The combination of unrelenting effort and playmaking verve that had driven Georgia Tech to 10 wins and had captured the passion of its fan base met its match Saturday in the defending national champion.
No. 4 Florida State won its 29th consecutive game, outlasting No. 11 Tech for the ACC championship game by a 37-35 score at Bank of America Stadium. The Yellow Jackets will rue the missed opportunities and defensive breakdowns that they had avoided in securing just their fourth 10-win season since 1956, but be heartened by the determination and pluck demonstrated before a national television audience, much of it rooting for them.
Tech (10-3) proved a worthy opponent for the Seminoles (13-0), who will almost certainly be selected for the four-team College Football Playoff, pushing them to play at a much higher level than they had through much of their undefeated regular season. After a 97-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes drew Tech to within 37-35 with 1:47 to play, the Jackets’ holster went empty only after the Seminoles converted a third-and-7 with a 10-yard run by running back Dalvin Cook with under a minute to play.
The loss ended the Jackets’ five-game winning streak and denied Tech the chance to claim its season-long goal of winning the school’s fourth ACC championship and second of coach Paul Johnson’s tenure. The Jackets are almost certainly bound for the Orange Bowl.
It stands to be Tech’s second trip to the Orange or any of the historically major bowls (Cotton, Orange, Rose, Fiesta, Sugar) since the Jackets went to the Orange Bowl in coach Bobby Dodd’s final season in 1966. The other trip was by Tech’s 2009 ACC champions.
After the playoff pairings are announced Sunday at 12:30 p.m., the pairings for the Orange Bowl, along with the Cotton, Fiesta and Peach bowls, will be announced at 2:45 p.m. on ESPN. The Orange opponent figures to be Michigan State, which will likely be the highest-ranked non-champion from either the Big Ten, SEC or Notre Dame.
Tech, with star wide receiver DeAndre Smelter out with a torn ACL suffered last Saturday against Georgia, undid the Seminoles’ proud defense with unrelenting doses of its spread-option game. The Jackets ran on their first 27 plays, gaining 191 yards with them, and for the game churned out 465 yards of total offense, 331 on the ground.
On the other side, Tech was undone by Florida State’s offensive precision in the first half, when the Seminoles drove for touchdowns on four consecutive possessions to take a 28-21 lead into the half. The Jackets tied the game at 28 on their opening drive of the second half but were unable to take the lead.
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