Bulldogs rally, edge Tech in eighth OT

ATHENS, Ga. — In a familiar matchup played on an unfamiliar day, and in a game that almost wouldn’t end, the No. 7-ranked Georgia football team wrapped up its regular season with its seventh consecutive win over Georgia Tech, 44-42 in eight overtimes, on Friday night at Sanford Stadium. But it wasn’t close to that simple.

Georgia trailed 17-0 at halftime, was dominated for much of the game, and trailed 27-13 with 5:37 to play. Then came the rally. With 1:01 remaining, the Bulldogs drew even on quarterback Carson Beck’s second touchdown pass to Dominic Lovett in the closing minutes. And in overtime, the teams traded scores and failed attempts until Georgia’s defense stopped Tech and then Nate Frazier ran the ball in from the 3 in the eighth extra period.

It was the in-state rivals’ first meeting on a Friday since 1994 (Georgia won 48-10) and their first non-Saturday game since 1995, when the Bulldogs won 18-17 on Thanksgiving Day. Georgia now leads the all-time series 72-39-5.

Up next for Georgia is next Saturday’s SEC Championship Game in Atlanta against either No. 3 Texas or No. 20 Texas A&M — they play Saturday afternoon with a spot in Mercedes-Benz Stadium on the line. The Bulldogs will be playing for the conference championship for the fourth year in a row.

Georgia ended its regular season with a record of 10-2, while Tech finished at 7-5. The Yellow Jackets out-gained the Bulldogs 563-405, but Georgia managed to claw its way back from a couple of big second-half deficits and prevail. Georgia outscored Tech 44-25 after halftime.

Georgia Tech got the ball to start the game and on its first play running back Jamal Haynes bounced off some Bulldogs and burst free for a 59-yard gain to the UGA 31-yard line. Tech got to the 13-yard line before Georgia’s defense held the Yellow Jackets to a 31-yard Aidan Birr field goal and an early 3-0 lead.

Tech drove into Georgia territory on its second drive, too, but the Yellow Jackets tried to run up the middle on fourth-and-1 at the 25 and were stopped for no gain. Linebacker Raylen Wilson made the stop to turn Tech over on downs. The Bulldogs took over at their 26 and drove down to the Tech 14 only to come up short on their own fourth-and-1 rush.

Haynes got Tech’s next drive off to an explosive start, rushing for 22 yards on the final play of the first quarter. It was the fifth time this season that the Bulldogs failed to score in the first 15 minutes. Tech’s next play was a 25-yard completion to the Bulldog 39. The Yellow Jackets got as close as the UGA 7 before having to settle for a Birr 25-yard field-goal attempt. The ball hit the left upright and bounced to the outside, keeping the score at 3-0.

Georgia couldn’t do anything with the break and soon Tech had the ball back. This time, the Yellow Jackets drove for a touchdown, scoring on a 2-yard run by quarterback Haynes King for a 10-0 lead with 4:40 to go until halftime. The Bulldogs were able to move the ball into Tech territory on their next drive, but the Yellow Jackets then produced the game’s first turnover, forcing a fumble on a Dominic Lovett reception.

Tech’s offense went right back to work and soon took a 17-0 lead on a 4-yard touchdown pass from King to Haynes. Georgia’s Peyton Woodring’s 53-yard field-goal attempt on the final play of the half, into a headwind, came up short. Tech ended the half with 307 yards of offense and 15 first downs, while the Bulldogs had 137 yards and seven firsts. It was the first time Georgia had been shut out in the first half since 2019.

The Bulldogs got the ball to start the second half, but it wasn’t until their second drive that Georgia got on the scoreboard. An Arian Smith run went for 30 yards to the Tech 21, and Beck later hit Cash Jones out of the backfield for 11 yards to the 8. On second down at the 2, Beck hit tight end Oscar Delp for a 2-yard touchdown. Georgia went for the two-point conversion but came up empty, making it 17-6 with 9:53 left in the third.

Georgia Tech started its next drive at its 4 after a botched return, but the Yellow Jackets still drove for a score at the end of an 18-play drive that lasted more than 10 minutes. Tech converted a fourth-and-3 at the Bulldog 37 and later went ahead 20-6 on a 23-yard field goal with 14:17 left in the game.

The Bulldogs responded with a 13-play drive that ended with a 1-yard Nate Frazier rushing touchdown with 8:18 to go, making it 20-13 following Woodring’s extra point. Georgia caught a break with a pass interference call against Tech on a fourth-and-four pass attempt that came up empty. It was Frazier’s seventh touchdown in the last five games.

