⚡ CFB Dashboard

Bacchetta Among Ray Guy Award Ray’s 8 for Week 3 Georgia Tech punter averaged 51.2 yards per kick in win over Mercer ​ THE FLATS – After averaging 51.2 yards per punt – including a career-high 65-yarder – in last Saturday’s win over Mercer, Georgia Tech punter Alex Bacchetta (Atlanta, Ga./Westminster School) has been named to the Ray Guy Award Ray’s 8 for Week 3. Ray’s 8 recognizes the nation’s eight best punting performances for each week of the college football season. Bacchetta earned the honor on the strength of his 51.2-yard average over four punts in the Yellow Jackets’ 44-11 win over Mercer. It marked just the 31st time in Georgia Tech history that a punter averaged at least 50 yards per punt in a game (min. two punts), while his 65-yard bomb in the fourth quarter is tied for the 26th-longest punt in school history and the longest David Shanahan’s 71-yarder at Duke on Oct. 9, 2021. Bacchetta’s four punts included one that was downed inside the 20, while the 65-yard beauty was originally ruled down at the 1 yard line before replay determined that it had crossed the plane of the goal line. For the season, Bacchetta’s 44.1-yard average would rank in the top 20 nationally if he had enough attempts to qualify for the official NCAA rankings (his 10 punts fall just shy of the 3.6 punts-per-game average needed for inclusion in the rankings). Four of his 10 kicks have traveled 50-plus yards, three have been downed inside the 20 and only four have been returned for a total of 8 yards (2.0 avg.). Bacchetta and the Yellow Jackets open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday with their first-ever regular-season game at Stanford. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.