Georgia Tech Football: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly From The Loss to Vanderbilt

Georgia Tech lost their final game of the season today, dropping their bowl game to Vanderbilt

Dec 27, 2024; Birmingham, AL, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wide receiver Isiah Canion (13) misses a pass in the end zone with Vanderbilt Commodores defensive back Jaylin Lackey (27) trailing the play during the first half of the 2024 Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images / Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Turnovers, poor defense, and some questionable officiating calls in the second half of yesterday's Birmingham Bowl between Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt sent the Yellow Jackets home with a bowl loss and a poor finish to what has otherwise been a solid season for Brent Key's team.

The three things that killed Georgia Tech yesterday. The defense, which was down key players today such as Romello Height, Taye Seymore, Kyle Efford,, and Rodney Shelley, but looked unprepared for this Commodores offense, but a lot of credit should go to Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia for making plays. He was the best player on the field last night and was a huge reason they won.

So for the last time this season, let's look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from yesterday's game.

The Good

• Georgia Tech finishes the season with a final record of 7-6, giving it consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2013 and 2014.

• Eleven different receivers caught passes for Georgia Tech, one shy of the school record of 12, which was matched on Sept. 14 vs. VMI. Friday’s game marked the third time this season that Georgia Tech had at least 11 players with receptions (12 vs. VMI – Sept. 14 and 11 vs. Georgia State – Aug. 31). Prior to it happening three times this season, Georgia Tech only had as many as 11 different receivers catch a pass in a game eight times in program history.

• With 204 passing yards, three touchdown passes and one interception, r-Jr. QB Haynes King finished the season with 2,114 passing yards, 14 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in 11 games. He is only the second Atlantic Coast Conference player and the 13th NCAA Division I FBS player in the last 69 seasons (since 1956) with at least 2,100 passing yards, 10 touchdown passes and two or fewer interceptions in a season. The full list includes: Rudy Carpenter (Arizona State – 2005), Stephen McGee (Texas A&M – 2006), Jake Medlock (Florida International – 2012), Connor Shaw (South Carolina – 2013), Drew Hare (Northern Illinois – 2014), Danny Etling (LSU – 2017), Dustin Crum (Kent State – 2019), Jayden Daniels (Arizona State – 2019), Hendon Hooker (Tennessee – 2022), Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina – 2022), Drew Allar (Penn State – 2023) and Jordan Travis (Florida State – 2023).

• King’s three touchdown passes matched a season high (prev. vs. VMI – Sept. 14).

• RT Jordan Williams made the 53rd start of his career to set a new Georgia Tech record for career starts (prev.: 52 – RB Roddy Jones, 2008-11).

• RB Jamal Haynes rushed for 136 yards, good for his third 100-yard rushing game of the season and seventh of his career. All seven of his 100-yard rushing games have come in the last 25 games.

• Haynes finished the season with 944 rushing yards. He is the first Georgia Tech player to rush for at least 900 yards in consecutive seasons since QB TaQuon Marshall in 2017 and 2018 and the first Tech running back to accomplish the feat since Jonathan Dwyer in 2008 and 2009.

• WR Malik Rutherford caught three passes for 32 yards. It was his 29th-consecutive game with a reception, which is tied for 4th-longest in Georgia Tech history with Kerry Watkins (2000-02) and Demaryius Thomas (2008-09). Rutherford’s 29-game streak is the longest by a Yellow Jacket since Thomas’.

• Rutherford finished the season with 62 receptions, the sixth-most in Georgia Tech single-season history and the most by a Yellow Jacket since Pro Football and College Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson’s 76 receptions in 2006.

• TE Ryland Goede’s 2-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was the first-career TD for Goede, a sixth-year senior playing in his final collegiate game.

• WR Bailey Stockton’s 2-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter was his first-career TD.

• Aidan Birr was 2-2 on field goals

The Bad

• The offense was very inconsistent throughout the day. They punted on their first two drives and their passing game lacked explosiveness. They were able to piece together two good drives in the 4th quarter to close the gap, but aside from Jamal Haynes, the offense was poor.

• Vanderbilt finished with three sacks and seven tackles for loss.

• While they only lost one, Georgia Tech did fumble the ball four times.

• Vanderbilt was 6-12 on third down

The Ugly

• A loss is always ugly

• The officiating was horrible yesterday, but the Yellow Jackets seemed to let it affect them and things spiraled. Trailing 14-13 in the third quarter, Georgia Tech was called for pass interference on third down and that would have ended the drive and gave the ball back to them. Instead, that call seemingly sent the Yellow Jackets into a spiral and it turned into an unsportsmanlike conduct on head coach Brent Key. After that, a defensive holding was called on Georgia Tech and then another scuffle between the two teams resulted in offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Vanderbilt scored to make the game 21-13 and then it was an avalanche of turnovers and mistakes for the Yellow Jackets that sent them into a defeat in Birmingham.

Related Links:

Brent Key Discusses The Officiating and Unsportsmanlike Penalty Called On Him During Yellow Jackets Loss To Vandy

Everything From Brent Key After Georgia Tech's Bowl Game Loss to Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt Pulls Away From Georgia Tech In The Second Half to Win The 2024 Birmingham Bowl 35-27