Georgia Tech suffered its second straight loss on Saturday to Syracuse, 37-20. This young team picked up a comeback win on the road on opening weekend in Tallahassee against Florida State. In that win, the Yellow Jackets’ looked like they were turning things around with new life driven into the program with an excellent recruiting class and good young talented already in the program. The last two weeks have been head-scratching.
The Yellow Jackets’ and the Orange both coming off bad losses in their previous game. The Yellow Jackets’ wanted to regroup after a rough fourth quarter against Central Florida. The Orange was also looking to regroup after their offense struggled in their first two games of the season.
Georgia Tech freshman quarterback, Jeff Sims, had the worst of the struggles on offense against Syracuse. Sims struggled with turnovers in his last game against UCF, and those same struggles returned. Sims threw four interceptions against the Orange and was replaced late in the game by freshman backup quarterback, Jordan Yates. Sims finished the day 13 of 28 with 174 passing yards, one touchdown, and four interceptions. Sims has shown the ability to move the ball and run a high powered, fastbreak offense but has struggled with turnovers.
Syracuse offense still had its struggles, but when your defense keeps getting turnovers, it gives your offense more opportunities to put up points and keeps the opposing team defense on the field longer.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets’ cut the lead down to just three points, then their defense gives up a big play, and their offense couldn’t hold onto the ball or put up points the rest of the way. It’s still so much to look forward to for Yellow Jackets’ fans because their offense still outgained Syracuse in total yards. Also, Yellow Jackets’ freshman running back, Jahmyr Gibbs, follow his ACC Freshman of the week performance last week with another good performance. Gibbs had 131 all-purpose yards, with 105 them being rushing yards and a score against Syracuse.
The Yellow Jackets’ Head Coach Geoff Collins spoke on the turnovers and how to address that going forward for his young team.
“Big focus all week, not turning the ball over. Obviously, we didn’t do that. We had five turnovers. Finishing in the red zone, finishing drives obviously didn’t do that. That’s on me. There were 15 unforced errors. I take full responsibility for those. We will get better. So that was a challenge to them right there at the end of the game, making sure that we put the onus on ourselves. It starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job getting guys ready, getting the guys recovered, and dialed in for this game.”
Georgia Tech still has a lot to look forward to this season. The last two games resulted in losses, and the final score doesn’t show how hard the Yellow Jackets fought and played well. Now they have to find a way to play all four quarters, finish out offensive possessions with points, not turnovers, and finish off games. The Yellow Jackets’ have a short break and then return home on October 9 to take on Louisville at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
