Georgia Tech avoids huge Georgia Southern upset on last-second touchdown pass
Justin Thomas and Deon Hill connected on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter against Georgia Southern Saturday to avoid a huge upset and give the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets their third win of the season.
It was entirely too close of a game for the Jackets though, as the Golden Eagles were leading 38-35 for the majority of the fourth quarter after an 11-yard touchdown run from Alfred Ramsey and a converted two-point attempt around the 10 minute mark.
Thomas’ TD pass to Hill solidified the 42-38 victory, but when the Jackets have to come up with a last-second play to grab a win against Georgia Southern–something went wrong.
The biggest thing has to be the complete collapse of the defense after coming back on the field in the third quarter. After ending the second with a confident 35-10 lead, the Jackets let Georgia Southern score 28 points, climb back in the driver’s seat and almost put the game away.
Justin Thomas was the saving grace for the Jackets in this one, throwing four passing touchdowns and running for one as well. He completed just 11 of 24 attempts through the air, but racked up 188 passing yards and added 137 yards on the ground after getting a team-high 20 carries.
Zach Laskey continues to be the main guy in the rushing game not named Thomas. He had 17 carries and put up a respectable 80 yards on the day.
Meanwhile, Georgia Southern’s offense did some work through the air and on the ground to put an insane amount of pressure on this Yellow Jacket team. The Golden Eagles totaled 528 yards (245 passing, 283 rushing) which was just eight yards shy of the number Tech put up.
The Golden Eagles definitely have a history this season of putting up impressive offensive displays, but coming into this game many wondered whether that was because of the competition that they were playing. At this point though, Georgia Southern has taken two ACC teams to the wire, but managed to come up short both times.
For Tech, it’s great to see that Thomas can make an impact through the air and with his legs–and most people should be thrilled to see the Jackets come away with a win on a last minute drive down the field in the fourth quarter. At the same time, it’s been tough to really gauge how good this defensive unit is. Today was clearly their worst performance and if the Jackets hope to keep their winning streak alive next week against Virginia Tech–they are going to have to be much, much better.