BY AARON BEARD
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Georgia Tech isn’t making things easy on itself late in games. Yet the 16th-ranked Yellow Jackets are still unbeaten.
They intercepted Wake Forest’s 2-point play for the win in overtime to edge the Demon Deacons 30-29 on Saturday, capping a wild day that saw them rally from 17 down in the third quarter to stay unbeaten. That came two weeks after needing a fire-drill 55-yard field goal from Aidan Birr to beat Clemson on the final play.
This time, Georgia Tech trailed 20-3 early in the third quarter, then rallied to hold off Wake Forest’s bid for a huge win under first-year coach Jake Dickert.
“The one thing I’ll say about this team: For 60 minutes and then some, there still was not one person on that sideline who didn’t believe we were going to win the football game,” Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said.
Haynes King ran for two touchdowns to lead the Yellow Jackets (5-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), including a tough 2-yard keeper to start the OT. The Demon Deacons (2-2, 0-2) responded with Demond Claiborne’s next-play 25-yard scoring run to the left pylon.
But with Claiborne shaken up on the play and quarterback Robby Ashford hobbled, first-year coach Jake Dickert played for the win. Ashford rolled to his right looking for a target and under pressure, but ultimately had to force the ball back toward the middle — where Clayton Powell-Lee picked it off at the goal line to end it.
That sent the Yellow Jackets on the field to celebrate. Ashford and multiple teammates, meanwhile, were left squatting in disbelief.
“Had an opportunity to go win the game, and we took it,” Dickert said of going for 2. “I would make the same decision.”
Claiborne ran for 119 yards and two touchdowns while Ashford ran for one, helping the Demon Deacons lead 17-3 at halftime.
Georgia Tech forced OT on Birr’s 33-yard field goal with 2 seconds left in regulation, coming on another play with Birr running out onto the field to line up with the clock still rolling.
“Really the whole thing was coming in at halftime, we had to hit a hard reset,” Key said. “There was no yelling and screaming. There was no getting after people. I simply said to them, ‘We have to take a deep breath, blow the first half out, and all that matters is us going out there to win the third quarter.’”
The takeaways
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are 5-0 for the first time since 2014.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons blew a 14-0 lead in their loss to N.C. State on Sept. 11 and had just 44 second-half yards. They squandered another lead, but finished much stronger n coming oh-so-close to a huge win.
Key non-call
Birr’s OT-forcing kick came moments after a critical sequence in which officials missed an apparent offsides call on Georgia Tech, coming with the Yellow Jackets holding no timeouts and the Demon Deacons working on the clock.
That led Ashford to throw a free-play deep ball on third-and-5 only to learn there was no flag, sparking an irate reaction from the entire Demon Deacons sideline and boos cascading from the stands. The penalty would’ve been a 5-yarder and likely moved the chains, putting Wake Forest in position to potentially kneel out the clock. Instead, the Yellow Jackets got the ball back with 1:41 left for the OT-forcing drive.
An ACC spokesperson confirmed late Saturday that a penalty should’ve been called on the play.
“I’m not putting that on Robby,” Dickert said. “There’s no way he can see the flag. … I put them in that situation. Just go call the play, don’t risk that situation and go find a way to get a first down to win the game.”
He said it
“Even though it may not count on the stat sheet, it counts in my heart, honestly.” — Powell-Lee on the OT interception.
Up next
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets head into an open date before hosting Virginia Tech on Oct. 11.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons get their own matchup with the Hokies, traveling to Blacksburg on Oct. 4.
