This was Georgia Tech’s best chance to beat Clemson since the peak of the Paul Johnson years. The close score in the 2021 game was a mirage of the regrettable Geoff Collins era. Brent Key took over during the next season and turned the Yellow Jackets into giant killers, with the goal of becoming giants themselves.
That process accelerated when Aidan Birr’s 55-yard field goal sailed just inside the right upright at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday. The Jackets didn’t just end their losing streak to Clemson at nine games. They also cleared a plausible path to the College Football Playoff.
Forgive me for looking at the bigger picture so soon after Tech beat Clemson for the first time since 2014. It’s hard not to think about big things for the Jackets after they finally toppled the Tigers. Losing to Clemson again after leading by two touchdowns and committing no turnovers might have been too much for Jackets partisans to take.
Instead, they stormed the field after Birr tied the program record for longest field goal.
“Our kids believe,” Key said. “I believe in them, (and) they believe in each other. Three years of work to get to a very emotional (moment). I’m so happy right now.”
The Jackets are now 7-1 against ranked ACC opponents with Key as coach. Then-No. 4 Miami was the highest ranked team among them. That victory in November was significant for the Jackets, but they’d beaten the Hurricanes two years earlier and, anyway, Miami isn’t the class of the conference.
Clemson has long been king of the ACC. Its many lopsided decisions over Tech during the win streak revealed the large gap between the two programs. That’s why this was the biggest win for the Jackets since they beat Georgia in 2016 (that’s also the last season that Tech was 3-0).
“You hear the buzz, you hear what they are supposed to be,” Tech guard Keylan Rutledge said of Clemson. “But we know how we’re built. We know we’re built different. We knew we were going to go out there and be physical.
“We’re going to set the tone. That’s what we do.”
As usual, quarterback Haynes King was at the forefront of that effort. He passed for 211 yards and rushed 101 yards with a touchdown. The Jackets leaned heavily on King when getting into position for the winning field goal.
The Jackets started that drive at their 25-yard line with 3:26 left. King converted two third downs with runs during the 11-play march to Birr’s considerable range.
Said Key: “Early in that drive, I think after the first play, (King) came over to the sideline and said, ‘Put the ball in my hands, and we are going to win this thing.’ And we did.”
The Jackets cleared the biggest hurdle in what is not such a long-shot bid for an ACC title. They aren’t scheduled to play the league’s other two ranked teams, Miami and Florida State, or contenders SMU or Louisville. If the Jackets face those teams, it will be in the ACC championship game Dec. 6 or the CFP.
The Jackets realistically can think about making it that far. The ACC title game will include the two teams with the best league winning percentage. Winning that game surely would earn Tech an automatic CFP bid as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions.
The Jackets still have a long road to get there. But they just need to keep winning against midtier or worse ACC teams while the other contenders knock one another off.
Florida State has games left versus Miami and at Clemson. Louisville will play Miami and SMU on the road, and Clemson at home. In addition to facing Louisville, SMU plays at Clemson and at home versus Miami.
Tech’s hardest remaining ACC games are at Duke, at North Carolina State and at Boston College. They’ll face those teams during a four-game stretch spanning October and November. It won’t be easy, but the Jackets showed they can win hard games by taking down Clemson.
The Jackets led 13-0 in the second quarter. It was the first time in 11 years that Tech held a two-score advantage over the Tigers. The Jackets had squandered a chance to turn the screws tighter with a failed fourth-and-goal in the first quarter.
Clemson’s comeback started with a touchdown near the end of the first half that followed a third-and-22 conversion. The Tigers got the ball first after halftime and drove 66 yards to Tech’s 11 with little resistance. Jackets safety Omar Daniels stopped that drive with a fantastic, leaping interception of Klubnik’s pass near the line of scrimmage.
Daniels seemed to be on his way to a touchdown, but Clemson running back Adam Randall tripped him up at Tech’s 37-yard line. The Jackets still had momentum and an electrified crowd on their side. A three-and-out sapped that energy. Klubnik further deflated Tech fans with a 73-yard TD pass to Bryant Wesco Jr.
The Tigers had given the ball away twice and missed a field goal, yet they led 14-13. The Jackets went three-and-out again on their next possession. The Tigers did the same on their next drive. The game’s frenzied pace had slowed down.
This was going to be a fight until the final whistle.
“We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” King said. “But like (Rutledge) said, this is just who we are. We’ve prepared for this moment throughout the offseason.”
Tech outkicked the Tigers at the finish with King doing much of the work on the last two scoring drives.
He passed for three first downs and ran for another to get Tech into range during the go-ahead touchdown drive. King finished the drive by powering through Clemson safety Ricardo Jones for a 1-yard touchdown. Tech converted the two-point on a trick play try for a 21-14 lead.
Clemson answered with 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that featured Klubnik making clutch plays. Randall’s touchdown tied the score with 3:26 to play. Then King moved Tech into field goal range before Birr and his teammates rushed on to the field to get off the kick before time ran out.
“Means a lot that (Key) trusts me that much to put the ball in my hands in moment like that,” King said. “It’s not just a one-man show, though. This is a team. This is a whole building.”
That’s what it took for the Jackets to finally beat Clemson. They showed they’ve got what it takes to make it to the ACC title game.
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