In a season of freakish events and crazy plays, Georgia finally got the last laugh. And it came at Georgia Tech’s expense.
The Bulldogs extended their era of domination in this rivalry by defeating the Yellow Jackets 41-34 in double overtime Saturday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Under the direction of first-time starter Hutson Mason, Georgia came back from a 20-0 deficit to score the victory.
The win was the Bulldogs’ fifth in a row over Tech and 12th in 13 seasons under coach Mark Richt. It matches the biggest collapse in Jackets’ history.
“Just great game,” Richt said afterward. “We’ve had a bunch of those kinds of games all year, a lot of close ones, a lot that have come down to the wire. Last play, last series, overtime. It’s been one of those years for us. … Obviously it was good for Hutson to get a victory in his first start. He earned it the hard way.”
The victory ends Georgia’s regular season at 8-4 and ushers in the era of Mason, who succeeded injured quarterback Aaron Murray to start the first game of his career. After a slow start, the junior performed admirably. He finished with 299 yards on 22-of-36 passing for two touchdowns and threw an interception. He was sacked five times.
The Bulldogs were talking afterward about what a tremendous head start this experience provided for Mason, who otherwise wouldn’t get his first start until the season opener against Clemson in August.
“There are some things you can’t get in practice and you can only rep in a game, like crowd noise,” Mason said. “It was rowdy out there. And when you’re down 20-0, you have to look yourself in the mirror and say it’s gut-check time because I had other people looking to me.”
Georgia trailed 27-17 midway through the fourth quarter and didn’t take its first lead until the second overtime. That’s when tailback Todd Gurley ripped off a 25-yard touchdown run on the first play. It was Gurley’s fourth touchdown of the night.
Now the Bulldogs, who had two defensive stops in the fourth quarter, needed another one. On fourth-and-5 at the Georgia 6, Tech quarterback Vad Lee attempted a pass for Darren Waller on a slant. But Georgia linebacker Ramik Wilson deflected the ball, and cornerback Damian Swann batted the ball out of the end zone to make the score stand.
“That ball was up there for a while,” said Wilson, who had nine tackles for the Bulldogs. “I hit it as hard as I could trying to make a play to end the game. That’s all I was thinking, knock it down.”
Of course, Georgia had a chance to beat Auburn had the defense just knocked the ball down in that one.
But the difference-maker for the Bulldogs was their sophomore tailback. Gurley gained 122 yards on 20 carries and scored four touchdowns, three of them rushing and the other on a 9-yard pass from Mason that ended in a highlight-reel leap for the end zone. Gurley also scored in the first overtime on a 6-yard run and was the only Bulldog to touch the ball other than Mason in overtime. He had the maximum gain possible in two overtimes — 50 yards.
It looked as if Georgia might have finally tripped up against the Jackets after Tech executed a 14-play, 75-yard drive to go up 27-17 with 10:34 remaining in the game.
Then the Bulldogs managed a drive that surely made Murray proud. They converted a third-down play and a fourth-down play to mount a 77-yard scoring drive that ended in a 2-yard Gurley plunge to get within three with 6:37 to play.
But the Bulldogs would need to get the ball back, and their defense delivered. Safety Josh Harvey-Clemons intercepted Lee and returned the ball 17 yards to the 25-yard line. Georgia would get to the 9 before Mason was sacked, and the Bulldogs had to settle for a Marshall Morgan 32-yard field goal, his second of the night. The score was tied at 27-27 with 4:17 to play.
That was plenty of time for Tech, which gained 495 yards in the game, to answer. It reached the Georgia 40, but elected to punt with 37 seconds to go. The ball was downed at the Bulldogs’ 2, but that was just enough time to run out the clock, even with Tech calling two timeouts.
In the first overtime, the teams traded relatively quick scores to set up the final overtime. Georgia never attempted a pass in overtime.
“We kind of challenged the line, and we challenged Todd,” Richt said. “We decided we were just going to go with our bread and butter and see what happens.”
Georgia ran a lead play between its left tackle and guard, and Gurley broke through the line for a 25-yard score. That left the game in the hands of the defense, a dangerous proposition this season. But the defense came through.
“This time of year gives you kind of an idea what can happen in the future,” Richt said.
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