Georgia Tech ran all over Syracuse on offense and shutout the Orange out on defense, leading to a 56-0 win Saturday.
Georgia Tech (4-3, 3-2) snapped a three-game losing streak by executing its triple option attack to perfection as well as making big plays on defense and special teams. It was clear from the start that Syracuse (3-4, 1-2) hadn’t seen anything like the triple option and head coach Scott Shafer acknowledged that fact after the game.
“We simply got outcoached today and I blame myself for that,” he said. “We thought we had a good plan…[but] they blocked us better than we got off blocks.”
GT got things going when Chris Milton was able to get a hand on Riley Dixon’s punt for the block on Syracuse’s second drive, his third of the season. The Yellow Jackets were able to convert the short field into points when Synjyn Days took a pitch four yards for a touchdown. Syracuse reached the Yellow Jacket’s 22-yard line the next drive, the closest they got to scoring all afternoon, before Terrel Hunt [12] was intercepted by a leaping Quayshawn Nealy.
This was the first of three turnovers by the Orange, who struggled to create any offensive rhythm all day long. Coming in averaging 220 rushing yards a game, Syracuse managed just 75 yards on the ground with Jerome Smith [13] gaining just 43 yards on 11 carries. Hunt, who had been a dual threat since becoming the starter wasn’t a factor on the ground either. He threw for just 68 yards and no touchdowns. He also lost a fumble that was forced by Jemea Thomas and recovered by Nealy before being replaced with an equally ineffective Drew Allen [14] in the second half. Shafer made the switch because he said he was looking for a spark to change the momentum of the game.
“I thought it might give us a change up,” Shafer said. “We just couldn’t get anything going [with Hunt].” Despite that, Shafer said Hunt will be back under center when they take on Wake Forest in two weeks.
“Terrel will back in there starting on Monday and we’ll need to work hard to get prepared for a quality Wake Forest team.”
Reed Bakich is a reporter at Technique [15].
