When freshman safety Cooper Taylor jarred the ball away from running back Marcus Sims just steps from the goal line and fellow freshman Rashaad Reid recovered the fumble, the roar from the crowd at Bobby Dodd stadium was deafening. It was the scream of joy after 33 years of futility, for years of close losses and demoralizing blowouts. Tech’s 31-28 victory over No. 16 Florida State gave the crowd something to celebrate and it was all because of the work of two guys that weren’t born the last time the Jackets beat FSU. “I can’t really explain it, I’m in shock right now,” explained a relieved Taylor, who also had an interception in the game. “We’ve been bending and not breaking all season. That play kind of defined it.”
The play, which ended a drive that could have been heartbreaking for the Yellow Jackets, was symbolic of today’s roller-coaster matchup. On the first drive, Florida State cruised down the field with several slant passes from Christian Ponder to Greg Carr before Ponder scored from 3 yards out. Tech had a dynamic drive of its own but couldn’t punch it into the end zone. When Michael Ray Garvin rumbled 64 yards on the following kickoff, it began to look like Tech was stuck in the malaise of last week’s loss to Virginia.
However, Tech held the Seminoles to a field goal on that drive and began a dominant offensive second quarter in which the offense scored three unanswered touchdowns, including a 36-yard touchdown from Jonathan Dwyer and a 3-yard touchdown from Greg Smith. The Smith touchdown was set up by Taylor’s interception. While Tech’s offense dominated in the quarter, the defense started strong but gave momentum back to the Seminoles when Thomas rattled off a 62-yard run. The run set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ponder to Seddrick Holloway. The defense faltered on the final drive of the half as well. Florida State drove to the Tech 27 before settling for a field goal.
While that was a low for the Jackets, Dwyer lifted them with an electrifying run from scrimmage. His 66-yard dash up the middle of the field for the touchdown gave Tech a 31-20 lead. “The offensive line did a great job and Nick Claytor got a big block on the 60-yard run,” said Dwyer, who rushed for 145 yards against the Seminoles. The play was a part of a resurgent performance by Tech’s offense, which rushed for 288 yards against the nation’s seventh-best run defense. “What we did today, up until the end, was take care of the ball and finish drives. That part was much better,” said head coach Paul Johnson of the offense’s performance.
The defense held Florida State out of the end zone in the third quarter but was put on their heels in the fourth quarter when D’Vontey Richardson, primarily a running quarterback, stepped back and launched a 39-yard touchdown to Preston Parker. Then, Carr’s jump-ball catch in the end zone whittled Tech’s lead to 31-28.
Josh Nesbitt, who rushed for 61 yards in the game, twisted his ankle in third quarter. Backup Jaybo Shaw was brought on in relief but struggled, coughing up the ball on his first play of the game and throwing an interception to Florida State’s Patrick Robinson. The latter put the Seminoles at midfield and gave them an opportunity to complete the comeback.
Despite a sack by linebacker Sedric Griffin, Ponder dealt with Tech’s persistent pressure and got passes off to his receivers, including a 9-yard pass to Bert Reed on fourth-and-6. Jermaine Thomas, who finished the game with 131 yards on nine carries, got the next 29 yards after the fourth-down conversion. He was primed to be a Seminole hero before Cooper knocked the ball out of Sims’s hands and made heroes out of the Tech youngsters. “How about two freshmen at the end? That was a great hit by Cooper,” said coach Johnson. “I was joking with Rashaad. I told him he needs to learn how to fall on the ball. When I saw him try to pick that up I wanted to strangle him. Then when I saw him roll over on it I wanted to kiss him.”
Forty-five seconds later, the final horn sounded and the crowd rushed onto the field to celebrate with the heroes. However, one Yellow Jacket was more focused on the big picture. With Tech’s win and Virginia’s loss to Miami, the Yellow Jackets are still in the running for an ACC Championship. This is a goal that defensive end Michael Johnson doesn’t want to get lost in the hysteria. “We went into the game talking about how seven wins would give us a bowl appearance. That’s understood that we are going to go to a bowl game. That’s not our goal. Our goal from the beginning is to win an ACC Championship. And that’s what we need to continue to focus on. Not going to a bowl. That’s old news,” said Johnson.
Crosskey can be reached at jcrosskey@scoreatl.com.
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