Georgia Tech nickel back K.J. Wallace needed no artifice to explain the Yellow Jackets’ delight after they had survived Duke with a 23-20 overtime victory Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. It was the Jackets’ second win in a row as they emerge from their disastrous 1-3 start that led to the firing of coach Geoff Collins.
“It sucks to go out and sometimes have a bad result,” Wallace said. “It feels amazing when you go out and get a ‘dub.’”
That feeling has spread throughout the Tech fan base, ecstatic over the team’s play under the direction of interim coach Brent Key and hopeful for the second half of the season, which begins Oct. 20 with a Thursday night home game against Virginia.
Here are five takeaways from Tech’s win over the Blue Devils that improved its record to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC.
Jeff Sims leads the way
Key’s praise of quarterback Jeff Sims after the game was unabashed and made clear how much coaches have wanted to see him play the way he did Saturday. Key was particularly delighted with how Sims ran the ball – aggressively and not avoiding contact. Rather than sliding or getting out of bounds, Sims fought for yards. It was a stark contrast from some of his less daring efforts earlier in the season.
Wanting to take advantage of Sims’ running ability, offensive coordinator Chip Long incorporated several designed keepers into the game plan for Sims, who finished with a team-high 95 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Going back to his freshman year, Sims is 7-4 in games when he rushes for 50 yards or more and 1-11 when he doesn’t, and the one win was against FCS Western Carolina. Key said he is seeing Sims grow “right in front of you” and took particular delight in his not electing to slide, “but run slap over somebody,” such as on a first-quarter option keeper in which he lowered his shoulder into safety Jaylen Stinson, lifting him off his feet and fighting for an extra 7 yards after contact.
“That’s what I think everybody’s been looking for from Jeff, and we’ve been asking him to do,” Key said. “And to do that and show just how bad he wants to put the team on (his) back when he has the ball in his hands, that really boosts the confidence of the rest of the guys playing around him. When you have your confidence in your quarterback to go out there and put the team on his back, that elevates everyone else’s play around him.”
Andrew Thacker’s defense controls
Defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker, who has taken his share of criticism in his three-plus seasons running Tech’s defense, deserves credit for the way the Jackets defended Duke on Saturday.
Pressuring quarterback Riley Leonard, covering effectively downfield and unleashing linebackers Ayinde Eley and Charlie Thomas, the Jackets kept Duke in third and long and limited big plays. Duke’s 3.7 yards-per-play average was the Blue Devils’ lowest average this season and the lowest for a Tech FBS opponent since 2014 (Clemson). Leonard, who led the ACC in completion percentage before Saturday (72%), connected on 47.6% of his throws Saturday (20-for-42). He was sacked three times, hurried another five (twice by Eley) and had five passes broken up (two by Zamari Walton).
“They played a lot of man coverage and blitzed us,” Duke coach Mike Elko said. “I didn’t think we did a great job picking up the blitzes. There was a lot of leakage and a lot of pressure. I didn’t think we did the best job of getting open.”
Wallace said the defense was prepared well for Duke’s tendencies and formations.
“Thacker was dialing it up,” Wallace said. “The preparation and us just going out and executing it all happened together.”
Since the Ole Miss loss, the defense has shown up. After the Duke game, Tech was 36th in FBS in defensive yards per play (5.10), a bit of an improvement from last season, when the Jackets were 116th at 6.61.
Lions’ pride
What a day for Westlake High.
Alumni of the south Fulton school contributed impressively to Tech’s win. Making his long-awaited Tech debut after an ACL tear early in the preseason and a wrist injury before this year’s camp, wide receiver Leo Blackburn caught three passes for 49 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown catch in which he ran past coverage, turned back to the ball and caught Sims’ pass with one hand as he fell to the ground, cradling it with his right hand against his body.
“I had my days, but just staying positive and staying ready, just keeping my teammates motivated so we can win,” Blackburn said of his approach as he recovered from his injuries.
Freshman safety Clayton Powell-Lee made his first career start in place of Jaylon King, becoming the first member of the 2022 signing class to start. Powell-Lee had eight tackles, second most on the team. The player whom Thacker calls “young vet” was not a highly touted prospect, but he impressed coaches from the start of preseason with his intelligence and knack for playmaking.
