There were few moments of sanity to be found on Saturday afternoon at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, but for all of the brain-busting dimensions of this rollercoaster ride in the ACC’s Coastal Division, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were able to persevere long enough to tuck away the biggest win of their season to date.

Georgia Tech blew a 14-point deficit and played a very risky game on the edges of disaster, but the Jackets still managed to regroup and break a late tie to fend off the North Carolina Tar Heels. Quarterback Tevin Washington scored on a five-yard touchdown run with 5:20 left in regulation, and Tech’s inconsistent defense managed to toughen up down the stretch, as the Rambling Wreck established itself as the leading Coastal contender to defending champion Virginia Tech. In a year when Miami is suffering because of the fallout from its pervasive scandal and Virginia has not rebounded from a period of stagnation, this duel between the Jackets and Tar Heels was going to create the foremost contender to Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech’s ability to get this win, no matter how rocky the process was, will fill the Jackets with a tank full of confidence for the coming weeks. It will also give the Jackets the leverage they and the Tar Heels were competing for on Saturday.

This was a maddening game to behold from a coach’s perspective. Both teams littered the field with mistakes, committing two turnovers each and squandering momentum on a repeated basis. Washington, despite winning the game for Tech on the strength of a 10-for-14 passing performance, fumbled once and was intercepted once. His fumble occurred at the North Carolina 9, and his interception in UNC territory also put the brakes on Georgia Tech’s plans.

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For North Carolina, quarterback Bryn Renner – in his first full season as starter under center – flinched in a daunting road environment. Playing away from home and the cozy confines of Kenan Stadium on the UNC campus in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Renner looked awed and at times overwhelmed by the occasion. He threw several telegraphed passes into tight coverage, the product of locking onto receivers and not surveying the entirety of the field. Even though Georgia Tech built a 28-14 lead and carried the play for most of the day, Renner’s two picks were crucial in denying the Tar Heels a stronger competitive foothold. Georgia Tech, as part of this sloppy game, scored a total of just six points on four separate trips to the red zone. North Carolina was within one score of the lead for most of the game, but Renner’s two picks prevented the Tar Heels from leapfrogging the Jackets when they had a chance to do so.

North Carolina deserves credit for erasing a 28-14 deficit on a day when it surrendered 496 total yards to Tech’s formidable offense. However, the inability to finish the game will rankle the Tar Heels this week. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech’s turnovers and red-zone stumbles will be forgotten in the wake of a sweet victory built on the back of resilience in the crucible of crunch time.