Georgia Tech Football: Deshaun Watson goes Down, Tech takes Advantage, Wins 28-6

It's only appropriate that on the way back from the stadium following Tech's 28-6 victory over Clemson, I heard Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On." Tech rambled on during Senior Day.

"It was huge," LB Quayshawn Nealy said. "It was Senior Day, a lot of emotion. I will always remember this."

Coming out of half time, Tech received the opening kickoff. Justin Thomas started the drive off in a fashionable way, running for 65 yards. A few plays later, Thomas found Deandre Smelter for a five-yard touchdown score, extending Tech's lead to 16-3.

On the first play of the ensuing drive, Cole Stoudt dropped back to pass, and threw an interception to DJ White, which seemed to put the final nail in the coffin after Tech drove down the field to score another field goal.

If that's not where the final nail was hammered in, Tech's next interception was. On a third-and-nine play from the GT 49, Stoudt dropped back to pass, but this time threw it to Chris Milton, who was able to return it 62 yards for a touchdown, making it a 25-6 game.

"We always think we can go out there and win every game," Milton said.

Tech would add on a final field goal.

"This team is resilient," Coach Paul Johnson said. "Most of the year, the offense carried the team, today it was the defense."

Paul Davis led the way with 13 tackles with Quayshawn Nealy right behind him with 10. Both of them notched 0.5 sacks. All this in a successful defensive effort, which limited a potentially dangerous Clemson offense to 190 total yards and six points.

"When [Deshaun] Watson went out, it enabled us," Johnson said. "We got good pressure with four too. It allowed the secondary to make some good plays."

"I was very confident in our defense," CB DJ White said, "but six points, that wasn't something I expected."

Deandre Smelter was the main playmaker on offense for the Jackets. He finished the day with five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown. Justin Thomas, Synjyn Days and Broderick Snoddy combined to give the Jackets the majority of their rushing yards, in large part to big runs by Thomas (65 yards) and Snoddy (46 yards).

Perhaps the most interesting about this game was the fact that Tech's defense outscored both offenses today. Tech's defense put 12 points on the board. The offense put up seven points, while Harrison Butker hit three field goals in four tries, which should be a huge confidence-booster for him.

This is the fifth consecutive that Tech has beaten Clemson in Atlanta. This is also the first game Tech has played in where they did not score on a rushing touchdown since 12 BYU and the first time they've done so and won since 10 Wake Forest.

Tech will have a bye week before coming back in two weeks to travel to Athens to take on the dwags.

"It's a good time to rest," Nealy said. "It'll give us a good time to get an upper hand on georgia."