2 hours ago 2

Georgia Tech upsets #12 Clemson 24-21

Georgia Tech came into today 6-1 against ranked ACC opponents in the Brent Key era.

They are now 7-1.

On a fire drill field goal with the game clock expiring, Aidan Birr boomed a game-winning (and career long and record long game-winning kick in program history) 55 yard field goal to defeat #12 Clemson and send the 48,059 person whiteout crowd into a frenzy, storming the field 10 years after doing so in 2015’s memorable whiteout game against Florida State. Georgia Tech’s 9-game losing streak to Clemson is over.

Tech moves to 3-0 on the season and is a lock to be ranked in tomorrow’s AP Poll after beating Colorado on the road and beating Gardner-Webb with backups.

Georgia Tech needed Haynes King magic to win, and sure enough he delivered once again. King finished with 211 yards passing and 101 rushing and going 20-28 through the air. Similar to the Colorado game, the man took hits and seemed like he was shaken up on multiple occassions, but it did not matter. He beat Clemson.

How it Happened

Tech started with the ball, getting big third down catches from Eric Rivers and Isiah Canion to keep the drive alive and into a goal to go situation. The play calls on 3rd & 4th down from the two yard line resulted in an incompletion and a screen pass for negative yards, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Tech got the ball right back a few plays later after Omar Daniels delivered a crushing hit to Cade Klubnik, forcing a fumble recovered by Zachary Tobe in field goal range. Tech didn’t get a first down but Aidan Birr nailed a 40 yard field goal to put Tech up 3-0 with 5:50 left in the first.

Clemson then converted on third down twice on their next drive, and on 3rd & 4 threw a screen that was stopped short. Their proceeding 53 yard field goal missed wide right.

Tech immediately put the ball in plus territory after a 16 yard catch by Isiah Canion. King then took two deep shots, missing Bailey Stockton on the first pass but hitting Eric Rivers on the second to reach the five yard line and end the first quarter. Jamal Haynes punched in the touchdown on the next play for a 10-0 GT lead.

After Clemson went three and out, their defense made good blitzes to stop a jet sweep run and keep Tech’s run game in the backfield. Aidan Birr hit a 42 yard field goal to end the drive and Tech up 13-0

Clemson had shot themselves directly in the foot on their next drive, committing a holding call then Klubnik slipped to give them 2nd & 22. After an incompletion, they hit a draw play to get all 22 yards and then some with multiple Tech tacklers missing. The Tigers found rhythm from there to get goal to go, but needed three tries from the one yard line to get the score to make it 13-7.

Befuddlingly, with 49 seconds left, Tech didn’t even try to get into field goal range, opting for two give up runs to send the game into halftime with Clemson getting the ball first to open the half

Halftime

Clemson had no trouble getting to the red zone to open the second half before Omar Daniels leapt to intercept a pass at the five yard line and return it to the Clemson 48, giving Tech the turnover advantage in the game. Problem is, we completely spoiled it on a negative first down play and King getting sacked on third down.

Clemson took full advantage of our mistake, hitting Wesco Jr. for a 73 yard touchdown where he should’ve been knocked out of bounds twice down the right sideline, but instead we found ourselves in a 14-13 game.

After three and outs going both directions, Tech had a 3rd & 16 where King scrambled for 15 yards to get into Clemson territory to set up 4th & 1. Tech didn’t get set fast enough to run a play, forcing Brent Key to burn a timeout. The play they did end up running saw King lineup in the slot, then motion to shotgun with a tight end coming behind the center and then took the snap but fumbled it, resulting in a turnover.

Clemson again went three and out, giving Tech another chance to drive and take the lead. Tech ran a much more Tech-like drive with a Jamal dump pass catch for a first down, a 13 yard King run (end of 3rd quarter), a 3rd down conversion by Isiah Canion on a comeback route, a Jamal 27 yard screen pass completion, a Jamal rush to make it goal to go from the 8 with King eventually punching it in for the touchdown.

That put Tech up 19-14, and on the two point conversion did a reverse play where King pitched the ball to Malik Rutherford who then passed it to a wide open Dean Patterson to go up 21-14 with 10:02 left in the game.

Needing to score, Clemson did just that and burned nearly seven minutes of game clock. On 3rd & 2 from Tech’s four yard line, the Tigers put Ian Schieffelin, a 6’8” tight end who spent his first four years of athletic eligiblity playing basketball before using his final year on football, out to the right against Omar Daniels. Ian did a simple box out, drew a defensive pass interference, and reset the downs for an easy two yard touchdown for Adam Randall to tie it up at 21-21 with 3:26 left.

That put Tech in a situation to potentially walk it off. King converted a 3rd & 1 on the first set of downs, then on the next set of downs again rushed to convert a 3rd & 2. Clemson burned a timeout with Tech at Clemson’s 42 yard line. King then rushed to the 39 yard line to set up 3rd down, Tech calling their final timeout. Instead of passing to get a first down and a clock stoppage (or an incompletion), King ran up the middle, didn’t get the first down, resulting in 23ish second fire drill to set up the game winning field goal, which Birr hit with yards to spare.

What do we know now? Georgia Tech has entered the national conversation in a real way. We knew going into the season that if they could win this game, they could get to the ACC Championship game. There’s a lot of schedule left to get through beforehand, but the win squarely puts Georgia Tech in the drivers seat to lead the conference by avoiding Miami, Florida State, and SMU in regular season play.

Side note: we technically did begin the game with a turnover, meaning Tech has gone 3 -> 2 -> 1 consecutive turnovers in the first three games to open games. Here’s hoping it’s a clean first drive against Temple next week.

Other notes from Georgia Tech:

“Birr’s 55-yard game-winning field goal is just the sixth “walk-off” field goal in Georgia Tech program history and also the longest in program history. Birr’s first “walk-off” was a 44-yard kick to secure Tech’s season-opening win against No. 10 Florida State in Dublin, Ireland (Aug. 24, 2024).“

“The 55-yard field goal from Birr was a career-high for the junior and ties the longest field goal made in program history, accomplished three times previously (David Bell vs. Georgia, 1986; Ron Rice vs. The Citadel, 1982; E.O. Whealler vs. VMI, 1973).”