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Georgia Tech rushes past Virginia, 35-25

Missed opportunities mar Watford's career day

Georgia Tech seemed willing to hand Virginia a win Saturday. Turning over the ball five times, the Yellow Jackets gave the Cavaliers opportunities drive after drive to capitalize, almost daring them to take the lead. Virginia, however, turned those five turnovers into zero points.

An early touchdown gave the Yellow Jackets the lead, and Virginia was never able to mount enough of a comeback. Despite record performances from sophomore quarterback David Watford, senior wide receiver Tim Smith and junior receiver Darius Jennings, the Cavaliers were constantly playing from behind in a 35-25 loss.

“It is very disappointing to have had five turnovers and not be able to capitalize and score on some of those opportunities,” head coach Mike London said. “Some of the players had career days, but you would rather have the W. There were some good things that happened out there, but not enough good things that allowed us to win.”

The passing game had been plagued by miscommunications and missed passes throughout the season, but it looked much improved Saturday. Watford looked as comfortable Saturday as he has all year, throwing for 376 yards and two touchdowns on 43-for-61 passing. Both his 43 completions and his 61 attempts were Virginia records. Smith had 151 yards on 10 receptions and Jennings had 119 yards and two touchdowns on 13 receptions. They were the first duo in Virginia history to each have over 10 receptions in a game.

Virginia went into the game hoping to run a more balanced offense, but eventually the team found passing to be more effective. The Cavaliers had just 68 net rushing yards in the game, and had only two rushing attempts in the entire fourth quarter.

“I’ve never thrown 60 times,” Watford said. “The most I’ve thrown is maybe 40. I didn’t really know, I was just in the moment, in the flow of the game … That was not part of the plan. I was just going with it and just ready to win.”

Georgia Tech’s first score came on a blistering three-play, 73-yard drive that took just 65 seconds off the clock. All of a sudden, Virginia was down 7-0, but the defense eventually settled down, holding the Yellow Jackets off the scoreboard for the rest of the quarter.

“It’s definitely tough for the young guys,” senior defensive tackle Jake Snyder said. “You try to tell them in practice, the coaches try to tell them, but it is impossible to replicate that speed in practice … One little mistake can lead to a big play, like you saw. Once everyone gets a feel for it, it is a different ball game.”

Virginia drove into Georgia Tech’s red zone four times in the first half, but the Cavaliers were only able to come away with 10 points, three on a 28-yard field goal from junior Alec Vozenilek and seven from a six-yard run by junior tailback Kevin Parks. After junior safety Anthony Harris intercepted redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Thomas with 43 seconds left in the half, Virginia looked to get a score, down 14-10.

The team drove to the Georgia Tech 14-yard line, and a penalty gave them possession on the two-yard line. Parks tried twice to punch it in, but he was stuffed on the goal line to end the half.

“I take that one on myself,” Parks said. “It was a short yardage situation and you have to plug it in. The opportunity was there and I have to get it in no matter what.”

Georgia Tech struck first after halftime, as junior tailback Zach Laskey found the end zone on a four-yard rush to grant the Yellow Jackets a 21-10 advantage. Laskey and senior tailbacks Robert Godhigh and David Sims each had more than 100 yards rushing on the day, and the team overall had almost 400 yards on the ground. Virginia narrowed the lead to 21-17 as Watford found Jennings for a five-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but Georgia Tech jumped out again on the next drive, as Godhigh broke off a 65-yard touchdown run.

The two teams traded punts, but Virginia got the ball back down 28-17 with 6:34 on the clock. Watford used a barrage of short passes to drive into the Yellow Jackets’ red zone, and then found Jennings again for a 12-yard touchdown. After a successful two-point conversion, Virginia trailed 28-25. The defense looked for a stop on the next drive, but Sims instead broke through for a 29-yard touchdown to seal the 35-25 win.

“At times, we played well defensively, and at times we didn’t,” London said. “It is easy to try to simulate the triple option and adjust to the speed of the game until you are up against a team that does it all the time and does it well. We were not up to game speed with that style of offense.”

The loss is Virginia’s fifth straight, but what is perhaps most frustrating for the players is the lack of any immediate pattern. Against Pittsburgh, it was a lack of offense. Against Ball State, it was turnovers and penalties. Against Maryland, it was red zone woes. Against Duke, it was a disastrous second half. Against Georgia Tech, it was missed opportunities and big plays.

“It’s incredibly frustrating, just because we know how good of a team we have,” Snyder said. “We know the talent we have, we know the schemes we have are in place for us to win, and we just haven’t put it all together.”

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