Two things about me: White and Gold are my favorite colors, and I believe in miracles. And I saw a helluva lot of both on Saturday night in Bobby Dodd Stadium!
For Georgia Tech’s Homecoming, GT hosted the #5 and undefeated Clemson Tigers during the primetime spot on ABC. Clemson has been on the rise with probably the most explosive offense in all of college football, while Georgia Tech had played sub-par its past two games and lost both times.
Most people had already written Tech off at this point and assumed only one more win for the rest of the season (Dook!). But what did Paul Johnson and Co. have to say about that? “I don’t give a crap.”
Georgia Tech man-handled Clemson from start to finish (just about) with near perfect execution on both offense and defense to hand Clemson a humbling 31-17 defeat. Tevin Washington and the offense got their mojo back tonight, and not even yabba-dabba-Dabo and all of his cheerleader-ish antics could stop some good ole GT mojo. Tevin ran for 176 yards, a GT QB record. And let’s not forget Jemea Thomas and the stellar GT defense that silenced Heisman candidates, Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins. Jemea had two 4th quarter interceptions to halt Clemson’s hopes of a comeback that they’ve become known for. There was no luck to it, GT played to win and they deserved it.
Heck, even the officials tried to help Clemson out. With GT on Clemson’s 3 yard-line and about to score, Clemson’s DT #34 jumped the snap by a good 2-3 feet to literally intercept the snap from Tevin. Offsides, you say??? Nope, apparently the ACC hired Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles to be the line officials. This poor officiating led to a quick score by Clemson, ultimately resulting in a theoretical 14-point swing in Clemson’s favor. The ACC officials either felt bad for Clemson or were doing their best to get an ACC team to a National Championship. Barring this atrocious act, that would have made the final score closer to 38-13 (We’ll give Clemson an extra field goal just to make them feel less embarrassed). *The ACC recently confirmed, post-game, that Clemson WAS offsides*
What made the win even better? A large number of GT’s most sought after recruits were invited to make official visits on this monumental day when, once again, GT assumed the role of world-beaters (see VT 2009 and Clemson 2000). Georgia’s top RB and NT recruits now reportedly have GT at the top of their lists.
Bobby Dodd Stadium was rocking all night long with a sold-out crowd, and it was one of the best experiences of my life to be on the field and shoot the entire game. Honestly, it was quite frightening as fans rushed the field with thousands of dollars of photo equipment in my hands, but nonetheless, it’s good to be a Jacket!
*NOTE: These photos were taken for the Georgia Tech newspaper (The Technique), and as such, are not available for purchase*
