ATLANTA — Tre Turner caught seven passes for a 187 yards and one score to lead Virginia Tech to a 26-17 win at Georgia Tech on Saturday as the Hokies snapped a three-game losing to break even in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Georgia Tech (3-5, 2-4 ACC) toyed with a comeback in the second half, but couldn’t overcome a first half in which the Yellow Jackets allowed Virginia Tech (4-4, 2-2) — the next-to-last ranked offense in the conference at 329.7 yards per game — to match that yardage on the way to a 20-7 lead.
Braxton Burmeister completed 15 of 25 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns for Virginia Tech, and Turner was far and away his go-to guy as the junior racked up a career high in receiving yards.
Georgia Tech running back Jahmyr Gibbs rushed for 113 yards, and very nearly gave the Yellow Jackets the lead late only to slip on wet turf.
Each team threw an interception in the second half, but Virginia Tech won the game in a two-play sequence over the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth.
First, after Georgia Tech pulled to within 23-17, Gibbs broke through a gaping hole over right tackle for what looked like possible 81-yard touchdown run.
He had one last defender to worry about, a safety coming from the middle of the field with an angle.
Gibbs made cut, but it didn’t hold on a field slickened by intermittent drizzle on a cool, gray day.
A few plays later, Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Virginia Tech 12.
The Hokies held.
From there, the visitors chewed 7:01 off the clock on a 12-play, 85-yard drive that ended with John Parker Romo’s 21-yard field goal with 4:21 left in the game.
Had the Yellow Jackets converted a field goal on the prior drive, they would still have been in a one-score game.
THE TAKEAWAY
Virginia Tech: The Hokies were more efficient by a long ways over their recent play, and Turner was easily the best player on the field. Perhaps all the commotion about Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuentes' job security will abate for a bit.
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets find ways ways to lose. The defense played in the first half as if they wanted to allow even more yards than the 636 they gave up a week earlier at Virginia, but while they toughened in the second half, the Jackets' knack for untimely penalties and bad plays/decisions did them in.
UP NEXT
Virginia Tech: The Hokies will play Friday night at Boston College.
Georgia Tech: The Jackets head for the sun, hopefully, and a Saturday matchup at Miami.
