Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets @ NC State Wolfpack Football Recap

Georgia Tech’s stunning offensive performance over its first four games, along with North Carolina State’s awful defensive efforts, led many to believe that Georgia Tech could names its score and offensive yard total, but Tech had its worst offensive outing of the season on Saturday… and still scored 45 points.

That tells you something about the team that is making a bid for the ACC Coastal Division title.

North Carolina State trailed only 21-7 at the half (when the score should have been much more lopsided) and cut the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 21-14 in the third quarter. That’s the score which carried into the fourth quarter, when Tech scored three quick touchdowns in the span of under two and a half minutes to put the game away. North Carolina State didn’t fold up shop after being down 42-14, adding three scores in the final 8 minutes of the game, but two of those touchdowns came in the final 34 seconds to create the false veneer of a close contest.

This was a weird afternoon of football in Raleigh, North Carolina, by any reasonable measure. Even though Georgia Tech amassed a late 28-point lead, it didn’t flourish on offense as it did in prior weeks. The homestanding Wolfpack held Tech to only 4-of-12 passing for 117 yards and fewer than 300 rushing yards, both easily the worst totals of the season for Tech. The Jackets’ yard-per-pass average was under 10, while they averaged only 5.7 yards per rush, both uncharacteristically low for this season. No Georgia Tech rusher had more than Orwin Smith’s 74 yards on 9 carries. David Sims had nine carries for 73 yards. Tevin Washington had a lackluster game both running and passing. The Georgia Tech quarterback kept the ball 16 times out of the option, but gained only 43 yards. He completed only four passes and showed little of the consistency that characterized most of his month of September.

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NCSU’s offensive production was almost as great as GT’s. The Wolfpack had 387 yards, almost evenly split between passing and rushing. They gained 192 through the air and 195 on the ground. Mike Glennon was 20-29 for 163 yards with 2 TDs and an INT, which was returned for a touchdown by Tech’s Isaiah Johnson for 34 yards during the Jackets’ flurry of points early in the fourth quarter. James Washington had an impressive day rushing the ball against the soft GT rush defense. He ran the ball 20 times for 131 yards and a 46 yard TD.

So there you have it: Georgia Tech led 42-14 midway through the fourth quarter, and yet did not play its best game.

Just imagine what could happen if the Yellow Jackets max out.