Georgia Tech shocked No. 4 Miami 28-23 to reach bowl eligibility and shake up the ACC Championship Game race. The loss is the first of the season for the Hurricanes and drops them out of first place in the ACC standings.
The Yellow Jackets largely abandoned the forward pass and leaned on its highly-touted offensive line to bulldoze a struggling Miami defense. Georgia Tech ran the ball 48 times for 271 yards and two touchdowns and held the ball for 35 minutes to keep Miami’s highly-rated offense off the field.
But even after going down double-digits in the second half, Miami quarterback Cameron Ward rose to the occasion. The senior connected with Isaiah Horton for an eight-yard touchdown and added another beautiful drop to Xavier Restrepo for 38 yards to pull the game within five points. On the final drive though, Ward made his first mistake, losing the ball on a strip sack to give Georgia Tech the ball in the red zone.
Georgia Tech needed one last play on third-and-eight and Eric Singleton took the ball on a sweep for 11 yards into the red zone. The Yellow Jackets earned the right to kneel the clock out.
The Yellow Jackets have quietly been a giant killer under coach Brent Key. The Yellow Jackets are now 6-5 against ranked opponents since he took over as interim coach in 2022, including a 23-20 upset over No. 17 Miami last season. However, the win over this Hurricanes team is different.
The win over No. 4 Miami is only the third home win against an AP/CFP Top-Five team in program history. The last came in 2009 when Georgia Tech upset Tyrod Taylor’s No. 4 Virginia Tech. The only others both came against Alabama, once in 1962 and the other in 1942. Both came when the legendary Bobby Dodd was a member of the staff.
The loss complicates matters for Miami heading into the heart of the College Football Playoff race.
“Miami’s loss to Georgia Tech does not eliminate the Hurricanes from College Football Playoff contention,” CBS Sports bowls expert Jerry Palm said. “Miami will almost certainly earn a CFP bid if it finishes 11-1, but the loss means it may not get to play for the ACC championship and secure the potential first-round bye that would come with a conference title win.”
An ACC tiebreaker now puts Clemson back in the mix, though the Tigers will need to win on the road the next two weeks at Virginia Tech and at Pitt. SMU, which is undefeated in conference play, is in the driver’s seat to make the ACC Championship Game in its first season in the ACC.
With the Hurricanes’ loss, there are only four undefeated teams left in the college football — Oregon, Indiana, BYU and Army.