Tech’s Golden Eagles fall to 0-2 after leaving Sanford Stadium with a 48-3 loss to Georgia on Saturday, Sept. 7. Heading into the game, the Bulldogs were the top-ranked team in the nation, and after Saturday, it appears they will remain so.
Early in the game, the Georgia defense forced a three-and-out in the first Golden Eagle possession. Immediately after, Anthony Evans had a nice punt return, followed by a Carson Beck-Dillon Bell touchdown connection.
This remained the story throughout the first half as the Golden Eagles, while they did limit turnovers, had to punt multiple times in the first half.
Defensively, Tech was able to get a goal-line stop on Georgia and force them to settle for three just before the half, making the halftime score 24-0 Bulldogs.
Coming out of the half, Georgia was able to score two quick touchdowns as Carson Beck connected with Arian Smith and then Lawson Luckie shortly after. Carson Beck, arguably the best quarterback in all of college football, finished the game with five touchdown passes to five different receivers.
Fast forwarding to the end of the game, the Golden Eagles put together a nice offensive drive up to the UGA 15-yard-line. Bobby Wilder then called a timeout with just two seconds remaining in the game.
Much to the surprise of the fans in Sanford Stadium, Wilder then sent on senior kicker Hayden Olsen to kick a 32-yard field goal, making the final score 48-3.
In the postgame interviews, Wilder was asked about the decision: “I wanted to get points on the board. I wanted to get something positive out of the game. I wanted to execute that. We are going to need that at some point to win a football game. As bad as it probably looked to everybody else, it was good for Tennessee Tech to score some points there.”
In terms of injuries, sophomore defensive lineman Myles Parker went down with an injury in the middle of the game, while standout junior linebacker Aaron Swafford did not dress out.
The goal of the game was achieved for Tech. They were able to get out the game with minimal injuries and were even able to add some points to the board on the very last play.
Another positive from this game was being able to get the younger players more playing time and experience. Freshman running back Aidan Littles took advantage of every opportunity getting in the game late and finishing with six carries for 45 yards, which led the team.
The Golden Eagles have a bye week upcoming, but after that, conference play opens up as TSU comes to town on Sept. 21.
Despite the 0-2 start, Tech fans and players should be excited about the result they have seen on the field through weeks one and two so far. It will be interesting to see how Bobby Wilder’s first team attacks conference play, as those are the games that matter most.
