UNC Week, Volume 4 (Can't We All Get Along edition) ...

OK, so unless Paul Johnson comes back this afternoon and calls Frank Beamer a sissy, I think this will (I mean it this time) be my final post about chopgate.

Yesterday would’ve been the last word on the subject, but how could Beamer NOT respond after Johnson basically said, “Stop whining; I crushed you”???

So the Hokies’ Big Whistle began his press conference today by saying that he’d gotten on the phone with the Big Jacket and the two had a “good” conversation about this whole mess.

I’ll let Frank take it from here. And after this, as Beamer said, that’s all of that ...

HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER

OPENING REMARKS ABOUT THE CHOP/CRACKBACK BLOCKING SAGA WITH GEORGIA TECH: “I’m going to take about three minutes here and talk about the Georgia Tech situation and then we’re going to move on. I just got off the phone with Paul Johnson. I told Paul that I said the wrong statement yesterday in saying the last touchdown was a low block on our 17 (free safety Kam Chancellor). It was a similar play, but it wasn’t the last touchdown. It was a play where Nesbitt went out of bounds on about the 2 (a 31-yard run in the third quarter that put the ball at the 4 and set up Georgia Tech’s second touchdown). I apologized for that. I don’t like giving out wrong information. It shouldn’t have happened. And I apologize for that.”

ON THE ACC’S OFFICIALS: “I will say a couple things. I never felt better about officiating than the conference that we are in. Doug Rhoads, the guy that heads this thing up, I think he works hard at it. I think our officials work hard at it. I’m very, very pleased with the officiating in the ACC. I think they’re doing a great job and I think they’re getting better all the time. I think it’s improving all the time.”

ON THE WHOLE CONTROVERSY NOT BEING ABOUT A PARTICULAR OPPONENT OR A WIN OR LOSS: “It’s not about Georgia Tech. It’s about some things that happened within this game that I think are just wrong in general. I think they’re dangerous. And that’s the only thing I’m saying. And I want to give Georgia Tech credit. I tell you, they played a great football game. They played hard. They played tough. They played well. They’re well-coached. I don’t want anything to take away from their win, because they played well and they deserved to win. But my points are – and I don’t just sit around and complain about something – I want to get one thing changed. And I feel like it needs to be changed for the good of the game.”

ON WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE FIXED: “Number one, when you’ve got a guy coming out of the backfield, coming back around, blocking toward the line of scrimmage, the rule’s already there (referencing crackback blocks). That just needs to be called because it’s a dangerous play. And generally speaking, let me say this: I’m all for chopping, cutting. I think that’s part of football. If I can see you and you’re cutting me, there’s no problem with that. I think the problem comes when I can’t see you and you’re cutting me. That’s where the problem is. When I’m looking in here and getting cut from the side, to me that’s a dangerous play. And you’re putting people’s, well, you’re putting them in danger.”

ON WHAT RULE HE WANTS TO SEE ACTUALLY CHANGED, THOUGH: “The other one – and this is the one I want to work on – is on the offensive line, where you’ve got a guy engaged or the guy’s braced up, and then you get cut from behind, on a knee. I think it’s dangerous. There was a rule there, engagement, if a guy was engaged. Well, they took that word out. And what I’m going do is put this out there, and if enough coaches agree with me, then I think we’ll get the thing changed. And if people don’t agree with me, we’ll keep playing the way we’re playing. But I think it’s a dangerous part of football. When this happens, this lead guy (offensive lineman) is trying to get up to the next level. But when you get braced in there, you get a shoulder in there, or you get this guy (defensive lineman) fighting that block, and then you get another guy (second offensive lineman) coming, you put a (defensive) guy in a dangerous situation. And I think generally speaking, the only way that you solve it is if a (defender) is engaged or if he’s involved with a guy at all in any way, then you can’t chop him. You’ve got to block him higher. Then I think that takes care of our problem.”

ON SAFETY BEING HIS TOP CONCERN: “That’s the only reason this is coming around, is I want to do what I think is right for the game. And this is what’s right for the game. It’s not sour grapes. It’s not that Georgia Tech beat us. It’s not that. It’s just some situations came up that I think put guys in dangerous situations. So that’s all of that.”

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