Northern Illinois Trips Up Tech in 2021 Opener
Jackets’ Defense Unable To Hold 7 Point Late Lead In A Disappointing Debut For Season 3 Under Collins
Move over Atlanta Braves. There’s another team in town with a shaky bullpen. Georgia Tech gave up a late 7 point lead on Saturday, yielding a long but quick touchdown drive and a 2- point conversion to fall to the Huskies of the Mid American Conference, 22-21. Holding late leads has become a challenge locally. But that comparison across two different sports is imprecise. Georgia Tech plays only 12 games total this year, and many fans worry that there may not be many late leads available to hold this year. Of the 11 remaining scheduled games (Covid permitting) Tech will likely be favored to win only two. Of course, picking favorites is mainly an issue for bettors and best friends, and all by itself has no effect on the outcome of a game.
As an example, take Saturday’s contest at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Northern Illinois came to town as a 17 point underdog. Neither team’s offense looked crisp out of the gate. But the visitors made some adjustments to help build a 14-0 lead late into the 2nd quarter. It was not until just before halftime that Tech finally scored, on a 22 yard pass from Jordan Yates to McGowan, to boost the spirits of the Jacket faithful. Yates had entered the game in the 2nd quarter when starting Tech QB Jeff Sims exited with an injury to his left arm. Yates led his team on a 97 yard drive ending with his 22 yard pass to McGowan for the score as the first half ticked down.
Neither team scored in the 3rd quarter, but Tech tallied twice in rapid succession in the 4th, the first on Dontae Smith’s 15 yard run, and again moments later on a 4 yard run by Yates following a Husky turnover. With that, the Saturday night crowd of 33,000 had a feeling that perhaps order had been restored for the Jackets.
But NIU QB Rocky Lombardi had other ideas. He led his team on a methodical 9 play, 80 yard drive, consuming just over 2 minutes, for a touchdown. The Huskies then converted the 2 point conversion on Lombardi’s 3 yard pass to Richie for the winning margin.
With Yates back at the controls, Tech was able to move the ball back across midfield in the remaining 38 seconds, but a 60 yard field goal attempt by Gavin Stewart was blocked as time expired, setting off a wild celebration on the visitors’ sideline.
The final stats were misleading. Tech outgained NIU 429 to 301. But as Tech Coach Geoff Collins said, his defense played well “..except for three possessions”. Those three series accounted for their three touchdowns, compiling 220 yards of the Huskies’ 301 total. By comparison, Tech moved the ball fairly well, but sporadically. With a couple exceptions they could not make that production yield points.
Tech’s new kicker Brent Cimaglia was 0-2 for field goals. And the Jackets missed out on another scoring opportunity in the 3rd period when Collins elected to go for the touchdown on a 4th down play near the Huskies’ goal line, only to see an apparent touchdown catch called off after the review showed McGowan’s foot landing out of bounds in the endzone as he caught Yates’ pass.
Such were the frustrations of this night. Tech gets another chance at a home victory next Saturday when Cobb County neighbor Kennesaw State comes calling to Bobby Dodd Stadium in the first meeting between the two schools.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com