Yellow Jackets' Reggie Ball faces his nemesis

ATLANTA - Reggie Ball breezed past reporters after practice, deciding this was not a week to talk. Maybe that's for the best.

After all, the Georgia Tech quarterback is about to face his nemesis.

Ball has a chance to finish his up-and-down career with a flourish, already leading the No. 16 Yellow Jackets (9-2) to a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. But one definitely gets the impression that he won't consider his career complete unless he beats Georgia on Saturday.

``I was eating lunch with him,'' receiver James Johnson said the other day, ``and he even seemed focused on that fish he was eating. He was counting the bones. Yeah, he's very focused. He really wants to leave Georgia Tech with a bang by beating Georgia.''

Georgia Tech hasn't beaten its state rival since 2000, though things might be different if not for excruciating mistakes by Ball the last two years.

As a sophomore, he lost track of the downs on a late drive into Georgia territory spiking the ball on third down to stop the clock and throwing away a fourth-down pass to avoid getting sacked, which allowed the Bulldogs to hang on for a 19-13 victory. Last year, Ball sealed Georgia Tech's 14-7 defeat by throwing an ill-advised pass toward the end zone that was picked off by Tim Jennings with just over a minute remaining.

After last week's easy victory over Duke, Ball shrugged off his previous performances against Georgia.

``Whatever happened in the past happened in the past,'' he said. ``We're just focusing on Saturday. We're going to do what we do and we're going to go 110 percent like we do every week. It is a big rivalry game. There's going to be a lot more emotion on game day. But not much is going to change around here.''

Coach Chan Gailey knows that Ball is probably feeling an extra sense of urgency this week, knowing this will be his last shot at the Bulldogs. But Gailey doesn't believe his quarterback is worried about how he'll be remembered without a victory over Georgia on his resume.

``He is extremely competitive,'' Gailey said. ``I don't think he's thinking about his legacy. I'm not sure a 21-year-old gives a lot of thought to things like legacy. Your legacy comes 15 or 20 years down the road. These guys just want to win now.''

Seemingly stung by the criticism he received over his first three years and maybe looking to temper some of his brash comments Ball made himself scarce around the media this season.

After meeting with reporters at the start of fall practice, he didn't talk again until after the season-opening loss to Notre Dame. He has done interviews after every game, but never attended the team's weekly news conference. He's done sporadic interviews after practices, but put himself back in the no-comment mode for this game.

Ball's statistics are as temperamental as the player himself. He's completed only 47.4 percent of his passes on pace for the worst showing of his career but he's put up a stellar touchdown-to-interception ratio (20-10). He's only the eighth-rated quarterback in the ACC, but his running ability (he's second on the team with 318 yards rushing) make him a dual threat and help to cut down on drive-killing sacks.

Plus, Ball's toughness and durability (he's missed only one game in his career, and that after being hospitalized with meningitis) endear him to teammates who marvel at how this 5-foot-11, 195-pound senior takes so many big shots and hops right back up, usually jawing at the guy who delivered the hit.

``On plays when a lot of people would down it, he'll run right over a defensive back and let the defensive back know about it,'' defensive tackle Joe Anoai said. ``He kind of has that swagger like a defensive player. He's not scared to bring it to you. He plays the game a lot like we do: wide open.''

Running back Tashard Choice said Ball is the undisputed leader of the offense, demanding a lot of himself and his teammates.

``He'll do anything to make the players around him better,'' Choice said. ``He'll run a defensive back over. He'll run a linebacker over. That kind of stuff gets you fired up, gets the whole team fired up. But if you jump offside, he'll get in your face and let you know it's not acceptable.''

Ball's erratic play he can be spectacular one week, downright awful the next made him a convenient target for three years on a team that performed similarly. But the Yellow Jackets and their quarterback have been much more consistent this season, locking up the Coastal Division championship with two games left in the regular season. They will meet the Atlantic Division winner on Dec. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla., for a spot in the Orange Bowl.

But first things first. Ball has one last chance to beat Georgia, one last chance to erase a blemish that would stick with him for the rest of his life.

``I'm pretty sure that Reggie, deep down in his heart, believes he has something to prove this week,'' Johnson said. ``It's really like all the other weeks. He's been proving people wrong all year.''

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)