Georgia Tech comeback falls short at Virginia
Brennan Armstrong passed for 396 yards, rushed for 99 and accounted for six touchdowns as Virginia held off Georgia Tech for a 48-40 win in Atlantic Coast Conference action Saturday night in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers (6-2, 4-2 ACC) won their fourth consecutive game. Armstrong, the FBS leader in passing yards coming into the weekend, completed 29 of 43 passes with four TDs and carried the ball 12 times with two scores.
Dontayvion Wicks had six catches for 168 yards and two TDs, Keytaon Thompson added 154 yards from scrimmage and Virginia rolled up 636 yards of offense.
Jeff Sims passed for 300 yards with three TDs and one interception and Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown to lead the Yellow Jackets (3-4, 2-3), who finished with 570 yards of offense.
Georgia Tech led by 13 early, but Virginia scored 20 unanswered points spanning the second and third quarters to build a 27-16 lead.
Gibbs ended the drought with a 71-yard run and the Yellow Jackets added the two-point conversion to pull within 27-24.
Armstrong answered with his legs, rushing for TDs (4 and 14 yards) on Virginia’s next two possessions to take a 41-24 lead into the fourth quarter.
After a Georgia Tech field goal, Armstrong’s 20-yard scoring strike to
Ra’Shaun Henry capped a 96-yard drive and made it 48-27 with 3:50 remaining.
Sims and the Yellow Jackets’ special teams made things interesting late.
Sims threw a 37-yard TD pass to Kalani Norris with 1:16 left and, after a successful onside kick, he completed a 5-yard TD to Kyric McGowan with 22 seconds to go to make it 48-40.
Another well-executed onside kick gave Georgia Tech a final possession at midfield. Sims’ heave into the end zone on the final play was batted down by Virginia’s Joey Blount.
The Yellow Jackets were rolling early. They struck first with Sims’ 36-yard
pass to McGowan just 1:40 into the game, and made it 13-0 on a 3-yard run by Dontae Smith with 6:28 left in the first quarter.
Billy Kemp IV put the Cavs on the board late in the first quarter with a 1-yard pass from Armstrong.
After a field goal put Georgia Tech up 16-7, the rest of the second quarter belonged to Armstrong and Wicks.
Wicks’ first score was a leaping 13yard grab over two defenders in the end zone. His second, after an interception by Blount, was a 77-yard catch-and-run that gave the Cavaliers their first lead at 21-16 with 6:36 left in the half.