Georgia-Georgia Tech: Live updates, score, analysis for Week 13 game (November 25, 2017)
The Georgia Bulldogs will look to wrap up their season with a win against rival Georgia Tech on Saturday, November 25. Below find live updates and score information.
The Bulldogs bounced back nicely last week, throttling Kentucky in their final home game of the year. Georgia will be looking to get some revenge on the Yellow Jackets, who beat them at home last year.
Heading to the locker room
Check this site after the game for quotes and other tidbits from Georgia, which will move to 11-1 and prepare for its game in this same fair city, 1.6 miles away from this spot.
Opponent to be determined.
Ahkil Crumpton joins the party
Crumpton was a late and intriguing addition to the team, joining up in July from a junior college. He had the same size, skill-set and jersey number as Isaiah McKenzie, and many wondered if he’d fill the role of Georgia’s leading receiver and punt returner last year.
That didn’t happen, but Crumpton has just now written himself a prominent footnote to this great season: The longest pass play, at least to date.
Crumpton hauls in a pass from Jake Fromm then outruns the defender for a 78-yard touchdown catch. The previous season-long was 59 yards, done twice, by Terry Godwin (against Mississippi State) and Mecole Hardman (against Missouri).
Deandre Baker for the pick
Sort of quietly, because that’s kinda how you want it to be for your cornerbacks, Deandre Baker has had a very good season for Georgia. It seems that whenever a big play is being broken up by a Georgia defender this season, Baker is the one there.
But he only had one interception in the first 11 games. He got his second just now, picking off a pass in the end zone that seemed like it was intended for him.
Then Baker unwisely chosen to return it, and was tackled at the 15, five yards short of where UGA would have gotten the ball if Baker had taken a knee. It looked like Kirby Smart reminded Baker of that when he met him on the sideline.
But hey, a pick is a pick, and Georgia is now cruising to a win.
Nick and Sony, two and three
Nick Chubb and Sony Michel are now two of the top three rushers in Georgia program history.
Chubb was already second on the rushing list, having passed Todd Gurley earlier in the season. Michel passed Gurley on Saturday – after also passing Garrison Hearst.
Michel entered the game fifth on the career rushing list, with 3,229. He passed Hearst (3,232) early in the game, then moved past his former teammate Gurley (3,285) later in the first half.
Herschel Walker, of course, stands in first place with 5,259. Chubb, as of halftime of this game, had 4,487 yards, while Michel had 3,296.
Roquan Smith …
Smith takes the team lead in sacks this year, with 4.5, after a third-down take-down of TaQuan Marshall.
This has been another banner game for Smith, who is so good at seeing the play and then getting to it. He has eight solo tackles in this game so far, and now has 62 solo tackles on the season, and 99 overall.
Great game for Smith. And now perhaps a good time to take him out, what with that little game coming up next week. Georgia has escaped the injury bug pretty well against Georgia Tech’s cut-blocking attack. May not be a good time to risk it.
Georgia pulling away?
Two big pass plays set up a nifty Sony Michel touchdown run, and this game feels a long way from the close one it was as halftime was nearing.
Jake Fromm to Javon Wims for a long third-down conversion. Then Mecole Hardman wins a ball downfield for a 39-yard catch, down to the Georgia Tech 4. And the Michel, seemingly bottled up in the backfield, escapes and scores.
There’s a long time left in this game – 24 minutes and 3 seconds of game action, to be exact – but with Georgia Tech’s offense, and the ability of Georgia’s offense to move the ball thus far – it already feels like a fait accompli.
Kendall Baker leaves with injury (then returns)
Baker, Georgia’s starting left guard, left with an apparent ankle injury on Georgia’s first offensive play of the second half. He was replaced by senior Dyshon Sims, who is the designated replacement at basically every offensive line spot.
Baker was seen having his ankle taped up on the bench. He looks like a candidate to return.
Update: Baker did indeed return on the next drive.
Halftime analysis: Seven thoughts
1. Big drive by Georgia in the final minute to put a field goal on the board and stifle Georgia Tech’s momentum. Even if the time management could use some work. Get out of bounds after making the catch, Isaac Nauta and Riley Ridley. Get to the line and spike it quickly, Jake Fromm, or call the timeout, Kirby Smart. Georgia left one timeout on the board entering the half.
