If the 2024 ACC season plays out like Saturday’s Week 0 opener for Florida State and Georgia Tech in Dublin, college football fans are in for an amazing thrill ride.
Aidan Birr kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired to give the Yellow Jackets a 24–21 win over the No. 10 Seminoles. Brent Key begins his third season as Georgia Tech head coach with a huge win over a top-10 team and the perceived favorite in the ACC.
Georgia Tech was in jeopardy of being pushed out of field-goal range when quarterback Haynes King fumbled a shotgun snap on the go-ahead drive, apparently obscured by Eric Singleton Jr. running in motion to the right as the ball was snapped. The mishap resulted in a 10-yard loss, moving the Jackets back to the FSU 38-yard line.
But King and Singleton followed up to connect on a 12-yard pass with 41 seconds remaining to get that yardage back and put Birr in position to kick the winning field goal.
The Yellow Jackets took a 21–14 lead to begin the fourth quarter, finishing off an 11-play, 89-yard drive on a 2-yard touchdown run by Jamal Haynes. The Seminoles answered with their own long scoring drive, going 84 yards in 15 plays to tie the game.
The highlight of the drive was a fourth-down pass from DJ Uiagalelei to Malik Benson for a 19-yard gain to the Georgia Tech 1-yard line. Roydell Williams followed up by punching the ball in for the score.
Uiagalelei finished with 193 passing yards on 19-for-27 passing with no touchdowns, while Williams led the Seminoles with 38 yards rushing and a score on 12 carries. Ja’Khi Douglas caught four passes for 55 yards.
For Georgia Tech, King compiled 200 yards from scrimmage, while Haynes rushed for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Rutherford added 66 yards receiving on four catches.
Saturday’s game began in thrilling fashion with FSU’s Lawrance Toafili making a quick cut to the right to rip off a 28-yard run for a touchdown. The Seminoles added a two-point conversion on a swinging gate trick play to take an 8–0 lead.
Georgia Tech punched right back on its opening drive, highlighted by a 42-yard catch-and-run by Malik Rutherford. Three running plays later, they put their first touchdown on the board.
The Yellow Jackets kept Florida State back on its feet, taking a 14–11 lead in the second quarter by finishing off a 75-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run by King. But a 59-yard field goal by Ryan Fitzgerald — the second-longest in school history — as the clock expired tied the game at 14–14 going into halftime.
For the Seminoles and coach Mike Norvell, the season-opening loss to a team that went 7–6 last season is a major disappointment. Florida State was seeking vengeance after being snubbed from last season’s College Football Playoff despite a 13–0 record.
That revenge tour obviously hit a setback with this defeat and puts them behind from the start in what could be a tough ACC race with Clemson and Miami. Perhaps Georgia Tech just put the conference on notice that it should be considered a threat as well.
Up next for Florida State is a Labor Day matchup with Boston College at 7:30 p.m ET. Georgia Tech will host Georgia State next Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
