ATLANTA — With a will and determination not matched on The Flats in some time, Georgia Tech wrecked Miami’s perfect season with a 28-23 victory in front of 47,358 mostly delirious fans.
Tech started a clearly injured Haynes King, a quarterback who barely could throw the ball but could put his head down and run with the football without fear. Backup quarterback Aaron Philo, a freshman, could throw it, and made big completion after big completion.
And the Tech defense, needing one more stop against arguably the nation’s best offense, got it with a strip and fumble recovery with less than two minutes to go to seal the victory.
King rushed for 93 yards on 20 carries, guarding against a sore right shoulder along the way. Philo threw for 67 yards and a touchdown.
The Hurricanes, ranked No. 4, got 348 yards passing and three touchdown throws from Heisman Trophy candidate Cam Ward. But Miami went 1 for 4 on fourth downs and did next to nothing to stop Tech’s ground game, which totaled 271 yards.
Tech, bowl eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2013-14, is now off until hosting North Carolina State on Nov. 21.
Leading 21-16 to start the fourth quarter Saturday, Tech got a huge play when Philo connected with former high school teammate Bailey Stockton for 27 yards on a third-and-17. Two plays later, King kept a read option and sprinted right for a 5-yard touchdown run, making the score 28-16.
Miami wasn’t rattled and cut the score to 28-23 with 6:07 left on Ward’s 38-yard touchdown throw down the left side to a streaking Xavier Restrepo.
The Hurricanes got the ball back one last time with 1:52 to play. After an incompletion, Ward was pressure on second down and hit from behind by defensive end Romello Height. The ball popped free and defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg fell on it to clinch the upset victory.
Ninety-six seconds later, Tech students poured onto the field in unfathomable jubilation.
Tech took the opening kickoff Saturday and wasted no time asserting itself. Haynes broke a 65-yard run up the gut on the game’s second play, then scored on a 16-yard run to make the score 7-0 at the 12:49 mark.
Miami took just 50 seconds to answer with Ward’s 74-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Arroyo — a ball thrown on a slant route that Arroyo caught in stride and took to the house.
Andres Borregales kicked a 40-yard field goal for the Hurricanes midway through the first quarter to give the visitors a 10-7 lead.
The Jackets trailed by that score going into the second quarter, but were also in the midst of their longest drive of the season both in terms of play clock and number of plays. When King found Malik Rutherford on what turned into a 5-yard touchdown pass on a screen out to the left flat, the score completed a 17-play drive (the longest of the season for Tech) over 10:45 and gave Tech a 14-10 lead.
Tech held that lead over the final 12:02 of the first half and went into the locker room up four. The Jackets had 189 rushing yards at the half, while the Hurricanes totaled only 89 yards the rest of the second quarter while being shut out.
Miami started the third quarter with the ball and drove to the Tech 39, but on fourth down from there, needing only a yard, Ward rolled left and threw an incomplete pass. Tech took the ball the other way and went 61 yards to score on Philo’s 15-yard touchdown pass to a diving Chase Lane in the right side of the end zone.
The Hurricanes responded with an 83-yard drive that ended with Ward’s 8-yard fade pass to Isaiah Horton into the left corner of the end zone. Miami went for two after the touchdown, but Tech chased down Ward for a sack to keep the score at 21-16.
That’s how the scoreboard read as the teams stared up at the start of the fourth quarter — 15 minutes that won’t be long forgotten in Atlanta.
No. 3 Georgia dominated in 28-10 loss to No. 16 Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. (TNS) — Ole Miss survived playoff elimination, and now Georgia gets to face a similar situation after the No. 16 Rebels knocked off the No. 3 Bulldogs, 28-10, before a record crowd of 68,126 on a rainy night at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.
The game ended with Ole Miss fans rushing the field 16 seconds too early. Officials had to direct thousands off the field so that the Rebels, with Georgia out of timeouts at that point, could take a knee for the game’s final play. After that was done, the goal posts on both ends of the field went down.
When it was over, the Bulldogs had been thoroughly dominated from the second possession on. Georgia (8-2, 5-2 SEC) now heads back to Athens to regroup and get ready for No. 7-ranked Tennessee at Sanford Stadium on Saturday.
The Volunteers (7-1) were heavily favored at home against Mississippi State in a game that kicked off about the time Georgia’s game was ending.
Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2 SEC), which entered the game with two SEC losses by a total of six points to LSU and Kentucky, moves on to face Florida in Gainesville on Nov. 23 and closes the season at home against Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs have lost two games in a season for the first time since 2020, when they fell to Alabama and Florida.
As for the battle of great quarterbacks that ABC was hoping to get, that was a one-sided affair. Ole Miss senior Jaxson Dart, while not nearly as prolific as a week ago, was lethally efficient. After throwing an interception and getting knocked out of the game on the Rebels’ opening possession, Dart was back on the field for the third series on and finished 13-of-22 passing for 199 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another in Georgia’s worst loss since losing to LSU, 37-10, in the 2019 SEC championship game. Dart also rushed for 50 yards.
