Another game where the reffing comes into serious question
PROTECTIVE STADIUM — It felt like a blowout coming from both Vanderbilt and the Big 10 referees as Georgia Tech fell to the Commodores 35-27 in the Birmingham Bowl. Tech finishes 2024 with a 7-6 record, their second consecutive 7-6 season and first pair of winning seasons since 2013-2014. The last three winning seasons for Tech have all been 7-6 records (2018, 2023, 2024).
Vanderbilt Quarterback Diego Pavia was a problem for Tech, accountable for five touchdowns (2 rushing, 3 passing) while throwing for 160 yards and rushing for 84, Vandy’s leading rusher. On Tech’s end, Haynes King threw for 204 touchdowns, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Jamal Haynes ran for 136 yards averaging eight yards a carry.
What was a tight game in the first half and in the front few minutes of third quarter eventually devolved for Tech when bad ref call after bad ref call sent Tech’s sideline and the thousands of Tech fans who made the trip into a frenzy. What should’ve been Tech ball near midfield after a kick catch interference instead turned into no flag and Tech’s ball at the two yard line down only a point. Vanderbilt was able to take advantage of the refereeing mistakes in their favor and Tech’s disjointed composure to run away with the game for the win.
When I say that missed kick catch interference was one of the worst missed calls I’ve ever seen In watching football my whole life, I do not joke. What the refs deemed A Tech blocker pushed the Vandy defender into Bailee Stockton was absolute horses—-.
Ball bounces off Vandy player on the punt fiasco. Should have been GT ball at ~20 instead of 2. Complete turning point of the game (GT punt, Vandy TD, GT INT, Vandy TD, etc).
Review official completely asleep at the wheel@Kelly_Quinlan @FTRSBlog @MrChadBishop @jacksoncaudell pic.twitter.com/1yDUE2MnaU
— Phil Hoffman (@Dolla_Bill_Phil) December 28, 2024
It’s at best a gentle pat on the back. It flipped the game on its head too far for Tech to overcome with the compounding turnovers.
Defensively, Tech was having a hard time defend Pavia aside from the first couple possessions in the second half. Pavia regularly exploited Zachary Tobe on corner routes and Tech’s run defense suffered with the absence of Kyle Efford, out due to postseason surgery.
Both this game and the Georgia game were great in showing the need next year if Tech is going to make another leap: defensive depth. Injuries stacked and made life easy for Carson Beck, and now Diego Pavia.
How It Happened
1Q
Things started slowly with punts going both ways until Vanderbilt’s second drive, defined by multiple deep passes targeted at Zachary Tobe who got burned twice en route to an easy Cole Spence seven yard TD catch from Diego Pavia to make it 7-0 Commodores.
Tech’s third drive was their first to reach Vandy territory, utilizing a quick designed pass to Hawes and a couple Jamal Haynes chunk runs to get there.
2Q
Facing a 4th & 2, Rutherford just barely took a screen pass to the line to gain before Haynes and Chad Alexander combined for runs to get another first down after a holding call. Alexander then fumbled on the next play, but the ball popped right up to Ethan Mackenny for a three yard gain. Tech kept it moving until King his Rylan Goede from two yards out for his first touchdown of the season to tie it at 7-7.
Vandy’s next drive was kept alive with multiple third down conversions before a deep incomplete pass had a facemask called on Warren Burrell despite the refs missing that both Burrell and the receiver had grabbed face masks. Vandy then got to 4th & 1 from the two yard line where Pavia ran it in to make it 14-7 just under the two minute warning.
Tech with 1:55 to score got their initial first down on a Chase Lane reception to stop the clock. Tech ran three plays in a row without stopping the clock and subbing that milked the clock to under a minute but got a first down to midfield. Vandy then got called for three consecutive penalties (holding, unsportsmanlike conduct, offside) that added up to 30 free yards for Tech. King got sacked on a critical play with only one timeout left and missed a fade route, leaving Birr to hit a 43 yard field goal to make it 14-10 Vandy going into half.
3Q
The second half started in the right direction for Tech with Omar Daniels and Zeek Biggers afdoing a great job pressuring Pavia on Vandy’s initial second half drive, forcing a punt. Offensively, Rutherford and Boyd had long first down receptions to get into field goal territory where Birr hit a 33 yarder to shrink Vandy’s lead to only 14-13. Vandy again punted on their next drive…and that’s where the game turned to utter chaos.
On the punt, a blatant kick catch interference where Bailee Stockton was tackled got taken away after initially being flagged. Plus, Zachary Tobe downed the ball at the two yard line on the play instead of letting the ball go in the endzone, resulting in Tech ball at the two instead of way futher ahead where it should’ve been. Tech went three and out.
Vandy got bailed on a Tatum defensive pass interference call that again was atrocious. Key had gotten so worked up at this point that he got called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Then Ahmari Harvey was called for holding, and on the next play started fighting with the Vandy receiver he covered, plus Tobe came off the sideline to engage in the scuffle resulting in offsetting penalties. Eli Stowers scored a TD to put Vandy up 21-13 near the end of the quarter.
Needing a response, King threw an interception on the first play from scrimmage, giving Vandy prime field position.
4Q
Sinner Jr. easily scored, putting Vandy up 28-13 five seconds into the 4th. Tech got moving again with a long Jamal Haynes run and a Rutherford first down catch that looked good until…the ball got punched from behind him and resulted another turnover for Tech. Pavia ran and passed all over Tech, scoring with just under 10 minutes left and increasing the lead to 35-13, putting the game seemingly in garbage time.
Tech still got the ball moving with essentially no time with first downs from Isiah Canion and Stockton, then King scrambled for a first down that doubled with a Vandy blindside block for an even longer gain.
At this point, lightning was seen in the area and delayed the game for about an hour. We left the stadium. Tech did pull the game to 35-27 with a couple garbage time touchdowns. Aidan Birr cooked an onside kick out of bounds that Tech needed to maybe get a possession to tie the game.
Game on Paper
Being without Eric Singleton certainly hurt Tech’s ability to be more dynamic in this game, but in the end they still moved the ball well and had a path to victory that they gave away with turnovers. In explaining why we lost this game, attributing it to the turnovers first and then the effects of poor referring feels like the right priority order.
Ultimately, we knew this Tech season was going to be hard. The schedule sucked. 4.5 wins was the over/under. Tech got to five and then six with room to spare. They knocked off two top 10 teams and was a play away from beating a third. Analyze the games however you want, but getting to seven wins the way they did is mighty impressive. Tech ended up being one of the best characters in the story of 2024 college football season, and we finally will have a schedule next season that can maybe give a straighter path to an 8-win or better season. Brent Key’s team always makes us proud to be Yellow Jackets.