ATLANTA — Through two ACC games, Virginia Tech’s rush defense held up pretty well, among the leaders against conference foes at stopping the run.
It hadn’t faced the likes of Georgia Tech, however.
The No. 13 Yellow Jackets ran over the Hokies 35-20 at Bobby Dodd Stadium Saturday, rolling up 268 rushing yards to get to the midway point of the season still unbeaten.
It was the most rushing yards Virginia Tech (2-5, 1-2 ACC) has allowed this season.
Quarterback Haynes King deftly engineered a tricky and efficient offense for Georgia Tech (6-0, 3-0), throwing for 213 yards and a touchdown and adding 60 and two scores on the ground.
The Jackets also got rushing touchdowns from Malachi Hosley, who ran for a game-high 129 yards, and Jamal Haynes, punishing the Hokies with an array of QB sweeps, early runs to the outside, misdirection and power runs up the gut.
Quarterback Kyron Drones threw for 181 yards and ran for 83 for the Hokies. He twice hooked up with tight end Ja’Ricous Hairston for touchdowns and ran for one of his own.
Virginia Tech went 0-for-8 on third downs, the first time it failed to convert one in a game since 2010.
Georgia Tech outgained Virginia Tech 271-95 in total yards going into halftime, but the Hokies hung in there.
Virginia Tech scored on the opening drive of the second half. Facing a fourth-and-9 from the Georgia Tech 33, the Hokies elected to go for it. They picked up a blitz and Drones found a wide-open Hairston, who got lost in coverage down the field. The touchdown strike cut the Georgia Tech lead to 21-14.
The Yellow Jackets put the game out of reach quickly and methodically, however. They answered with a clinical 75-yard drive in six plays, finishing it off with a 15-yard Hosley touchdown run up the middle to push the lead back to 28-14.
Early in the fourth quarter, King ran off tackle and met little resistance, taking it in from 26 yards out for a touchdown to make it 35-14 with 11:54 remaining.
Tech tacked on a second Drones-to-Hairston touchdown with 4:58 remaining to get within 15 after the two-point try failed. After a stop, the Hokies got all the way down to the 10, but Georgia Tech bottled up Drones on a fourth-and-1 run to force a turnover on downs to seal the win.
The Yellow Jackets, who have their highest ranking since 2014, have won seven of their last eight ACC games dating back to last season. Their only conference loss during that time was a 21-6 setback to the Hokies in Lane Stadium last October, a game King missed with an injury.
While Georgia Tech hasn’t exactly come out hitting on all cylinders against non-ranked ACC foes under Brent Key, it was dialed in from the start Saturday, scoring the game’s first 18 points.
The Yellow Jackets marched down the field on the opening drive, going 80 yards in nine plays before King faked a pitch and kept it himself on a 3-yard touchdown run.
They came out with an odd formation on the try, with five players lined up to the left, and shoveled it to the motion man, Malik Rutherford. A quick cut and jump into the end zone for the conversion made it 8-0 a little more than four minutes in.
Georgia Tech faked Virginia Tech out on a punt return after getting a stop, tricking the Hokies’ gunners into following a decoy returner on one side of the field. The punt actually went to the other side, where Eric Rivers fielded it with no resistance and returned it 42 yards.
It took the Jackets just six plays to go 38 yards, with King sticking the pocket and taking a hit while delivering a 9-yard pass to Rutherford over the middle for a touchdown to make it 15-0.
A 36-yard run by Hosley and a 22-yard catch by Rivers helped set up Aidan Burr’s 25-yard field goal on Georgia Tech’s next drive, making it 18-0.
Thomas Williams made a nice play catching a Nick Veltsistas punt at Georgia Tech’s 1-yard line, giving the Hokies great field position after they forced a three-and-out.
Two plays into the Virginia Tech drive, Drones pulled a handoff after the defense collapsed on running back Terion Stewart and went untouched off the left edge and up the middle for a 32-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 18-7.
Georgia Tech converted a fourth-and-1 from the Hokes’ 32 when King faked a pitch to his left, rolled right and hit wide-open tight end Josh Beethan for a 31-yard gain to the 1-yard line with less than a minute left in the half.
Hokies defenders Kemari Copeland and Noah Chambers blew up a first-down run, however, and King’s touchdown pass on second down was negated after a hold right when Copeland was about to get to King in the pocket.
Backed up and with only a few seconds left in the half, the Jackets got a 30-yard field goal by Burr to go into halftime with a 21-7 lead.
Box Score: No. 13 Georgia Tech 35, Virginia Tech 20
