Tech runs through #17 UNC for a 46-42 comeback win

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech moved to 4-0 against ACC ranked teams under head coach Brent Key taking down North Carolina 46-42 after trailing 35-24 in the fourth quarter.

With Paul Johnson in the house being honored for his College Football Hall of Fame induction the Jackets ran for 348 yards on 48 carries racking up 635 yards of offense overall. The Jackets ran for 246 yards in the fourth quarter alone.

Key said that the team executed the plan to play four quarters as individual games within the game.

“It was a good win tonight and good for our guys to get it and we got a turnover at a key time. David Shanahan putting that ball deep was big and it was a credit to all the three phases. What a helluva win! That was awesome,” Key said. “It was awesome to see our team play like they are capable of playing, establishing identity and we have to make that same decision tomorrow when we go in. How will that game define us and we want to be a consistent winning football team and it showed what we are capable of as a winning football program. We challenged them to play four quarters and at the end of the third quarter they said we got 15 minutes and let’s go win that quarter. I thought they established an identity. It was a great job by Geep Wade and Buster to create a run plan for us tonight. The run game takes pressure off the quarterback and it allows the offense to flow. We controlled the line of scrimmage. We continued to build upon the momentum. It was good to see Dontae get out there and reestablish himself again. I’m proud of the whole team and the coaching staff. UNC is a good football team and they have an explosive offense with a good quarterback and are a good team.”

Key has improved to 4-0 against ranked teams in ACC play now as the head coach of the Jackets and 2-0 this season.

“There is a little bit of an underdog mentality at Georgia Tech actually, there is a whole lot of that at Georgia Tech. We want to figure things out and find ways to get it done. I don’t have an answer as to why, but I’m glad they’ve got that grit internally to move forward and we have to continue to move that forward,” Key said.

Dontae Smith who has seen limited action ran for 178 yards on 22 carries with a touchdown including a 70-yard touchdown run.

“It was very satisfying I put in the work regardless of if I got the carries or not and eventually something is going to happen. If you let it get to you nothing will come from it and today good things came from it,” Smith said.

The long touchdown came on a play that Smith has enjoyed during his tenure as a Jacket under multiple offensive coordinators.

“That was a bread-and-butter play and a long run on that against WCU and I’m good at reading it and the O-line does a good job of blocking it and I kind of got chased down and that didn’t look too good, but anyone could’ve run through that hole the O-line made,” Smith said.

Smith shared a moment with Coach Key after the game. The two had spoken of Smith’s need to step up this week and carry a bigger load in the running game.

“It was a touching moment with coach Key, I didn’t see him at first and it was just like him telling me, he had told me all week it is time to play. For me to execute it and for him to see it, he knows how hard I worked and sometimes things happen and it is how you bounce back and it was a really special moment for both of us.

Injuries derailed his 2022 season and slowed Smith out of the gate this year before he finally had his big moment against UNC.

“We will keep that in-house,” Key said of Smith’s limited role until the UNC game. “But it was good to see him do what he is capable of doing. It wasn’t discipline, he earned his job out there tonight and I’m very proud of him. I had a long emotional talk with him after the game walking off.”

Jamal Haynes added 80 yards rushing on 14 carries with another touchdown as well. However, Haynes was in street clothes during the fourth quarter of the game and Key advised the media he was unsure of his status and wouldn’t have an update on Haynes until Tuesday.

The Jackets racked up 256 yards rushing in the second half averaging 10.7 yards per carry.

Quarterback Haynes King was very effective after two off games in a row for the Jackets. King passed for 287 yards with four touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for 90 yards on eight carries and it was the second game in a row where King was not sacked.

King was less impressed with his performance.

“It was a B-plus, I had seven incompletions and one pick. Obviously, I can play better, but that is what makes the great ones great, there are always areas of improvement,” King said.

After missing a game, freshman wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. had eight catches for 117 yards including a 43-yard pass.

“Really it was everything I dreamed of. Last week I was out and this week I let it loose,” Singleton said.

