As he waited for Georgia Tech’s Saturday night game against Virginia, offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude spent some of Saturday afternoon watching the Illinois-Penn State game, which famously went to nine overtimes before the Illini won 20-18 in an upset of the No. 20 Nittany Lions.
Patenaude’s perspective on the marathon — which was decided by dueling two-point plays because the first two overtimes, conducted in the standard fashion, did not determine a winner — was different than the average fan’s. He saw it as a cautionary lesson.
“I was actually sitting there going, I don’t know if I have enough two-point plays,” Patenaude said Tuesday. “(Illinois and Penn State) started running the same plays again because you only have so many two-point plays that you practice, and then you’re going to have to get into your base offensive plays that you would kind of run from the 4- or 5-yard line.”
As a result, Patenaude said, “We actually wrote a few more of them out.”
Credit: ACC
As it turned out, the Jackets used two two-point plays, both variations of the “Philly Special” play used by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 52, and were hoping to use a third. The first, a pass from quarterback Jeff Sims to wide receiver Avery Boyd after running back Jordan Mason took a direct snap and flipped the ball to Sims on a reverse, was successful. The second, a pass from wide receiver PeJe Harris to Sims after he had slipped out into the end zone, was incomplete. The offense had worked on that play, Patenaude said, since the second or third day of the preseason.
“I think that’s what you continue to do, is you just keep building layers into your different things there,” he said.
As Tech tried for a touchdown on the final play of the game to close Virginia’s lead to 48-46, the Jackets would have needed a third two-point play to send the game to overtime.
“There have been years where we have practiced the same two-point plays every week and never run them,” Patenaude said. “And then sometimes, you’re going to be in a situation where you run three in a game. We just have a catalogue of those plays, and we just keep running them over and over and over again.”
Daily Jackets: The AJC presents a daily look at one news item about Georgia Tech athletics to start your morning.
About the Author
