Return specialist Jamal Golden and the kickoff return team had a superior performance, outdoing their effort against Miami after flailing the first four games. After Duke’s first touchdown, Golden took the ball at the Tech 4-yard line and ran it to the Duke 28-yard line, a 68-yard return, the longest of the season. After Duke’s third-quarter touchdown, Golden returned the ball from the goal line to the Duke 49-yard line, maneuvering through blocks and avoiding tacklers.
After getting up, however, Golden fell to his knees and then lay down on the field as he was tended to by Tech’s medical staff. He left the field under his own power but did not finish the game.
Through the first four games, Tech had difficulty reaching the 30-yard line on kickoffs. Of the six kickoffs in the past two games that weren’t touchbacks, four were taken past the 30, two into opposing territory. Saturday, though, Golden’s two long returns netted just three points.
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