Georgia Tech kicker Harrison Butker cooled off his torrid touchback pace slightly, putting four of seven kickoffs into or through the end zone for touchbacks. For the season, he has 14 touchbacks on 19 kickoffs (74 percent), well ahead of his 41 percent rate from last season. Butker did put one kickoff out of bounds, his first such mistake of the season. The top touchback rate last season in FBS was 76 percent. He did not attempt any field goals.
Punter Ryan Rodwell matched his career high with five punts and netted a reasonable 37.6 yards. All four of his punts in the second half were kept inside the Tech 20-yard line.
The kickoff return team did not have its best game. Returners Jamal Golden and Broderick Snoddy returned four kickoffs to the 16-, 14-, 35- and 28-yard lines. The other three kickoffs were touchbacks. The return out to the 35 was aided by Georgia Southern kicking off at its 20-yard line due to a penalty on the preceding touchdown play. Tech’s goal is to return kickoffs to the 30.
