Takeaways from Georgia Tech’s upset of No. 4 Miami

Georgia Tech started Haynes King on Saturday, or some semblance of him anyway.

Tech’s star quarterback willed the Yellow Jackets to a 28-23 victory over No. 4 Miami on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. He couldn’t throw very much, as he was nursing a right shoulder injury, but he could provide the voice of hope and the eyes of belief to a team that sprung its second top-10 upset of the season.

King ran for 93 yards and a score on 20 carries. He threw only six passes, but completed each of them for 32 yards and another touchdown. King has missed Tech’s previous two games, losses to Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, respectively, before returning to the field Saturday.

The Texan split time with freshman Aaron Philo, who came in when the Jackets (6-4, 4-3 ACC) needed to pass. And the Miami defense had no answers for Tech’s two-quarterback system.

“We knew we were gonna have to piece a game together,” Tech coach Brent Key said. “It’s something we’ve done before. You saw early in the game, just the flow of the guys in and out and getting that going. But they were able to get in there and get the flow going. Unselfish play by guys on the offensive side. You go into a game like that, and that’s the game plan, you have to play to win.”

King, who carried the game ball with him into postgame media availability, was knocked out of a win at North Carolina on Oct. 12. Tech started Zach Pyron in the two games in between then and Saturday and went 0-2.

On Saturday against the Hurricanes, King and Philo rotated in between series and even between plays while keeping Miami’s defense off balance. Philo threw for 67 yards and a score and ran for 13 yards.

Two of the bigger plays of the day for Tech came when Philo found Malik Rutherford for 16 yards on a third-and-8 in the fourth quarter. Earlier in that period Philo found former high school teammate Bailey Stockton for a 27-yard completion on third-and-18.

“It was kind a thing early in the week,” Philo said about being in the game. “We just knew what the game plan was gonna be, and the coaches put together a great game plan, and we executed it.”

Added King: “Everybody knows Philo. He’s gonna be a baller. He does what it takes and what needs to go on during the week to be able to prepare the right way and compete each and every day. When you do stuff the right way consistently, this is what happens. For him to finally go out there and show the hard work that he’s been in this whole year, it’s just pretty remarkable, and I’m pretty excited for him.”

Delightful defense

The story of the day, outside of Tech’s offensive coup, was that of the Jackets’ defense.

Miami was held to 23 points, its lowest total of the season and the lowest since being held to 20 points Nov. 11, 2023, at Florida State. The Hurricanes had a respectable total of 436 yards, but that also was a season low.

“I thought (Tech defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci) did a really good job of mixing up some of the zones and (man-to-man coverages) and some of the blitzes and the drops,” Key said. “It was a good plan that was executed, that’s what was important.”

The Tech defense was asked to make one last stand Saturday when Miami got the ball back down by five points with 1:52 to play. On second down, defensive end Romello Height strained to get to Miami quarterback Cam Ward, sacked the Heisman Trophy candidate and stripped the ball in the process, a ball that defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg fell on at the Miami 17.

“I watched a war movie last night,” van den Berg said. “I was digging in the trenches for the ball.”

Miami also was 3-of-10 on third downs and 1-of-4 on fourth downs.

MASH unit

Injuries continued to mount for Tech before and during the victory over Miami.

Cornerback Warren Burrell did not play Saturday, while running backs Jamal Haynes and Chad Alexander both left the game with injuries, and linebacker Kyle Efford also exited late with an apparent injury.

The good news for the Jackets is they have another weekend off to recover before hosting North Carolina State (5-4, 2-3 ACC) on Nov. 21.