Duke beats Ga. Tech to snap 6-game skid
Duke’s Brittain Brown (22) carries the ball as Georgia Tech’s A.J. Gray (5) attempts a tackle during Saturday’s game.
DURHAM, N.C. — Six consecutive losses had Duke angry and motivated on Senior Day at Wallace Wade Stadium.
The result was an offensive eruption Georgia Tech was helpless to stop.
Shaun Wilson caught two touchdown passes and threw another, Brittain Brown ran for 116 yards and a score, and the Blue Devils kept their bowl hopes alive with a 43-20 victory over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday night.
Duke (5-6, 2-5 ACC) fell behind 14-3 early in the second quarter before dominating the rest of the way, including outscoring the Georgia Tech 23-0 in the second half to snap their losing streak.
“When you break a six-game losing streak, it’s more than just a sigh of relief,” quarterback Daniel Jones said. “It was a lot of fun to play as we did as a team today and come out on top.”
Wilson caught swing passes of 11 and 16 yards from Jones for touchdowns and threw a trickplay, 4-yard touchdown on a jump pass at the line of scrimmage to tight end Daniel Helm.
Jones completed 18 of 26 passes for 177 yards and ran for 91 yards and a score to lead the Blue Devils’ rally. Brown’s contributions on the ground gave Duke a season-high 319 rushing yards.
“They went through us like we weren’t even there,” Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson said. “We couldn’t get the ball and by the time we got it, we were down 17. We just couldn’t keep up with them.”
TaQuon Marshall carried 20 times for 140 yards and a touchdown for the Georgia Tech (5-5, 4-4), which dropped to 0-5 on the road this season. The Blue Devils’ runaway surge put the Yellow Jackets’ triple-option offense in the uncomfortable position of having to pass, and Marshall completed just 3 of 13 attempts for 82 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Ben McKeown /
Duke 43, Georgia Tech 20
AP last positive for Yellow Jackets. They allowed Duke to march 72 yards and tie the score just 26 seconds before halftime, and Jones led the Blue Devils 75 yards on the opening drive of the second half for a touchdown to give Duke its first lead, and one it would hold the rest of the way.
“The end of the first half killed us again,” Johnson said. “They came down and tied the game up ... then they come out and score again. We go three-and-out and that was pretty much it.”