Sept. 13, 2014
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GEORGIA TECH (3-0, 0-0) 42, Georgia Southern (1-2, 0-0) 38
Bobby Dodd STADIUM AT GRANT FIELD • ATLANTA, GA.
SEPTEMBER 13, 2014 • ATTENDANCE: 53,173
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Georgia Tech captains for #GASOvsGT: Synjyn Days, DeAndre Smelter, Sam McNearney, Kyle Travis and Joshua Rogers • This is third season under Coach Johnson that the Yellow Jackets have started the season off 3-0. The other two seasons were 2011 and 2013. • Coach Johnson is the 10th active FBS head coach to coach against his former team. With the win against Georgia Southern, Johnson joins the other nine active FBS coaches in being victorious in their last meetings against their former schools. • This was the first meeting between the two schools. • The attendance of 53,173 today is the largest non-Georgia home crowd since the Yellow Jackets hosted Clemson in 2011 (55,646) and the largest non-night game since Florida State in 2008 (53,528). • The win was Coach Johnson’s 50th win at Georgia Tech. TEAM NOTES • Georgia Tech accumulated 536 yards of total offense against Georgia Southern. The last time the Yellow Jackets had more than 500 yards of total offense was against Wofford on Aug. 30. • The Yellow Jackets recorded 348 rushing yards. The last time Tech rushed for more than 300 yards was against Tulane on Sept. 6. • Out of Georgia Tech’s 18 scoring drives this season, five have been two minutes or less, including today’s opening drive that lasted three plays, 75 yards and 1:15. • Dating back to last season, Georgia Tech has scored a touchdown on its first possession for the seventh time in the last nine games. Quarterback Justin Thomas scored on an eight-yard run. • Georgia Tech has played 214 consecutive games without being shut out which is the eighth-longest active streak in the nation. (Last shut out came vs. Florida State on Oct. 18, 1997) • Georgia Tech hasn’t been shut out at home since Nov. 30, 1957 – a streak of 354 consecutive home games at Bobby Dodd Stadium. • The Yellow Jackets scored on five straight drives to begin the game. • This is the first time Georgia Tech has allowed its opponent to have two 100-yard rushers (Matt Breida- 111 and Kevin Ellison-107) since Georgia in 2009. INDIVIDUAL NOTES • Quarterback Justin Thomas set a career-high in rushing yards with 137. Thomas’ previous career-high was 95 yards (vs. Syracuse, Oct. 19, 2013), which he surpassed in the first half alone with 97 yards. • Thomas’ first career 100-yard rushing games makes him the second current Jacket to rush for more than 100 yards. Zach Laskey has three career 100-yard rushing games. • Thomas was the first player to throw for four touchdowns since Vad Lee accomplished the feat at Duke last season. • Thomas was also the first player to pass and rush for a touchdown since Vad Lee against Georgia last year. • With Thomas’ 137 rushing yards and 188 passing yards, he is the first Georgia Tech quarterback to pass and rush for more than 100 yards since Vad Lee rushed for 112 and passed for 169 at North Carolina on Nov. 10, 2012. • This was Thomas’ second career game and second time this season with more than 300 yards of total offense with 325 yards (188 passing, 137 rushing). • Kicker Harrison Butker now ranks 12th all-time on the career points by kicking list with 105 points. • With 80 yards against Georgia Southern, B-back Zach Laskey ranks 30th on Georgia Tech’s career rushing charts with 1,418 career yards. He is 82 yards shy of reaching the 1,500 career plateau. • Through the first three games, Laskey has lost 0 yards on 44 rushes. • Laskey recorded his fourth receiving touchdown of his career. • Safety Isaiah Johnson moved into 13th on Georgia Tech’s career tackles by a defensive back list with 216. • Defensive end KeShun Freeman started in his first career game and tied his career-high of four tackles against Georgia Southern. • A-Back Charles Perkins had a career-long 63 yard run on the first play of the game. • Rod Rook-Chungong had his first career sack. • Quarterback Tim Byerly scored his fifth career rushing touchdown and his third touchdown in the past two games. • Wide receiver Darren Waller caught his fourth career touchdown pass of his career. • Wide receiver DeAndre Smelter had a 57-yard touchdown reception, marking his seventh career touchdown. • Smelter recorded his second 100-yard receiving game of his career with 106 yards. He was the last Jacket to record more than 100 receiving yards, which he accomplished against Wofford. • A-back Broderick Snoddy had a career-long kickoff return for 25 yards. • A-back Deon Hill scored his third career touchdown to win the game with only 23 seconds left. • Linebacker Quayshawn Nealy led the defense with eight solo tackles. • Linebacker Paul Davis had a career-high seven tackles. • Safety Jamal Golden’s six tackles tied his career high and he recorded a career-high two tackles for loss. He also recorded his third career forced fumble.
