Anatomy of a bad coaching move: Why did Tony Elliott have the punt-block team in?

The penalty on UVA wideout Lavel Davis for leaping that gave Georgia Tech a first down with 3:49 to go – odds are, you didn’t know that rule before you saw it called last night – could have very well cost Virginia the game.

It didn’t, and so, hoo-ray, things worked out, but that doesn’t mitigate the colossally dumb move by first-year UVA head coach Tony Elliott to go for the kill there.

The situation: Daniel Sparks, who had a solid night, dropped a nice pitching wedge at the Georgia Tech 7 with 5:18 to go, and the ‘Hoos up, 16-9.

The defense, as it had all night, rose to the occasion, sacking backup QB Zach Gibson on third-and-5, forcing the Yellow Jackets to punt from their own end zone.

Elliott had special-teams coach Keith Gaither send in the punt-block team, obviously going for the kill.

Reminder: he’s up seven here.

Didn’t need to go for the kill.

Davis, a 6’7” wideout, hadn’t been in on the punt-block unit all season, but he’s there for an obvious reason: that thing about him being 6’7”.

He had one job, to try to block the kick – with the caveats being, don’t jump offside, and don’t use the wedge blockers to try to get extra height, because doing that would lead to a leaping penalty, which is 15 yards and an automatic first down.

Davis didn’t jump offside, so, check.

He tried to block the kick, but Tech punter David Shanahan got the ball out quickly, and Davis was nowhere near the ball when it got punched out.

Unfortunately for the ‘Hoos, Davis did run into the wedge before he leaped up, which led to a flag.

The punt from Shanahan was downed at the Georgia Tech 46, so, plus territory for the Cavaliers.

Tech coach Brent Key still had all three of his timeouts, so it’s not as if the UVA offense could just bleed the clock to zero without doing something positive, but at the least, three runs could eat up a timeout or two, and a minute of clock, unless Key burned through all three; a first down would probably take care of what was left in terms of timeouts and a couple of minutes of clock; and two first downs ends it.

Best-case with a punt block is recovery for a TD or right at the doorstep of the goal line.

A block could also go out of the end zone for a safety, and Georgia Tech would still have its timeouts, but would now be down two scores.

Worst-case is what ended up happening.

Georgia Tech, with the penalty, and the first down, got new life, and Gibson completed a couple of passes to Malachi Carter and another to Nate McCollum to get the Yellow Jackets a first down at midfield, and it took another sack of Gibson on a third-and-2 at the UVA 43 and then a drop by Carter on a nicely-thrown ball on fourth-and-long to end the threat.

Virginia got the ball back with 1:46 left, ran the ball three times, bled Georgia Tech’s timeouts, and a last-ditch drive by the Yellow Jackets didn’t get past the Tech 36.

That last sequence is what should have happened without the drama in between, and that drama is entirely the consequence of bad decision-making and bad coaching.

The bad decision-making is: you’re up seven, have your opponent punting out of its end zone, the pressure is already on them, you don’t need to ask your kids to play hero ball, just fair-catch the punt and play football from there.

Again, you’re up seven (!).

The bad coaching: it’s clear that Davis, like you and me, didn’t know about the leaping rule, and yet he’s in the game, first punt-block snap of the season, third time on the punt team in his career, and he’s in there for one reason, and it wasn’t to set up the return.

The kid was put in a position to either make a hero play or make a big mistake, and this one being his first live rep in that role, he made the big mistake.

Virginia won the game, so, the saying is, all’s well that ends well.

But what happened here shouldn’t sit too well.