Should We Talk About the Officiating of the Georgia Tech Football Game?

Because I am a graduate of the Institute, the Georgia Tech football game on November 29, 2024 was brutal and excruciating. If you are a true fan then you know what it's like for your team to lose a monster-level-intensity type of game. This particular game last Friday will be considered a classic for the ages, and it's absolutely terrible.

The Tech football team is good, just not yet good enough to close out a game against the other big football school in the state. It is true that Georgia Tech has come so far over the last two and a half years. They are headed in a great direction. But they still lost the game last Friday.

I appreciate more than ever that in the post game moments Brent Key, Haynes King, and Kyle Efford owned their performances. During the game they gave everything they had to give; they left it all on the field. After the game they acknowledged how tough it was to realize, to know and to honestly see, that they came up short. They gave their all and their all did not get the job done.

One notable thing Coach Key and Quarterback Haynes King did not do was blame anyone else. They made no excuses. They especially made no mention of bad officiating when explaining the loss.

Should we talk about the officiating as a reason Tech lost? Were there some questionable calls (or no-calls) that influenced the game in a meaningful way? Was Georgia Tech robbed of what they deserved?

There are at least three major news outlets that published articles questioning the officiating in this game (click the names to read the articles).

USA Today

Sports Illustrated

ESPN (scroll to the section titled Clean Old-Fashioned Hate)

Why would these sports writers take this critical approach? Why do I take comfort and consolation in knowing that someone else thought my team was possibly cheated? Could it be that I'm looking for a way out of having to deal with the reality and truth that my team just wasn't good enough for this big moment?

I confess - I want to gripe, complain, and mope about the bad calls. It feels natural to do so even though I know griping about the officials is the modern day core trait of a sore loser. Being a sore loser is bad enough, but there's something worse. When I blame the officials for Georgia Tech's loss, I undermine the inspiration that came from watching the Tech athletes lay it all on the line. To question the officials is to diminish and dishonor the sacrifice, commitment, and investment of the athletes and coaches on both teams. 

Unfortunately we are swimming in a culture that normalizes the practice of avoiding our faults. We shy away from loss. We try to hide when self-induced consequences are hard. We want to believe in and blame a rigged system because that would lessen the burden of any fault of our own. 

Look at the news outside of sports and you see similar stories. A President pardons a guilty relative. A President continuously denies losing an election and then skips the inauguration of the winner. These recent Presidents, one a Republican and one a Democrat, have taken the growth-stunting pathway of denying truth and avoiding consequences. 

This might be a serious problem for you and me as well. Denying hard truths about our lives will prohibit healthy growth, diminishing and dishonoring each and every one of us. 

Is there a hopeful solution? Yes. 

I suggest we start small. Can we agree to calling a cease fire on the game officials from last Friday? Please, let's stop blaming the refs for Georgia Tech's loss. Just let it be. Trust that the pain of falling short will be a catalyst for hard work and growth in the Georgia Tech football program. 

On a personal level, you know, since I don't actually play on or have any affiliation with the Tech football team, there is nothing for me to lose by admitting the team lost on its own accord. It's just a good practice to put a stop to any habits of complaining about officiating in sports. 

After that I say we move on to more significant areas of life. What things do you and I deny about our lives because it would be too painful to admit and accept? Who can help a person even process a question like that? 

I am so thankful for my church and my community group at church. I am grateful for Christian friends and family who remind me of the grace and truth Jesus provides as we surrender our lives to Him - even the icky parts of our lives. There might very well be something to lose when we own our personal failures and surrender those failures to Jesus. But there's hope. If nurtured in a healthy way with the good news of the gospel, a loss can be the very beginning of strong growth, flourishing character, and solid maturity.