The combination of unrelenting effort and playmaking verve that had driven Georgia Tech to 10 wins met its match Saturday in the defending national champion.
No. 4 Florida State won its 29th consecutive game, outlasting No. 11 Tech 37-35 for the ACC title at Bank of America Stadium. The Yellow Jackets will rue the missed opportunities and defensive lapses that they had lately avoided in securing just their fourth 10-win season since 1956, but can be heartened by the determination demonstrated before a national television audience, much of it rooting for them.
“I feel like we showed the country that we do have a good team, we do have good players here,” cornerback D.J. White said. “Not the result we wanted, but we did fight hard.”
Tech (10-3) proved a worthy opponent for the Seminoles, who will almost certainly be selected for the four-team College Football Playoff. If FSU makes the four-team field, and Georgia Tech is the highest-ranked remaining ACC team, the Jackets will get an Orange Bowl berth. No. 5 Ohio State, unless it is able to pass FSU for the last playoff spot with its 59-0 win over Wisconsin for the Big Ten title, is Tech’s likely opponent.
The Jackets pushed Florida State (13-0) to play at a much higher level than it had through much of its undefeated regular season. Tech refused to tap out, even after an interception by quarterback Justin Thomas with 3:22 left in the game gave the Seminoles the ball on the Tech 43-yard line with a 37-28 lead. Tech, which to that point had had little success slowing FSU running back Dalvin Cook, forced a three-and-out, getting the ball back on its 3-yard line with 2:56 to play.
Abandoning its running game, Tech covered nearly the length of the field in just five completions and a Seminoles penalty, drawing to within 37-35 when wide receiver Darren Waller reached for the pylon to score on a 25-yard reception with 1:47 to go.
The unyielding fight that has lifted Tech to eight comeback victories this season, most memorably the back-from-the-dead comeback against Georgia last Saturday, kindled the fire of its fan base once again. Even after kicker Harrison Butker was unable to execute a successful onside kick, the Jackets forced FSU to grind out a game-clinching first down on a third-and-7 run by Cook, selected the game MVP after rushing for 177 yards and a touchdown.
“You could have never told me we were going to lose that game,” right guard and team captain Shaquille Mason said. “I didn’t have doubt all the way up until the end. It just happens.”
Florida State, fortified by an offensive line with four All-ACC selections, scored on seven consecutive possessions (four touchdowns and three field goals). Five of the seven drives measured 71 yards or longer. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston often threw behind superior protection and had his first interception-free game in his past seven. Tech, which had forced 17 turnovers in the past five games, could not come up with any. The Seminoles also exploited a blown coverage in the Tech secondary for their first touchdown, a 46-yard reception by tight end Nick O’Leary in the first quarter, and a slip and fall by defensive back Demond Smith that freed up wide receiver Rashad Greene for a 44-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
Tech used blitz pressure in the second half to attempt to rattle Winston, which helped limit the Seminoles to their three field goals.
“We tried to play a little bit more man, come at him a little more,” White said. “They did a good job of just finding the holes in the running game. They kind of gashed us a little bit, and when they did throw it, he was able to buy time and find open receivers. Like I said, good player, good plays.”
The Tech offense did its usual work, scoring touchdowns on its first three possessions (an ACC title game first) and driving for a fourth on the opening possession of the second half to tie the game at 28 in the third quarter. However, Tech’s next three possessions went punt, turnover on downs and interception. Undoubtedly, star wide receiver DeAndre Smelter’s season-ending knee injury last Saturday was a factor. Thomas said that a fourth-and-5 incompletion to Waller in the fourth quarter, in which the two read the play differently, was probably the first time he had thrown that route to him this season.
“If we played completely clean, we probably could have had a chance to win the game or at least have a chance to have the ball at the end,” Johnson said. “You know, you have to give them credit.”
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