Georgia Tech Football: Blowing Out The Panthers Is Just What The Doctor Ordered

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were in a position where they needed a win. It did not matter how they got the win, or how hard, or how easy the win came. They just needed a win.

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The five fumbles in the first quarter that ignited the 56-28 Yellow Jackets romp over the Pitt Panthers was a gift from above.

Anything that could have gone wrong for the Pitt Panthers did go wrong in the first quarter of their homecoming game.

Five turnovers, and a possible injury to their stud running back James Connor, made you wonder if someone from Jackets Nation actually bought a voodoo doll in order to put a hex on the Panthers so that the Jackets could get back on track.

But regardless of how it happened, no one is complaining, and the Yellow Jackets were able to turn four of those turnovers into 28 unanswered points.

And even though both teams scored 28 points apiece the rest of the way in the game, that does not change the fact that this performance from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets was explosive and easily one of their best of the year.

The defense, by causing those turnovers, set the tone of the game early. They also put pressure on Panthers quarterback Chad Voytik sacking him three times.

D.J. White causing the fumble of James Connor while it looked like he was running free for a 74-yard touchdown was huge.

That play was representative of the fight that the Jackets’ defense was playing with on Saturday afternoon. The defense really wanted to put forth a huge effort and make an impact on the game, and they did.

The impact that the defense made was so big that no one is even going to notice that Tech gave up 198 yards rushing and 526 yards of total offense to Pittsburgh. Most of those yards were garbage time yards and garbage time came super early.

Pittsburgh running back James Connor ran for 120 yards and three fairly meaningless touchdowns at the end of the day.

You had to love how the Yellow Jackets rallied around each other with Zach Laskey being absent due to his shoulder injury.

Synjyn Days and Broderick Snoddy were huge coming out of the backfield. Days rushed 22 times for a career high 110 yards, and Snoddy showed why he needs more touches hitting pay dirt three times while rushing for 82 yards on a mere six carries.

In all the Yellow Jackets tallied 612 yards of offense and ran the ball for a whopping 465 yards.

Justin Thomas once again was the catalyst for another big offensive game rushing 15 times for 99 yards, while only having to complete 5 of 10 passes for 147 yards and a TD.

This performance is exactly what the Jackets needed after dropping two straight. A game where they could vent, take out frustration, just beat up on a team psychologically and physically.

This win makes the Jackets the only three win team in the ACC Coastal right now and they are going to have a chance to put themselves deeper in to the Coastal Division race if they can get a win over a Virginia Cavaliers team that lost 28-27 to the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Their 6-2 overall record makes the Yellow Jackets Bowl eligible for the 18th consecutive year, but there is still work to do.

The momentum from this game needs to travel back to Bobby Dodd stadium for the Yellow Jackets homecoming game against Virginia.

But this win is right on time and keeps the Jackets from going into a deep funk, it is just what the doctor ordered.