Georgia Tech upsets No. Ten Florida State in Dublin on FG without a second left
Georgia Tech upset No. Ten Florida State in their Week opener on the field in Dublin, Ireland. Aidan Birr kicked a 44-yard field goal with just a minute remaining…
By Ian Casselberry
Aug 24, 2024 11:15 PM
If the 2024 ACC season plays out like Saturday’s Week 0 opener for Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin, college football fans are in for an amazing thrill ride.
Aidan Birr kicked a field goal of 44 yards as time ran out to win the Yellow Jackets a 24-21 win over the No. 10 Seminoles. Brent Key begins his third season as Georgia Tech head coach with an impressive victory over a top-10 team and one of the teams that is considered to be the favorite in the ACC.
Georgia Tech was in jeopardy of being knocked out of field goal range when the quarterback Haynes King fumbled an attempt to snap a shotgun on the drive that was apparently hidden in the direction of Eric Singleton Jr. moving to the left as it was snapped. The error resulted in losing 10 yards, bringing forward the Jackets toward their FSU 38-yard mark.
However, King and Singleton connected with a 12-yard touchdown pass with 41 seconds left to regain that yardage which put Birr in a position in position to score the decisive field goal.
The Yellow Jackets took a 21-14 lead at the start of the fourth quarter. They capped with an 11-play, 89-yard drive with a 2-yard score by Jamal Haynes. The Seminoles came back with a long scoring drive that went for 84 yards in just 15 plays to draw the game.
The main event in the game was a fourth down pass by DJ Uiagalelei to Malik Benson for an additional 19 yards before Georgia Tech’s Georgia Tech 1-yard line. Roydell Williams then followed by kicking the ball to the score.
Uiagalelei was able to finish with 193 yards of passing on 19-for-27 passing, but no touchdowns. Williams was the leading player for his team Seminoles with 38 yards of rushing and a touchdown on 12 runs. Ja’Khi Douglas caught four passes for 55 yards.
In the case of Georgia Tech, King compiled 200 yards off scrimmage while Haynes carried 75 yards and scored two touchdowns. Rutherford added 66 yards of receiving with four catch.
Saturday’s game started off in thrilling style starting with Florida State’s Lawrance Toafili making a quick turn to the left to cut off a 28-yard drive to score the touchdown. It was a thrilling game for the Seminoles added a 2-point conversion from an enticing gate trick to gain an 8-0 advantage.
Georgia Tech punched right back in its first offensive drive, which was highlighted by a 42-yard run and catch from Malik Rutherford. Three runs after that, they scored their first touchdown on the board.
The Yellow Jackets kept Florida State in the game and took a 14-11 lead in the second quarter after ending a 75-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown by King. But a 59-yard field kick from Ryan Fitzgerald – the second-longest of all time in the history of the school — before the clock ran out brought the score to 14-14 at the halftime.
for the Seminoles as well as the coach Mike Norvell, the season-opening defeat to a team that had a 7-6 record last season was a big disappointment. Florida State was seeking revenge after being left out of the last year’s College Football Playoff despite a 13-0 record.
The revenge tour clearly suffered the wrong note with this defeat and they are now in a bind right from the beginning in what could be a difficult ACC race against Clemson as well as Miami. Maybe Georgia Tech just put the conference on notice that they could be an imminent threat.
Next up to watch for Florida State is a Labor Day game against Boston College at 7:15 p.m ET. Georgia Tech will host Georgia State on Saturday, August 8 starting at 8 p.m. ET.