After a poor first quarter in which it gave up 19 points, Georgia Tech’s defense shut out Duke until the game’s final two minutes. Their efforts gave the Yellow Jackets a chance in what turned into a 34-20 loss, Tech’s second consecutive defeat.
Duke jumped on the Yellow Jackets early with touchdown runs of 4 and 1 yards by Shaquille Powell, sandwiched around an 11-yard scoring pass to T.J. Rahming from Thomas Sirk as the Blue Devils jumped out to a 19-3 lead.
The offense didn’t score again until Powell burst through the middle for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:49 left in the game.
“I thought the defense played really well in the second half,” coach Paul Johnson said. “That’s probably as well as a defense has played since I’ve been here in the second half.”
The Blue Devils amassed 155 yards in the first quarter with an even balance of 80 rushing and 75 passing. Duke also converted all four of its third downs, taking advantage of a defensive line missing two starters because of injury. Tech linebacker P.J. Davis, who led the Jackets with 13 tackles, said he and his teammates were overpursuing on Duke’s read-option.
“We had to come back and settle down,” he said. “That’s about the only adjustment we made. We settled down.”
The Yellow Jackets then began to toughen up, allowing less than 50 yards in the second quarter, 30 in the third quarter and 46 in the fourth quarter.
They also created turnovers. Tech stopped a drive with an interception by A.J. Gray in the third quarter and Lawrence Austin in the fourth quarter, but the offense was only able to convert the turnovers into three points.
Duke’s offense was averaging 34 points, 223.7 yards rushing and 280.3 yards passing. Tech held the Devils to 165 yards rushing and 114 passing.
“They gave us every chance in the world to win the game,” Johnson said.
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