THE FLATS – No. 15/12 Georgia Tech fought back valiantly from 28-0 and 35-14 deficits but couldn’t claw all the way back in a 42-28 loss to Pitt on Saturday night at sold-out Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.
Despite the defeat, Georgia Tech (9-2, 6-2 ACC) closes Atlantic Coast Conference play with its best league record in 11 years and still has an outside shot at reaching the ACC Championship Game with help next weekend.
The Yellow Jackets couldn’t fully overcome Saturday night’s slow start on both sides of the ball, which led to them trailing 28-0 less than four minutes into the second quarter.
The Jackets found their footing after Pitt’s early onslaught and scored a pair of touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half to cut the deficit to 28-14 and ride momentum into the locker room at halftime.
Tech carried the momentum into the second half, forcing Pitt to punt on the opening possession after the break and then driving all the way to the Panthers’ 5 yard line with a chance to pull within a score. However, on third-and-goal from the 5, Pitt’s Braylan Lovelace picked off a pass at the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown, a 14-point swing that put the Jackets in a 35-14 hole.
Georgia Tech responded once again, scoring a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to get within one score at 35-28 with just under five minutes to go in the game. With momentum firmly in hand once again for the Yellow Jackets, Pitt faced third-and-4, with the Jackets one stop away from getting the ball back with the opportunity to tie the game. However, the Panthers converted the third down and, on the ensuing play, broke off a 56-yard touchdown run that sealed Tech’s fate.
Despite an uneven start and the pick-six early in the second half, quarterback Haynes King nearly willed the Yellow Jackets to victory once again, finishing with 333 yards of offense (257 passing, 76 rushing) and three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing). His top targets were wideouts Malik Rutherford (six receptions for 68 yards) and Isiah Canion (four catches for 67 yards and a career-high two touchdowns).
Much like King and the offense, Georgia Tech’s defense also shook off a slow start to allow the Jackets to make it a game in the second half. After surrendering 281 yards in the opening half, Tech’s defense allowed just 116 yards after the break. Junior linebacker Cayman Spaulding stuffed the stat sheet with a team-high six tackles, including a career-best two sacks, and a forced fumble for the Jackets’ defense, which finished with a season-high-tying six sacks as a team.
The Yellow Jackets must rebound from the heartbreaking defeat quickly, as they host archrival and No. 4-ranked Georgia in just six days at sold-out Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Kickoff for the 119th edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is slated for 3:30 p.m.
Isiah Canion hauls in the second of his two touchdowns, which pulled the Jackets within a score at 35-28 in the fourth quarter (Danny Karnik photo)
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
- Georgia Tech fell to 9-2 overall and closed its Atlantic Coast Conference season at 6-2.
- The loss snapped Georgia Tech’s 10-game winning streak at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, which dated back to the beginning of the 2024 season and was its longest since it won 17-straight home games from 1989-91.
- Georgia Tech dropped to 6-12 overall and 2-7 at home all-time against Pitt.
- Georgia Tech’s 21-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter was tied for the second-largest first-quarter deficit in program history (largest: 24-0 at Notre Dame – Nov. 20, 2021).
- Georgia Tech’s six sacks matched a season high (prev. 6 vs. Gardner-Webb – Sept. 6). It was the most sacks in an ACC game since getting eight at Wake Forest two seasons ago (Sept. 23, 2023)
- Georgia Tech finished with two turnovers, which marked the first time since Game 2 of the season that it had multiple turnovers in a game.
- Georgia Tech’s sellout crowd of 52,413 was its second-straight (Oct. 25 vs. Syracuse was also a sellout). It marked the first time that Georgia Tech has had multiple sellouts in a year since 2015.
- The crowd of 52,413 was Georgia Tech’s third-straight of 50,000-plus (in addition to the consecutive sellouts, 50,878 were in attendance on Oct. 11 vs. Virginia Tech). It marked the first time since 2011 that Georgia Tech had three-consecutive crowds of 50,000-plus.
- Georgia Tech lost the opening coin toss for the 10th time in 11 games this season. The Yellow Jackets’ lone win on an opening coin toss came in their second game of the season (Sept. 6 vs. Gardner-Webb). Including losing the coin toss at the beginning of overtime at Wake Forest (Sept. 27), Tech is 1-11 in coin tosses this season. The statistical odds of winning just 1-of-12 coin tosses are just 0.293% (1 in 340).
Individual Notes
- r-Sr. QB Haynes King accounted for 333 yards (257 passing, 76 rushing) and three touchdowns (one passing, two rushing) and extended his own Georgia Tech record with his 17th game with a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown.
- King now has 89 touchdowns responsible for in 34 games as a Yellow Jacket, which extends his own school record.
- King moved into second in Georgia Tech history with 9,679 yards of total offense as a Yellow Jacket, surpassing Reggie Ball (9,579 yards from 2003-06) and behind only Joe Hamilton (10,640 yards from 1996-99) in Tech’s all-time annals.
- WR Isiah Canion’s two touchdown receptions were a career high (prev.: one – twice) and gave him the team lead with four on the season.
- LB Cayman Spaulding’s two sacks were his most as a Yellow Jacket (prev.: 0.5 vs. Temple – Sept. 20).
- P Marshall Nichols averaged 51.2 yards-per-punt tonight (four punts for 205 yards) becoming the first Tech punter since at least 1995 to average over 50 yards per-punt four times in a single season – also vs. Syracuse (59.5), vs. Virginia Tech (54.0) and vs. Temple (51.25).
With 333 yards of total offense, Haynes King moved to second in Georgia Tech history with 9,679 total yards as a Yellow Jacket (Danny Karnik photo)
Multimedia
Head Coach Brent Key Postgame Press Conference (Video)
Head Coach Brent Key Postgame Press Conference (Audio)
Student-Athletes Postgame Press Conference (Video)
ACC Digital Network Highlights
ACC Digital Network Condensed Game
Around Social Media
IF YOU AREN'T ON THE FLATS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! 😤#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/gHKZ02TQlP
— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) November 23, 2025
Touchdown 🔋 King → Canion
📺 @espn #StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/WZhzS1zAjS
— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) November 23, 2025
All love for 10 🫶 @haynes_king10 #StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/cjaG7RrIxM
— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) November 22, 2025
Full Steam Ahead
Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online.
For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram and at www.ramblinwreck.com.
