It’s only game one, and sometimes you hesitate to put too much stock in the result in a team’s opening game. In this case saying Justin Thomas may have saved Georgia Tech’s season is not an exaggeration. When you’re a team coming off a 3-9 season, and losers of 7 of your last 8 ACC regular season, you need a conference win, any kind of conference win.
Boston College coming of their own 3-9 season was equally desperate for a conference win. There’s a good chance these two will be fighting to make a bowl game all season. The loser definitely would be. A win doesn’t make the season, but a loss would be crushing.
Down 14-10 with 3 1/2 minutes left, Georgia Tech needed a touchdown against a defense that had pretty much shutdown the Yellow Jacket offense since their opening drive.
Here comes QB Justin Thomas who has done this before. He’s led critical 4th quarter under 5 minute drives to win or tie games against Georgia Southern, Georgia, Virginia Tech, and Florida State. Thomas made play after play in the decisive drive. He converted a 4th and 19. He converted a 3rd and 10. Georgia Tech got inside the BC and cashed in for the win.
For Boston College it is yet another close loss that shouldn’t have happened. You just can’t let teams convert a 4th and 19, but there were some good signs. Jon Hilliman looked like his pre-injury 2014 self at RB. He’s a talent. The defense is legit, and Patrick Towles showed good touch at times at QB. If OC Scott Loeffler can stay out his own way, and I wasn’t impressed by his Virginia Tech work, BC could cause teams a lot of problems this year. That said this yet another opportunity let slip away.
For Georgia Tech, it’s too early to say where their season goes, but with the win there is chance to get some momentum going. Mercer is a layup, and then Vanderbilt is a clone of BC, but worse offensively and not quite as good on defense. The Yellow Jackets have a chance to clean up some of their offensive issues, and get to 3-0 before facing Clemson. That means stretching the field a little more with the passing game to keep defenses from crashing the Triple Option.
A loss could have spiraled the season out of control. They didn’t lose, and now they have something to build on.
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