2. Smart was livid coming off the field, by the way, first at the time management boo-boos, then at his players who lingered and jawed with Georgia Tech players … and then with the officials, for reasons unknown. Well, we can always guess, but whatever it was Smart took the opportunity of the near-scrum at halftime to stop and shout something at the officials, who appeared to listen patiently before Smart left.
3. It looked like Georgia Tech would have the momentum after its own touchdown in the final minute. Busted coverage by Georgia’s secondary, in a huge understatement, as Deandre Baker and Malkom Parrish got crossed up, leaving the receiver wide open. Baker could be seen asking Parrish what happened after the play.
4. Georgia Tech QB TaQuon Marshall needed the half: He was only 2-for-7 in the half, and the five incompletions weren’t pretty. Dominick Sanders almost had one of them for a pick-six. The reason Georgia Tech was able to rally against Georgia last year, and keep it off-balance overall, was the threat of and execution of good passes.
5. That one touchdown was set up by a rare instance of Georgia Tech getting the outside: Nathan Cottrell got a late pitch and got outside to the sideline for 33 yards. Parrish was closest to the play but couldn’t get Cottrell. Otherwise, Georgia has done a solid job of contain to the outside, and the yards up the middle haven’t been great either. While the Yellow Jackets are averaging 4.4 yards per rush, take out the Cottrell run and it’s a pedestrian 3.3.
6. Credit to Jim Chaney for the playcalling that half, knowing when to turn from the run to the pass. Georgia started the game running it down Georgia Tech’s throat, but then the Bulldogs appeared to surprise the Yellow Jackets by going to the air. Sony Michel has 67 yards on eight carries, while Nick Chubb is having a quieter day (19 yards on five carries.)
7. If you’re going to get Jake Fromm, get him early, and Georgia Tech didn’t. Fromm had a couple errant throws early in the first quarter, neither of which the Yellow Jackets could grab. By the end of the half Fromm was slinging it, hitting Javon Wims for the 21-yard touchdown pass. Wims, by the way, continues to look and play like a pro. Tavarres King and Keith Marshall said exactly that on Twitter after Wims’ catch and near-touchdown in the first quarter. Wims finished the first half with four catches for 61 yards.
Bonus final thought: Maybe Georgia Tech can get some yards and more points, as its final drive showed. But it sure looks like Georgia can answer it point-for-point, as its own final drive of the half showed. If the Bulldogs can avoid turnovers – intentional use of the plural – then it feels like it should be OK.
Jake Fromm the runner, and then the passer
Back-to-back plays: Fromm with a great decision on the last word of the acronym RPO, keeping it for a 15-yard rain. Then Fromm hits Javon Wims on a crossing pattern in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown.
Jim Chaney dialing up the first-down passes again. That drive took all of five plays to go 65 yards.
D’Andre Walker’s stop on the third down of Georgia Tech’s previous drive could end up being the critical play of the game. It went from a one-score game and Georgia Tech driving, to a Georgia 14-point lead. The Yellow Jackets were actually out-gaining the Bulldogs by a small margin (86-80) before that Bulldogs scoring drive.
Georgia getting the edge
That’s the big difference on Georgia’s defensive side of the ball so far: The Bulldogs are keeping contain and not letting the outside pitch burn them.
That happened just now on a big third-down, when D’Andre Walker stayed on his key and brought down Clinton Lynch for no gain. That forced a fourth down, and an incompletion.
Georgia Tech has been held to 3.1 yards per attempt. And quarterback Taquon Marshall has only completed one of his four pass attempts. It gained 28 yards.
Replay review count
We’re now at four reviews, with 12:13 left in the second quarter. Two did not result in changes, while the first one favored Georgia Tech (resulting in the touchback on the opening kickoff) and the other one saw the Yellow Jackets pushed from third-and-inches to third-and-4.
Anyway, replay is generally a good thing, but if this keeps up this game will last past the Iron Bowl.
Trenton Thompson update
Thompson just came out of the medical tent and put his helmet back on. He’s walking on the sidelines.
