Georgia Tech suffers embarrassing loss to Bowling Green

Georgia Tech was a three-touchdown favorite heading into the game

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Sep 30, 2023 6:54 PM EDT

In this story:

Georgia Tech came into today's game against Bowling Green 2-2, but with a win today, the Yellow Jackets would be above .500 heading into October for the first time since 2017.

Bowling Green was 1-3 heading into the game and was coming off a blowout loss to Ohio, one of the best teams in the MAC. Just two weeks ago though, the Falcons played a close game against No. 2 Michigan for a half, so Georgia Tech was in no position to take anyone lightly.

That was not the case though.

After a fantastic start, it looked like Georgia Tech would put 70 points on Bowling Green, but the Falcons struck back after an early 14-0 deficit to hand Georgia Tech one of its worst defeats in school history.

Here is the complete recap of today's game.

1st Quarter

Malik Rutherford, Luke Benson, and Zeek Biggers were the captains today and Georgia Tech won the toss and elected to receive to start the game.

The game could not have started any better for the Yellow Jackets.

After a great kick return by Christian Leary to get Georgia Tech to its own 47-yard line, Haynes King hit true freshman Eric Singleton Jr. for a 53-yard touchdown. It was a tremendous start for the offense and the fifth touchdown in five games for Singleton.

The defense did its job on the next drive and set the offense back up on its 25-yard line.

The offense took over and simply could not be stopped. Georgia Tech went 70 yards in just five plays and King was able to get his second TD of the day when he found Christian Leary for the touchdown. It was already 14-0 with 9:40 in the 1st quarter and Georgia Tech was humming on offense.

The defense took the field and was looking to force a three-and-out, but Bowling Green was able to find some success via the running game. After the Falcons picked up a first down, a 32-yard run moved them into Georgia Tech territory. Just a few plays later, Falcons quarterback Camden Orth got the ball down to the two-yard line and then punched it in. It was a poor drive from the defense, especially from a tackling perspective. It was a 10-play 75-yard touchdown drive from the Falcons to cut the lead to seven.

The Yellow Jackets took over at their own 29-yard line and looked to make it their third scoring drive in as many tries.

That was not the case, however. Two negative plays and then a false start backed up Georgia Tech and they went three and out and had to punt.

At the end of the 1st quarter, Georgia Tech led 14-7. Bowling Green faced a third and long to start the quarter. Haynes King was 7-7 for 104 yards and two touchdowns. Singleton Jr had two catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. Offensively, it was a pretty crisp quarter for the Yellow Jackets, but the defense was struggling to tackle and get off the field.

2nd Quarter

Georgia Tech needed a stop at the beginning of the quarter and they were able to get it. Bowling Green had an incomplete pass and Georgia Tech would take over at their own 25-yard line.

As great as the offense was on the first two drives, they sputtered on the next two. Georgia Tech went three and out for the second straight drive and the Bowling Green offense went back to work.

The results to start the next drive were more of the same. The Yellow Jackets were missing tackles and allowing the Falcons to gain chunk plays. They were able to hold them on a third and long from the 23-yard line and force a field goal attempt, which they hit to make it 14-10 with 8:27 left.

The Georgia Tech offense took the field for their fifth drive of the game and needed a sustained drive that ended in points to be able to give their defense a breather.

Once again, the offense could not give an answer. After a nice run by Jamal Haynes to start the drive, King missed two passes and then the Yellow Jackets had to punt. After a clean game on special teams against Wake Forest, a poor snap led to a fumble and Bowling Green took over in Georgia Tech territory to start the next drive.

Bowling Green took over and had a chance to take the lead on a Georgia Tech team that appeared to be on its heels a bit.

The Falcons continued to convert third and fourth downs and the last one resulted in an incredible one-handed catch for a touchdown.

That ended a poor first half for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were trailing 17-14 and being outgained 223-155. The Falcons were 7-11 on third down and had two sacks. Georgia Tech was unable to run the ball for the entire first half and after the first two drives, the entire offense could not move the ball against Bowling Green after that and the Falcons are not a good defense.

Malik Rutherford — Georgia Tech could not get anything going consistently in the first half against Bowling Green
Nathaniel Caudell

3rd and 4th Quarter

Bowling Green got the ball to start the second half and the Yellow Jackets badly needed a stop.

A play-action pass from the Falcons hit for 50 yards to get Bowling Green into scoring position and then an 11-yard run put them on the Georgia Tech 12-yard line.

After yet another 3rd down conversion to set them up on the one-yard line, Connor Bazelak scored on the quarterback keeper to make it 24-14 with 11:33 to go in the 3rd quarter. At that point in the game, Bowling Green was outgaining Georgia Tech 298-155.

Georgia Tech took over on its own 24-yard line and needed a drive in the worst way.

A penalty on third down extended the drive for Georgia Tech and then a couple of free plays due to offsides penalties moved the ball into Bowling Green territory. The Yellow Jackets faced fourth down after a couple of plays went nowhere and down ten, Brent Key decided to use a timeout. Down 10 points is not the place you want to be using timeouts early in the third quarter.

After burning the timeouts, Georgia Tech attempted to execute a fourth down sneak call and Bowling Green stopped them. It was horribly executed and that is inexcusable coming out of a timeout.

Bowling Green took over and was quickly faced with a 3rd and 7. Bowling Green appeared to pick up the first down, but a holding penalty brought it back and made it a 3rd and 16. Bazelak picked up the 3rd down on a quarterback run and Bowling Green was 9-13 on third downs at that point.

Georgia Tech appeared to have finally gotten a stop on third down, but a holding call on Georgia Tech moved the chains for Bowling Green.

Not long after, Bowling Green put the ball in the end zone to make it 31-14. It was a 10-play 86-yard drive for the Falcons to put it into the end zone.

Then it somehow got worse for the Yellow Jackets.

After a pass to Dominick Blaylock, King threw an interception that the Falcons proceeded to take back to the end zone to make it 38-14.

Needing a response, Georgia Tech drove 81 yards in eight plays and King found Malik Rutherford for a touchdown to make it 38-20.

Georgia Tech did get the ball back and had a drive going down 18 points, but a tipped pass went up in the air and resulted in another interception.

Georgia Tech scored one more touchdown for the game when Abdul Janneh cut the score to 38-27.

This is a loss that is sure to end any hopes that Georgia Tech had of making a bowl game. This was a must-win game as a three-touchdown favorite and Key's team could not have looked any less prepared than they did today. This is a major setback to any positive momentum that this program had and Key will have to rally them quickly or else things will get even uglier.

Georgia Tech travels to Miami next week for an 8:00 p.m. showdown with the Hurricanes that will be televised on ACC Network.

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