Georgia Tech ended its three-game losing streak with a pair of touchdowns early and enough defense to keep Georgia Southern at bay. The Yellow Jackets will enter their open date at 4-3 with a 35-24 victory over the Eagles Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Tech led 14-0 less than five minutes into the game with a 58-yard run by quarterback Justin Thomas and a 65-yard touchdown pass from Thomas to A-back Clinton Lynch.
Defensively, safeties A.J. Gray and Corey Griffin (combined 17 tackles, six for loss) contributed strong games to lead an effort that prevented big plays and made Georgia Southern burn up the clock as it tried to rally. While allowing the Eagles to convert 13 of 20 third downs and run 83 plays, Tech stood up with back-to-back stops to start the second half. Griffin made one of the biggest plays of the game with a sack on 4th-and-5 on the Eagles’ opening drive of the second half.
Holding Georgia Southern (3-3) scoreless in the third quarter in the game began to squeeze the Eagles, particularly after the Jackets drove 75 yards on a drive bridging the third and fourth quarters to take a 28-10 lead.
Tech (4-3) held the Eagles to 4.0 yards per play while generating 7.9 yards per snap.
