In the 123 years that Georgia Tech has played football, the Yellow Jackets may have never taken part in a quarter of play like Saturday’s first 15 minutes.
Pittsburgh lost four fumbles in its first six plays, and the Jackets scored touchdowns on four of its first 10 plays, giving Tech a 28-0 lead less than six minutes into the game.
The Jackets ended the quarter with the same lead, tying the school record for largest first-quarter lead. It was the largest first-quarter lead Tech has held against an FBS opponent.
The Panthers’ ball-security defied credulity. Safety Isaiah Johnson stripped quarterback Chad Voytik on the second play of the first drive, leading to a three-play, 38-yard touchdown drive finished by a four-yard run by A-back Broderick Snoddy.
On the next play from scrimmage, Pittsburgh running back James Conner brought the crowd to its feet by bursting through the line of scrimmage at the Panthers’ 25-yard line. However, cornerback D.J. White chased Conner down and stripped him of the ball just feet from the goal line. When the ball rolled out of bounds in the end zone, the play was ruled a touchback with the ball going back to Tech.
Tech went 80 yards in three plays, scoring on a 79-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Justin Thomas to A-back Charles Perkins for a 14-0 lead.
Two plays later, linebacker P.J. Davis stripped running back Isaac Bennett in the backfield, giving Tech the ball again at the Pittsburgh 14. The Jackets cashed it in on the next play, a 14-yard scoring run by Thomas.
At this point, Pittsburgh had run five plays and lost the ball on fumbles on three of them. And, then, on the Panthers’ next play, they fumbled yet again, when wide receiver Tyler Boyd had the ball knocked loose by safety Jamal Golden. Tech needed two plays this time to get in the end zone for a 28-0 lead with 9:44 to play in the first quarter.
At that point, Tech had a 28-0 lead having run nine plays and averaging 18.6 yards per play. Pittsburgh had lost four fumbles on six plays.
Pittsburgh lost the fumble one more time in the quarter, on a center-quarterback exchange. Tech was not able to convert it into points. The Panthers ended the quarter averaging 10.6 yards per play on 16 plays in the quarter, but had no points.
Tech’s five fumble recoveries were one shy of the single-game modern-era record, set in the 2004 Humanitarian Bowl against Tulsa.
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