Tech's D brings Mayhem to Sam Howell as Jackets down #21 UNC 45-21

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech football looked to be turning the corner after a close loss at #6 Clemson last week and clearly they are making major strides as Geoff Collins team took down #21 North Carolina 45-22 on Saturday in Mercedes-Benz Stadium for “Mayhem in the Benz”.

It was a true team with the defense recording eight sacks and forcing two fumbles from future NFL first-round pick Sam Howell, Jeff Sims coming off the bench to lead a major comeback for the Jackets offense and kicker Brent Cimaglia nailing a trio of field goals to ice the game.

“It was a great performance by our guys,” Collins said. “I’m really proud of our coaching staff that put together a really good plan for a really good team and our guys executed the plan. We played with a total team effort. We’ve had to undergo a lot of adversity but we were built for nights like this because of what we’ve been through and the way the leadership in our program has continued to build and build. The way they battle, the way they fought, the way they stay positive through adversity, the way they work, they are great guys in our program that go to one of the top academic schools in the country. My hats are off all our players. I truly love that team that is in that locker room, they are awesome.”

Jeff Sims entered the game in the middle of the second quarter for recent starter Jordan Yates with the Jackets trailing 7-6 and he led the Jackets to three scores to put Tech up 27-7 in the third quarter. Sims ended the day with 128 yards rushing on 10 carries with three rushing touchdowns. He added another 112 yards in the air and a long touchdown to Malachi Carter as he guided the Jackets offense with ease against the Tar Heel defense.

“I’m really proud of Jeff, he did have a really good game. The way he battled back from injury to get himself back to 100-percent and the way he supported Jordan Yates every single snap of every single play throughout practice and the games. Jordan was the happiest kid in the world celebrating with Jeff as we sang the fight song.”

Sims exited the Northern Illinois game with a left arm injury after a tough outing for him that helped contribute to an upset loss. Sims said the following weeks were tough for him as he tried to support Yates and heal up to get ready for his chance to play again.

“I’m not going to lie, when I first got hurt in the Northern Illinois game, I was really in a slump mentally for a couple of days. I just talked to my family, blocked outside noise and I was just laying it on God and my family and that really helped me do it and I really just tried to stay positive,” Sims said. “I was supporting Jordan because it is not an easy position to play and Jordan went out there and handled it well, I was just trying to make sure he was in the right headspace during the game and trying to help him out as much as I can to be that positive guy on the team. There is no benefit to me being a pouter and having my head down and so I tried to stay positive and be a leader on the team and support Jordan,” Sims said. “I just knew that my time was going to come and I just told myself to go out there and be you.”

Jahmyr Gibbs scored his first rushing touchdown of the season and had 64 yards rushing on 13 carries while Jordan Mason added 42 yards on eight carries and Dontae Smith had 28 yards on six carries but was robbed of a long touchdown by a bad call by the officials.

Linebacker Charlie Thomas on the defensive side of the ball led the way with 4.5 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery. Tech defenders sacked Howell eight times in the game, forced two fumbles, and hurried him three other times. Kyle Kennard had three TFLs and two sacks in the game and Quez Jackson led all tacklers with 10 tackles, a sack, two TFLs and a fumble recovery. Collins gave a lot of credit to his defensive line coaches for their work developing talent and depth that got the pressure on Howell.

“I thought that Andrew Thacker and our defensive staff called a heck of a game. I thought that Marco Coleman and Larry Knight did a great job. We’ve built this thing just building depth and long athletic guys that we get to roll and stay fresh throughout the game. We had fresh guys at the end because we rolled guys in and out,” Collins said.

The Jackets stayed mostly in the 3-3-5 look they adopted in the Clemson game this week and Jackson said that is part of the identity the team had been looking for, “we actually put it all together for the (win) and we fought and fought in the past and didn’t get it done, but we were able to come out victorious and I feel like we have an identity now.”

“I just feel like we just really found our identity in a way. We play for each other and I feel like we did a great job coming together and really locking in

Howell managed to throw for 306 yards, but the Heels had only 63 yards rushing on 35 carries and Howell was just 25 of 39 passing. His star receiver, Josh Downs had just 53 yards on eight catches and 14 targets by Howell.

“We had to know where Josh Downs was on the field every single play. He is a really good player and I’ve gotten to know him personally and I think very highly of him and everyone on our team knew exactly where he was on the field. Where is Josh? He is at the two, he is at the three and in the backfield or two weak,” Collins said. “Their quarterback is an amazing player too, arguably the top pick in the draft and that offensive line is huge and experienced.”

