Georgia Tech took care of its business Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium, defeating Virginia Military Institute 59-7 on a dreary afternoon. It was Tech’s largest margin of victory since beating Alcorn State 69-6 on Sept. 3, 2015.
The contest was lopsided in nearly every statistic with Tech, now 3-1 for the first time since 2017, racking up 575 yards of offense, scoring on four consecutive drives in the first half and holding the Keydets to 104 total yards of offense.
“I thought we played a complete football game. That’s what the challenge was, for our guys to have tunnel vision on doing their job playing a football game, wanting to play a complete game,” Tech coach Brent Key said. “Regardless of the scoreboard, regardless of the opponent, all the things we talk about all the time of how you have to play regardless of who’s in the football game, regardless of where we’re at, the guys keep playing, whether it’s a good play, bad play. I thought we did that today.
“We were able to get a lot of guys valuable playing time, which is important for the ... schedule we have the next part of the season.”
Tech quarterback Haynes King threw for 275 yards on 17-of-22 passing and completed three touchdown passes. Receiver Eric Singleton Jr. caught five balls for 102 yards and a touchdown.
Tech returns to ACC play when it travels to No. 19 Louisville (2-0) for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday.
Against VMI, the Jackets got the game’s first break at the 9:53 mark of the first quarter when Ahmari Harvey’s big hit on VMI receiver Julio DaSilva caused a fumble that Clayton Powell-Lee recovered on the Tech 39. The Jackets cashed that turnover in with an Aidan Birr 28-yard field goal, making the score 3-0.
“Based on the formation they was in, I kinda figured out it was gonna be a mesh concept,” Harvey said. “He actually threw it. ... This week we’ve been emphasizing on getting the turnovers, so they can all fall together. Once we get one turnover, another one comes and another one comes. It was exciting to get my first turnover of the season, celebrate with my teammates.”
King’s first touchdown pass of the day was a 35-yarder to Malik Rutherford, a wide receiver screen to the left that allowed Rutherford to split and outrace the defense. That gave Tech a 10-0 lead with 4:52 left in the opening period.
Backup quarterback Zach Pyron upped the score to 17-0 with a 1-yard touchdown dive, Pyron’s second rushing touchdown of the season, before the quarter ended. Pyron scored on another 1-yard keeper four minutes into the second quarter making the score 24-0.
“It’s pretty fun. I get pretty excited when I know it’s in the game plan,” Pyron said of his scoring plays. “Just making sure I’m staying ready and active at practice through everything. And when I go in I’m not messing it up. So just making sure I’m a little extra physical when needed and know my role for that play.”
Before the half ended, King threw a 14-yard touchdown strike to Singleton in the back of the end zone with 1:49 on the clock and then connected with tight end Avery Boyd on a 33-yarder with 30 ticks remaining. The Jackets went into the locker room up 38-0.
The teams agreed to play two 10-minute quarters in the second half, a half that began with Trelain Maddox scoring on a 3-yard run making it 45-0. Later in the third quarter Pyron threw a wide receiver screen to Leo Blackburn, who raced in from 24 yards out.
The Keydets (0-3), who received $425,000 from Tech to play Saturday’s game, finally got on the scoreboard with 6:37 left when VMI quarterback Brady Hammonds rolled right and completed a 2-yard touchdown pass to a sliding Ethen Horne.
Tech finished its scoring with Anthony Carrie’s 2-yard touchdown run.
NOTES
- Tech now is 15-1 all-time against VMI.
- Key now is 14-11 as Tech’s coach.
- The Jackets improved to 10-1 after a loss under Key.
- Tech gave up only 35 yards of offense in the first half, it’s fewest in a game since 2007.
- Tech senior safety LaMiles Brooks was held out of Saturday’s game because of injury.
- King now is sixth on Tech’s all-time list for career touchdown passes with 33.
- King’s 289 career completions at Tech are the ninth-most in program history. John Dewberry is eighth with 310.
- Birr now ranks 12th in Tech history with 111 points totaled via kicking.
- VMI’s five first downs tied for the second-fewest that Tech has surrendered in a game in program history.
- Attendance Saturday was announced as 31,729, giving Tech an average of 35,921 after two home games this season.
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