Georgia Tech vs Clemson: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Saturday was a day that Georgia Tech would like to forget.

The Yellow Jackets had been playing well the last couple of weeks, but they ran into a great Clemson defense today and looked overmatched for most of the afternoon.

Nobody would have been surprised if Georgia Tech lost this game (they were two touchdown underdogs), but the manner in which it happened was a surprise. The offense has been one of the ACC's best this season and they could not move the ball against the Clemson defense. The offensive line for Georgia Tech has been a strength this season, but Clemson dominated the line of scrimmage game today.

The loss drops Georgia Tech to 5-5 and it sets up a huge game against Syracuse next weekend. Both teams are 5-5 and need a win to get to a bowl game and with Georgia looming in the final week, next week feels like a must win.

Let's break down the good, the bad, and the ugly from today.

The Good:

Jamal Haynes had another 100-yard game. I know it seems like I am grasping at straws to find something good, but Haynes has been an excellent player this year and has an outside shot of getting to 1,000 yards this season. It was a bad day for the offense as a whole, but Haynes had some good moments today and continues to have a good season.
Jaylon King’s interception in the third quarter was his team-best fourth of the season. His four INTs are the most by a Yellow Jacket in a season since Jamal Golden and D.J. White had four apiece in 2014.
The stop on Clemson's fake punt attempt in the first quarter.

The Bad:

The loss was Georgia Tech’s ninth straight to Clemson overall and its eighth-straight loss at Clemson. The Yellow Jackets have not defeated the Tigers since 2014 and have not won at CU’s Memorial Stadium since 2008.
Clemson converted four fourth downs (on six attempts), which is tied for the second-most fourth-down conversions ever by a Georgia Tech opponent (record: 5 by Rice – Sept. 24, 1960). Clemson’s four fourth-down conversions were the most by a Tech opponent since Mississippi State converted 4-of-4 fourth-down attempts against the Yellow Jackets on Oct. 3, 2009.
Clemson racked up 465 yards on offense

The Ugly:

A loss is always ugly, but this loss was particularly ugly.
Clemson ran for 260 yards and averaged nearly six yards per carry. One of the keys to the game today was to stop the running game effectiveness for Clemson and they did not do that.
They were not able to force the Clemson offense into enough mistakes. King's interception came when the game was well in hand and the Yellow Jackets defense was not able to force the necessary turnovers to win the game. Clemson came into the game as one of the most turnover-prone teams in the country, but they played a clean game today against the Yellow Jackets.
It is not the only reason Georgia Tech lost, but the quarterback play from Haynes King today was unacceptable. Four interceptions and all of them came from poor decisions. King finished 13-31 for 131 yards, two touchdowns, and four interceptions. The Yellow Jackets offense has been good this year, but King has had a few too many turnover-prone games. He will need to be much better next week against Syracuse.
There were missed opportunities early. Some drops by the offense and missed throws by King killed any chance that Georgia Tech had at getting any momentum. Brent Key spoke about this in his postgame comments and said as much: "Yeah they were. We had some missed opportunities with explosives and those ones in the first half could have led to some explosive plays there and generated some momentum and able to play the ball game a different way."
The line-of-scrimmage difference was noticeable today. No one can say that Georgia Tech's offensive line is not a big improvement over what they had last season, but today showed how far they still have to go.
Clemson scored 42 unanswered points after Georgia Tech took a 7-0 lead.

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