It didn’t take long for the Georgia Tech option game to find its rhythm in the first quarter Thursday against Alcorn State. In fact, the running game was so good it led the Yellow Jackets to a record-setting first 15 minutes of action.
Tech scored four of its five touchdowns on the ground in the first quarter, setting a modern-day record for points in a quarter while opening a 34-0 lead. The previous record of 32 points vs. Chattanooga in 1985 was surpassed with the Jackets doing what they do the best — run the football.
Quarterback Justin Thomas scored on a 13-yard run less than three minutes into the game, capping a five-play, 63-yard drive — all on the ground. Tech followed with a 6-play, 29-yard drive that featured the hard running of B-Back Patrick Skov, who gained 16 yards and bulled into the end zone from the 3 for the Jackets’ second score.
The Jackets had their first incomplete pass on the first play of the third drive, but followed with four rushing plays for 59 yards and another score for a 21-0 lead.
“You never know what you’re going to get with each team and each year," said Thomas. "I feel like we came out and did what we were supposed to do.”
The Jackets didn’t stop there, adding another pair of touchdowns in the final three minutes of the quarter. Marcus Marshall’s 49-yard TD run with 1:06 left gave the Jackets their fourth touchdown on the ground and 167 rushing yards in the first quarter.
Tech also was efficient through the air, completing three consecutive passes following the early incomplete pass on a 69-yard scoring drive that ended with Thomas finding Micheal Summers in the right corner of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown.
Final first-quarter line: 167 yards and four rushing touchdowns, 54 yards passing and another score. Conversely, the Braves of the Southwestern Athletic Conference managed only 15 total yards, one first down and an interception that led to Tech’s second touchdown.
