THE FLATS – Quarterback Haynes King threw for 275 yards and accounted for three of Georgia Tech’s five touchdowns as the Yellow Jackets won their home opener, 35-12, over Georgia State Saturday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field.
Georgia Tech (2-0, 1-0 ACC) rebounded from a relatively slow start on offense to blast Georgia State (0-1) in the first-ever meeting between the two programs, whose campuses are separated by less than two miles. With the win, Tech moved to 2-0 for the first time since 2016.
With 3:49 to go in the first half, the Yellow Jackets had 79 yards of offense, including only 8 rushing yards, and led just 7-3. However, they erupted for 420 yards, including 217 on the ground, and 28 points the rest of the way to cruise to the win. The Jackets finished with a whopping 499 yards of offense – 274 passing and 225 rushing.
Before Tech’s offense got revved up, it was dominance in goal-line situations on both sides of the ball staked the Yellow Jackets to a 14-3 halftime lead.
Georgia State had first-and-goal twice in first half but managed just three points, with Tech stopping GSU on four-straight plays after the Panthers had first-and-goal from the 1 yard line on their first possession, then holding GSU to a field goal after it had first-and-goal from the 3 in the second quarter.
Conversely, the Yellow Jackets faced fourth-and-goal twice in the first half and came away with 14 points on a 1-yard touchdown run by Jamal Haynes and a 2-yard plunge by King.
After leading by 11 at the half, Tech was never threatened after the break, thanks to a 35-yard touchdown run on a reverse by wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., scoring strikes from King to Malik Rutherford (52 yards) and tight end Avery Boyd (22 yards), and a defense that limited Georgia State to just nine second-half points.
King led the Yellow Jackets’ 499-yard output on offense, as he connected with 10 different receivers while completing 82.8% of his passes, good for the second-highest single-game completion percentage in Georgia Tech history (min. 20 attempts). He also ran five times for 27 yards and a score.
Rutherford set career highs with seven receptions for 131 yards while Haynes turned in another stellar effort on the ground, picking up 84 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown.
Linebacker Kyle Efford led the Jackets defensively with a career-high 13 tackles. Linebacker Trenilyas Tatum and defensive back Rodney Shelley had 2.5 and 2.0 of the Yellow Jackets’ eight…
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