Atlanta, GA- Despite a hard-fought game, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets fall to the Pittsburgh Panthers 20-10 at Bobby Dodd Stadium to fall to 2-6 on the season.
Taking the field for the first since their upset win over the Hurricanes at Miami two weeks ago, the Yellow Jackets showed great fight throughout the game against a solid Pittsburgh team.
The game looked like it could get out of hand early, with the Panthers taking a quick 10-0 lead in the first quarter after a 61-yard touchdown by running back A.J. Davis. The Georgia Tech defense would find a way to rebound, keeping the deficit at ten until the Yellow Jacket offense was able to find an answer in the second quarter following a Pittsburgh fumble.
In what was eventually the offensive play of the game for the Jackets, quarterback James Graham took one of several deep shots down the field in the game, finding a streaking Ahmarean Brown wide open for a 51-yard touchdown to cut the score to 10-7.
Pittsburgh would immediately answer, however, as quarterback Kenny Pickett would lead a drive down the field, capped by a 21-yard strike to receiver Shocky Jacques-Louis to take a 17-7 lead at the half.
Both teams would add just a field goal in the second half to give us our final score as both defenses stepped up in a major way. Unfortunately, Georgia Tech’s offense just couldn’t mount enough in this one as the Tech defense played possibly their best game of the year in the losing effort.
Totaling just 194-yards of offense in the game, the big drive to get back into the game just never came for Tech as the defense allowed just 61-yards in the second half while creating three turnovers in the game.
James Graham completed just three of his 13 passing attempts for 57-yards with the touchdown. The junior quarterback also had two costly turnovers with an interception late in the fourth quarter immediately after a missed Pittsburgh field goal. Graham also fumbled at the one-yard line, a crippling play that was returned 71-yards to the opposite side of the field and set up the field goal to push the lead back to ten for the Panthers.
While the offense struggled, Tech’s defense delivered arguably their best performance under new head coach Geoff Collins. Often put in difficult situations, tough field position and having to immediately return to the field after making a stop, the Yellow Jackets answered the call almost every time.
Creating three turnovers, blocking a punt, and creating two missed field goals, the Georgia Tech defense bent but didn’t break tonight when they very well could have. Pittsburgh won the possession battle by controlling the ball for over 35 minutes. Many teams would have worn out at some point, but not tonight as the Jackets just kept coming.
The play of the game for the defense was an early one, as Juanyeh Thomas came up with an incredibly athletic one-handed interception, cutting off a pass from Pittsburgh quarterback Pickett to make a great play. Thomas was all over the field today with eight total tackles and two tackles for loss. The sophomore has great potential to be one of the key players for this Georgia Tech team as they continue to improve under coach Collins.
Overall, the loss stings for Tech fans. The offense continues to be a work in progress as the system changes from the triple-option attack to a more modern spread-like system. The Yellow Jacket defense continues to impress and keep them in games, however, and if they can find something to click and put points on the board, Georgia Tech may be able to pull off another upset before the season is over.
Next up for the Yellow Jackets is a road trip up to Charlottesville to take on Virginia, in what could be a tough defensive battle between two struggling offenses.
Georgia Tech and UVA kickoff next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. from Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Written by Brian Pohl
