Haynes King saves the day as Georgia Tech beats Colorado

BOULDER, Colo. — Haynes King ran in a 45-yard touchdown with 1:07 on the clock to give Georgia Tech a 27-20 win at Colorado on Friday night at Folsom Field, another memorable performance in the growing legend of the Tech quarterback.

“Number gets called, I do my job, I follow my blockers, bust it open, and the rest is history,” the east Texan said succinctly.

King ran for 156 yards and three touchdowns and also threw for 143 yards. He was the individual highlight of an offensive performance typical of coach Brent Key’s winning style: 463 yards of offense, 320 yards rushing, 6.8 yards per carry and more than 32 minutes of possession.

Resiliency and toughness played a big part, too. The Yellow Jackets (1-0) turned the ball over three times in the first quarter, then gave up a game-tying touchdown with 8:25 on the clock.

Yet, Key’s veteran team found a way on the road in front of more than 52,000 fans.

“We know who we are as a football team, we know what our identity is,” Key said. “Just wanted to make sure everybody else knew.”

King’s winning run came on second-and-6 at the Colorado 45. The senior, after faking a toss sweep to the right, squeezed through a hole right of center and then burst into the open field, where he would not be caught.

The 156 yards rushing for King was a career high.

“He’s tough as a two-dollar steak,” Tech guard Keylan Rutledge said. “We know what Haynes King’s about. Gritty, tough. He’s what Georgia Tech is about. No surprise.”

Colorado (0-1) breaking in a new quarterback and a new era without the 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, only scored seven points out of the three turnovers in the first quarter. The Buffaloes had 305 yards of offense but missed on eight third-down conversions.

Tech is 1-0 for the second season in a row and is scheduled to play its home opener Sept. 6 against Gardner-Webb.

“It was one of the biggest challenges, so far,” King said. “Coach Prime (Colorado coach Deion Sanders) and them, they do a really good job. We knew that we were gonna have a challenge. The way that they prepare, the way that they were coached. We knew it was gonna be a four-quarter game. We went in there thinking that, and that’s what it was. We ended up executing enough and scoring more points than they did and we won.”

Tech had a 20-13 lead going into the fourth quarter, but Colorado put together its best offensive drive of the night, a 75-yard series that lasted nearly seven minutes. On the 15th play of the drive, quarterback Kaidon Salter ran in a 7-yard touchdown, making the score 20-20 with 8:04 to go.

But after the two teams traded a couple of punts, Tech, and King, got the ball back with 2:51 to go on the Tech 39. The heroics came moments later.

Hours earlier, Tech had gotten off to a disastrous start. On the second play of the game, King fumbled a handoff exchange with running back Jamal Haynes on his 35, and Colorado linebacker Martavius French recovered.

Four plays later, on third down at the Tech 8, Salter rolled right and threw a touchdown pass to running back DeKalon Taylor, making the score 7-0 less than three minutes into the game.

Tech appeared to settle down from there and drove to midfield on its second drive, but a bad snap for new starting center Harrison Moore rattled around toward the line of scrimmage, where French fell on it again. Tech’s defense forced a three-and-out to halt momentum.

The Jackets were putting together another nice drive on their third possession, moving into Colorado territory. But on first down at the CU 45, King was picked off by DJ McKinney. Tech’s defense held again to force a Colorado punt.

“Proud of the football team. Proud of these guys that we couldn’t have played worse in the first half,” Key said. “Self-inflicted errors, three turnovers in the first three drives, penalties, busts on different things, allowed a score early on that first drive. But we talk about playing the next play, and that’s all we talk about. The resiliency of these guys really showed.

“You got three turnovers in your first three drives, and it’s real easy for everybody to start pointing fingers and talking and what. That’s the identity that we wanna have, and we’ll continue to have.”

Tech drove to the Colorado 8, but a holding call nullified the momentum on that drive, and the Jackets settled for a 32-yard field goal.

King finally gave the Jackets the lead when he capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a 4-yard run on third down that saw King barrel over defenders at the goal line. The drive lasted nearly six minutes.

Alejandro Mata drew Colorado even with a 42-yard field goal at the 1:39 mark of the second quarter. But the Jackets were able to cover 49 yards in nine plays and set up Birr for a 43-yard field goal as time expired, sending the Jackets into halftime up 13-10.

Tech racked up 279 yards of offense in the first half, rushed for 182 yards, averaged 6.5 yards per carry and totaled 11 plays of 10 yards or more. Yet the Jackets led by only three points, in part because of the three turnovers.

“I don’t think, actually, we did anything to rally. I think everybody knew what we were capable of,” King said. “We’ve already been through a lot as a team. We preach stuff like this. Not even teach it. Not even talk about it, we preach stuff like this. We wear bands right now, ‘E+R=O.’ What is the outcome you want? What is the events transpired? And what is your response to those? I think we did a really good job of weathering that. We knew stuff was going to happen. It’s the first game, stuff always does. But how are you gonna respond? And we did a really good job.”

Mata knotted the score at 13-13 with a 29-yard field goal with six minutes left in the third quarter. Those points came after Tech defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg sacked Salter on third down to keep the Buffaloes out of the end zone.

The Jackets then nearly bled the rest of the third-quarter clock with an 11-play drive that covered 75 yards. King polished it off with an 18-yard keeper over right guard running clean into the end zone to make the score 20-13.