Louisiana State: 7
Georgia Tech: 25

In mid-October, the 8th ranked, 3-0 Yellow Jackets would play host to the 3-0 Louisiana State Tigers in their second home game of the 1951 season. The Yellow Jackets held a 7-1 record in the series with the Tigers, with the lone loss coming in 1945 at Grant Field in a 9-7 decision. For the first time all year, the Ramblin’ Wreck would be playing as the favorite after being underdogs in their first three contests.

Tech caught a bad break early in the game when Chappell Rhino muffed a punt near the Yellow Jacket goal line. Chester Freeman scored on a 4 yard run one play later to give the Tigers a 7-0 advantage with 9:30 to play in the opening period.

The Yellow Jacket defense stepped up on the next series after holding the Tigers to a fourth down when Ray Beck partially blocked Jimmy Barton’s punt. The Tech offense began at the Tiger 49 yard line and Darrell Crawford quickly hit eligible tackle Lum Synder on a pass to the 28 yard line. Windle Hardeman followed with a 25 touchdown run, but Glenn Turner missed the extra point and Tech remainder trailing by one at 7-6.

Later in the period, George Morris intercepted an LSU pass at the Tech 45 yard line and Crawford quickly hit Dave Davis on a pass to the LSU 9. But the Tech drive stalled at the 8 and Pepper Rodgers entered to hit a 26 yard field goal to give the Jackets at 9-7 lead.

As the game moved into the second period of play, the Jackets would begin a drive at the LSU 37 yard line following a punt. Crawford connected on three consecutive passes, finally hitting Jake Martin for 19 yards to the Tiger one yard line. The Wreck was briefly set back with a 5 yard penalty to the 6, but Hardeman would eventually score on a 1 yard dive to increase Tech’s lead to 16-7 at the break.

LSU received to start the second half and the Tech defense quickly forced a three-and-out. But sophomore tackle Bob Sherman broke through on the punt to block Al Doggett’s kick out of the end zone for a safety that made it 18-7 in favor of the Jackets.

Hardeman returned the free kick 25 yards to the Tech 45 yard line and the Yellow Jacket offense quickly went to work on the Tigers. Hardeman added 5 more on the first play of the drive and George Maloof followed with a run to the Tiger 41. Turner exploded for 35 yards on the next play to move to the 6 yard line and Crawford found Maloof in the end zone two plays later for the final score of the day.

The Jackets would hold their 25-7 advantage throughout the fourth quarter without seriously threatening to score again. The Tigers had a solid opportunity at points when they recovered a muffed punt at the Ramblin’ Wreck 4 yard line. But the Tech defense held strong and eventually forced a turnover on downs.

The victory improved the Jackets to 4-0 on the season and moved them to 5th in the AP poll a few days later. The Tigers defeated Georgia 7-0 one week later, but saw a rough stretch over the three games to follow when they lost two and tied one. They eventually won their final three games to finish at 7-3-1 on the season.

Statistics:

First Downs:
LSU – 18
GT – 13

Rushing yards:
LSU – 128
GT – 254

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
LSU – 10-21-118
GT – 11-17-116

Interceptions thrown:
LSU – 3
GT – 2

Fumbles lost:
LSU – 0
GT – 3

Penalty yards:
LSU – 50
GT – 44

References:
Bisher, Furman. “Startling Jackets Tumble LSU, 25-7.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 1951 Oct. 14