Aidan Birr’s kick at the buzzer gives Georgia Tech win over No. 12 Clemson

It was by no means a thing of beauty. Perhaps the beauty was found in it all being unconventional, crazy and chaotic.

Aidan Birr sprinted on to the field as time was expiring, lined up and let loose a line drive of a 55-yard field goal at the buzzer to give Georgia Tech a 24-21 win over No. 12 Clemson on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. A crowd of 48,058 took it all in, and many rushed the field after officials signaled Birr’s kick was true. The kick tied the Tech record for the longest field goal and was a career-long kick for Birr.

The Yellow Jackets, 3-0 for the first time since 2016, won their seventh game in a row at home after blowing a 13-0 lead and giving up a 21-14 lead in the fourth quarter. But on the shoulders of their incomparable quarterback, Haynes King, they mustered one final drive to get in position to beat the Tigers (1-2, 0-1 ACC) after nine consecutive losses to their ACC rival.

King finished with 211 yards passing and 101 yards rushing, scoring once. Over the final nine plays and 38 yards to get Tech in position for the win, the senior ran it five times and went 2-for-2 passing.

Tech (1-0 ACC) will now look ahead to go 4-0 against Temple (2-1) in a week.

Down 14-13 with 1:17 left in the third quarter Saturday, King orchestrated a masterful drive that covered 90 yards and lasted 6 minutes, 15 seconds. His 1-yard touchdown run, in which he had to lower his left shoulder and deliver a blow at the goal line, gave the Jackets the lead back.

Tech went into its bag of tricks for the two-point conversion, sending wide receiver Malik Rutherford from left to right on a reverse and then having Rutherford throw a pass to wide receiver Dean Patterson, making the score 21-14 with 10 minutes left.

The Tigers answered, scoring on the 13th play of a 75-yard drive that last 6½ minutes and ended with Adam Randall’s 2-yard run. That left 3:26 on the clock — 3:26 that will go down in the history books.

Tech opened the game with a masterful drive, using 11 plays and covering 71 yards to get to Clemson’s 4. But on fourth down, and needing two yards, Tech lined up with four wide receivers bunched on the right sideline, and King threw to Jamal Haynes, who was cut down by safety Ricardo Jones for a 4-yard loss.

But Tech’s defense got the ball right back when safety Omar Daniels drilled Klubnik and knocked the ball loose for cornerback Zachary Tobe to recovery at Clemson’s 30.

That turnover led to a 40-yard field goal by Birr, putting the Jackets up 3-0 with 5:50 left in the opening period.

Tech, after a 42-yard completion from King to Eric Rivers, began the second quarter at the Clemson 5, and Haynes easily scored from there on the period’s first play. That made the score 10-0 after Haynes’ 19th career rushing touchdown.

The Jackets were seemingly in complete control at that point, but on the ensuing drive, Clemson running back Adam Randall broke free for a 30-yard run on third-and-22 from his own 24 to wake up the Clemson sideline from the dead. Ten plays later, on fourth down at the Tech 1, Klubnik dove over the pile for the Tigers’ first touchdown and cut the score to 13-7.

Clemson’s scoring drive covered 75 yards in 16 plays and swallowed 6:57 of clock, and Randall’s run was a major reason why.

Tech failed to take advantage, punting after three offensive plays and losing 15 yards. On the ensuing possession, Klubnik found Bryant Wesco Jr. on a simple crossing route — but Tech’s defense completely forgot about the star Tigers receiver, and he went 76 yards to pay dirt and putting the Tigers up 14-13 at the 9:36 mark.