The troubles continued for Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, who threw his 12th interception in the past six games and was sacked five times, fumbling twice. After not getting the ball into the end zone Saturday, the fifth-year senior has only 10 touchdowns in the six games. He finished 20-of-31 passing. More damaging, though, was the Bulldogs’ inability to run the football. They finished with 59 yards.
Dillon Gabriel sets career TD mark as No. 1 Oregon routs Maryland
(FLM) — Dillon Gabriel set an NCAA record with his 179th career touchdown and No. 1 Oregon shook off a slow start to defeat Maryland 39-18 on Saturday in Eugene, Ore.
Gabriel was 23 for 34 for 183 yards passing with three touchdowns and no interceptions for the Ducks (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten), who led 14-10 before scoring 25 of the game’s final 33 points.
His record-setting touchdown came on a 3-yard toss to left tackle Gernorris Wilson that put Oregon up 29-10 midway through the third quarter.
Gabriel surpassed former Houston quarterback Case Keenum, who accounted for 155 passing touchdowns and 23 rushing scores for the Cougars from 2007-11.
Billy Edwards Jr. completed 22 for 44 passes for 206 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions for the Terrapins (4-5, 1-5), who have lost two straight games.
Jordan James ran up the middle for a 3-yard touchdown to give Oregon the lead for good, 7-3, with 2:21 to play in the first quarter. The score was set up by a 26-yard pass from Gabriel to James one play after the Ducks converted a fourth-and-1.
Oregon made it 14-3 early in the second quarter with a defensive touchdown. Defensive lineman Jordan Burch stripped the ball from Edwards and Brandon Johnson returned the fumble 62 yards.
Maryland made it 14-10 on Roman Hemby’s 1-yard touchdown run, which capped off a nine-play drive with 3:17 left in the first half.
That left enough time for Gabriel to engineer a 12-play, 75-yard drive that culminated with a 9-yard scoring pass to tight end Terrance Ferguson 20 seconds before halftime.
Oregon used a fake punt to extend its lead in the third quarter. Facing fourth-and-3 at its own 22-yard line, Burch took the direct snap on a fake punt and rumbled 36 yards.
Five plays later, Gabriel tossed his record-setting touchdown and Josh Conerly Jr. ran in the two-point conversion to make it 29-10.
The Terrapins took advantage of several Ducks defensive penalties to sustain drives. They pulled within 29-18 on Octavian Smith’s 3-yard touchdown reception and Edwards’ run on a two-point conversion with 11:27 left in the fourth quarter, but got no closer.
Atticus Sappington hit a 20-yard field goal with 5:47 left before Gabriel found Evan Stewart for a 17-yard score with 3:45 to go.
Texas dominates first half, rolls past Florida 49-17
Quinn Ewers passed for 333 yards and a career-high five touchdowns over the game’s first 33 minutes as No. 5 Texas romped past visiting Florida 49-17 on Saturday afternoon at Austin, Texas.
The Longhorns (8-1, 4-1 SEC) flexed their talent and speed throughout the win as the teams played as SEC opponents for the first time. Ewers finished 19 of 27 without an interception, and Jerrick Gibson rushed for 100 yards and a TD for Texas.
Aidan Warner, the Gators’ walk-on, third string quarterback, passed for 132 yards and was intercepted twice. Ja’Kobi Jackson rushed for 116 yards and a score while Jaden Baugh added 88 yards rushing and a TD for Florida (4-5, 2-4).
Texas struck on its second possession, jumping to a 7-0 lead with a 29-yard TD pass from Ewers to Matthew Golden with 3:43 to play in the first quarter. The score came two snaps after a nifty 44-yard wide receiver reverse from Isaiah Bond put the Longhorns deep into Florida territory.
The Longhorns added to their lead just 32 seconds later on a 22-yard Ewers-to Gunnar Helm touchdown pass after a Florida fumble. Ewers struck again when Quintrevion Wisner turned a screen pass into a 50-yard TD catch and run for a 21-0 lead 5:54 to play before halftime.
Texas expanded its advantage with a 32-yard scoring pass from Ewers to Golden with 1:19 to play in the half. That was more than enough time for the Longhorns to score again as they took advantage of an interception of Warner and marched 45 yards in four plays to a 5-yard TD run by Jaydon Blue that made it 35-0 at the break.
The Longhorns outgained Florida 353-138 in the half while racking up eight plays of 20 yards or more over a dominating first two quarters.
Texas continued its momentum into the third quarter, forcing a second interception of Warner and turning the miscue into a 34-yard Ewers-to-Bond touchdown pass just 2:08 after the break.
The Gators finally scored on a 23-yard field goal from Trey Smack with 7:04 to play in the third quarter at the end of a 15-play, 70-yard drive. Jaden Baugh added a 2-yard TD run with 1:30 left in the third and Jackson added a 7-yard TD run for the Gators with 8:27 remaining.