Jackets Beat Virginia in OT, 30-27

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THE FLATS — True freshman Wesley Wells became only the eighth player in Georgia Tech football history to kick four field goals in a game, with the fourth and final one proving to be the difference in the Yellow Jackets’ 30-27 overtime win over Virginia on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Wells was good on all four of his field-goal attempts, including a 48-yarder with 1:04 to go in regulation that gave Georgia Tech a short-lived 27-24 lead and a 40-yarder in overtime that wound up being the game-winning points when Virginia’s Brian Delaney missed wide right to end the thriller.

The wild game featured eight lead changes and two ties. Georgia Tech scored in all three phases of the game, including a safety caused by senior Brant Mitchell’s sack of Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins in the end zone in the first quarter and a 77-yard touchdown return by true freshman Juanyeh Thomas on the ensuing free kick.

After a 1-3 start, Georgia Tech (7-4, 5-3 ACC) has won six of its last seven games, including each of its last four, to clinch a second-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division. Virginia (7-4, 4-3 ACC) lost for only the second time in its last six games.

The Yellow Jackets now turn their sights to next week’s regular-season finale versus archrival Georgia. The 113th edition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is set for next Saturday (Nov. 24) at noon in Athens, Ga., where the Jackets have won in each of their last two visits.

Wesley Wells (center) celebrates after his 40-yard field goal in overtime that proved to be the winning points in Georgia Tech’s 30-27 win over Virginia.

 

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Postgame Notes

Team Notes

• Georgia Tech moved to 7-4 overall (5-3 ACC) while Virginia fell to 7-4 overall (4-3 ACC).
• The win was Georgia Tech’s fourth-straight and sixth in its last seven games.
• Georgia Tech’s four-game winning streak matches its longest since 2014 (the Yellow Jackets also won four games in a row to close the 2016 season).
• The overtime game was Georgia Tech’s first since Sept. 4, 2017 versus Tennessee (a 42-41, double-OT loss), its first overtime win since November 29, 2014 (30-24 at Georgia) and its first overtime win at Bobby Dodd Stadium since November 7, 2009 (30-27 vs. Wake Forest).
• Georgia Tech moved to 6-8 all-time in overtime games.
• Georgia Tech finished 5-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and is guaranteed to finish in second place in the ACC’s Coastal Division, marking the seventh time in head coach Paul Johnson’s 11 seasons as head coach that Georgia Tech will finish first or second in the Coastal Division. In Johnson’s 11 seasons with the Yellow Jackets, the only teams that have finished in first or second place in ACC divisional play as many times as Georgia Tech (7) are Clemson (9 – including this season), Florida State (7) and Virginia Tech (7).
• It is also the seventh time in Johnson’s 11 seasons at Georgia Tech that the Yellow Jackets have finished with at least five ACC wins. Prior to Johnson’s arrival in 2008, Georgia Tech had won five or more conference games just seven times in 16 seasons since the ACC began playing an eight-game league schedule in 1992).
• The win was Georgia Tech’s 12^th in its last 15 home games.
• The win was Georgia Tech’s fourth-straight home win over Virginia.
• Georgia Tech moved to 21-19-1 all-time versus Virginia.
• For the first time this season and only the seventh time in Johnson’s 11 seasons as head coach, Georgia Tech won a game that it trailed after three quarters (the Yellow Jackets were down, 21-16, at the end of the third quarter).
• Georgia Tech’s safety in the first quarter (on a sack of Virginia QB Bryce Perkins by GT Sr. LB Brant Mitchell) was the Yellow Jackets’ first since a 65-10 win over Tulane on Sept. 12, 2015.
• Georgia Tech’s touchdown return on the free kick that followed the first-quarter safety (officially considered a kickoff return for statistical purposes) was Tech’s first kickoff return for a TD since Lamont Simmons’ 42-yard return of an onside-kick attempt in a 25-24 loss at Miami (Fla.) on Oct. 14, 2017.

Individual Notes

• With a 38-yard run on the fourth offensive play of the game, Sr. QB TaQuon Marshall became the 16^th player in Georgia Tech history with 2,000 career rushing yards. He finished the game with 104 rushing yards to raise his career total to 2,078, good for 14^th all-time at Georgia Tech.
• Marshall’s 100-yard rushing game was his 10th in 21 career starts. He is the only quarterback and ninth player overall in Georgia Tech history with 10 100-yard rushing games.
• With his 77-yard return of a free kick for a touchdown in the first quarter, Juanyeh Thomas became the only the second true freshman in Georgia Tech history to return a kickoff for a touchdown, joining Dez White (1997).
• Georgia Tech true freshman PK Wesley Wells made a career-high four field goals (two 28-yarders, a career-long 48-yarder and a 40-yard game-winner in overtime). He is only the eighth player in Georgia Tech history to make as many as four field goals in a game and the first since Harrison Butker made four in the Yellow Jackets’ 33-18 win over Kentucky in the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl (Dec. 31, 2016).
• Wells moved to a perfect 43-for-43 on place kicks this season (8-for-8 on field goals, 35-for-35 on PATs).
• Georgia Tech So. BB Jerry Howard’s 3-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter marked the fifth time in the last seven games that he has scored a TD.

In his final game at Bobby Dodd Stadium, TaQuon Marshall ran for 107 yards and became the 16th player in Georgia Tech history with 2,000 career rushing yards.

 

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Multimedia

ACC Digital Network Highlights (Video)

Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network Highlights (Audio)

Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson Postgame Press Conference (Video)

Georgia Tech Student-Athletes Postgame Press Conference (Video)

Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson Postgame Press Conference (Audio)