ESPN Lists Georgia Tech's Upset Against North Carolina As One Of The Top Games Of The 2022 Season

Georgia Tech vs UNC is ranked among the best games of the 2022 season

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Jan 16, 2023 6:00 PM EST

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

One of the biggest upsets of the college football season got some well-deserved recognition today as one of the best games of this past college football season.

ESPN's Bill Connelly began ranking the 100 best games of the 2022 season today and the matchup between the Tar Heels and the Yellow Jackets came in at No. 92. Here is what Connelly had to say about that game:

"No one could be blamed for turning this one off. North Carolina was heavily favored and went up 17-0 in the second quarter. But the Tar Heels would go scoreless on their final six drives, and Hassan Hall's 6-yard score with 11:08 left gave the Yellow Jackets a shocking 21-17 lead. A late UNC turnover on downs sealed a stunning turnaround."

Georgia Tech was a three-touchdown underdog heading into the road trip against Heisman candidate Drake Maye and the Tar Heels were ranked No. 13 in the latest college football playoff rankings.

Georgia Tech held one of the best offenses in the country and their then Heisman-contending quarterback Drake Maye to their season low (at that point in the season) in yards, points, and passing yards for Maye. UNC only had 108 yards in the second half.

No other team has played as well against the UNC offense up until that point and there is a lot of praise that deserves to go around for the job they did that night. Defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker did a tremendous job at times this season (especially after the firing of Geoff Collins) and should get a fair amount of credit for Georgia Tech winning that game.

Georgia Tech defensive tackle Makius Scott — Makius Scott and the Georgia Tech defense played well against a high-scoring North Carolina team
Georgia Tech Athletics

Keion White finished with three sacks, D'Quan Douse had one, Makius Scott had one, and Jason Moore had another, giving Georgia Tech six for the game. The defense also had 12 tackles for loss, as well as an interception by LaMiles Brooks.

There are a lot of reasons Georgia Tech won this game, but I think the defense belongs at the top of the list.

Quarterback Zach Gibson did not play well at all against Virginia, Florida State, or the previous week against Miami, but when Georgia Tech needed him most, Gibson delivered one of the most unexpected performances of the season. Jeff Sims and Zach Pyron did not play in this game due to injury and it was going to be up to Gibson and Taisun Phommachanh to get the win for the Yellow Jackets.

Now, Gibson's stats are not going to blow you away, but he managed the game, did not turn the ball over, and was not sacked against this North Carolina defense. Gibson finished the game 13-18 for 174 yards.

After the game, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit listed Georgia Tech as one of his top teams of the week and had Key and Thacker's coaching jobs as two of his top coaching performances of that week.

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