Last week, construction on the I-75-85 Connector outside of Bobby Dodd Stadium turned a 48 minute drive into a two hour one. It was such an issue that the Georgia Tech Athletic Department sent out a warning advising fans to plan accordingly this week and leave early. Fortunately, GDOT noticed and decided late last night to suspend construction on the multiple lanes from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. A welcome piece of news heading in.

   Unlike last week, where Georgia Tech turned the ball over multiple times in the first quarter, this time it was Clemson with the early miscues, with a fumble resulting in an 3-0 GT lead on a 40 yard Aidan Birr field goal.

   The Yellow Jackets extended the lead to 10 on the first play of the second quarter, when Jamal Haynes took it in on the first play of the second quarter.

   The lead went to 13 courtesy of another Birr field goal.

   Clemson finally got on the board right before the end of the half  when Dabo Swinney gambled on a 4^th and goal at the 1 with Cade Klubnik diving over the top for the Tigers’ first points.

   The rivalry goes back to 1898 with this being the 90^th meeting. Tech fans had to be what would be described as cautiously optimistic, mainly because of how Clemson had alternated from dominating to destroying the Jackets over the last nine games with scores of 47-31, 55-31, 28-6, 43-24, 26-7, 43-24, 26-7, 24-10, 49-21, 52-14, 73-7, 41-10 and 42-21. The only one that could even be called competitive was their 14-8 win in the 202 Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

   This one felt different with fans feeling like they at least had a chance but with some understandable apprehension in the air.

   The Clemson offense looked sharp to start the second half driving all the way down to the GT11. Then, a game changing play as Klubnik was picked off  by Omar Daniels at the 7 and returned 45 yards to the CU48. The Tigers’ second turnover of the game with none by Tech.

   But, the exuberation was short-lived as the Jackets were stopped. Tech fans’ apprehensions surfaced as Bryant Wesco Jr. caught one at the 37 and took it 73 yards for the distance and Clemson’s first lead, 14-13.

   But, Tech responded in the 4^th quarter on a 3^rd and goal at the 1. A second effort push by King got it across the goal line and Tech was back in front. A gutsy call as Key went for 2 to give his team a 7 point lead and it paid off with Malik Rutherford tossing a score to Dean Patterson in the back of the end zone.

Clemson wasn’t done as they ran off a 13 play 75 yard drive with Adam Randall rushing for the game tying score to knot the game at 21 apiece.

   Fans might have been remembering the 8 overtime last game of the 2024 season at Georgia. Thoughts also had to be there of the missed field goal attempt by Clemson and the failed 4^th down conversion by Tech at the goal line.

   The Yellow Jackets got the ball with a chance to win with 3:26 left at their 25. They were here to show Clemson that it wasn’t Troy on the other side of the ball. The Tigers had overcome a 16 point deficit last week to stage a dramatic come from behind win over the Trojans.

   Tech moved methodically downfield with Rutherford across the middle for 9 to the 34.
A huge third and 1 at the 34. Make it and the chances were alive. Miss it and you’d give Clemson the ball back with plenty of time to win.

   King got the first down with a big 9 yard keeper to the 43.
A big completion to Eric Rivers into Clemson territory out of bounds at the CU49 after a 9 yard gain.
   King got another first down with a carry to the CU45.

   The Jackets still needed maybe 7 or 8 yards to be within a long field goal range. Key used his remaining timeouts as the offense made it to the 37.

   With the clock ticking, the field goal unit ran on the field and watched the hero of the game, Aidan Birr connect for a career high 55 yarder as time ran out.
Tech had broken the nine game drought and Key improved his pressure wins over ACC ranked teams to 7-1.

   Fans stormed the field and carried off the goal post as the scoreboard read 0:00 and Georgia Tech 24, Clemson 21.

  They weren’t the only ones elated. “I’m so happy right now,” said Key after the game. “The boys played hard. Played out the way we wanted it to play out… Our kids believe. I believe in them. They believe in each other. Three years of work to get to a very… I’m so happy right now. The beauty of this game is that means next week’s even bigger.”

   On Birr’s game winning field goal. “We practice it all the time. There was way plenty of time on the clock. So we had no issues with that… By gaining that extra two or three yards on the last play… we knew we’d have plenty of time for Aidan to be able to go execute it and gave him a couple of yards and that thing sailed through.”