Cimaglia hit a trio of field goals to keep the Jackets in the game after a few drives stalled out in the red zone hitting field goals from 34, 32 and 31 yards.

David Shanahan’s first punt of the game got blocked and that led to North Carolina’s first points of the game on a 23-yard touchdown run by Sam Howell on a drive that started at the Heels 40-yard line. That made it 7-0 UNC.

Georgia Tech stopped a North Carolina drive in the first quarter with three TFLs leading to a punt and the first Tech positive possession of the game. Jahmyr Gibbs broke off a 29-yard run (longest of the season). Yates his Kalani Norris to set up first and goal at the UNC 10. The Jackets then had a holding call on first down to back it up to first and 20. Gibbs was stopped in the backfield for a four-yard loss. Brent Cimaglia hit a 34-yard field goal to make it 7-3 North Carolina to start the second quarter.

On the next series, Jordan Domineck stripped Howell on a read-option and Quez Jackson scooped the fumble up and returned it to the GT10. Tech had to settle for a field goal after a false start to make it 7-6 UNC.

After the second Tech field goal, Carolina drove deep into Georgia Tech territory on a 36-yard pass from Howell to Antoine Green. Ja’Quon Griffin had a big sack on second down for a 13-yard loss. UNC had a false start on the first field goal try and then missed from 54-yards out. That gave Tech the ball at their own 36. Tech was unable to pick up a first down on the next play.

Tech had UNC stopped on third down and the refs called Ja’Quon Griffin for a late hit on Howell to extend a drive after the punt. Djimon Brooks forced a fumble and Demetrius Knight to the GT17.

“On the play I was able to use great hands, taking the coaching in from the week that we emphasized about attacking the ball and turnovers and I was able to execute and it all came together,” Brooks said.

Jeff Sims came in at quarterback after the fumble. Sims scored on the second play 14-yard run on the QB draw to give Tech the lead.

Tech’s defense responded on the next drive with Charlie Thomas coming up with a tackle for a loss on second down and then combing with Kyle Kennard for a sack of Howell. Tech had 10 tackles for a loss and five sacks in the first half.

Out of the half, the Jackets took over at their 25 after a touchback. Tech picked up a first down on a pair of runs by Dontae Smith. Tech had to punt after Sims couldn’t connect on third down. The Jackets forced a turnover on downs stuffing UNC three plays in a row from their own 41 as Mack Brown rolled the dice. Tech scored on three plays after a 39-yard run and quick snap at the one gave him his second touchdown run of the season. Tech opened up a 20-7 lead on UNC.

North Carolina started their second drive of the second half from their own 25. The Heels got a holding call that led to another three and out for the defense and a punt.

The Jackets put together a drive after the punt with a couple of passes from Sims to slot receiver Nate McCollum and a heads up play by Malachi Carter to catch a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage. Sims hit McGowan after a TV time out for a 28-yd gain to set up first and goal and Gibbs punched it on from four yards out. That gave the Jackets a 27-7 lead over UNC.

The Heels showed some signs of life on the next possession getting out to the GT38 on just two plays. UNC scored on six plays covering 75 yards in just 1:49 of play time.

Tech took over at the 25 after a touchback on the next kickoff. Sims moved the team down to the UNC38 before the third quarter clock ran out. Sims converted a fourth and two at the UNC35 on a pass to McGowan for a few yards and Sims threw a 27-yard TD Malachi Carter on the next play. Carter’s catch was an impressive play where he managed to get the toes of his left shoe in bounds with his whole body drifting out bounds. Tech used “the Philly special” with Peje Harris throwing to Dylan Leonard for the two-point conversion to go back up 35-14 with 13:52 to go.

“When I caught the ball, I was still on top of the DB and I’m looking down and I’m like man I’m drifting out of bounds so my instincts kicked in and I just pointed my left foot down kind of like a ballerina and if you notice when I got up, I didn’t celebrate immediately I looked to the ref for the touchdown signal because I didn’t really know if I got in or not,” he said. “But yeah it was an intentional play.”

Howell converted on a third and 18 with a 64-yard pass to set up first and goal for the Heels and the on third down he hit Josh Downs for a four-yard TD, the Heels then hit a two-point conversion to make it 35-22 with 11:18 to go.

On the ensuing possession, Georgia Tech had a touchdown run by Dontae Smith called back by an early whistle that blew a play dead where Smith never touched the ground. Jordan Mason had a 29-yard run to set up first and goal for GT. Tech could not punch it in, Cimaglia hit a 31-yard field goal to go up 38-22 with 4:07 left. 12 play scoring drive 52 yards with 7:11 time of possession.