Tech hands Duke their first loss and moves to 4-2
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Coming off a much needed bye week, Georgia Tech claimed their 4th win of the season (2-2 ACC) after beating Duke 24-14 behind a 128 yard and 1 TD game from Jamal Haynes who was fully healthy for the first time in a couple of games.
“I just needed to get that mojo back. I’m back baby!” Haynes said in the postgame presser.
Tech for the most part played the kind of game they wanted to play, rushing for 245 yards with no turnovers and going 3-3 on fourth down conversions while running 29 more offensive plays than Duke did in only nine real drives.
Tech got things rolling well with a first possession touchdown which included two catches by Malik Rutherford to get first downs, a tush push first down by backup QB Zach Pyron, and then he followed up with a 2 yard touchdown run from the goal line to make it 7-0.
Duke’s only two first quarter drives resulted in punts. Tech’s third drive went into the second quarter with another goal to go situation after Tech converted a fourth down tush push to keep the drive alive. On 2nd & goal, QB Haynes King threw to Haynes a little hard in the flat for an incompletion, and on third down completely missed a wide open Chase Lane, resulting in an Aidan Birr field goal to make it 10-0.
Duke managed to get into Tech territory on their next drive with two third down conversions, but were stopped by a JJ van der Berg sack that kept the Blue Devils out of field goal range.
After Tech went three and out, Duke’s next drive was the most infuriating of the night for Tech. The Jackets had forced a three and out with Duke lined up to punt after the two minute warning, but a defensive delay of game on Tech turned a 4th & 8 into a 4th & 3, causing Duke to go for it instead and converting on a Star Thomas run. Three plays later, a total phantom defensive pass interference was called on Tech despite our defender cleraly playing the ball and not the receiver, which they followed up with a 20 yard Maalik Murphy touchdown run to make it 10-7 going into the half, setting up a double possession opportunity for Duke.
“At halftime, I challenged the guys that it was going to be a second half game. That’s what they did. I though we started to wear [Duke] down a little bit and started cracking,” said head coach Brent Key after the game.
He was right. Duke again was driving midway through the third quarter and on 4th & inches from the 10 yard line, Thomas looked to slip behind the line of scrimmage and got tackled by Trenilyas Tatum to force the turnover.
It was a mere hiccup in Duke’s third quarter play, as after Tech went three and out, Murphy hit Sahmir Hagans for a 65 yard catch and run to give Duke at 14-10 lead with three minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
Tech’s next drive that started the 4th quarter was much more like the Tech football we know. Chad Alexander played a big role with a 17 and six yard run to put Tech in plus territory, but after two short gains had Tech in a 4th & 3 situation just outside of Aidan Birr’s range. Rutherford came up clutch with a seven yard catch to keep the drive alive, and another Rutherford 11 catch put Tech in the redzone before a three yard Jamal Haynes touchdown pass put Tech ahead 17-14.
The defense came in clutch on the next drive forcing a clutch three and out, giving Tech the ball with nine minutes left and a chance to go up two scores. A couple of penalties including a roughing the passer on a third down incompletion kept Tech alive before Alexander hit a 22 yard run them in the redzone which Eric Singleton Jr. capped with a nine yard catch and run touchdown, putting Tech in a much safer spot up 24-14 with 6:37 left.
Duke did put together an okay drive, including a remarkable one handed grab off the ground by Jordan Moore to put Duke in field goal range. A couple of Star Thomas runs were ineffective before a third down incompletion forced Duke’s first field goal attempt of the game which was pushed wide right from 43 yards out with 3:58 remaining
Tech successfully got the first downs necessary to burn Duke’s timeouts and eventually punted with 18 seconds left. Duke’s final play resulted in Ahmari Harvey’s first interception of the season on a desperation heave by Murphy.
Takeaways
The downfield passing wasn’t there tonight with multiple looks turning into checkdowns or incompletions by Haynes King. Up until late in the game King actually had negative EPA/play between the passing game not doing all that much and his rushing not resulting in the big gains we’ve seen the last few weeks. That said, when we needed clutch passes in th second half, King delivered.
Key and Ahmari Harvey noted this in the press conference, but the defensive aggression looked better tonight, notably in the secondary. Tech nearly had multiple interceptions throughout the night and were able to create good pressure on the defensive line to force Murphy into some uncomfortable throws. It’s not going to show up on the statsheet, but after we got burned badly by Syracuse and Louisville, this was a better showing.
And Jamal Haynes! A fully healthy Haynes is a wonderful thing. He looked so much faster and was making the kinds of cuts we are used to seeing. Getting him back to usual form helped Tech get the north to south game back into a groove, which allowed the screen game to become more lethal with our options expanding. While Key did mention they want to be more efficient on the drives they have (only scored on four of nine full drives), we got big plays by Haynes when we needed them.
Notes via Georgia Tech
- Georgia Tech moved to 11-1 in games that have immediately followed a defeat under head coach Brent Key.
- Georgia Tech allowed less than 100 rushing yards for the third-straight game, limiting Duke to just 74 yards on the ground. It marks the first time that Georgia Tech has surrendered less than 100 rushing yards in three-straight games since Oct. 19-Nov. 2, 2013 (Syracuse – 75 yds., at Virginia – 68, Pitt – minus-5).
- WR Malik Rutherford set a career high with eight receptions (prev.: 7, which he achieved three times in the last four games, including on Sept. 21 at Louisville).
- Georgia Tech moved to 55-35-1 all-time versus Duke, including a 32-14-1 record versus the Blue Devils at home.
Next week…well…we know who we play. Tech @ UNC, October 12, 12 p.m., The CW.