SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Despite an exciting fourth-quarter resurgence by the Yellow Jackets, Syracuse handed No. 23 Georgia Tech its first loss of the season.
Tech gave up 515 yards of offense in a 31-28 loss to the Orange on Saturday. Playing their first game as a nationally ranked team in nine years, the Jackets’ patented rushing attack could muster only 112 yards in a contest Tech never led.
Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord had a field day, throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns. The senior went 32-of-46 passing.
Tech (2-1, 1-1 ACC), meanwhile, managed only 25 yards of offense in its first two drives of the second half. Running back Jamal Haynes managed only 35 rushing yards on 11 carries.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Tech coach Brent Key said. “That’s what we know where we are as a football team. We’ll come back in (Sunday) and begin the work with the guys on the team to be a better version of ourselves next week than we were this week.”
Down 24-14 to start the fourth quarter, Tech started a drive on its own 11-yard line. It moved out to the 35 where coach Brent Key opted to go for it on fourth down from Tech’s own 35 – and Tech running back Anthony Carrie was stuffed for a 3-yard loss.
The Orange (1-1, 0-1) would score seven plays later on McCord’s fourth touchdown of the day, a 17-yard strike to tight end Oronde Gadsden II, making the score 31-14 and making the Loud House just that.
“They did a good job of playing the 3-2 front with the down safety, rover safeties on the edge,” Key said about the fourth-down call. “We gotta be able to make that adjustment. We had the right things to go, then it comes down to being able to execute.”
Quarterback Haynes King would throw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Chase Lane in the back of the end zone with 5:08 to play in what looked like the start of a potential miracle comeback.
Tech tight end Avery Boyd then recovered an onside kick and, eight plays later from the 15, Haynes burst through the left side of the line for a touchdown run that cut the score to 31-28 and left 2:31 on the clock.
Tech’s defense got Syracuse in a third-and-10 from its own 25. McCord completed a 13-yard pass to ice the game.
“Still love the fight, how we finished the game, played until the clock had double zeroes on it,” King said. “We do need to get better, and consistency is part of it.”
Syracuse began the day with a crisp opening drive that ended with McCord throwing an 11-yard touchdown pass to Trebor Pena down the left side of the field. A 28-yard screen pass on third down during the series set up the score that put the Orange ahead 7-0 less than three minutes into the game.
Tech responded immediately with a 75-yard scoring drive in 10 plays, a drive that included King finding Boyd for 19 yards on third-and-11 and King scoring from 21 yards out on a designed run. King look to be caught by Syracuse linebacker Derek McDonald behind the left side of the line, but King kept his balance to stay up and sprinted to the end zone for his second rushing touchdown of the season.
With the score knotted at 7-7, Syracuse lined up for a 43-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the quarter, but Tech defensive lineman Zeek Biggers got his hands up to block the kick.
But the Jackets couldn’t take advantage of the momentum swing and after punting the ball back to the Orange, gave up a 70-yard drive that was capped by another McCord touchdown pass, again from 11 yards out, to Pena in the right corner of the end zone. That put Syracuse ahead 14-7 early in the second quarter.
Syracuse upped its lead to 21-7 at the 6:19 mark when McCord found Gadsden from 20 yards out open in the middle of the end zone. That play polished off an 89-yard drive.
On the ensuing possession, King found Eric Singleton Jr. for a 45-yard completion on the first play from scrimmage. Two short runs after that, King kept the ball up the middle on a fake toss and sprinted in from 26 yards out to cut the deficit to 21-14.
Tech then got another special-teams break when Biggers blocked a Syracuse punt with 1:29 left on the clock. The Jackets got the ball to the Syracuse 28, but Aidan Birr missed a 45-yard field goal, ending the first half.
McCord threw for 286 yards, and the Orange averaged 8.1 yards per play in the first half en route to its 21-14 lead.
Brady Denaburg kicked a 33-yard field goal for Syracuse with 6:51 left on the clock giving the Orange a 24-14 lead, the only score of the third quarter.
The Jackets host Virginia Military Institute at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It is frustrating, but, again, it’s just how are we gonna respond?” Tech linebacker Kyle Efford said. “We can’t get frustrated. Just got to come back, recoup and reload.”
NOTES
- Tech is now 4-2 against the Orange and 0-2 at Syracuse.
- Key is now 13-11 as Tech’s coach and 10-7 against ACC opponents.
- Biggers’ blocked kick in the first quarter was the third blocked kick of his career.
- Tech last blocked two kicks in one game Oct. 20, 2022, against Virginia.
- The 381 passing yards allowed by Tech was the most since Florida State threw for 396 on Oct. 29, 2022.
- King now is tied for seventh on Tech’s all-time list for career touchdown passes with 30.
- King now has 3,522 career passing yards at Tech, the 10th-most in program history. Eddie McAshan (4,080) ranks ninth.
- King’s 289 career completions at Tech is the ninth-most in program history. John Dewberry is eighth with 310.
- Defensive back Taye Seymore set a career high in tackles with 10.
- Former Syracuse defensive end Dwight Freeney, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame, had his jersey retired during a ceremony at halftime Saturday.
- WWE wrestler Sheamus was in attendance for Saturday’s game. He has attended all three Tech games this season.
- ACC commissioner Jim Phillips was in attendance for Saturday’s game, the second Tech game he has attended this season.
- Attendance Saturday was announced as 39,550.