Tech answered right back, getting 33 yards on a third-and-7 at the Bulldog 49, and later went ahead 27-13 with 5:37 remaining after King ran 11 yards for a touchdown. Georgia quickly followed that with an eight-play touchdown drive that lasted just under two minutes and ended with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Lovett, cutting the Tech lead to 27-20 with 3:39 remaining.

Georgia’s defense gave the Bulldogs a chance. On third-and-1 at the Tech 31, King ran for the first down but was stripped by safety Dan Jackson and linebacker Chaz Chambliss recovered at the Tech 32 with 2:02 to play. The Bulldogs took full advantage of the turnover, tying the game 27-all with 1:01 remaining on Beck’s 3-yard touchdown pass to the right side to Lovett.

The Bulldog defense stopped Tech near midfield in the final minute, and soon the game was headed to overtime. It was the first Georgia-Georgia Tech game to head to OT since the rivals did it in 2013 and ’14.

In overtime, Georgia got the ball first and struck first, scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Beck to wideout London Humphreys. The Bulldogs’ first lead of the game came in overtime, 34-27. Tech answered to force a second overtime, scoring on a 12-yard touchdown pass from King to wideout Eric Singleton, Jr.

Tech got the ball first to start the second overtime and needed just three plays to score, going up 40-34 on King’s 1-yard rush. On the mandatory two-point attempt in the second OT, Georgia’s Smael Mondon Jr. broke up King’s pass attempt.

The Bulldogs, knowing they needed a touchdown, got one on the first play, a 25-yard touchdown from Beck to Cash Jones on the left side to make it 40-40. On the two-point try, Beck’s pass to Humphreys fell incomplete, sending the game to a third extra period in which the teams only get one attempt from the 3-yard line.

Georgia’s attempt, a pass to the left side, fell incomplete. Tech then had a chance to go for the win, and the Yellow Jackets also threw incomplete. And on to the fourth overtime they went, with Tech getting the ball at the 3-yard line first.

King’s pass fell incomplete on Tech’s attempt, giving the Bulldogs a shot at a hard-fought win. And on their play from the 3, Beck’s scramble for the end zone came up short. In the fifth overtime, Beck hit wideout Dillon Bell for the score, and Tech followed with a King scoring pass to Malik Rutherford. And on to the sixth overtime the teams went.

Tech went first in the sixth and Jackson made another huge defensive play, bursting through the middle to sack King. All Georgia’s offense needed was to get into the end zone on the next play in a game that had everything — but Beck’s pass into the end zone was tipped by Bell and dropped by Smith.

In the seventh overtime, Beck’s rush attempt came up short. Tech then could go for the win, and the Yellow Jackets drew a pass interference flag in the end zone on their pass attempt. Now starting from the 1, Tech’s rush attempt came up short.

The SEC record for most overtimes was eight, which this game tied. In the eighth OT, linebacker CJ Allen’s pressure forced an incompletion on King’s pass attempt, and again Georgia was just one play away. On the Bulldogs’ attempt, Frazier scooted through the middle for victory.

POST-GAME NOTES

*Bulldogs Storm Back To Force Overtime And Win It 44-42 In SEC/School Record 8th OT: The No. 7 Bulldogs played their 16th overtime game in school history and are now 9-7 including 2-2 against Tech. The Bulldogs are 2-2 in OT games in the Kirby Smart era. Tech won the toss and chose defense. Georgia scored a TD on a 14-yard pass from Carson Beck to London Humphreys to finish a four-play drive and take its first lead of the night. Tech answered with a TD to make it 34-all. In the 2nd OT, Tech scored another TD and then failed to convert the two-point try to take a 40-34. Georgia responded immediately with a 25-yard TD pass to Cash Jones. The two-point conversion attempt failed to force a third OT at 40-all.

*Neither team converted in the 3rd or 4th OT. In the 5th OT, Beck converted with a pass to Dillon Bell for a 42-40 lead and Tech answered with a conversion. In the 6th OT, senior Dan Jackson sacked Hayes King. Georgia did not convert its attempt. In the 7th OT, Georgia did not convert on a Beck keeper. Following a pass interference penalty on Smael Mondon, Tech was stopped to force the 8th OT.

*In the 8th OT, Tech did not convert with heavy pressure by CJ Allen. Georgia converted as freshman Nate Frazier ran in for a 44-2 victory.   It marked the longest OT game in Georgia and SEC history.

*Before tonight, Georgia and Tech went to OT in 1999 (51-48 Tech in Atlanta), 2013 (Georgia 41-34 in Atlanta) and 2014 (Tech 30-24 in Athens).

