Georgia Tech: 30
Miami: 45

Following a sloppy Thursday night loss to Virginia Tech at home, the Yellow Jackets traveled to south Florida for their annual battle with division rival Miami at Sun Life Stadium. The Hurricanes entered the contest at 4-0, most recently defeating South Florida 49-21 in Tampa to climb to 14th in the most recent polls.

The Jackets started strong and jumped out to a 17-7 first quarter lead. David Sims scored on a 7 yard run to cap off a 12 play, 75 yard drive on the game’s opening possession. The Hurricanes quickly answered when Stephen Morris hit Phillip Dorsett on a 40 yard touchdown strike, but Vad Lee led the Tech offense back into scoring position and Harrison Butker nailed a 45 yard field goal to put the Jackets back on top. Duke Johnson then lost a fumble to Brandon Watts on the second play of the ensuing drive, and Charles Perkins notched the scoreboard again for the Jackets just three plays later with a 31 yard touchdown run with 53 seconds to play in the opening quarter.

Tech’s good fortune continued shortly after the kickoff when Morris had a pass intercepted by Chris Milton at the Georgia Tech 35 yard line. The Tech offense began a methodical march towards the Hurricane end zone, but suffered a disastrous error when Justin Renfrow forced a Vad Lee fumble that was recovered by Jimmy Gaines at the Miami 21 yard line. Morris returned to lead his offense 79 yards in 7 plays before reaching the end zone on a 4 yard pass to Clive Walford. The score put the Hurricanes within three at 17-14 midway through the second quarter.

The Yellow Jacket offense sputtered for the remainder of the half, while the Hurricanes were able to add a 24 yard field goal with 29 seconds to play to knot the contest at 17-17 at the break.

The third quarter saw little scoring. Miami threatened midway through the period, but reached no further than the Yellow Jacket 15 after Quayshawn Nealy picked off Morris at the 9. The Hurricanes nabbed their first lead of the game late in the period, however, when Morris found Allen Hurns for a 69 yard scoring strike to make it 24-17.

Early in the fourth quarter, Tech’s Paul Davis recovered a Dorsett fumble at the Miami 42. Lee and the offense took the field and marched 42 yards in 10 plays to score on a 6 yard run by Sims. The Yellow Jackets remained trailing 23-24, however, when Harrison Butker botched the extra point attempt soon thereafter.

From this point on it was all Miami. Morris hooked up with Stacy Coley for 41 yards on the ensuing drive to setup a 3 yard touchdown run by Dallas Crawford to make it 31-23.

Lee pushed Tech into Miami territory on the following drive, but was intercepted by Rayshawn Jenkins at the Hurricane 31. Johnson rushed for 48 yards on the drive that followed before giving way to Crawford for an 18 yard touchdown run with 1:46 to play to make it 38-23.

Justin Thomas entered the game at quarterback for Tech, but lasted just three plays before throwing a pick-six to Ladarius Gunter at the Tech 30 to make It 45-23.

With 1:09 to play and the game already decided, the Jackets sent in the reserves, featuring Tim Byerly at quarterback. Byerly executed the offense to perfection, leading the Jackets 54 yards in 7 plays to a score with just ten seconds left on the clock to reach the 45-30 final.

The Hurricanes narrowly defeated North Carolina and Wake Forest in the weeks that followed to climb to 7th in both major polls before falling in three consecutive weeks to Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Duke. They finally rebounded to finish the regular season at 9-3 before falling to #18 Louisville by a score of 36-9 in the Russell Athletic Bowl on December 28th for a final record of 9-4, overall.

Statistics:

First downs:
GT – 23
MIA – 22

Rushing yards:
GT – 335
MIA – 227

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
GT – 6-19-66
MIA – 17-22-324

Interceptions thrown:
GT – 2
MIA – 2

Fumbles (Total-Lost):
GT – 2-1
MIA – 2-2

Penalties (Total-Yds):
GT – 3-15
MIA – 7-54

References:
Game Summary: http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/100513aaa.html

Videos:

– Game summary