By: Matt Bowers
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— Jamal Haynes scored a 68-yard touchdown with 16 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give Georgia Tech a 41-34 win over North Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Kenan Stadium, handing the Tar Heels their fourth consecutive loss.
The Yellow Jackets piled up 505 total yards on the day. Focusing on the ground game after quarterback Haynes King appeared to suffer a shoulder injury in the first half, the Yellow Jackets ran 48 times for 371 yards, averaging 7.7 per carry.
Carolina scored 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to tie the score at 34-34 with 44 seconds left in the game on a Noah Burnette field goal, only to allow Haynes to run it in from 68 yards on the Yellow Jackets’ second play after taking possession.
Tech improved to 5-2 overall this season, 3-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. UNC fell to 3-4, 2-3 after starting the season with three consecutive wins. The Yellow Jackets have won six of the last seven meetings in the series. Carolina has lost four regular season games in a row for the first time since 2018.
King completed just 11 of 22 pass attempts for 127 yards, but he added 107 rushing yards and two scores and didn’t need to throw much in the second half. Haynes had 170 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, and Chad Alexander added 61 yards on 61 rushing attempts.
“We pride ourselves on playing for 60 minutes, and we got the ball back with less than a minute there at the end, after they kicked the field goal,” said Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key in his postgame press conference. “We had two timeouts and tried to see if we could push it out there with them playing off coverage and get favorable field position, and be able to get into field goal range. [Haynes] popped through there, made a cut, made a cut and oh boy he’s gone and he ended up scoring. It was a good job and a good win.”
Jacolby Criswell played well at quarterback for the Tar Heels, completing 17 of 31 tries for 209 yards and a TD while also adding 73 yards and two scores on the ground.
Omarion Hampton ran 18 times for 137 yards. J.J. Jones recorded three catches for 64 yards and a touchdown. Jones wore uniform #13 in Saturday’s Cancer Awareness game in honor of friend and teammate Tylee Craft, who wore #13 for the Tar Heels before he began his fight against cancer. Craft passed away on Saturday at the age of 23.
UNC tallied 417 total yards, including 201 on the ground.
How It Happened
First Quarter
• After Georgia Tech forced a Criswell fumble, the Yellow Jackets took the ball 38 yards on six plays to take a 7-0 lead when Chad Alexander scored from two yards out.
• The Tar Heels tied the score with 2:36 left in the first period. After a 53-yard pass from Criswell to Jones to the Georgia Tech 25. A Tech pass interference penalty moved the ball to the 10, and two plays later, Criswell ran it in from the one.
Second Quarter
• The Yellow Jackets took a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter on a 26-yard field goal by Aidan Birr that capped a 13-play drive in 6:26.
• Tech opened a 10-point lead immediately after the two-minute warming when King scored on a 20-yard quarterback draw to make the score 17-7.
• The Tar Heels roared back to pull within 17-14 in the final minute. Hampton raced 71 yards up the middle on UNC’s first play after the King touchdown, taking the ball to the Tech four yard-line. Criswell connected with Jones for a four-yard score to cut the Yellow Jacket advantage to three with 34 seconds remaining.
• Not to be outdone, Georgia Tech took the ball with 34 seconds left in the half and used a 37-yard run by Jamal Haynes to move immediately into scoring possession. Birr hit a 29-yard field goal with three seconds remaining to go into the locker room with a 20-14 lead.
• Hampton had 107 yards rushing on just nine carries in the opening half.
Third Quarter
• The Yellow Jackets upped their lead to 27-14 when King scored on a seven-yard run at the 6:46 mark.
• Carolina scored 10 points in a span of 1:37 late in the third quarter to pull back within a field goal. Burnette connected from 50 yards out to make it 27-17 with 3:50 left in the quarter. After the UNC defense forced a quick punt, Alijah Huzzie’s 69-yard punt return for a touchdown cut the deficit to three at 27-24.
Fourth Quarter
• On their first drive in the fourth quarter, the Yellow Jackets went back up by two scores with a 10-play, 75-yard drive in nearly five minutes to take a 34-24 lead with 11:18 remaining.
• On Carolina’s ensuing drive, Tech’s Tah’j Butler forced a fumbled by Nate McCollum that Ahmari Harvey recovered at the UNC 38-yard line, handing the ball back to the Jackets.
• UNC pulled back within a field goal when Criswell converted a fourth-and-one play from the one-yard line with a sneak up the middle. That scoring run capped a 13-play drive in over five-and-a-half minutes of game time.
• The UNC defense forced a punt to give the ball back to Criswell for one final drive beginning with 1:45 to go.
• On the first play, Criswell scrambled for 20 yards to cross midfield, then ran it into field goal range on the next play with an 11-yard scamper to the Tech 34. The Tar Heels moved to the Jacket 12 before Burnette hit a 26-yard field goal to tie it at 34-all with 44 seconds to play.
• On Georgia Tech’s second play, Haynes ran virtually untouched for his 68-yard score to win the game.
Up Next
Carolina has an open date on its schedule next week and will return to action on October 26 at Virginia.
