Georgia Tech takes care of business vs. South Carolina State

Georgia Tech is now 1-1 on the season

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Sep 9, 2023 7:34 PM EDT

In this story:

Georgia Tech had their first home game of the season today against South Carolina State and the Yellow Jackets were looking to bounce back from their opening weekend loss to Louisville.

Today, true freshman Ethan Mackenny got his first start at left tackle and Eddie Kelly replaced Sylvain Yondjouen in the lineup at defensive end. Kelly was hurt in the fourth quarter however.

The Yellow Jackets came in heavily favored in this game and did what they were expected to do as 44-point favorites. There were a couple of rain delays to stop the start of the game, but the Yellow Jackets got rolling once the game started.

Here is a recap of today's action.

1st Quarter

The game could not have started any better for Georgia Tech.

After a 2nd down PBU by LaMiles Brooks, Kyle Kennard picked off the Bulldogs quarterback to set Georgia Tech up with a scoring opportunity right away. After a big third-down completion to Malik Rutherford, GT punched it in courtesy of Jamal Haynes, in what was his first career touchdown. It was an early 7-0 lead for Georgia Tech with 12:28 left in the 1st quarter.

The second series for the defense was another strong one. A three-and-out forced a punt and the Georgia Tech offense took over for its second drive of the game.

It did not take long for the Yellow Jackets offense to strike again. Trey Cooley ripped off two lengthy runs, King found Rutherford for a big gain, and then on 3rd and goal, King found Dominick Blaylock in the end zone for a touchdown to make it 14-0.

The third drive of the game saw the Bulldogs find some success. They got to the edges with the speed option and got into Yellow Jackets territory for the first time. A holding penalty would kill their momentum though and a nice PBU by K.J. Wallace ended the drive and forced another punt.

At the end of the 1st quarter, Georgia Tech led 14-0. Yellow Jackets outgained SCSU 110 to 46 in the first quarter. Trey Cooley had 51 yards on five carries.

2nd Quarter

Georgia Tech was driving the ball on SCSU and was knocking on the door of scoring their third touchdown when a targeting call came down on SCSU and gave the Yellow Jackets even better field position. However, Cooley coughed up the ball on the goal line and the Yellow Jackets had committed their first turnover of the game.

After a quarterback run that resulted in a first down, Georgia Tech's defense got the stop and got the ball back to the offense. After a few runs from Haynes, King found true freshman Eric Singleton on a 40-yard touchdown to put the Yellow Jackets up 21-0 midway through the second quarter.

After a punt from the Bulldogs, Georgia Tech got the ball back and looked as if they were going to punch it in again. Christian Leary got loose on a short pass and got the Yellow Jackets into SCSU territory. However, a couple of dropped balls led to a 47-yard field goal attempt from Gavin Stewart and he missed it. That was Stewart's third straight miss to start the year.

The defense had serious issues on the last drive of the half. SCSU had a lot of time to throw and missed tackles kept their drive alive. It was reminiscent of the second half against Louisville and a bad note to end the half on on defense.

After a blocked extra point by Jaylon King, Georgia Tech got the ball back with 34 seconds left in the half leading 21-6. The offense wasted no time in scoring mostly thanks to Jamal Haynes scampering for 67 yards to get the Yellow Jackets into the red zone with 20 seconds left in the half. On the very next play, King found tight end Brett Seither for a touchdown to give the Yellow Jackets a 28-6 lead going into the half.

It was a dominant first half for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets outgained SCSU 335-127 and averaged over nine yards per play. If not for two self-inflicted plays (the goal line fumble and missed FG), Georgia Tech would have played a close-to-perfect first half.

Haynes King was 15-19 for 166 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. Haynes had six carries for 96 yards and Singleton Jr led the Yellow Jackets in receiving with two catches for 49 yards and a touchdown.

3rd Quarter

It did not take long for GT to get on the board in the second half.

King found Cooley for 55 yards to give Georgia Tech a 35-6 lead. Cooley has already been one of the most explosive players on the team already and outside of the fumble, he had a great game.

The defense once again was not able to tackle and gave up big rushing plays to the Bulldogs. A 47-yard run set them up inside the 10 and then a touchdown run on 3rd down gave SCSU another touchdown to make it 35-13.

Georgia Tech picked up right where they left off on offense. A pop pass to Rutherford started things off and then big plays from Blaylock and Haynes got them into the red zone. After the drive stalled, Georgia Tech was faced with a 30-yard field goal attempt and instead of Stewart going out to attempt it, Aidan Birr came on and nailed it and extended the lead to 38-13.

South Carolina State continued to move the ball on Georgia Tech in the second half with some big runs and getting deep into Yellow Jackets territory. This time though, Georgia Tech forced a fumble and Kyle Kennard recovered it to give the offense the ball back and another chance to score.

The offense did just that. Right before the end of the quarter, Trey Cooley had another touchdown run to extend the lead.

That was the end of the quarter.

4th Quarter

After a forced punt by Georgia Tech, Zach Pyron took over at quarterback and Haynes King day was done. King finished the day 21-29 for 290 yards and four touchdowns and looked in control of the offense the entire way.

Pyron led the team down and got the team in field goal range. Birr came on to attempt another kick and nailed the 42-yard field goal to give the Yellow Jackets a 48-13 lead. Birr came in and kicked the ball really well and I would think he is the primary kicker moving forward.

One concerning thing in the 4th quarter: defensive end Eddie Kelly went down with an injury. Kelly started in place of Sylvain Yondjouen, who is out for the year with a torn ACL. Georgia Tech can't afford many more injuries at the position.

That was the end of the game. Georgia Tech finished with nearly 600 yards of offense, including 268 on the ground. The Yellow Jackets were 6-10 on third down and 5-6 in the red zone. Jamal Haynes had over 100 yards rushing as well.

The defense is still a concern however. SCSU is a run heavy team, but the Yellow Jackets still gave up nearly 200 yards rushing. That could be a big problem next week against Ole Miss if the trend continues.

Georgia Tech travels to Oxford to take on Ole Miss next week. The game will be at 7:30 and be televised on the SEC Network.

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