Reggie Ball tired of the counting joke

[LINK] Brian Murphy, Macon Telegraph

Reggie Ball threw 166 incomplete passes last season. Only one is still discussed today.

Only one is the punchline on countless jokes, mostly from Georgia fans all eager to poke fun at the misfortune of the Georgia Tech quarterback.

Hey, Reggie can you count to four?

Ball's famous -- or infamous, depending on your side in the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry -- incomplete pass, a ball thrown out of bounds to avoid a sack on fourth down with 28 seconds remaining in a 19-13 game, isn't easily forgotten.

"It's just a simple mistake. I'm pretty sure it won't happen to me again. Hopefully, it won't happen to me again," Ball said. "I'm a lot more aware of the situation and what's going on. It's just unfortunate that it happened at the end of the game."

Tech fans are still scratching their heads. Aiming for their first victory over the hated Bulldogs since 2001, the Yellow Jackets had first-and-10 from the Georgia 21 after Ball hooked up with Levon Thomas for 38 yards.

Then, it all came apart. A screen pass earned nothing. On second down, Ball was sacked for an 11-yard loss. That's when Ball and offensive coordinator Patrick Nix lost track of the downs. Ball spiked the football on third down, as Nix instructed him to from the sidelines, leaving fourth-and-21 from the Georgia 32. On fourth down, Ball, flushed out of the pocket, threw the ball away.

"We never talked about it. Nope. Because we all knew the mistake, we all knew what happened. And there's no sense beating a dead horse," Nix said. "Live, learn and go on. There's no sense in hanging with it too long."

But it's not that easy to forget, given the circumstances. It's not easy to forget when you're the butt of every joke.

"It's hung with every one of us for about 350-some days now. If it doesn't, something's wrong with you. It will hang with me for most of my life," Nix said. "You live and learn from your mistakes."

Ball, now a junior, has made plenty during his first two seasons as a starter. But this season, despite unimpressive statistics, Ball has learned from those past mistakes.

He's cut down his interceptions from 18 last season to eight this year. He's been sacked just five times, often throwing the ball away rather than take a drive-killing loss. Sure his 47.7 completion percentage is awfully low, but 100.28 passing efficiency mark is ninth in the ACC, but Tech is 7-3.

"What he brings to our football team and what's he's brought to the success of our team this year won't be found on any statistical sheet. The intangibles of leadership, decision making, understanding how the game is played, field position, and when to throw certain passes, those are the kind of things where he has come so far," Tech head coach Chan Gailey said.

In last week's upset of Miami, Ball completed 11 of 30 passes, a season-low 36.7 percent, for a paltry 159 yards. But he didn't thrown an interception (one was called back because of a penalty) and was sacked just once. He also rushed for a 16-yard touchdown, the game winner, and efficiently controlled the clock at the end of the game. He also completed some big passes on third down.

"Who wouldn't like to be 25-of-30 in a ballgame, but that's not the way it was working. We did play the No. 1 defense in the nation and they've got some pretty good players. Statistically, it wasn't pretty, but he's finding ways to lead his team to victory, and that's what you have to do," Gailey said.

Ball has never found a way to lead his team to victory against the Bulldogs. As a freshman, a jacked-up Ball, who took on everyone from the Georgia safeties to a trainer on the sidelines, left the game with a concussion. Last year, in miserable wet conditions, Ball and Damarius Bilbo rotated at quarterback before Ball's fourth-down miscue.

Ball, in more control of his fiery emotions than at any point in his career, vowed to keep his head in Saturday's renewal of the state's fiercest rivalry.

"I'm going to stay cool no matter what. It's going to take something very, very extravagant to get me to start showing emotion," Ball said.