The knack for seizing opportunities that has defined Georgia Tech’s season found another, most significant expression Thursday night. With a North Carolina win over Duke in Durham, N.C., the Yellow Jackets claimed the ACC Coastal Division championship, earning them the right to play Florida State for the ACC title Dec. 6 in Charlotte, N.C. Tech, off this week, first will play Georgia Nov. 29 in Athens.
“Proud to see hard work our team has put in all year pay off with Coastal title!! Lots of work to do next 2 weeks!!” Tech coach Paul Johnson wrote in a Twitter message.
The Tar Heels cruised to a 45-20 win over the rival Blue Devils, jumping out to leads of 14-0 and 28-7 by halftime, aided by two first-half turnovers that turned into 14 points. Going into the game, Duke had needed to win its final two games of the season, against North Carolina and Wake Forest, to win the Coastal for a second consecutive year. Tech completed its ACC season last Saturday with a win over then-No. 19 Clemson, finishing 6-2. Duke’s loss dropped its ACC record to 4-3.
“Obviously, it was a disaster from our standpoint,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe told reporters after the game.
It is the fourth time that the Jackets have won or shared the Coastal title in Johnson’s seven seasons. It will be Tech’s fourth overall appearance in the ACC title game and third in the past six years.They won in 2009 and lost in 2012 to the same Seminoles that they will face in Charlotte in two Saturdays.
Many Tech team members watched the game at the Edge Center, cheering each Tar Heels score. Perhaps fitting for this team, which has won nine games in part to an unflappable belief in itself, safety Isaiah Johnson said he had been telling family, friends and fans that Tech would find a way into the title game.
“It was a good feeling,” he said. “I wouldn’t say a new feeling, because I already spoke this into existence for the last two weeks. I already knew, going into this game, that UNC was going to pull this game out. Even still, I felt like somehow, some way we were still going to make it. Just seeing this victory solidifies it and I’m excited.”
For Isaiah Johnson, winning the title on the field with a team that ranks No. 18 with a 9-2 record carries more meaning to him than the Jackets’ last visit. In 2012, Tech went to Charlotte with an overall 6-6 record. The Jackets tied for the division title with a 5-3 record with Miami and North Carolina. Tech won the tiebreaker over North Carolina after Miami self-imposed a postseason ban in the midst of an NCAA investigation.
This time, however, Johnson said, “it’s a good feeling, especially now that we deserve it.”
They will play Florida State for the ACC title for the second time in the past three years. The Jackets fell 21-15 to the Seminoles in 2012. FSU is ranked No. 3 in the country and undefeated at 10-0.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Isaiah Johnson said. “You get to play the defending ACC champions, defending national champions. It’s an honor.”
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