LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Way too many mistakes and way too many blown opportunities cost Georgia Tech in a 31-19 loss at No. 19 Louisville on Saturday at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets (3-2, 1-2 ACC) missed a field-goal attempt, gave up a defensive touchdown, failed to score on fourth down at the 2, went 3-for-6 on fourth down overall and had a blocked kick returned for a touchdown. It was Tech coach Brent Key’s first loss in six tries against a ranked ACC team.
“I thought for the majority of the time just from the side, we’ll watch the tape and see, but I thought for the majority of the time a lot of the guys played hard, but that’s not enough to play hard,” Key said. “You gotta play smart. And there were times when I don’t think we played the smartest football that are we capable of playing. That’s what ends up happening when you go on the road and make those mistakes that end up costing you.”
Tech was outscored 14-5 in the second half in a result that likely knocks it out of the league title-game chase with two months of the season to play. Key’s team is off Saturday before facing Duke at home Oct. 5.
Quarterback Haynes King threw for 312 yards and ran for another 58 in the loss. But the Jackets’ ground game, so dominant a year ago, was missing in action again as it was held to 98 yards. Running back Jamal Haynes mustered only 25 yards on the ground.
Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns in the win for the Cardinals (3-0, 1-0 ACC).
The Jackets began the third quarter trailing 24-17 with the ball at the Louisville 33. They drove to the 2 and were faced with a fourth-down call where King ran up the middle and was stuffed at the 1, turning possession back to the Cardinals.
That actually turned out to be fortuitous for Tech. Shough took the next snap, went play-action pass and tripped, falling down in the end zone for a safety drawing Tech within 24-19 with 11:23 to play.
But the Jackets couldn’t stand the prosperity. The ensuing drive stalled at the 33, and Aidan Birr’s 50-yard field-goal attempt, following a Tech timeout, was blocked by Cardinals defensive back Tayon Holloway. He picked up the loose ball and raced 45 yards the other way for a touchdown, making the score 31-19.
“At the end of the day it’s my responsibility,” Key said of the blocked kick. “I take full responsibility for it, and I take responsibility for improvement.”
Tech still had plenty of time to make things interesting, but was stopped on a fourth-and-short outside the Louisville red zone to effectively end the game.
Tech came up with a key special-teams play of its own early on when defensive back Syeed Gibbs got a finger on Brock Travelstead’s 53-yard field-goal attempt. The Jackets turned around and covered 65 yards over six plays, scoring on a 23-yard run by King.
But King then made a critical mistake. On third down from his 9, King ran a draw to the left side and then tried to improvise by throwing a lateral to his left. Louisville defensive back Quincy Riley swatted the backward pass into the end zone, and defensive lineman Ramon Puryear fell on it for the Cardinals’ first touchdown of the day.
“At the end of the day you gotta look yourself in the mirror. Your opponent’s gonna be faceless, you just gotta do your job, your one (of) 11,” King said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s – kinda like what I did in the first half, running around trying to spit it out late. Ends up getting batted down. I probably should have just ate that, punted. It was third-and-long, tried to do a little quarterback counter, just try not to do too much. Just take what they give you. Sometimes a punt’s good. So we’re definitely gonna learn from this game.”
After Birr missed a 46-yard field-goal attempt in a 7-7 game early in the second quarter, Louisville went the other direction for a scoring drive that covered 71 yards over seven plays and was capped by Shough’s 37-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Chris Bell that made the score 14-7.
Travelstead made a 27-yard field goal to put the Cardinals up 17-7 with 1:56 left in the opening half.
Tech got off the mat from there and put together long drive inside the Louisville 5, a series that was highlighted by King’s 51-yard completion to Eric Singleton Jr. to the 3. The Jackets opted to go for it on fourth down from the 1, and Jamal Haynes hopped into the end zone with four seconds to spare, making the score 17-14.
Birr’s 26-yard field goal with 2:46 left in the third quarter completed a 13-play drive over 7:22 and tied the score at 17-17. That lead lasted 63 seconds as Shough came back and connected with Ja’Corey Brooks on a 57-yard touchdown pass making it 24-17 going into the fourth quarter.
The Jackets had no more answers from there in what became a demoralizing defeat.
“When you come on the road, and you’re in a big game on the road in conference, you can’t try to do more than you’re gonna do or get out of that zone,” Key said. “Once you become emotional with anything, your fundamentals, your techniques, those things are gonna go out the window.”
NOTES
- Tech now is 3-10 under Key following a win.
- The safety for Tech in the fourth quarter was its first since Sept. 18, 2021, at Clemson.
- King moved into ninth in Tech history with 4,116 career passing yards and eighth in Tech history with 328 career completions.
- King moved into 10th in Tech history with 5,069 yards of total offense.
- Saturday’s game marked the second time this season King hasn’t completed a touchdown pass. He had only one such game in 2023, the loss to Georgia.
- Malik Rutherford now has 103 career catches, the 11th most in a Tech career.
- Former Louisville receiver Harry Douglas, who played six seasons with the Falcons, had his number retired during a ceremony in the first half Saturday.
- Attendance Saturday was announced as 50,727.
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