THE FLATS – Making his first-career start, redshirt freshman quarterback Aaron Philo led Georgia Tech to one of the most prolific offensive outbursts in school history in the Yellow Jackets’ 59-12 win over Gardner-Webb on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.
Behind Philo and his career-high 373 passing yards, Georgia Tech (2-0) amassed a whopping 680 yards of offense, including 457 through the air. The Yellow Jackets’ 680 total yards are the third-most in the program history, while the 457 passing yards and 11.9 yards per play both rank second in the school’s all-time annals.
The Jackets also rushed for 223 yards, including 100 yards and two touchdowns from Malachi Hosley and 92 yards and a pair of scores from Jamal Haynes. All eight of Georgia Tech’s touchdown drives took less than three minutes off the clock, as the Yellow Jackets put 59 points on the board despite only having the ball for 22 minutes and 37 seconds.
Georgia Tech’s defense also turned in a stellar performance, as it recorded six sacks, 14 tackles for loss and allowed just 12 points to a Gardner-Webb squad that scored 52 and amassed 627 yards of total offense in its season debut a week ago.
For the second-straight week, the Yellow Jackets had an inauspicious start. After turning the ball over on its first three possessions in last week’s season-opening win at Colorado, the Jackets had turnovers on each of their first two offensive series on Saturday, and once again found itself down by a touchdown early in the ballgame (Gardner-Webb missed the PAT after its early TD and only led 6-0).
However, Tech’s offense began humming after the initial miscues. Philo led the Jackets to scores on four-straight possessions following the early turnovers, leading Tech to a commanding 28-6 halftime lead. After the break, the Jackets scored on 4-of-5 possessions account for the final 47-point margin.
Philo’s 373 passing yards were the sixth-most in Georgia Tech single-game history, and the most by a Yellow Jacket since George Godsey’s school-record 486 yards through the air against Virginia in 2001.
After Philo left the game in the fourth quarter, redshirt freshman Graham Knowles completed the first pass of his career for an 84-yard touchdown to Dean Patterson.
In all, 11 different players caught passes for Georgia Tech, led by Malik Rutherford, who had a team-high five receptions for 62 yards. Patterson led the Jackets with 87 receiving yards, and sophomore Isiah Canion hauled in his first-career touchdown, part of a 2-catch, 53-yard day.
Defensively, redshirt junior linebacker Kyle Efford had six tackles, leading 15 different Yellow Jackets with at least three stops. Sophomore defensive end Amontrae Bradford and redshirt senior defensive tackle Akelo Stone each recorded two of the Jackets’ six sacks, while sophomore DB Kelvin Hill had 2.5 tackles for loss.
Not to be overshadowed by the impressive performances on both sides of the ball, the Yellow Jackets were nearly flawless on special teams, highlighted by a field goal block by Jordan van den Berg that was returned 65 yards for a score by Ahmari Harvey. The Jackets also blocked a PAT that was seemingly returned for a defensive two-point conversion by Will Kiker, only for it to be erased by an inadvertent official’s whistle. Place kicker Aidan Birr moved to 3-for-3 on the season with a 23-yard field goal.
Sitting at 2-0 for the second season in a row, Georgia Tech hosts longtime Atlantic Coast Conference rival and No. 8-ranked Clemson next Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon and the game will be televised on either ABC or ESPN.