About an hour before scheduled kickoff, it was announced that fans needed to evacuate the stadium due to inclement weather in the area. That same storm had already caused the Georgia Bulldogs game in Athens to be moved up an hour to 2:30. No raindrops ever fell and fans were allowed to come back in. It appeared that many were absent minded and had forgotten to do so with a ton of empty seats throughout Bobby Dodd Stadium.

   Maybe I missed it, but, for the first time in my 35 years of covering the Yellow Jackets, I didn’t see the traditional entrance of the Ramblin’ Wreck and Buzz from the Northeast end zone. I could be wrong.

   The game eventually got under way 30 minutes late at 4:05.

   Just before kickoff, it was announced in the press box that star quarterback Haynes King wouldn’t start because of a lower-body injury. Backup Aaron Philo made his first career start in his place and looked impressive.

   Amazingly, just like last week at Colorado, the Jackets turned the ball over on their first series on a Philo fumble, recovered at the GT42 by Robert Holtz.

   Gardner-Webb quarterback Nate Hampton looked good on their opening drive and took advantage of the Tech miscue moving it 42 yards downfield on just six plays in 2:33 finding Anthony Lowe in the end zone.
  But, the Charles Viorel extra point missed wide right.

   Tech’s second drive began at their 35 with a quick first down as Malik Rutherford, who missed almost all of last week’s game, caught one for 11 to the 36.
   But, rinse and repeat with a second turnover as Wendell McClain intercepted a deep pass attempt at their 12.

  The Bulldogs couldn’t capitalize this time courtesy of a pair of sacks on new QB Cole Pennington.

   Radar showed the belated storm getting ready to enter the area. But, a drop never fell.

   A couple of big plays as Philo hit Brett Seither for 21 followed by a 20 yard gain by Haynes to the 12. Two plays later, Philo threw a beautiful touchdown pass to Isiah Canion who pulled it down in the back right corner of the end zone. Despite the malfunctions, Tech had its first lead 7-0.

   Georgia Tech took over on downs at their 39 after an ill advised fourth down attempt by head coach Cris Reisert. Iit only took two plays and 29 seconds to extend their lead on a Malachi Hosley 55 yard sprint to paydirt.

  The Yellow Jackets’ next drive brought more points sealed with another pair of explosive plays.  Zion Taylor caught one up the middle for 45 yards and Haynes sealed the deal with a 47 yard TD scamper to extend the lead to 15. It was an impressive 94 yard scoring drive that took just three plays and 1:07. 

  Haynes was back in the end zone again to make the lead 22.

   At halftime, Tech had outgained GWU 356 yards to just 132 doubling the time of possession 20:00 minutes to 10:00.

   I’m sure that coach Reisert was reminding his team in the locker room that Gardner-Webb was coming off the largest comeback win in school history, after trailing 35-7 and beating FCS No. 19 Western Carolina 52-45 just a week ago. The same was surely being talked about by Brent Key in the home locker room

   As the second half began, turnabout was fair play as the Runnin’ Bulldogs’s Holmes coughed it up on the first play forced by Clayton Powell-Lee recovered by Matthew Alexander at the 25. I’m sure that wasn’t part of the comeback plan.

  2:19 later, Mosely scored the team’s fifth TD of the game to make the lead 35-6.

   Ironically, this was nearly the same score (35-7) as last week before GWU outscored Western Carolina 45-7 the rest of that game. But,  these were the Yellow Jackets, not the Catamounts.

   A 45 yard field goal was wide right. But, an offsides call on Ahmari Harvey actually turned out to be a good thing. On the 40 yard  retry, Jordan Van Den Berg blocked the kick with Rivers scooping the ball up and returning it 65 yards for a TD. It was 42-6.

  Gardner-Webb finally scored again when Pennington hit Caleb Borders for a 14 yard TD. But the extra point was missed again on a block by Shymeik Jones to make it 42-12.

   Tech drove downfield highlighted by a 42 yard Isiah Canion catch. A 23 yard Birr field goal was good…the first time the Jackets had scored without a touchdown.

  Even with backups, Tech continued to be unstoppable with J. P. Powell adding a rushing score and third string QB Graham Knowles hitting Dean Patterson off to the left then watching him sprint 84 yards for the score.

   By the game’s end, it was 59-12. All smiles on the sidelines and in the stands from the fans who stuck it out until the end.

  After the game, coach Key talked about the recurring early turnovers. “It’s real easy for everybody to start pointing fingers and talking and whatnot. That’s the identity that we want to have and we’ll continue to have. So, you know, it was a good football game. We were able to come out on top, so very thankful for that. We got a lot of work to do when we get back and get ready for the next game.”

  And that next game is a big one. Back at Bobby Dodd Stadium next Saturday for an early noon kickoff against Clemson.