Boston College: 41
Georgia Tech: 31

On a blistering hot day in Atlanta, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets would open the 1998 season against the Boston College Eagles. Tech slaughtered the Eagles in Chestnut Hill in 1997, winning 42-14, and had not lost in five tries to its opponent.

The Eagles scored the lone points of the first quarter when John Matich hit a 27 yard field goal nine minutes into the game for a 3-0 lead.

Mike Cloud then made the most of 1 of his 200 yards rushing, scoring just a minute and a half into the second quarter to extend the Boston College lead to 10-0.

But Joe Hamilton finally woke up the Tech offense and answered with an 8 yard touchdown run to make it 10-7 in favor of the Eagles.

Each team would add another first half touchdown to send the game to intermission with Boston College ahead 17-14. The Eagles struck first on a 15 yard touchdown pass from Scott Mutryn to Rob Tardio and Tech answered when Hamilton hit David Powell for the score from 23 yards out with just 8 seconds remaining in the half.

Tech took the field in the second half and promptly marched towards the Eagle end zone. But the drive would stall at the six yard line and Brad Chambers was called in to hit a 23 yard field goal that knotted the contest at 17-all.

The Eagle offense snatched back the lead with 5:20 to play in the third on a 7 yard run by Cloud, but Charlie Rogers exploded for a 58 yard touchdown run on Tech’s next possession to tie the game at 24 apiece.

With one quarter to play, the contest appeared that it would be won by the team to have the ball last.

Mutryn scored on a 3 yard touchdown nearly four minutes into the fourth quarter to put the Eagles ahead 31-24.

Tech’s Ed Wilder tied the game again with 7:06 to play with a five yard touchdown run and the score was 31-31.

The Eagles then regained the lead on a 25 yard field goal by Matich with 3:02 remaining.

Trailing by just 3 points, Hamilton’s offense could win the game with a touchdown or tie with a field goal. But no game-winning drive was to be found. Instead, the Jackets turned the ball over on downs, and with 1:28 remaining, the Eagles ensured victory with a 5 yard touchdown run by Mutryn to reach the final score of 41-31.

The loss to the Eagles was a scar on Tech’s 1998 season. The Jackets only other loss would come to the Florida State Seminoles, with whom they would eventually share the ACC championship. Boston College, on the other hand, picked up its most impressive win of the season, by far! The Eagles defeated Rutgers and Temple to improve to 3-0 before losing six straight games. They would finish the season at 4-7 with Tech being the only team they defeated to finish with a winning record.

Statistics:

First Downs:
BC – 25
GT – 19

Rushing Yards:
BC – 271
GT – 165

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
BC – 16-26-220
GT – 15-29-227

Fumbles (Total-Lost):
BC – 0-0
GT – 1-0

Interceptions thrown:
BC – 0
GT – 1

Penalties (Total-Yards):
BC – 3-30
GT – 5-51

Notable individual statistics:
Mike Cloud (BC): 34 runs for 200 yards

References:
USA Today Recap: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores98/98248/98248414.htm