For the second week in a row Georgia Tech came out of halftime with a chance to win a game. But by the time the game reached the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets faced an insurmountable comeback.
In Saturday's rivalry contest against Georgia at Bobby Dodd Stadium, the Jackets trailed the No. 7 Bulldogs by only 10 points at halftime, 17-7. That deficit ballooned to 24 points by the beginning of the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs won 38-7 in the 112th installment of “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate.”
“We talked about at halftime that it was important to try and get some momentum back,” Tech coach Paul Johnson said. “To the defense’s credit, they went out there and got a three-and-out and then we followed it up with -- this game was a microcosm of the last game.”
Saturday’s second half was a replay of the Duke game two weeks ago, where the Jackets (5-6) lost by 23 after being tied at halftime.
The Bulldogs’ power running game blew the Jackets off the line of scrimmage while the Jackets missed several tackles. Georgia (11-1) averaged 5.7 yards per rush, while the Blue Devils went for 6.3 two weeks ago. This came after the defense played had its best performance of the season against a ranked Virginia Tech team, relinquishing just 2.9 yards per carry in an upset win.
The offense wasn’t any better failing to score in the second half for the second game in a row. The Jackets moved the football with some success in the first half, but were held to minus-1 yard on their first two offensive possessions coming out of the locker room.
In the past two games, Tech had possessed the football in the third quarter five times. In those drives, the Jackets had gone three-and-out four times, gained a total of 31 yards and held the ball for 7:14 of a possible 30 minutes.
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