Miami rallies past Tech
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Darrell Langham made another miracle happen, a 28-yard catch on a tipped fourth-down ball keeping desperate Miami’s drive alive and setting up Michael Badgley’s 24-yard field goal with 4 seconds left as the 11th-ranked Hurricanes somehow rallied to stun Georgia Tech 2524 on Saturday.
Langham — who had the winning catch to beat Florida State in the final seconds last week — pulled off a similar grab to get Miami to the Georgia Tech 15, and Badgley’s chip-shot came four snaps later as the Hurricanes (5-0, 3-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) stretched their longest winning streak in more than a decade to 10 games.
Travis Homer rushed for 170 yards and had two scores — one rushing, one receiving for Miami, which escaped when Georgia Tech’s five-lateral attempt at a kickoff return was stopped as time expired.
“It was lucky that we got the tip and it landed in his arms,” Miami coach Mark Richt said. “He’s been Mr. Clutch.”
Lamont Simmons ran a botched onside kick back 42 yards for a touchdown and J.J. Green scored twice for Georgia Tech (3-2, 2-1).
The Hurricanes were driving inside the Georgia Tech 30 with a minute left, then were knocked back 15 yards when Dionte Mullins was called for a chop block and backed Miami up to the 44. No matter. For the second straight week, Miami found a way in the waning moments. And it came on a day where Miami looked many times like it was botching it away.
Down 14-3 early, Miami
No. 11 Miami 25, Georgia Tech 24
found some life going into halftime. Malik Rosier connected with Homer on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds left before intermission to pull the Hurricanes within 14-13.
But a big blunder on the first play of the second half put Miami back in trouble, when Badgley’s onside kick was picked up by Simmons and turned into an easy touchdown that gave the Yellow Jackets breathing room.
Georgia Tech, though, got nothing going offensively in the second half. The Yellow Jackets came into the day averaging 396 yards on the ground — they had 54 in the second half on Saturday.
And Miami had just enough time at the end to stay perfect.