UPDATE: Now Thompson is on the exercise bike. As he’s not gone to the locker room, it appears he’s avoided any serious injury.
Trenton Thompson injured
It appeared to be lower left leg or knee. Thompson was down for about a minute and then walked very slowly off the field with head athletic trainer Ron Courson and two other medical staffers.
Kirby Smart came over and gave him a pat on the helmet as he came off and headed to the medical tent.
Thompson is one of Georgia’s most talented players, though he’s started only three times this season, as part of Georgia’s very deep defensive line. Thompson, who tied for the team lead in sacks last season, doesn’t have any this season, but has 30 tackles, including three for a loss.
Early first impression
Georgia Tech can’t tackle very well, and Sony Michel, Nick Chubb and D’Andre Swift could get a lot of yards, especially after contact.
And Georgia’s defense is operating on its keys well, not letting the Yellow Jackets get much space or yards on misdirection.
Those are two fundamentals very much in Georgia’s favor, if they continue.
Georgia strikes first
The controversial ruling on the opening kickoff doesn’t end up mattering: The end result is still Georgia’s offense eventually taking the field and scoring a touchdown.
The key play on the drive came on third-and-5, when Sony Michel escaped a tackle in the backfield – which would have meant about a 50-yard field goal try – and instead Michel converted the first down. A few plays later, Nick Chubb for the score.
For the record, Georgia passed it on first down three times on the opening drive. The first two times resulted in incompletions, and on poor passes by Jake Fromm. But the next time saw Javon Wims make a nice catch-and-move near the pylon.
Rodrigo Blankenship sets a record
Hey, remember that weird opening play that looked like it could be a safety for Georgia, or at least terrible field position for Georgia Tech? Well, when it was ruled a touchback there was still one beneficiary:
Rodrigo Blankenship, who set the unofficial Georgia school record for touchbacks. He now has 52, one more than Kevin Butler.
Just like it was drawn up, obviously.
One play, one replay, one rule explanation
So how’s that for exciting but ultimately all-for-nothing plays?
Georgia Tech’s returner appeared to flub the opening kickoff in spectacular fashion, not catching it off the bounce, scooping it up in the end zone and then trying to come out, where he was tackled at the 1-yard line. A great start for Georgia, it appeared.
But then the play was reviewed, and upon review the return man was ruled to have waved for a fair catch, meaning that – according to the rules – when he got control of the ball in the end zone it was automatically a touchback.
So a difference of it being at the 1-yard line or the 25. Yeah, fairly big difference. But at least we’re all now a bit more educated on that rule.
Home-field advantage
There may not be any for Georgia Tech, at least as far as the crowd. Much like the Notre Dame game. The colors are even similar.
Georgia football-Kentucky football: Live updates
Score: Q1 15:00 Georgia 0, Missouri 0
What TV channel is the Georgia-Georgia Tech Football game on?
TV Channel: The Georgia-Georgia Tech game will air on ABC
What time is Georgia-Georgia Tech Football game?
Time: The Georgia-Georgia Tech game is scheduled for Noon ET on Saturday
How can I live stream the Georgia-Georgia Tech Football gem
Live stream: The Georgia-Georgia Tech game cane be live streamed via the WatchESPN App.
How can I listen to the Georgia-Georgia Tech Football: TV Channel, Time, Live stream
Radio: Fans can click here for radio options for the Georgia-Kentucky game.
Georgia-Georgia Tech Football: Odds, Picks
Odds: Georgia is an 11-point favorite over the Yellow Jackets.
Preview: Via DawgNatoin’s Chip Towers
Once again, we turn to the always-dependable Ken Sugiura to brush us up on all things Georgia Tech.
Sugiura has been covering the Yellow Jackets as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s beat reporter every year since 2011 and a few before that. So there isn’t a better expert on The Institute or its mercurial coach, Paul Johnson.
Sugiura also knows a thing or two about hoops. Much to the Yellow Jackets’ chagrin, Sugiura recently followed the basketball team to China fot thePac-12 China Game tournament . So he was there when a few of Tech’s players were questioned by police about a shoplifting incident. All the Yellow Jackets were cleared, but some UCLA players were not, and that resulted in an international incident that Sugiura had well-covered.
