ATLANTA — It was a day to reveal a chip on the shoulder and attention to detail, qualities that Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins had assured that his team was developing. It was an opportunity to show that both the running game and run defense, areas that had shown promise, were legitimate, and that a new offensive scheme could move the ball.
Instead, the Yellow Jackets were waylaid, defeated by a superior opponent and again tripped up by its own mistakes.
In the third game of Collins’ fourth season, Tech lost 42-0 to No. 20 Ole Miss. The Jackets (1-2) were outgained 547-214 and were practically unable to stop the Rebels (3-0) on the ground. A punishing Ole Miss offensive line routed its gold-jerseyed opponents, which had held Clemson and Western Carolina to a 3.0 yards-per-carry average, amassing 316 yards on 62 carries (5.1 average) and 12 carries of 10 yards or more.
It was the ninth game in Collins’ 37-game tenure that the Jackets have lost by 30 points or more and fourth in a row against FBS competition.
While the Jackets have nine more opportunities to prove their worth, the result provided Collins’ legion of critics with more material to call for his dismissal. The game’s first five-plus minutes proved a revealing window into what lay ahead for Tech.
On a brilliant afternoon, the game began with calamity afoot. Ole Miss took the opening kickoff and knifed through the Tech defense, smashing the Jackets with the run in a tone-setting touchdown drive. The Jackets failed to gain a first down on their opening possession and sent out punter David Shanahan. Ole Miss defensive end Cedric Johnson rushed Shanahan untouched from the right edge and snuffed out his punt. It was the third time that Tech has had its punt blocked this season and had become a particular area of focus for Collins after Clemson blocked two Tech punts in the season opener.
On a day in which the Jackets needed near-perfect execution, they sabotaged themselves with a mistake that was high on Collins’ list of fixes.
The special-teams blunder gave Ole Miss the ball on the Tech 20, from where the Rebels reached the end zone in six plays, five of them runs. Ole Miss scored on a third-and-goal run from the 7, a straight handoff in which the left side of the Ole Miss line blew open a hole for back Quinshon Judkins to score easily.
The mistakes weren’t rampant from thereon — an illegal substitution penalty enabled Ole Miss to pull its punt team to go for a field goal, which was missed — but Tech’s defense was run over by Ole Miss.
The Rebels’ tempo and powerful offensive line conquered Tech, which gave Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin little reason to attempt to pass. An offense that had averaged 249.5 rushing yards in its first two games against lesser competition routinely blew the Jackets off the line of scrimmage to create wide lanes for their backs.
Tech quarterback Jeff Sims, who was sharp in the season opener against Clemson, was unable to lift the Jackets on Saturday. He completed 18 of 32 passes for 161 yards and was sacked seven times. Tech had one legitimate opportunity to score, when it drove from its 33-yard line to inside the Ole Miss 10-yard line. Collins elected to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 4, but Sims was sacked to end the drive. Only one of Tech’s other 11 drives crossed midfield.