Huge Comeback Victory Matches Biggest Deficit Overcome In Smart Era: Tonight, Georgia fell behind 17-0 in the 2nd quarter and trailed 20-6 in the 4th quarter before rallying back. In the Kirby Smart era, Georgia trailed by 17 in the first half against No. 2 Oklahoma in the 2018 Rose Bowl (31-14) and rallied for a 54-48 win in double overtime. The largest second half deficit under Kirby Smart had been 14 to No. 4 Ohio State in the 2022 CFP semifinal in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta entering the 4th quarter (38-24) when the Bulldog stormed back for a 42-41.

*Bulldog Senior Class Gets 52nd Win: With tonight’s 44-42 victory, the 2024 Senior Class is an FBS-leading 52-4, adding to its school record.

*Home Winning Streak At 31: With the win over Tech, seventh-ranked Georgia (10-2) now has won 31 consecutive home games dating to 2019, which leads in FBS and improves on its school. In the Kirby Smart era, the Bulldogs are 50-4 at home with six straight undefeated seasons at home and seven in his nine years at the helm. With its latest win over Tech, Georgia improves to 72-39-5 in the series including 7-1 under Smart as the Bulldogs retained the Governor’s Cup Trophy. Also, tonight marked the first time since 1994 that the teams battled on a Friday. Also, Georgia now has won 26 consecutive non-conference matchups and are 38-2 against those teams under Smart.

Dawgs After Dark: The Bulldogs now have won 26 straight night games at home including 17-0 under Smart. The streak began with a 2010 win over Tech.

*Summary Of The Offense: After getting blanked in the first half, Georgia finished with 405 yards of offense on 69 plays.

*Senior QB Carson Beck finished 28-for-43 for 297 yards and tied a school record with 5 TD passes. In the first half, he was 10-for-17 for 109 yards.

*Down 27-20 with 2:05 left in the game, Georgia had the ball at the GT32. The Bulldogs tied it at 27 with 1:01 left to play on a three-yard TD pass to Dominic Lovett and subsequent PAT to finish a five-play drive in 1:01.

*Trailing 27-13 with 5:37 left in the contest, Georgia trimmed it to 27-20 on a 17-yard TD pass to Dominic Lovett from Beck to cap a 75-yard drive in 1:58.

*Down 20-6 with 14:17 left in the game, the Bulldogs cut it to 20-13 on a one-yard run by Nate Frazier, capping a 75-yard drive on 13 plays in 5:50.

*Trailing 17-0 in the 3rd quarter, Georgia drove 51 yards in six plays for a TD to cut it to 17-6 with 9:53 left. The drive featured a 30-yard run by senior wideout Arian Smith, a 3rd-and-8 conversion to senior Cash Jones for an 11-yard gain and the drive ended with a 2-yard TD pass to junior Oscar Delp. It was Delp’s fourth TD catch of the season and third straight game with a TD.

*Georgia entered the 4th quarter trailing 17-6 and 20-6 with 14:17 left in the contest. At the half, Georgia trailed 17-0 with 137 yards of total offense on 28 plays. Tonight was the first time since 2019 here versus Kentucky that the Bulldogs did not score in the 1st half. That game was 0-0, and Georgia won 21-0.

*Georgia trailed at the half for the fifth time this year (@UK 6-3, @#4 Bama 30-7, vs. Florida 13-6, @#16 Ole Miss 16-7) and are now 3-2 in those games.

*For the fifth time this season, Georgia did not score in the first quarter as the Bulldogs trailed tonight 3-0. Georgia is 4-1 in those games.

*Down 3-0, Georgia went for a 4th-and-3 at the GT36 and converted it with an 18-yard completion to Dillon Bell. Later in the drive, on 4th-and-1 from the GT 14, Nate Frazier was tackled for no gain. Coming in tonight, the Bulldogs rank 5th nationally in 4th Down Conversions at 75% (15-for-20).

*Sophomore RB Roderick Robinson II (4 carries, 3 yards plus 2 rec., 34 yards) made his debut after missing the first 11 games of the year due to injury.

*In the Red Zone, Georgia went 4-for-5 with four TDs and turned it over on downs for the first time this year.

*Defensive Review: Tech tallied a season-high 563 yards of offense on 84 plays. With the game tied at 27 with 1:01 left, the defense held and forced overtime as Tech turned it over on downs. With Georgia down 27-20 and on a 3rd-and-one, senior Dan Jackson forced a fumble that was recovered by senior Chaz Chambliss at the GT32. It was the team’s 10th fumble recovery this season and first for Chambliss in his career.

*With Georgia trailing 20-13 with 8:18 left in the game, Tech went 75 yards on six plays to extend its lead to 27-13 with 5:37 left.

