Georgia Tech Opens The 2024 College Football Season With Huge Upset Win vs No. 10 Florida State

The Yellow Jackets scored a massive win vs Florida State

Aug 24, 2024; Dublin, IRL; Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key before the game against Florida State at Aviva Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tom Maher/INPHO via USA TODAY Sports / Tom Maher/INPHO via USA TODAY Sports

What a way to start the college football season.

Georgia Tech is a program that feels like it has a lot of momentum due to some recent recruiting wins and how they finished the year in 2024. Still, Florida State was the defending conference champion and a double-digit favorite in the game, and most expected them to win the game. The Yellow Jackets still had some unknowns on defense and even after losing a lot of NFL talent, Florida State was the preseason pick to once again win the ACC.

Georgia Tech proved a lot of people wrong once again today. Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key has had a lot of success against ranked teams as an underdog and continued that today. The Georgia Tech rushing attack looked like it did not miss a beat, the offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage, and the defense looked much improved. Georgia Tech outgained Florida State 336-291 and outrushed Florida State 190-98. That was the difference in the game. Georgia Tech had to beat Florida State on the line of scrimmage and they did just that.

The passing was not lethal, but it did not need to be. King finished 11-16 for 146 yards and while he did not throw for a touchdown, he did not turn the ball over. That was one of the keys to the game and King did not throw any interceptions, though he did almost cough the ball up on the ground a couple of times that ended up being recovered by the offense.

Jamal Haynes rushed for 75 yards on 11 carries, King had 54 on 15 carries, and Chad Alexander had seven carries for 41 yards. Malik Rutherford was the leading receiver for Georgia Tech, catching four passes for 66 yards. Georgia Tech averaged 6.5 yards per play while Florida State averaged 5.0.

The Florida State rushing attack that got a lot of attention coming into this game was held to 3.2 yards per carry.

This is a massive win for the program. Things have been trending up for the Yellow Jackets under Key and while they still have a tough road ahead, this is a great way to start the year. Now, they have to handle the success and attention this game will get and be prepared to face Georgia State next weekend.

Let's recap today's game.

Georgia Tech won the toss to start the game and elected to kick it off. We were going to see this new look defense for Georgia Tech, but it was not an impressive start for the defense. Florida State's offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage and moved the ball with ease on the Georgia Tech defense and it was capped off by a long touchdown run from Lawrance Toafili. FSU opted to go for two after the touchdown and had an 8-0 lead after just one drive. It was concerning for Georgia Tech because it looked like the same defense that was on the field last season.

Lawrence Toafili scores the first TD of the 2024 season🏹

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK

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— PFF College (@PFF_College) August 24, 2024

Georgia Tech's offense was one of the best in the ACC last year and they looked like they were picking up right where they left off. The running game and offensive line dominated and Malik Rutherford had a big 42-yard catch and run on a screen to get into the redzone. Georgia Tech brought in backup quarterback Zach Pyron to run it in and the Yellow Jackets offense responded to cut the lead to 8-7.

The defense had about as bad of a first drive as you can imagine, but they tightened up afterward. After a solid start to their second drive, FSU faced a 4th and short in Georgia Tech territory and came up short thanks to some great tackling by Ahmari Harvey.

The Yellow Jackets could not do anything after getting the ball back. Haynes was dropped for a loss of six on the first play of the drive and they could not recover. They were forced to punt the ball away. The Seminoles led 8-7 heading into the 2nd quarter.

Florida State responded with a field goal and led 11-7 before Georgia Tech went on the most impressive drive of the 1st half. The Yellow Jackets went 75 yards in 14 plays and chewed up nearly eight minutes of game time. They capped it off with a touchdown run from Haynes King and all of a sudden, Georgia Tech led No. 10 Florida State 14-11.

Florida State had one more possession in the half and there was some questionable game management from head coach Mike Norvell. They let a lot of time go off the clock and if not for a questionable pass interference call on LaMiles Brooks, the Seminoles would have come away with no points. They were able to hit an impressive 59-yard field goal to tie the game going into the half.

It was an impressive first half for the Georgia Tech offensive line and run game. They had over 100 yards rushing against a talented Florida State defense. Haynes King did not need to do to much through the air, only going 3-5 for 53 yards. The story of the first half was Georgia Tech's offensive line dominating up front and the adjustment's the defense made.

Georgia Tech got the ball to start the second half and Jamal Haynes busted a big run to start the half. The drive stalled out though and Aidan Birr missed a 51-yard field goal. It was still 14-14.

Florida State drove the ball a little bit on their second drive of the 2nd half, but the Yellow Jackets were able to hold them down afterward.

After two punts from the offenses, Georgia Tech had another big drive on offense.

After FSU had a major hit on special teams, the Yellow Jackets offense started to move again, but it was almost disastrous. Georgia Tech fumbled the ball and it looked like FSU had an easy recovery, but guard Keylan Rutledge fell on the ball. It saved the drive for Georgia Tech and Haynes King took care of the rest. The offense moved the ball down the field and a tough run from King put the Yellow Jackets on the goal line as time expired in the third. Georgia Tech and Florida State were tied at 14 going into the fourth quarter.

The opening play of the fourth quarter was a touchdown run by Jamal Haynes and Georgia Tech had the lead over the No. 10 team in the country with 14:57 left in the game. The Yellow Jackets had the momentum in the game and were looking to get a huge stop on defense.

The next drive was Florida State's best up to that point and also their longest. They took over eight minutes on the drive and Uiagalelei made two huge throws on fourth down to keep the drive alive. It felt like a massive missed opportunity for Georgia Tech, but the game was tied and they were getting the ball back and looking for a game defining drive.

Facing a third and short, Georgia Tech had a pre snap penalty and a 3rd and 2 turned into a 3rd and 7. King had to make a play and he found Jamal Haynes for a huge 1st down. The drive continued and Georgia Tech continued their drive.

After picking up a 3rd and 1, Florida State started burning timeouts.

Disaster almost struck again for the Yellow Jackets though. King lost the ball and it was on the ground with Florida State nearly recovering. They got some yards back by throwing a screen to Eric Singleton, but the game was going to come down to whether Aidan Birr could nail the field goal.

He did and Georgia Tech kicked off the season by upsetting No. 10 Florida State. Georgia Tech is 1-0 and now enters the rest of their schedule with a ton of momentum at their backs.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗞𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗗 𝗔𝗖𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗗

📺 @espn#StingEm 🐝 pic.twitter.com/rYDOhM0VUx

— Georgia Tech Football (@GeorgiaTechFB) August 24, 2024

Georgia Tech will be back at home next Saturday vs Georgia State. The game will kickoff at 8:00 p.m. and will be televised by the ACC Network.