Penalties, Fumbles and Picks-- Oh My!

Football coaches down through the ages have told us that to win a football game, you first have to not lose it. Turnovers and penalties together make a good recipe for losing. No less an authority than General Robert Neyland said as much in his hallowed " seven maxims of football". Neyland's first listed maxim states " the team that makes the fewest mistakes will win the game". Simple enough. And in football, the most glaring mistakes are penalties ( costing yardage and field position) and turnovers ( costing possessions). Too, there are occasions when penalties become de facto turnovers. Once such penalty occurred last Saturday when Tech's defensive lineman Jordan van den Berg was called for roughing the kicker, giving Gardner- Webb a fresh possession on a 4th down.

Given plays of that sort, it's easy to see why Neyland and many other great coaches abhor these mistakes. And lest we forget, Neyland was the coach and mentor of the sainted Bobby Dodd, who is generally regarded as Georgia Tech's most accomplished football coach of all -time. Dodd famously emphasized playing smart, and that meant minimizing penalties and turnovers.

In their first two games this year, the Yellow Jackets have been called for 20 penalties , accounting for 159 yards. Tech got eight flags vs. Colorado and then 12 more against Gardner -Webb. The 94 yards in penalties vs Gardner-Webb represented about 17% of Tech's total production. Ouch.

Beyond the scourge of penalties, John Heisman, Tech head coach 1904-1919, had this famous quote regarding the anathema of turnovers.

Said Heisman," Better to have died as a small boy than to fumble the football."

A bit extreme perhaps , but it was noted following Tech's opening win against Colorado in which the Jackets prevailed despite a -3 turnover ratio that chances of winning a game of that sort are only 11%, all else equal.

And as noted, Tech did only slightly better in the Gardner- Webb game, yielding two turnovers while gaining one. And they were spared a third when Bailey Stockton was able to recover his own fumble on a punt return.

Georgia Tech has played two and won two. You can't do any better than 2-0 after two games. And yet...

And yet, both wins had significant rough edges to them, the kind that can lead to trouble down the way.

Down the way starts this Saturday when Clemson visits Atlanta with a noon kickoff.

Tbe Tigers are 1-1, having bested Troy after a week one loss to a strong LSU team. Dabo and company will arrive in a foul mood, determined to improve their sputtering offense to get their ACC schedule on the right foot.

Georgia Tech leads the series all- time by a 50-36-2 count but the Tigers have won the last nine in a row.

And just for grins, Las Vegas is in Clemson's corner, to the tune of 6.5 points favorite in this week's game.

Brent Key aims to reset thst streak and return things to the way they ought to be. Key and teammates went 4-0 vs Clemson during his time on.the Flats as a player from 1997- 2000.

To have a good chance to win, Tech has to clean things up. Because along with those two wins are those numbers that aren't so pretty. Namely, five turnovers and 20 penalties total after only two games.

Brent Key himself had a quick answer when asked Tuesday about the 12 penalties his team incurred against Gardner- Webb last Saturday.

Said Tech's head coach, "Unacceptable ".

Simple. Concise.

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports