Chop blocks have Hokies, Yellow Jackets hopping mad

BLACKSBURG

The Atlantic Coast Conference's head of football officials has confirmed what Virginia Tech's coaches said over the past two days: Georgia Tech should have been penalized for multiple illegal blocks in its 28-23 win over the Hokies on Oct. 17.

Secondary coach Torrian Gray claimed on Sunday that among the 11 plays Virginia Tech sent to the ACC for review from that game, the league agreed there were four illegal blocks on free safety Kam Chancellor alone. Head coach Frank Beamer said on Monday morning "there were more."

Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson, a man with a reputation for bristling at criticism, fired back after his team's practice Monday.

"They got out-schemed. So, it's illegal to out-scheme them, I guess," he said. "We blocked them the same way we blocked them a year ago and they weren't complaining when they won."

Doug Rhoads, who oversees the league's officials, said the Hokies coaches shouldn't have disclosed the conference's admission of mistakes and he wouldn't specify the number of missed calls.

"I would only say that Virginia Tech, just as every team on that weekend, submitted plays for my review," Rhoads said. "Out of those plays, there are a few the officials missed, a few that were the right call and a few that were judgment calls somewhere in the middle. "

Johnson said he also submitted about a dozen plays to the ACC that he thought should have been called holding on the Hokies.

"It's part of the game," he said. "Nobody from the conference called and told us that we did anything illegal."

While it's unclear which plays Virginia Tech is upset about, there are at least two obvious contenders. Georgia Tech's second touchdown was set up by a 31-yard run by quarterback Josh Nesbitt - a play sprung by a block on Chancellor.

The Hokies' senior was running toward Nesbitt when he was blocked at the knees by a receiver coming from the outside. Chancellor never saw him and crumpled when hit. That would appear to be the definition of an illegal crackback block, which is punished by a 15-yard penalty.

"They're coming from out of my vision then cracking down on me or chopping me from the side or from behind," Chancellor said. "I'm telling the referee what he's doing and he's not calling nothing. That's when it got frustrating to me."

Another questionable block occurred in the final two minutes of the first quarter, when defensive tackle John Graves was tied up with the Jackets' left guard - hitting him high - and the left tackle took out his legs.

That would seem to be the definition of an illegal chop block. The play ended with Graves' legs twisted and tangled under the offensive tackle, resulting in an ankle injury that kept him sidelined for the final three quarters.

"When it's dangerous plays, we need to get that out of college football," Beamer said. "That's the ones that worry you, plays that could hurt a player."

Rhoads said officials from the game would not be suspended but the missed calls will be reflected in each official's season rating. The ACC grades its officials after each game and evaluates them at the end of the year. A crew from the SEC recently was suspended for making key mistakes.

"I don't want to leave any implication that when you miss serious plays that involve player safety there aren't repercussions, because there are," Rhoads said. "Every guy is going to make mistakes. Receivers drop balls, coaches make bad calls, officials make mistakes. But if there's a pattern, we use the rating system to determine if each official gets a postseason game or if he's even retained."

Johnson thinks this is all much ado about nothing. He said he hears complaints every week about the blocking in his option offense. His scheme relies heavily on taking out defenders' legs - which is legal in certain circumstances.

He believes the criticism is mostly sour grapes, especially in the Hokies' case.

"It's two weeks ago," Johnson said. "Why are they worried about it now?"