The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets left Chapel Hill on Saturday as winners of three-straight road games after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 38-28, here are the stars of the game for the Yellow Jackets.
It was a much-needed win for the Yellow Jackets who won their second straight game on Saturday against North Carolina and have now won three-straight road games. The win puts the Yellow Jackets at 5-4 on the season and is now one win away from bowl eligibility. It wasn’t always pretty against the Tar Heels but it was a good team performance for the Yellow Jackets in a must-win situation.
Either way, here are the Jackets stars of the game on offense, defense, and special teams.
Offense: QB Tobias Oliver
Oliver didn’t get the start but he was without a doubt the Jackets offensive MVP for the game on Saturday. Oliver ended up with three total touchdowns on the day to go along with 120-rushing yards and 104 passing yards. Oliver has now had too solid back-to-back weeks for the Yellow Jackets. Even if TaQuon Marshall is healthy next week for Miami, Paul Johnson and the Jackets coaching staff will have an incredibly hard decision to make. Do they unseat the starter TaQuon Marshall or they give Marshall the nod (if healthy) for the Hurricanes?
Defense: S Malik Rivera
The Wofford transfer has been a much-needed stabilizing force in the Jackets secondary all season and against North Carolina, Rivera had another strong game. The grad-transfer put together a 10-tackle performance against the Tar Heels which lead the team. He also had half-a-tackle for a loss. It’s been a tremendous season for Rivera and a fantastic way to cap off his college career. He leads the team with 45 tackles heading into next week’s game against Miami.
Special Teams: Everybody
For the first time in a long time it feels, the entire special teams unit had a great game. Wesley Wells was reliable when called upon, Pressley Harvin III was solid once again in the punting game and the Juanyeh Thomas did decent on his two returns and one punt return. Not to mention, the kickoff coverage and punt coverage teams also limited big returns for the most part on the day, the longest kick return going for 31-yards. Overall, the Jackets needed games like this from special teams down the stretch and Saturday’s performance was a good start.