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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Fall at Home to Pitt 31-28, Lose 5th Straight Game

By Jonathan Savitske

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The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets came into Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh with a very small margin of error for the rest of the season.

That margin just got even smaller, as Georgia Tech dropped its fifth consecutive game, this time to Pitt at home, by a final score of 31-28. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets played better on Saturday than they have for the past month, but still, too many mistakes and a porous defense allowed Pitt to constantly answer, and gave Pitt kicker Chris Blewitt the chance to make a 56 yard field goal with only 1:11 left in the fourth quarter in a tie game.

-= Related: Georgia Tech Hosts Pitt at Bobby Dodd Stadium =-

Blewitt’s kick went through the uprights, and without any timeouts, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were again doomed, keeping their 5 game losing streak alive. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets offense regained their form on the ground Saturday, as True Freshman B-back Marcus Marshall ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries, averaging 15.9 yards per carry. After not seeing much playing time before last week’s game at Clemson, Head Coach Paul Johnson turned to the freshman to catalyze an offense stuck in neutral — and for the most part, paid off.

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QB Justin Thomas also had a good game, rushing for 95 yards and 2 touchdowns while also passing for 106 yards and a score. A-back Clinton Lynch added 67 yards on the ground, while B-back Patrick Skov also recorded a touchdown run. Despite a good offensive game all around by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who recorded 482 yards of total offense on Saturday, their defense was unable to slow down Pitt QB Nathan Peterman, who threw for 162 yards and 3 TD’s.

The Pittsburgh Panthers constantly answered the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on offense, going tit for tat on touchdown plays the entire game. This was a tightly contested game, with both teams making key stops and getting key scores. Pittsburgh Freshman RB Qadree Ollison, James Conner’s replacement, ran for 83 yards and a touchdown in support of Peterman.

Pittsburgh leaves Atlanta with a 5-1 record and is 3-0 in the ACC — a serious contender for the ACC Coastal Division Crown. Now at 2-5 and 0-4 in the ACC, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets quest for a second consecutive Coastal Division title is over — barring an absolute miracle and a lot of luck.

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Head Coach Paul Johnson praised the Pittsburgh defense after the game: “We’ve played good defenses and they came in ranked No. 6. At least you could recognize the offense again…execute better”. To echo CPJ’s words, the Jackets offense looked good today, and played well against a top ranked defense. The game came down to one play, and Georgia Tech was unable to make a stop.

More important than its 5 game losing streak is the prospect that the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets may now miss out on a 19th straight bowl appearance, one of the longest streaks of its kind in the country. The Ramblin’ Wreck has another big game next week, as they host the Florida State Seminoles.

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