The ACC confirmed today that Georgia Tech should have been called for illegal blocks on four plays during its 28-23 win over Virginia Tech on Oct. 17. The Hokies’ coaches submitted video of 11 plays they believed might have warranted penalties, and the conference told the staff it agreed with four of them.

It is unclear if Virginia Tech’s coaches thought illegal blocks occurred on the other seven plays, or if they believed another type of penalty happened. What is clear is the ACC’s stance that the officials working the game will not be suspended. The crew comprised referee Jeff Flanagan, umpire Jim Hyson, linesman Tracy Jones, line judge Todd LaPenta, back judge Virgil Valdez, field judge Jim Coman and side judge Angie Bartis.

The Southeastern Conference last week suspended a crew that was involved in two controversial calls. But in the case of Georgia Tech’s blocks, the ACC believes they are not serious enough to warrant suspension and will instead use them as a teaching tool, which the league does in almost every instance of officials’ errors, said Michael Kelly, the league’s associate commissioner for football operations and communications.

Kelly said the ACC prefers not to publicize officials’ mistakes unless they involve “a misapplication of a rule or an egregious error.” So far this season, the league has done this just once, after two deceptive substitution plays, one by each team, in a game between Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Virginia Tech followed routine procedure in reporting the 11 plays. Every week, every ACC coaching staff submits plays that it believes should have been penalties. The league tells each staff how many it agrees with.

“Typically, the team submission of plays is a matter of private communication between the conference and the coaching staff,” Kelly said. “There’s nothing abnormal about a coaching staff sending in double-digit plays and for us to ascertain that three or four of them should have been called. There’s nothing shocking about any of this to me, because it happens each and every week.”

Georgia Tech’s four blocks became public Sunday night when Hokies defensive backs coach Torrian Gray talked about them with reporters after practice. He said the conference agreed that four plays “should have been called illegal blocks by a guy coming from outside in and blocking below the waist. But it doesn’t help at the time.” Gray said all four plays involved illegal blocks on free safety Kam Chancellor.

Kelly declined to comment on the specifics of the four plays that the ACC agreed should have been penalties, so it is unclear which Virginia Tech player was being blocked or when the plays happened.

But two low blocks—one on Chancellor, one on defensive tackle John Graves—played important roles in the game. Neither was flagged.

On Georgia Tech’s first drive of the second half, Embry Peeples blocked Chancellor below the waist on his right side, freeing quarterback Josh Nesbitt for a 31-yard run that moved the Jackets to Virginia Tech’s 4-yard line and set up a touchdown that extended their lead to 14-3.

Chancellor said the game wasn’t frustrating “until they started doing a lot of illegal chopping, and I’m telling the referee what he’s doing and he’s not calling nothing. That’s when it got frustrating to me.”

Hokies head coach Frank Beamer confirmed the ACC’s ruling on the four plays this morning on his weekly media teleconference. “I think when it’s dangerous plays, we need to get that out of college football,” he said. “That’s the ones that worry you, plays that could hurt a player.”

Graves, a junior starter, appeared to re-injure his right ankle on a low block with 2:00 left in the first quarter. Georgia Tech’s left guard tied up Graves’ arms, while the left tackle dove low, awkwardly bending Graves’ right leg. He did not return to the game and was credited with playing just 14 snaps on defense.

When Graves met with us media mongrels on Sunday, we were unaware about the specific play on which he was injured. Asked whether the play was a low block, Graves said, “We looked at it on film, and it looked like it was one of those kind of deals.”

A Meadowbrook High graduate, Graves originally suffered a high right ankle sprain in the season’s third game, against Nebraska, and missed all but one special-teams snap in the next two games. He returned the week before the Georgia Tech game, against Boston College.

It’s important to note that the public does not know if all four missed calls involved Chancellor, as Gray asserted, or if the block on Graves was one of the four. “We certainly intend for all that communication to be between the conference office and the coaching staff, so it’s disappointing that Torrian had shared that,” he said.

Kelly said the ACC’s coordinator of officials, Doug Rhoads, grades every game and adds up each official’s score at the end of the season. This determines bowl assignments and whether the league retains an official for next season. Once the league figures out which official missed a call, Kelly said, “It certainly does affect their score. It’s all taken into account, without question.”

Here is video of the block on Graves ...

The officials working the game will not be suspended, according to a conference official.