Three of the biggest plays came from the smallest receiver on the field, Malik Rutherford who hauled in six passes for 83 yards including a 42-yard touchdown and a 14-yard touchdown both in the first half. Rutherford also caught the two-point conversion that made it a three-point game early in the fourth quarter.

Backup tight end Brett Seither hauled in two touchdowns including the go-ahead score with 4:28 left in the game on a five-yard pass where he was pushed out of bounds by a UNC defender and the touchdown was upheld on review after it was clear he was forced out of bounds and reentered the end zone legally.

“I knew my left foot was in, I knew I was pushed out of bounds so I was a little worried about that,” Seither said of his second touchdown.

All the players were equally excited about the crowd which was the loudest of the year.

“Shout out to our fans they showed up definitely,” Singleton said.

Key was equally pleased with the first really lively home game of his era.

“It was awesome, Bobby Dodd Stadium was rocking, the music, the lights on and off, the fans going. It was electric, I will challenge more people to come. I know what this place is like when it is rocking and whether it is 12 o’clock, 2 o'clock or 8 o’clock. We've got to have that same atmosphere and same energy every time we run on that field," Key said. "Tonight we had somebody tried to come in our home and take what's ours and we defended our home. We treated this as our home. This is our home."

Defensively it was a struggle and North Carolina led by Drake Maye was not a great matchup for the Jackets who struggle to stop running quarterbacks and to stop the run.

Omarion Hampton ran for 153 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns while his backup British Brooks added eight carries for 56 yards and another touchdown but the Heels ran for just 15 yards in the fourth quarter on six carries.

Maye was as good as advertised throwing for 310 yards on 17/25 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Maye also ran for 58 yards and a touchdown as well.

Tez Walker caught three passes for 76 yards but had the key fumble late that ended the Heels final threat to take the lead. Cornerback Ahmari Harvey popped Walker in the strike zone and he fumbled the ball and nickel K.J. Wallace pounced on the ball.

“We were in a zone and I saw Drake Maye scramble out and he can throw to any spot on the field and I followed #9 and I put all 180 of my pounds into him,” Harvey said of his forced fumble.

Tight end Bryson Nesbit caught three passes for 89 yards and a touchdown and backup receiver Tychaun Chapman caught a 35-yard touchdown pass.

Former Yellow Jacket Nate McCollum was booed loudly in his return to the Flats after transferring in the offseason and he had one catch on three targets for two yards.

Tech’s three safeties LaMiles Brooks, Jaylon King and Clayton Powell-Lee combined for 25 tackles to finish as the top three tacklers in the game.

D’Quan Douse had a sack as did Kyle Kennard in the game. Trenilyas Tatum had a key tackle for a loss that led to a missed 39-yard field goal by Noah Burnette.

UNC won the toss and deferred. The opening kickoff was a touchback. Tech opened in a power set and picked up nine yards on a pass to Dylan Leonard. Jamal Haynes picked up the first down on the next play to the GT37. King ran for two yards on first down on a scramble, ran for no yards scrambling on second down, and threw away the third down pass intended for Haynes leading to a punt by David Shanahan of 37 yards.

Omarion Hampton picked up 10 yards and 14 yards on his first two carries to midfield. A few plays later Maye hit J.J. Jones for 17 yards to the GT28 and Hampton ran two more times to the GT11. Kyle Efford and Zeek Biggers stopped Hampton for one yard on first down. An illegal forward pass by Maye backed up the Heels to the GT14 on third down, but Maye hit tight end Bryson Nesbit for a 14-yard touchdown making it 7-0 UNC with 9:31 left in the first quarter.

After a touchback, King misfired on first down aiming for Leonard on a scramble to his left. Haynes picked up three yards on second down to set up third and 7 at the GT28. King hit Malik Rutherford for 11 yards on first down. Joe Fusile was called for a hold on the next play to back the Jackets back up to their own 28. Trey Cooley picked up five yards on first down to the GT33. King hit Christian Leary for seven yards to the GT40 and then Cooley to the GT46. Key opted to go for it and Jamal Haynes was stuffed short of the first down marker for a turnover on downs.