“I just thank everybody that’s helped me along this journey,” said Powell-Lee, the son of former Tech receiver Gary Lee. “When (King’s injury) happened, it’s just next man up, really. You’ve got to keep that mentality that you’re going to be him. You’re just going to make plays as well.”
Backup offensive tackle Jakiah Leftwich played a career-high 41 snaps, subbing for starters Jordan Williams and Corey Robinson. Cornerback Myles Sims made his sixth start of the season, contributing four tackles.
“Westlake’s always had great talent; those kids worked really, really hard,” said Bobby May, who coached Leftwich, Powell-Lee, Blackburn and freshman defensive tackle Horace Lockett at Westlake before becoming coach at Kell High last December. “Georgia Tech did a good job recruiting them. I think Jakiah Leftwich has been playing a ton, and I think Horace’s time is coming soon. I think we just tried to build a program that allows people to be successful in college and build skills that transfer over.”
Won without key pieces
Tech won despite several key players being out besides King. Wide receiver Malachi Carter was out with an injury, the first game he has missed after appearing in all 52 of Tech’s games since the start of the 2018 season. Backup receiver Kalani Norris was out, starting right guard Joe Fusile was out for a personal situation and backup defensive tackle Jason Moore was also injured. Backup linebacker and special-teamer Demetrius Knight went into the transfer portal earlier during the week.
Right tackle Jordan Williams left the game (but returned) with an injury, as did Walton.
Besides Powell-Lee, receiver James BlackStrain also made his first career start.
“We were missing a lot of guys at a lot of spots as the game went on,” Key said. “Credit to everyone in those positions that were able to step up, and the people that were behind them or the next person being able to step in and play winning football.”
Duke had its own shortages, losing star linebacker Shaka Heyward at the end of the first half because of a targeting penalty, and leading receiver Jalon Calhoun and guard Maurice McIntyre to injury.
Project for open date
No Tech fans had any quibbles with the result, but the Jackets again endured some drama in the fourth quarter to get there. A week ago, Tech led Pitt 19-7 when it lost the ball on downs at the Panthers’ 1-yard line with 3:51 to play and then 26-14 with 1:25 left before Pitt closed to 26-21 with 16 seconds left. A successful onside kick would have given the Panthers a chance to throw into the end zone for the win, but the Jackets recovered.
Saturday, Tech punted away with about 6:15 to play in the fourth quarter, ahead 20-6 before Sahmir Hagans returned David Shanahan’s kick 81 yards for a touchdown. Starting at the 5:51 mark, the Jackets then had two drives (sandwiching a fourth-down stop by the Tech defense) to burn off the clock but managed only one first down and gave Duke the ball back with 2:41 to play and a timeout remaining.
The Blue Devils were able to go 80 yards for the game-tying score with eight seconds remaining to force overtime, where the Jackets won with a Gavin Stewart field goal that the Blue Devils were unable to match.
There were two issues in the fourth quarter that Key will have to address. One is that, when the Jackets needed to run the ball in the fourth quarter to keep the ball moving, they were unable. They gained 159 yards on 24 carries in the first three quarters but ran 13 times for 21 yards in the fourth. Where Tech was almost too effective running the ball in the fourth quarter against Pitt, scoring quickly to give the Panthers the ball back, the Jackets could not impose their will against Duke. Taking the ball with 9:36 left with a 20-6 lead, Tech ran 13 plays over the next three drives (eight runs) and gained 29 yards.
The other problem was that, with the clock running, Sims was calling for the snap with as many as 10 or 15 seconds remaining on the play clock, losing the opportunity to run the clock down further. While snapping with 10 seconds on the play clock as opposed to five isn’t a vast difference, the Blue Devils needed virtually every second of regulation to force overtime.
As problems go, difficulties protecting a fourth-quarter lead is far preferable to repeatedly getting punts blocked or getting outgained by more than 300 yards in a game, but a problem nonetheless, and one that could eventually cost the Jackets. Key acknowledged the need to address both, saying the offense needs to work on managing the play clock better and that it needed to be able to run the ball effectively even when the opponent is geared to stop it. Key has time to address both in its upcoming open week.
“Some things that had worked earlier, some sideways runs, some perimeter runs – (we) got knocked back on those,” he said. “Obviously, you know what the people are going to do. If you run the ball, you win.”
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