tech totaled 188 yards for the game and Choice accounted for 146 of them on the ground on just 23 carries, giving him an average of 6.3 yards per carry. It was Choice's fifth consecutive game with over 100 yards rushing, and his seventh in the last eight games.

"No, it just worked out [that way]. When you only have 57 plays, you cut down your plays and it cuts down on everything," Gailey said when asked if there was any change in the game plan by not handing the ball to Choice as much as in past weeks.

Ball had the worst night of his career, not only against Georgia, but against any opponent he has ever faced in his four years at Tech. For the game, he went 6-22 for 42 yards, threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.

"You never expect to go out and score 12 points. It sure wasn't in the game plan, but sometimes things don't go your way," Ball said.

The Tech defense held Georgia to just eight points for the game. Unfortunately for Tech, those eight points came on the final drive of the game, with the Jackets leading 12-7, and gave Georgia the winning score.

On special teams, Tech may have had their best performance of the year. Kicker Travis Bell hit both of his short field goals and one extra point for the game. Bell also replaced specialist Mohammed Yahiaoui on kickoffs and the Bulldogs never got much going in the return game. Punter Durant Brooks played well as he boomed five punts for an average of 44.6 yards per punt. Four of those punts were placed inside of the Georgia 20-yard line.

"I thought our special teams played excellent today overall. We let one kick return get out to about the mid 30's, but, other than that, they played very well," Gailey said.

If the Jackets have any hope of capturing the first outright ACC Championship since 1990, the team will need to rebound quickly from the loss. They will play Wake Forest tomorrow for the conference title.