Georgia Tech’s opening play against North Carolina Saturday ended an unlikely drought for the Yellow Jackets. Quarterback Justin Thomas hit A-back Deon Hill with a quick-hitting pass that Hill broke for a 47-yard gain, ending a 242-play streak without a 40-yard play for the Tech offense.
Before halftime, Thomas made two more contributions to the big-play bucket with a 25-yard pass to A-back Tony Zenon and a 33-yard pass to A-back Broderick Snoddy. For the game, Tech had six plays of 20 yards or more, including touchdown passes from Thomas to wide receivers Darren Waller and DeAndre Smelter for 55 and 46 yards, respectively.
“We just ran our offense,” Thomas said. “We just went out there and executed like we know we can.”
Prior to Saturday, Tech’s last scrimmage play of 40 yards or more was Smelter’s 57-yard touchdown reception in the Georgia Southern game. From that point, Tech continued to play efficiently in the three games following, against Virginia Tech, Miami and Duke. The Jackets entered Saturday’s game leading the country in third-down efficiency and hit 10 plays between 25 and 39 yards in the past three games.
However, the home-run plays that are a staple of coach Paul Johnson’s offense – Tech was tied for third in the ACC last year with 19 plays of 40 yards or more and tied for first in 2012 with 21 – went dry. In recent weeks, Johnson had stated the need for his offense to resume hitting big plays.
The Hill reception began a highly productive game for the Jackets, even considering North Carolina’s woeful defense. Tech amassed 611 yards on 69 plays, an 8.9 yards-per-play average. The last time Tech gained more yards was the 2012 Presbyterian game (712 yards).
North Carolina defense’s came into the game averaging 6.2 yards per play, 105th in the country.
“I thought he played well,” coach Paul Johnson said of Thomas. “He distributed the ball and I thought he did some things really good.”
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