Not many teams in the ACC or the country needed a win as much Georgia Tech did yesterday against Duke. The Blue Devils came into the game 4-0 and looking like a real contender in the conference, while the Yellow Jackets were 1-3 and coming off a loss to Stanford, who has looked like the worst team in the Power Four.
Does yesterday's win mean that Georgia Tech's problems are all solved? Far from it, but this gives them needed momentum that they can use in the second half of the season.
Here are three things I learned about this team yesterday.
1. Offensive line had their best performance
Brent Key has built this program around toughness, physicality, and offensive line play. Through the first four games of the season, the Yellow Jackets had been playing very poorly, but they turned in their best performance of the season on Saturday.
Duke has one of the best defenses in the ACC and were the second best scoring defense in the league heading into Saturday, but the Yellow Jackets had success moving the ball, with multiple drives of 90-yards. The offensive line was missing Ethan Mackenny again and Jameson Riggs was injured during the game, but they allowed zero sacks and only four tackles for loss.
Staying ahead of schedule was essetential for the Yellow Jackets against Duke and will be again next week vs Virginia Tech.
2. Their bowl hopes have a small bit of life
You can argue that Georgia Tech's bowl game hopes were dead in the water at 1-3 with losses to Colorado and Stanford, but 1-4 would have been it.
They still have plenty of work to do, but you can squint and see a path to four more wins, though it is not a likely scenario.
Virginia Tech has dropped two in a row after a 4-0 start, including a game to Cal, who had looked like one of the worst teams in the league. Boston College is one of the ACC's worst teams, Pitt is down their starting QB for the rest of the season, and Clemson and Louisville both look vulnerable. Will they do it? Perhaps not, but it got more interesting with yesterday's win.
3. Running game got on track
Coming into the season, Justice Haynes and Malachi Hosley were looked at as one of the best running back duos in the country. With Hosley hurt, Georgia Tech has had to turn to Trelain Maddox to take some of the load off Haynes and he responded with the best game of his career yesterday, scoring three touchdowns, including a 60-yard TD run.
The Yellow Jackets ran for over 160 yards and rarely got lost yardage when they ran the ball. That is the way they want to look on offense and they were able to do it against what is supposed to be one of the ACC's better defenses. Can they do it on the road next week in Blacksburg against the Hokies?
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