NO. 22 GEORGIA TECH 45, NO. 11 GEORGIA 42: No ACC berth, but ‘No. 1 team goal’ met

Athens —- Nothing could dampen the Yellow Jackets’ mood Saturday.

Shortly after their 45-42 comeback win over Georgia, Tech players learned that Virginia Tech had beaten Virginia 17-14 to win the ACC Coastal Division. So the Hokies, not the Jackets, are headed to Tampa for the league championship game.

The Jackets couldn’t stop beaming anyway.

“This definitely overshadows that,” said A-back Lucas Cox, who scored Tech’s first offensive touchdown on a 2-yard run. “We worked at it all year: Our No. 1 team goal was to beat Georgia.

“We didn’t want that streak to go on. To hear all the talk, everything about them and we never get any love … hopefully this will change things now.”

At various moments, it appeared Georgia Tech might pull off the unlikely double: upset Georgia while Virginia upset Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

But as Georgia Tech surged ahead with a 33-point second half, the Cavaliers stumbled. Virginia quarterback Marc Verica was intercepted in the end zone with 2:15 remaining.

The Hokies held on to finish 5-3 in the Coastal, same as Georgia Tech, and advanced by virtue of their 20-17 head-to-head win on Sept. 13.

“I didn’t know until somebody told me in the locker room,” coach Paul Johnson said. “We would have loved to have a chance to play for the conference championship, but quite honestly we had our chance and didn’t get it done. Next year, that will be a focus.”

Senior defensive tackle Darryl Richard said he hopes the 2009 Jackets use Saturday as motivation, a reminder to seize every opportunity.

“I think we could have gone to Tampa Bay and been victorious,” he said.

Jonathan Dwyer’s 60-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage after halftime ignited the comeback. The sophomore, who went over 100 yards rushing for the ninth time, said the joy in beating Georgia dwarfed the ACC disappointment.

“We shocked the world today; we shocked the state of Georgia,” Dwyer said.

Georgia Tech should have “taken care of that business” in Blacksburg in September, Dwyer said. Then he added: “I’m not worried about that. I just want to enjoy this game, have fun and see what kind of bowl game we get.”

The Jackets, 9-3 and poised to rise from 22nd in the BCS standings, could land in the Chick-fil-A, Gator or Champs Sports bowls.

Coming into the game, the Jackets insisted they would not be distracted by their ACC title hopes. They kept to that.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt never asked about the other game, never wondered about it. Beating Georgia, he said with a grin, “is what I came here for.”