Louisiana State: 20
Georgia Tech: 30

Seeking its third victory of the season, the Ramblin’ Wreck played host to the 0-3 LSU Tigers in early October at Grant Field. Tech entered at 2-1 with its lone blemish coming in a 13-12 home loss to Florida in week two. The two Yellow Jacket victories came against Tulane at home and SMU in Dallas.

Midway through the opening period, the Tigers mounted a drive deep into Tech territory, advancing all the way to the Ramblin’ Wreck 27 yard line. But George Volkert put an end to the march when he picked off Al Doggett’s pass at the 6 yard line, regaining possession for the Jackets.

Tech punted out to the 40 and the Tigers were again on the move late in the period. Doggett found Vincent Gonzales on a 22 yard pass to the 17 to get back into scoring position. Levi Johns followed up with a 14 yard run to the 3 and the Bengals were on the Tech’s doorstep. As the second quarter began, Johns took a handoff at the 1 and fumbled into the end zone. John Woods recovered for LSU and the Tigers led 6-0 after Wade Mitchell blocked the extra point.

The Jackets wasted no time in answering, as Bill Teas took a pitch 77 yards for a score on the first play after the ensuing kickoff. Tech’s PAT was good and they held a 7-6 advantage.

The Ramblin’ Wreck defense made a stop on the following drive, and the Jackets regained possession at their 12 yard line following the punt. Paul Rotenberry went for 22 on a sweep and Mitchell connected on several passes en route to the LSU 37 yard line. Bill Brigman entered and found Bill Sennett on a 14 yard strike to the 13 and the Jackets were threatening yet again. Brigman hit Henry Hair for 7 more before Larry Ruffin gained the final 6 on the ground to extend Tech’s lead to 14-6.

With the quarter winding down, the Jackets were once more marching towards the Tiger end zone. Brigman led a drive all the way to the LSU 1 yard line, but failed to score on a sneak as the half expired and Tech would hold an eight point advantage at the break.

The Jackets held the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter, but were unable to muster any points of their own while being hindered by two turnovers. Brigman first threw a pick to Ted Paris and Volkert later lost a fumble to Gary Dildy.

Early in the final stanza, facing a third down at Tech’s 34, Doggett hit Joe Tuminello on an 18 yard strike to the 16. The Tigers covered the final 18 yards on runs by committee, with Gonzales adding the touchdown to make it 14-13 in favor of the Jackets.

With less than six minutes to play, a slew of scoring began to take place. Tech punted to the LSU seven and, on the first play to follow, Doggett fumbled in the end zone and recovered for a Tech safety, making it 16-13.

Hair returned the free kick to the Tiger 45 yard line, and caught consecutive passes of 7 and 38 yards from Brigman to score the touchdown for a 23-13 lead.

The Yellow Jacket defense forced a punt, but the offense gave it right back on a fumble at Tech’s 17 yard line. Doggett hit Tuminello for 10 yards to the 7 and went right back to him for the touchdown one play later to make it 23-20.

But the Jackets refused to falter and added one more touchdown for good measure. Jimmy Thompson was the hero on the drive, running for 35 yards on a sweep and adding the touchdown on a 17 yard scamper to reach the 30-20 final.

After starting 0-4, the Tigers would bounce back to win five of their last seven games to finish at 5-6 on the season. Their most notable victory came over their rival, the 13th ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, in a 7-6 contest in Shreveport, LA.

Statistics:

First Downs:
LSU – 10
GT – 23

Rushing Yards:
LSU – 96
GT – 290

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
LSU – 5-16-72
GT – 13-23-168

Interceptions thrown:
LSU – 3
GT – 1

Fumbles lost:
LSU – 0
GT – 2

Penalty yards:
LSU – 10
GT – 5

References:
Danforth, Ed. “Tech Drops LSU In Thriller, 30-20.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 1954 Oct. 10