We’re not going to bother Ken with those details today. We’ll stick to events closer to home and particularly the 110th renewal of Tech’s rivalry with Georgia that has come to be known as “Clean Old-Fashioned Hate.”
First, a quick refresher on Ken’s background. He’s a Michigan graduate who grew up in Northfield, Ill., outside Chicago. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three young children. You can read his stories on the Tech page of the AJC.com website, and he’s a great follow on Twitter @ksugiuraajc. He also generates some of the funniest Facebook posts you’ll ever see.
Here are his answers to my questions this week:
1. So, Duke. What happened there? As Clark Griswold famously said, “I couldn’t have been more surprised if I had woke up with my head sewn to the carpet, Eddie.”
Sugiura: That’s a tough one to figure. I’ve covered the team since 2011, and it was one of the three or four most perplexing results that I can recall. Tech had just come off a big win over Virginia Tech and was playing a Duke team that had lost six in a row and was not playing well on offense. Further, Tech was playing for bowl eligibility and first road win. Plus, it’s a league game. The offense started out doing its job, scoring touchdowns on three of four first-half possessions.
The defense, which has generally done better than in years past but has had its flaws, got run over. Duke scored on its first seven possessions, and they weren’t cheapies, either. One of the drives was 20 yards, but the rest were in the 60- and 70-yard range. Paul Johnson summed it up quite accurately after the game. “They went through us like we weren’t even out there.”
What made it particularly odd was that Tech typically doesn’t lose games like that. If you’ll remember, in the Tech-Georgia series, there’s really only one game that got out of hand since Johnson’s hire prior to the 2008 season, the 2012 game. (A game and team that Johnson has referenced this week, saying this UGA team compares with that one as the best Bulldogs team he’s faced.) And it’s been largely the same way in ACC play.
Johnson was mystified/furious after the game, I think. With so much on the line, the defense played probably its worst game of the year. Missed tackles, missed assignments, poor effort, the whole deal. The offense, as the score got out of control and Duke controlled the ball, didn’t do much, either.
It’s just been a strange season, which we can get into in the next question.
2. Please educate all us of tunnel-visioned on Georgia’s season kind of what went wrong for the Yellow Jackets to end up where they are at the moment. Weren’t there some relatively high expectations for this year’s squad?
Sugiura: It’s just been an odd year. Johnson called it “screwy” on Tuesday. Go back to 2016 — Tech finishes with wins over Virginia Tech, Virginia, UGA and Kentucky in the bowl game — the defense was playing better at the end. B-back (fullback) Dedrick Mills led the team in rushing as a true freshman. A lot of key pieces (besides quarterback Justin Thomas) were back. There was reasonable hope that this team could make a run at the ACC Coastal.
Then Mills was dismissed in August (which didn’t prove to be a huge deal, but started the year oddly). The Jackets outplayed Tennessee in the season opener at Mercedes-Benz but lost in double overtime. A game against UCF was canceled because of the hurricane. Tech went to Miami and, in a driving rain, lost by one point after the Hurricanes converted a sort-of fluky 4th-and-10 in the final minute. That kind of set the tone.
The defense has often failed on drives going into halftime or at the end of regulation. Pass protection hasn’t been very good. (Despite Tech being run-heavy, it matters). It rained heavily in three of the four road games, all losses. Meanwhile, Tech has won every game at home. Play overall has just been inconsistent, not just game to game but half to half.
Given what we’ve seen over 10 games, I believe this is a team that, at least on paper, is good enough to be ranked and to be in the hunt for the division and, on its best day, could give Clemson a run for its money in a hypothetical ACC title game. I’m not joking when I say this team has the capacity to be 9-1. But something is clearly missing.
3. Is Tech going to be able to get a make-up game for missing Central Florida? If not, would the NCAA or the bowl association make exceptions for these 5-win teams that lost games to storms this year?
