On the arm and mettle of a quarterback in his first year as starter, by the foot of a kicker who had previously mishit a seeming gimme off the upright and with the aid of a defense that had been kicked around for 30 minutes before it pushed back, Georgia Tech finally quieted the roar of Lane Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets, who have met a series of crushing defeats both in Virginia Tech’s stadium and in the series generally, did the unlikely Saturday, overcoming their mistakes and the Hokies to claim a 27-24 win Saturday in both teams’ ACC opener.
“I was almost in tears, just because I’ve wanted this game so bad for the past four years,” B-back Zach Laskey said, “and to finally get it in Blacksburg, it was real special.”
A week ago, Georgia Tech (4-0 overall, 1-0 ACC) nearly lost to Georgia Southern, rescued by a call overturned by video replay and the subsequent last-minute touchdown drive. Saturday, the Jackets summoned the same theatrics to beat Virginia Tech (2-2, 0-1) for the first time since 2009 and the first time in Blacksburg since 2006, erasing fourth-quarter deficits of six and seven points with a series of clutch plays.
Quarterback Justin Thomas led the revival, converting a fourth-and-15 from midfield with 2 ½ minutes to play with a 19-yard strike to wide receiver DeAndre Smelter and then finding him again two plays later for a 31-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 24.
After starting the game 3-for-11 for 42 yards in a game in which the Jackets placed high value on converting big plays in the passing game, Thomas was four for seven for 83 yards and a touchdown in the final two drives. Smelter, who had to that point had one catch, made all four receptions.
“I can’t say good enough things about him,” coach Paul Johnson said of Thomas. “He’s a gamer. Did he play perfectly? No, but he makes plays. He’s not afraid of the moment.”
The penultimate drive began with the Jackets trailing 24-17 with 5:21 to play. The previous four possessions had produced no points, and only one had achieved a first down. Thomas, calling upon the end-game magic that resulted in the game-winning drive against Georgia Southern last Saturday, drove the Jackets 67 yards, completing it with the 31-yard touchdown pass to Smelter.
The game-winning drive got its start when cornerback D.J. White dropped into zone coverage and made a leaping interception of quarterback Michael Brewer on the first play of the next drive, his final play of a superior afternoon. Kicker Harrison Butker, who had missed from 30 yards in the third quarter, won the game with a 24-yard field goal as time expired.
White’s interception was the concluding statement from a Georgia Tech defense that had come into the game trying to improve upon a sloppy, unfocused performance against Georgia Southern and then permitted Brewer to complete 17 of 23 passes in the first half against little pass pressure and again tackled poorly.
But, bolstered by a slew of defensive line subs taking snaps to keep the starters fresh, the Jackets sharpened in the second half. After scoring on four of five possessions in the first half, Virginia Tech scored once on seven second-half possessions and was intercepted twice. One was a 41-yard interception return for a touchdown by linebacker Paul Davis, who was the recipient of a gift pick after nose tackle Shawn Green pressured Brewer into lobbing the ball in the middle of the field.
Tech’s defense held Virginia Tech to 127 rushing yards on 33 carries. Notably, after giving up four plays of 60 yards or more in the first three games, the longest Hokies gain Saturday was 31 yards.
“When the game came down to it, the last quarter, I felt like the defense stepped up as a whole,” defensive tackle Adam Gotsis said. “We went three-and-out a bunch of times and then we got that pick to put the game back in our hands.”
Almost lost in the catharsis was the fact that the Jackets took a significant step in their goal of playing for the ACC championship in Charlotte. The Tech-Tech game has typically been a critical one in the Coastal Division race – from 2006 to 2011, the winner went to the title game – and now the Jackets have that game in hand for the first time since 2009.
After not winning with a fourth-quarter comeback since 2010, the Jackets have now done so twice in the past eight days.
“It says they don’t quit,” Johnson said. “They believe. We’d like to not get in that position, but, it’s like I said, I’m proud of them.”
About the Author
