Georgia Tech B-back Zach Laskey didn’t know he had set a career-high for carries and didn’t know he tied a career-high for yards after Georgia Tech’s 28-17 victory over Miami on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Laskey hammered the interior of Miami’s defense and vaunted linebacker Denzel Perryman for 29 carries and 133 yards in helping Georgia Tech run its unbeaten start to five games. As he has on all but one carry this season, Laskey was never stopped for a loss of yards.
The Yellow Jackets finished with 318 yards rushing and held the ball for a whopping 40 minutes 45 seconds in snapping a five-game losing streak to Miami and taking some control of the ACC’s Coastal Division.
“Zach worked for what he got,” Tech coach Paul Johnson said.
Because Miami was determined to not let quarterback Justin Thomas carry the ball, Laskey became the primary ball-carrier throughout the night, which Johnson described as OK.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever carried the ball 29 times,” Laskey said.
In matching the mark for yards set against Virginia last year, Laskey’s effectiveness occupied Perryman, projected to be the top pick at inside linebacker in the NFL draft, which opened up lanes on the left and right for the A-backs throughout the game. Perryman finished with nine tackles, four in the second half.
“Our guys were able to get to the next level up on him a lot,” Laskey said.
Perhaps the best example of Laskey’s effectiveness came when he didn’t get the ball: fourth and 2 at the 8-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Tech ran the option. Thomas put the ball in Laskey’s stomach. The defense crashed to stop him. Thomas pulled the ball back out and quickly pitched it to A-back Deon Hill, who had a clear path to the end zone to give Tech a 28-17 lead with 11:31 left..
Laskey said he could feel Miami’s defense starting to tire as Tech’s time of possession advantage continued to grow.