Sugiura: It looks less and less likely. Tech administrators have been trying to set something up, but haven’t been able to find a willing partner. It’s a small pool (teams that for some reason will only play 11 regular-season games or played at Hawaii and didn’t play a 13th game – if you play at Hawaii, you get a 13th regular-season game or Hawaii itself and have December 2 free). Tech will only play an FBS school. (I’m guessing at least in part because they already have a win over an FCS team) And not many are keen on playing Johnson’s spread-option offense with no preparation.
So it looks like the Jackets will have to beat UGA to go bowling, else miss out for the second time in three years after having made 18 consecutive bowls. (I believe Tech and UGA started their bowl streaks the same year.) They could conceivably get a waiver from the NCAA, claiming they tried to get a 12th game, and they also would have a shot as a five-win team as their APR is high, but there’s 78 slots and 70 are already taken. Four more for sure will be spoken for (there’s four games this weekend between teams that are 5-6), and there’s a number of other five-win teams (and four-win teams with two games left) that can also secure bowl eligibility with a win. If they get to 78, Tech (or any other five-win team) will be out of luck.
4. How much would you say Paul Johnson’s well-timed wins over Georgia over the years, and in two of the last three years in particular, have contributed to his longevity as Tech’s football coach. And is all well for him on that front?
Johnson: It’s helped, certainly. The first one in particular (2008) I think gave him a lot of credibility and won him a lot of fans, given that Chan Gailey had gone 0-6 against the Bulldogs. Plus, a lot of Tech fans have loved that he doesn’t back down from mighty UGA and is not shy about poking fun at the SEC. I don’t know that he would have been in any particular trouble had Tech lost in 2014 or 2016 specifically. In the former, Tech was already going to the ACC title game and had beaten Clemson, Miami and Virginia Tech. In 2016, the season had already turned around nicely. But, certainly, the fact that he has proven himself as someone who has beaten Georgia is good for his security.
And he is safe. I think the people that matter are in his corner. He and Tech’s new AD, Todd Stansbury, have a good relationship and Stansbury is trying to give Johnson what he’s asked for (new locker room, more staff, etc.)
5. What matchups do you like best that favor the Yellow Jackets against Georgia this year?
Sugiura: “That’s a tough one. I don’t need to tell your readers that UGA is pretty stout. Johnson was raving about the team and players (Jake Fromm, Javon Wims, the running backs, the front seven, special teams, etc.) and I don’t think he was trying to flatter anyone. But Tech’s strength is probably the core of its offensive line. Guards Parker Braun and Shamire Devine and center Kenny Cooper have at times been dominant up front, getting surge off the snap and clearing lanes for B-back KirVonte Benson and quarterback TaQuon Marshall, and then reaching the second level to influence linebackers. Basically, Tech really can’t win if it can’t run the ball (barring some craziness), and I think it’ll be incumbent upon those three to lead the way. That said, Tech doesn’t normally see the likes of John Atkins, Trenton Thompson and Jonathan Ledbetter all the time, guys that are bigger and more athletic than the standard-issue ACC defensive lineman.
SUGIURA’S PREDICTION:
My hunch is that this is asking too much for Tech. Georgia is, obviously, a very good team, with a dominant run game capable of mashing Tech’s defenders. If Duke can do it, obviously, then presumably the Dogs can, too. And the fact that the Jackets are still trying to play with consistency and play their assignments 10 games in is troubling. I could see it getting away from Tech like the 2012 game (the 42-10 UGA win that I particularly remember for Bacarri Rambo stripping the ball from A-back Robbie Godhigh just as he was crossing the goal line). The Jackets’ special teams haven’t proven that they can provide a game-changing play, either.
But, then, it’s the same team that really should have beaten Miami on the road and did beat Virginia Tech at home. Tech’s just a baffling team. The Jackets have generally defended the run fairly well, so you’ve got a strength-on-strength situation there. As much as UGA has to play for, I imagine Tech players are a little embarrassed about the Duke game and have bowl eligibility on the line beyond bragging rights. Their win over the Hokies followed another embarrassing loss, to Virginia.
As a few people have said to me, it won’t surprise me if the game ends in a rout in Georgia’s favor or if Tech wins in the style it did in 2014 and 2016. But I suspect it’ll be closer to the former than the latter. Let’s go with — UGA 31-17.
