Georgia Tech Football: Jackets lose big on the road at Duke

The Yellow Jackets needed a win on Saturday in Durham to ensure bowl eligibility before facing a highly ranked UGA squad, but Tech blew it.

Georgia Tech (5-5, 4-4 ACC) will likely need a win versus a really strong Georgia team on rivalry weekend to make the postseason in traditional fashion. Instead of a win over Duke, the Jackets lost in embarrassing fashion, 20-43.

The Jackets didn’t score a single point in the second half, and allowed the Blue Devils to rack up 23 in the last two quarters of play.

Tech got off to a good enough start, going into half time tied at 20-20 with the Dukies, but Paul Johnson’s squad just couldn’t get anything going on offense down the stretch. To make matters worse, the defense looked more like they did against Tennessee than they did against Virginia Tech last week.

More from Yellow Jacked Up

TaQuon Marshall was 3-for-13 with 83 yards, a touchdown and an interception through the air, and had 140 yards and a score on the ground. He eclipsed the 1,000 yard rushing mark in the loss.

KirVonte Benson had 20 carries for 79 yards on the day. Clinton Lynch and J.J. Green also had rushing yards for Tech.

Duke’s Daniel Jones passed for 170 yards on the day for a pair of touchdowns. He hit six different receivers in the winning effort. He ran for another 91 yards, beating the Jackets at their own game.

Brittain Brown racked up 116 rushing yards for the Dukies, while Shaun Wilson had another 73 yards.

The Yellow Jackets only have one more regular-season game on the docket, for a total of 11 matchups due to the Central Florida cancellation. Tech still has an opportunity to apply for bowl eligibility as a 5-win team, but would much rather beat Georgia to get a sixth win.

Next: Updates on several 2018 recruits

Georgia Tech and Georgia will kick off Clean Old Fashioned Hate at either noon or 8 p.m. ET on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.