For the third game in a row, Georgia Tech gave up a touchdown play covering more than 60 yards. In the season opener against Wofford on Aug. 30, it was a 92-yard touchdown run. The following week Tulane scored on a 61-yard pass play. On Saturday, Georgia Southern’s Matt Breida took a toss on third-and-7 and ran 69 yards for the touchdown.
The Wofford touchdown, the longest run play ever given up by Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium, also was on a third-and-long situation.
Safety Jamal Golden said that the defense failed to set an edge on the play, giving Breida space to run.
“They just creased us,” he said.
Last season, Tech gave up three plays of 50 yards.
Officials said Davis threw a punch: Tech coach Paul Johnson said he was told by an official that linebacker Paul Davis threw a punch at a Georgia Southern player to draw a critical personal-foul penalty early in the third quarter.
“The official told me that ‘40’ swung at somebody,’” Johnson said, referring to Davis’ jersey number. “That’s what he told me.”
On the opening drive of the third quarter, Georgia Southern faced a third-and-8 from the Tech 33 when a shotgun snap got past quarterback Kevin Ellison, who recovered the ball at the Eagles’ 44 for a 23-yard loss. The Eagles would have faced a fourth-and-31, but the penalty gave them a first-and-10 on the Tech 41. Georgia Southern was in the end zone four plays later on a 32-yard run by Ellison.
The Eagles scored touchdowns on their next three possessions to climb out of a 35-10 halftime deficit.
“It was a killer,” Johnson said of the penalty. “It changed the whole game.”
Curbing the turnovers: After turning the ball over three times against Tulane, Tech played the entire game without a turnover or even a fumble. It's the first time the Yellow Jackets have played a turnover- and fumble-free game since the season opener last season against Elon.
Quarterback Justin Thomas, who was stripped of the ball once and made an ill-advised pitch on two fumbles last week, did not lack for chances to lose the ball. He ran a career-high 20 times, threw a career-high 24 passes and made 31 handoffs, pitches or tosses and handled all cleanly.
Ball security has been a challenge for the Jackets in Johnson’s tenure. Between 2008 and 2013, the Jackets fumbled 200 times in 80 games, the most of any team in FBS. Tech played the first game, against Wofford, with no turnovers and one fumble, on a punt return.
Fewer touchbacks: 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 to the 35 was aided by Georgia Southern kicking off at its 20 because of a penalty on the preceding touchdown play. Tech’s goal is to return kickoffs to the 30.
Player updates: Tech continued to give younger and less experienced players playing time. Backup offensive linemen Errin Joe, Thomas O'Reilly and Shamire Devine played, Joe in particular in the second half at left tackle in place of Bryan Chamberlain.
The three players suspended for the first two games, wide receiver Darren Waller, A-back Dennis Andrews and cornerback Lynn Griffin, all played. Waller caught two passes, one for a 4-yard touchdown pass and a deft 26-yard catch on the sideline that converted a third down.
Waller said that on his touchdown, Johnson picked up that the cornerback was blitzing on the short side of the field. On his scoring play, an A-back looped out of the backfield on Waller’s slide, bringing in the cornerback and allowing Waller to slip relatively free into the end zone, where Thomas found him for the score.
