The Yellow Jackets Ride a Clean Game To Victory!

Georgia Tech and Louisville matched up evenly after both had several weeks of similar struggles holding on to the ball. Louisville couldn’t make the corrections that Georgia Tech did and it proved to be the boost that Tech needed to get back into the win column.

Louisville started strong on the ground with Hawkins but stalled on the Tech side of the field after a blown opportunity when TE Pfeifer dropped the ball after running free from the line. Tech would force a fumble and recover on third down.

Sims would begin the Tech drive with a nice run to the right side but missed two open receivers on the next set of downs. One which was a deep throw to Jalen Camp down the sideline. Tech would line up for a punt but opted for a fake that was converted for a first down. Sims would connect with an open Brown who would shimmy away from two tacklers to about the 10. Gibbs would finish off the drive with a dive up the middle for a touchdown.

Louisville would be stopped quickly on the next drive after a decent run by Hawkins into Tech territory. They would commit a delay of game to knock them out of field goal range and would instead down a punt inside Tech’s ten-yard line. The Tech offense would go three and out after the run plays. Harvin delivered a punt to the Louisville 40 but poor tackling set Louisville up on the Tech 45. They would capitalize on that opportunity with a 3-yard pass to Ford for a touchdown.

The start of the second saw another Tech drive stall after a tackle for loss and a missed pass by Sims. Louisville would start from their 20 and should have been stopped on the first set of downs but Tech blew containment in the middle and Cunningham ran for a first down. They would get a couple of deep passes that would set up a 4th and goal where Cunningham would roll out and take it into the end zone for Louisville to go up 14-7.

More inconsistency in the passing game for Sims on the next drive as he made a couple of nice passes to Camp but missed a wide-open Brown and underthrew Carter later on.

Georgia Tech stiffened up on defense against designed runs but couldn’t contain Cunningham on several third and longs. Cunningham then hit TuTu Atwell on back-to-back plays to convert a 4th down and then a touchdown, a 26-yard streak down the middle that no one from Tech covered.

Down 21-7 Tech had just over a minute to make to shrink the lead and Gibbs took a screen 41 yards to ignite a hurry-up drive that was capped by a truck play where Brown took a reverse from Sims and passed to Camp for a touchdown. Tech had taken the momentum back going into halftime trailing 21-14.

Coming out of the half both Tech and Louisville failed to get anything going on their first drives. Tech followed with an efficient drive that saw Adonicas Sander take a pass 33 yards down the sideline that drew a targeting call against Louisville. Griffin would punch it in a few plays later but a blocked XP would leave Tech down by one.

They wouldn’t remain down long as Louisville would fumble the ensuing kickoff to set up a Sims touchdown when Louisville left the middle open for him to run it in.

Louisville would end the third quarter on a long methodical drive that saw penalties by both teams. Louisville had a fumble into the end zone reviewed but was deemed not a fumble. However, a holding call negated the play and another hold back them up 20 yards. Tech would allow Cunningham to pick up a portion back on a scramble play and then assist with an offsides. On third down, Cunningham would run it in from 11 yards out. Louisville would lead 27-26.

Tech failed to produce points on the next drive after driving into Louisville territory but managed to produce another turnover on Louisville’s next drive by Domineck forcing a fumble on Hawkins and recovering.

The Tech offense got in foul trouble and faced a third and 19 from the goal but Sims found Gibbs over the middle who dove over two defenders to take the lead back at 32-27.

Tech needed to get Louisville off the field one more time but let Louisville convert on a third and long with a 27-yard run. They got the stop on the next set of downs as they forced Cunningham into a few bad passes.

Tech had just shy of 6 minutes to hold the lead. They ran the ball with success and that opened Malachi Carter downfield who shrugged off a tackler to score the touch down that would end Louisville’s hopes.

Tech would force Louisville to a turnover on downs in the red zone and tacked on another score by Dontea Smith for good measure. Georgia Tech would win with a final of 46-27.

Sims had a few missed passes today but otherwise, the offense took care of the ball with no turnovers and very few penalties. It is the highest-scoring game in Collins’s tenure with the Yellow Jackets and should be a good building block for the coming weeks. The defense still needs to work on its third down stops but came up with key turnovers to limit an explosive Louisville offense.

Clemson will be coming to town next week so Georgia Tech will need another clean performance and a little luck to take down Trevor Lawrence and crew.

Go Jackets!