*Tech extended its lead with a field goal to go up 20-6 with 14:17 left in the game, covering 90 yards on 18 plays using 10:36.

*Tech finished the first half with a 17-0 lead, gaining 307 yards of offense (157 rushing, 150 passing) on 42 plays with 19:48 in time of possession.

*Georgia’s top tacklers tonight were Smael Mondon, Jr. with a career-high 13 stops while CJ Allen, Daylen Everette and Malaki Starks had 10 each.

*Special Teams In Action: Junior P Brett Thorson posted a 54.0 average on three punts including a 57- and 58-yarder. He has 15 punts of 50+ this year.

*Junior Cash Jones had one kickoff return for 18 yards while sophomore Anthony Evans III had one punt return for three yards.

*Sophomore PK Peyton Woodring’s 53-yard field goal into the wind to end the first half was short, ending a streak of eight consecutive field goals made. He is now 17-for-19 on the year with both misses from 50+. His other miss was a 55-yarder against Miss. State. He made his first nine field goals this year.

*Captains, Coin Toss And For Starters: Georgia’s captains were Carson Beck, Tate Ratledge, Chaz Chambliss and Smael Mondon.

*Georgia won the toss and deferred the ball until the second half.

*With junior TB Trevor Etienne and LT Earnest Greene III still not 100 percent due to injury, freshman Nate Frazier and sophomore Monroe Freeling made their third straight start. Junior safety Malaki Starks made his team-leading 40th consecutive start. Also, seniors Xavier Truss (OT) and Nazir Stackhouse (DL) started their 40th game in their career.

*Up Next: The Bulldogs (10-2) face either Texas or Texas A&M in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta on Dec. 7 at 4 pm (ABC). The Aggies (8-3) finish the regular season Saturday when they play host to the Longhorns (10-1) Saturday at 7:30 pm (ABC). This marks Georgia’s fourth straight appearance in the SEC Championship Game, the only school to have a longer streak was Florida who appeared in the first five games from 1992-1996.

POST-GAME QUOTES

Head Coach Kirby Smart

On the way the Bulldogs fought…
“Never say die, man. They’re fighters. I thought Carson did a great job in the two-minute offense. (Offensive Coordinator Mike) Bobo did an outstanding job calling it. Scored quick enough that we didn’t have to onside. Then we were going to get a stop on them and it helped us even more that we got a turnover there. It was a great comeback.”

On Carson Beck’s play late in the game…
“Huge. Carson (Beck) made a lot of big throws to get us into the overtime. I thought we had a chance to convert on some of the two points there where we had time in the pocket and there was a lot of red zone defense played out of both defenses on those two-point conversions. In the end Nate (Frazier) made a great play, great run and Carson made a great decision.”

On the challenges of the Georgia Tech offense…
“It’s really hard. They do a great job of making you fit every hat. Basically, you have to get them behind the sticks- very similar to playing old Georgia Tech or triple option. If you don’t get them behind the sticks they’ll methodically run it down your throat. We didn’t give them a lot of lost yardage plays, they don’t have many TFLs.

#15 Carson Beck | RSr. | QB

On if he took a moment to soak in his potential last game in Sanford Stadium…
“Absolutely. I mean just the game itself; everything, the emotions, the highs, the lows, the way we were able to fight back, and then you add that factor into it. I just took a second to look around to take it all in and enjoy it. That was my mindset coming into today.”

On his emotions following Nate Frazier’s winning two-point conversion…
“I don’t even really remember honestly. I don’t want to say it was a sigh of relief but it was like oh my
gosh, finally we did it. Our defense did their job, we did ours, after eight overtimes. But no, I can’t even describe it, it was excitement, joy, just truly happy.”

#11 Jalon Walker | Jr. | ILB

On what it’s like to play an eight overtime game…
“I mean, I haven’t ever seen anything like that. I haven’t watched a football game that long. I mean, it’s 12 o’clock right now, so, all I can say is I’m grateful for the opportunity. This is just a hard-fought win for our last home game of the year.”

On having to keep going back on the field…
“60 minutes or however long it takes. That’s what we go by. That’s our standard.”

On what he will remember from this game…
“The thing I remember about the eight overtimes is the eight overtimes. I have never been a part of anything like that. And just the last moment. Nate Frazier running again for a touchdown, letting us walk off the game.”

#6 Dominic Lovett | Sr. | WR

On what he will remember about this game…
“That we won. It was a hard-fought game. The crazy part is, I have some brothers on the other team, so we’ll probably just chop it up about that. Like I said, nothing but respect for those guys… But ,right now we’ve got to go back, watch film, make some corrections, and then we just have to keep striving to get better.”