Georgia Tech Pulls Away From Western Carolina After Slow Start – Sports Illustrated
It was not a perfect game by any means, but Georgia Tech got a win over their FCS foe Western Carolina on Saturday night 35-17
The defense had a bad first half and game and that was a disappointment considering how well they played against Clemson. The offense ran the ball better in this game, particularly Dontae Smith. Jeff Sims was a little off tonight, but it was good that the running game was strong enough to take over in this game.
Georgia Tech got the ball first in the game and was not able to do anything with the ball. After punting the ball away to the Catamounts, Western Carolina quarterback Carlos Davis threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to put up Western Carolina 7-0. The defensive communication in the secondary was really poor to start the game and Western Carolina receivers were running wide open at the beginning.
The Yellow Jackets would respond on the next drive and score courtesy of Donate Smith from nine yards out. That was the first of three touchdowns in the first half for Smith.
The very next drive for Western Carolina, Davis drove the Catamounts down the field and found a wide open receiver for a 22 yard touchdown to put Western Carolina up 14-7.
Donate Smith would hit a 51 yard run for a touchdown just a short time later to tie the game up. Smith showed his explosion in the first half and it was much needed for the offense with the off night that Sims had.
Georgia Tech would get their first lead of the game and for the 2022 season on a reverse play that saw Nate McCollum go 40 yards to the end-zone. Sims had a huge block to free up McCollum.
To close out the first half, Smith would have his third touchdown and put the Yellow Jackts up 28-14 leading into the half.
Western Carolina put up 266 yards in the first half on the Yellow Jackets, averaging 14 yards per completion.
Some other first-half stats: Georgia Tech had 167 rushing yards in the first half, while Jeff Sims was 7-14 passing for 100 yards. Western Carolina possessed the ball for 16:35, compared to 11:29 for the Yellow Jackets.
To open up the second half, Western Carolina was driving the ball into Yellow Jacktets territory, but a bad snap gave the ball back to Georgia Tech. Sims proceeded to throw a really bad interception on the next play to give the ball right back to the Catamounts. Tech was hoping to see a boost for the defense when Charlie Thomas made his return from his targeting call from the Clemson game.
In the second half, Davis was having a lot of success scrambling against the Yellow Jackets when the play broke down. The defense was sturggling to contain him. Keion White had a big sack to stop the offense after Sims threw the pick and the Yellow Jackets defense held.
On the next drive, Georgia Tech started with a nice gain by Smith, who continued to be explosive. He was leaned on in this game and he responded well. McDuffie and Hall would have good gains on the drive and the running game was settling in as Georgia Tech was finally starting to pull away. McDuffie would score to put the Yellow Jackets in front 35-14 and it felt like the game was finally starting to pull away in favor of Georgia Tech.
Davis would get hit hard on the next drive and Western Carolina would have to insert their backup quarterback. Western Carolina would start to have success running the ball on Georgia Tech and move the ball into their territory.
Western Carolina would be threatning to score at the start of the 4th quarter with Davis still out of the game. The Catamounts would hit a field goal to cut the lead to 35-17.
Tech would then proceed to give the ball back to Western Carolina after a quick three and out. Thomas would get the ball back for Tech with an interception and set up the Yellow Jackets in the red zone.
However, kicker Jude Kelley missed a short field goal and the ball went back to Western Carolina at their own 20 yard line.
Georgia Tech would be able to grind out the rest of the clock and win 35-17 to move to 1-1 on the season.
Overall, was nice to see them bounce back after a rough start. But even with a win tongight, there are reasons to be concerned going forward with this team. The defense allowed to many explosive plays through the air and Jeff Sims was not very good tonight. Hopefully, they can move forward and correct those mistakes ahead of a very good Ole Miss team next week.
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Jackson Caudell covers Georgia Tech Athletics at FanNation, a part of the Sports Illustrated Media Network and has been a lifelong Atlanta sports fan.