Starting on the short field at the GT46, Hampton picked up seven yards on first down. Nate McCollum picked up two yards on a pop pass and then British Brooks picked up the first down at the GT28. Maye hit J.J. Jones for six yards on the screen and then scrambled for a first down at the GT17. Hampton spun out of a Zeek Biggers TFL and scored a 17-yard touchdown to make it 14-0 UNC with 4:30 left in the first quarter.

Following the touchback, Haynes King scrambled for a first down to the GT35 on a 10-yard run. On second down, Rutherford picked up 10 yards on second and nine to move the sticks to the GT46. Dontae Smith picked up four yards on his first carry of the day. Smith on a jet-sweep picked up 11 yards to the UNC39 on the next play. Haynes ran for four yards on the next play to the UNC35. Rutherford hauled in a third down pass for three yards to set up fourth and three at the UNC32. King’s pass to Rutherford was broken up by Marcus Allen as King was flushed by the UNC pass rush.

Hampton picked up four yards on first down to the UNC36 to end the first quarter. A false start wiped out those yards and Hampton was stuffed for no gain on second down. A hold wiped out a long pass to Nesbit and Hampton only picked up a few yards on third and 19 to force a punt. The Heels had a false start on the punt to back them up to the UNC26. The punt went 44 yards and Blaylock fair caught it at the GT31.

Cooley picked up three yards on first down. King hit Eric Singleton for 16 yards on the next play to midfield. A pair of screens to Singleton picked up eight yards and on third down Rutherford hauled in a 42-yard touchdown to make it 14-7 UNC with 11:32 to go in the half.

Gavin Stewart hit a touchback on the kickoff. After a short run on first down, Maye hit Nesbit for a 46-yard gain to the GT25. Maye overthrew an open John Copenhaver in the end zone on second and give at the GT20, but Brooks picked up the first down to the GT7. Brooks punched it in on the next play to make it 21-7 UNC with 9:24 left in the half.

The kickoff was a touchback by UNC. King ran for 14 yards on first down. Haynes picked up three yards on a swing pass from King. A pass interference on a deep shot for Singleton moved the ball to the UNC43. A 34-yard touchdown run by Dontae Smith was wiped out by a phantom false start call by the refs. Smith picked up three yards on the next play to set up fourth and two at the UNC35. Key burned his first timeout of the half. King hit Brett Seither for a 35-yard touchdown from an unbalanced look to make it a one-score game again 21-14 with 6:53 left in the first half.

Stewart squib kicked and it was returned to the UNC28. Horace Lockett bottled up Hampton on first down, Myles Sims broke up a deep shot on second down and Nesbit dropped the third down pass that was nearly a fumble to force a punt. Tyson Meiguez nearly blocked the punt and it rolled by returner Dominick Blaylock to the GT14.

Dontae Smith lost a yard on first down. Smith lost a yard on first down and then Singleton picked up six on second down on a screen. King connected with Singleton on third and medium for a 43-yards and then Smith ran two times down to the UNC21. Rutherford picked up a few yards on the screen and then scored on the next play on third and three from 14 yards out to tie the game at 21.

After a Stewart touchback, Hampton picked up three yards on first down for the Heels to the UNC28. Tez Walker hauled in his first catch of the day for a first down at the UNC36. On third and four Maye scrambled for a first down to the 50. Walker picked up 32 on the next play to the GT18. Maye scrambled for a first down on the next play to the GT7. A penalty for a substitution infraction set up UNC at the 4 and Hampton scored to make it 28-21 UNC with 45 seconds left in the half.

Following the touchback Haynes picked up 9 yards on first down to the GT34. Haynes converted on the next play and then King hit Singleton to the UNC44 and then down to the UNC32. UNC took a defensive timeout with 16 seconds left. King scrambled for three yards on the next play out of bounds. King hit Singleton again for 12 yards to the UNC17. After a timeout, King moved the ball to the left hash for Aidan Birr who hit a 40-yard field goal to make it 28-24 at the half UNC.

