DUBLIN, IRELAND – The weather was gloomy and so were the Yellow Jackets’ odds with 3:33 remaining in the 4th quarter at Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Trailing 14-10 with the ball and staring at a stingy Boston College Eagles defense, one that ranked top 5 nationally a year ago and had largely thwarted the Jackets most of the day, the forecast remained ominous.
Fortunately Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas took the pitch – the field, not the backwards lateral variety – with his teammates and with a purpose. Humble and quietly confident, Thomas engineered a dramatic last minute touchdown drive, capped by a Dedrick Mills plunge around the left hash and into the end zone with 35 seconds remaining.
Up 17-14, the Tech defense bowed up and forced Boston College’s 3rd turnover of the game to seal the victory.
“It felt like a movie,” said Thomas on the last drive. “We stuck together, we held our heads up high and we found a way to do it.”
Close wins, and wins of any sort, were unfamiliar a year ago. A season that began with dark horse national title aspirations quickly derailed due to a myriad of factors, resulting in 6 losses by one score or less.
This year the Jackets are 1-0 in such games. Perhaps you can chalk up the change to a different environment, with Tech opening the season across the pond in Ireland. Or maybe there’s some element of Irish luck.
A different assessment was offered by Thomas. “Truthfully I think last year, if some of the stuff happened like today, we probably wouldn’t have finished the game and let our guard down,” said Thomas. “[This year] what we did in the offseason, the way we got closer and how hard we worked, it gave us that will to stay in the game. Nobody got down, everybody kept fighting and that’s what we didn’t have last year that we have this year. That was the main reason we came out with the win.”
Thomas finished 8 of 15 with 119 yards through the air. There was no greater outcome-defining play than Thomas’ 4th down completion to Sophomore A-Back Qua Searcy during the final drive. Facing a 4th and 20 from their own 32, Head Coach Paul Johnson said, “there was no decision” to make on whether to punt or go for it and dialed up 4 verticals, a call made based on the Eagles’ Cover 2 scheme the previous play. Thomas connected with Searcy down the seam for a 22 yard gain, and the game-ending drama ensued.
Following a couple dynamic scrambles by Thomas with 1 minute remaining, the Jackets were looking at 1st and goal from the Eagles’ 6 yard line. Two plays later, true freshman running back Dedrick Mills redeemed his earlier fumble and scratched out the Jackets’ second and bookend touchdown score to seal the game.
“It was a heck of a game,” said Johnson. “It was kind of a throwback game in the elements, everyone was slipping and sliding and falling around, and the defenses were playing pretty good.”
Despite the elements, Tech’s offense overcame the Eagles’ acclaimed defense when it mattered most. And with every win, the 2016 forecast just gets sunnier. It’s party time in Dublin as the Yellow Jackets bring another trophy home!
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