An exceedingly unusual first quarter was followed by familiar play from Georgia Tech and, finally, a victory for the Yellow Jackets.
A four-touchdown first-quarter provided the Jackets enough of a cushion to hold off Pittsburgh Saturday in a 56-28 win at Heinz Field. Tech broke its two-game losing streak and earned bowl eligibility for the 18th year in a row.
The Jackets charged to a 28-0 lead less than six minutes into the game after they forced the Panthers to fumble four times in their first six plays, with safety Isaiah Johnson, cornerback D.J. White, linebacker P.J. Davis and Johnson again doing the dislodging.
It was a considerable turn from the first seven games, over which Tech had forced five fumbles and recovered just one.
Perhaps the play of the game was made by cornerback D.J. White. With the score 7-0 in Tech’s favor, Pitt running back James Conner tore through the line and broke away for what looked like a 75-yard touchdown run. However, White chased him down and stripped him of the ball feet from the goal line. The ball bounced out of the end zone, giving the ball to Tech on its 20-yard line. Three plays later, A-back Charles Perkins was crossing the Pitt goal line on a 79-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Justin Thomas on a third-and-9, completing a 14-point swing.
After the recoveries, the Jackets were as efficient with the ball as the Panthers were ham-handed. With those four possessions following the fumbles, Tech scored four touchdowns in just nine plays, averaging 18.6 yards per play.
With 9:44 to play in the first quarter, the Jackets led 28-0. Tech recovered one more fumble in the quarter but was not able to convert it into points. The Jackets (6-2 overall, 3-2 ACC) recovered another fumble, in the fourth quarter, to tie a modern-era school record set against Tulsa in the 2004 Humanitarian Bowl, for fumble recoveries in a game with six. Pittsburgh dropped to 4-4 overall and 2-2 in the ACC.
It was a startling showing by the Tech defense, which gave up touchdowns on seven of 11 drives against North Carolina last Saturday and surrendered 6.6 yards per play. However, Pittsburgh steadied and began to find the range against the Jackets defense. The Panthers closed the half with touchdowns on back-to-back possessions, facing scant resistance, to close the half with Tech ahead 28-14.
However, Tech took the opening kickoff of the second half and moved ahead again by three touchdowns, aided by a third-down conversion on a 18-yard pass from Thomas to wide receiver DeAndre Smelter that was called a catch on the field and stood after video replay, but drew considerable boos from the Pitt fans. It helped seal the game for the Jackets, who undoubtedly made fans nervous after giving up a 35-10 halftime lead to Georgia Southern earlier this season and a 20-point second-quarter lead against Georgia last season.
Tech did close it out with a an eight-minute, 54-second drive that ended in a turnover, and then, after the Jackets forced a three-and-out on the subsequent Pittsburgh possession, A-back Tony Zenon sped through the Panthers defense on a 57-yard counter run for a 42-21 lead with 11:22 to play in the fourth quarter.
Tech cleared 600 yards of total offense for the second consecutive game. With starting B-back Zach Laskey watching from the sidelines with his arm in a sling after injuring his shoulder last Saturday, B-back Synjyn Days ran for 110 yards on 22 carries. A-back Broderick Snoddy ran for 76 yards on five carries, including touchdown runs of four, 34 and 28 yards.
In an attempt to unsettle Pittsburgh quarterback Chad Voytik, defensive coordinator Ted Roof blitzed frequently and often with six defenders. It resulted in long pass plays but also in incompletions. With the score 35-21 early in the fourth quarter, after Days fumbled the ball away, Tech forced a crucial three-and-out, punctuated by a blitz-aided incompletion on third down.
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