After a touchback to open the second half, Tech forced a third and long at the UNC29 after two plays to Hampton for four yards on a run and pass. Kyle Kennard sacked Maye on third down to force a punt. Tech receiver Abdul Janneh blocked the UNC punt and it was recovered at the UNC40.

King tried to take a shot on first down and the ball was intercepted by Don Chapman at the UNC15.

Hampton picked up five yards on first down, but UNC had a false start on second down to move them back to the 15. Kyle Kennard batted a pass for Nate McCollum to set up third and long and Maye scrambled for 14 yards to the UNC29. Hampton ran three straight times to the UNC41. D’Quan Douse sacked Maye on the next play. A hold on the next play backed UNC up to the 30 for 2nd and 21. Brooks picked up three yards to set up third and 18 at the UNC33. Hampton picked up 29 yards on a shovel pass on the next play to the GT38. Hampton picked up a third and short to the GT19. Maye scored two plays later on a 16-yard scramble to make it 34-24 UNC with 6:03 left in the third quarter.

After a touchback, Tech started at their own 25. Haynes picked up six yards on first down on the ground and then four yards for a first down. Chase Lane caught a screen for no yards, King missed to Leonard on second down and then overshot Singleton in double coverage on third down to force a punt. Shanahan’s punt went 61 yards in the air and was downed at the UNC4.

Maye overthrew Walker on first down, Hampton picked up nine on the next play to set up third and short and Brooks converted to the UNC20. Brooks picked up nine yards on second down after a miss fire on first down and Hampton converted to the UNC31. After a pair of runs to the UNC38, the Heels had third and three and finally stuffed the Heels to force a punt. Braelen Oliver had the stop. A 50-yard punt put Tech at their own 12.

Dontae Smith carried the ball twice for 12 yards to the GT24 and then picked up nine yards on the next play to the GT33. Smith ran two more times to the GT39 and then Leary hauled in a screen for 14 yards followed by a 29-yard run by Haynes to the UNC18. Haynes picked up eight yards, six yards and then carried multiple UNC defenders into the end zone for the touchdown. Tech converted the two-point conversion on a pass from King to Rutherford to make it UNC 35-32 with 12:02 to go.

The squib kick was returned 52 yards to the GT37. Maye hit Doc Chapman for a 35-yard touchdown on play later to make it 42-32 UNC with 11:13 left.

Following the touchback on the kickoff, Tech started the drive at their own 25. Smith picked up five yards on first down and then broke off a 70-yard touchdown to make it 42-39 UNC after the PAT with 10:40 left in the game.

Maye after a touchback hit Jones for 16 yards on first down. A play later Maye hit Nesbit for 29 yards to the GT24. Brooks and Hampton combined for one yard on two carries to set up third and nine. Tatum forced Maye out of bounds to force a 39-yard field goal that was missed.

King ran for 52 yards on first down to the UNC28. Smith picked up 11 on the next play to the UNC17. Smith picked up 14 yards on the next play to set up first and goal at the UNC3. Smith picked up two yards and then lost three to make it third and goal at the UNC5. Seither hauled on a five-yard touchdown to make it 46-42 with the PAT.

After a touchback, UNC had the ball at their own 25 with 4:28 left. Maye hit Copenhaver for 22 yards on first down to the UNC47. Hampton picked up three yards on second down after a GT pass breakup by K.J. Wallace. A hold on the next play that prevented a sack backed the Heels up to their own 40 to make it third and 17. Tez Walker hauled in a first down pass for a 36-yard gain, but Ahmari Harvey’s hard hit forced a fumble and K.J. Wallace recovered the fumble at the GT24 with 2:54 left.

Smith picked up three yards on first down and Mack Brown burned his first timeout. King picked up six yards on second down to the GT33. Smith picked up the first down on the next play with a three-yard run. Smith picked up four yards on first down. Smith ran for four yards on first down and King picked up three more on second down to bring up 3rd and 3 with UNC out of timeouts. Key burned the clock down to 1:05 and called his first timeout. Tech was able to kneel the ball and take home another win against UNC.