Georgia Tech beat Clemson 20-6 on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, rushing for 269 yards while the Tigers lost freshman quarterback Tait Reynolds to a knee injury and never found a ground game of their own.
The loss ended Clemson’s 38-game winning streak against teams with losing records, the third-longest active run in the country. The Tigers hadn’t lost to a team with a losing record since Boston College in 2010. Georgia Tech arrived at 2-7 after a 44-17 loss to Louisville and left at 3-7. Clemson fell to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the ACC.
It came on Senior Day, in Dabo Swinney’s 250th game as Clemson’s head coach, a number only Frank Howard has reached at the school.
The trouble started on the opening drive. Tait Reynolds hit tight end Olsen Patt-Henry for 3 yards and broke off a 24-yard run before leaving with the knee injury. Trent Pearman, a fifth-year quarterback, finished the drive, which ended in a punt, and held the job until Christopher Vizzina, a senior, came in with 8:16 left in the second quarter. Pearman went 2-of-6 for 6 yards. Vizzina finished 12-of-27 for 133 yards and threw an interception to Georgia Tech’s Kealan Jones.
No matter who took the snap, the run game never opened up. Clemson ran for 86 yards on 34 carries, a 2.5-yard average, and 24 of those came on Reynolds’ one carry. Take that run away and the Tigers managed 62 yards on 33 carries, just under 2 yards a try. Jarvis Green led the way with 39 yards on 13 carries. Clemson came in chasing a third straight game with 150 rushing yards against a Georgia Tech defense that had been allowing 222.8 per game. It never got close.
Georgia Tech had no such trouble. The Yellow Jackets ran 52 times for 269 yards, a 5.2-yard average. Justice Haynes carried 13 times for 116 yards, including a 53-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that made it 20-3. Grady Adamson added 87 yards and a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Aidan Birr kicked field goals of 24 and 22 yards, the second with 17 seconds left in the first half for a 13-3 lead.
The passing game couldn’t pick up the slack. Clemson completed 15 of 34 attempts for 142 yards, and Juju Preston was the lone consistent target with four catches for 56 yards, including a 33-yarder. Bryant Wesco Jr. caught three for 25. Georgia Tech needed far less from its arm. Quarterback Alberto Mendoza went 8-of-14 for 138 yards, with 87 of that coming on two throws, a 50-yard catch by tight end Chris Corbo and a 37-yarder to Jordan Allen. That’s a quarterback handing off, dropping back twice for a big gain, and handing off again.
Nolan Hauser accounted for all of Clemson’s points. He hit from 40 yards late in the second quarter and from 47 yards in the third. Clemson never reached the end zone, finished 5-of-17 on third down and was outgained 407-228.
The defense did its part in spots. Safety Corey Myrick intercepted Mendoza, linebacker Sammy Brown recovered an Adamson fumble, and Georgia Tech converted only 3 of 13 third downs. The Yellow Jackets also took five penalties for 50 yards, and still never had to scramble for points. But a team that averages 5.2 yards a carry doesn’t need many third downs, and that was the problem.
Clemson now needs one win in its last two games to reach seven victories for the 16th straight season. The Tigers visit Duke on Friday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C. They close the regular season at home against South Carolina on Nov. 28.
