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Jackets improve to 6-2 with sloppy win over Maryland By Matthew Memberg Hogging the computer ATLANTA November 6, 1998
 The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets went trick-or-treating last Saturday in Baltimore and came away with a nice treat: a 31-14 triumph over the Maryland Terrapins. The win improves the team's record to 6-2, 5-1 in the ACC and keeps the Jackets in a tie with Virginia and Florida State for first place in the conference.
With the victory over Maryland, the Jackets have earned the minimum number of wins necessary to qualify for a bowl game. This fact may be somewhat lost in the shuffle of the ACC title chase, but it should not go unnoticed. Recall that last year, Tech didn't earn its bowl-qualifying sixth win until the 10th game of the season, also a victory against
Maryland.
Head coach George O'Leary is certainly pleased that Tech is bowl-bound after only eight games. "[Qualifying at this point in the season] takes some pressure off. We've done an outstanding job of playing eight one-game seasons, but we need to keep focused."
The Tech-Maryland contest, the Terps' first showing in Baltimore since 1991, was the first ever Division I-A game played at the brand- new Ravens Stadium. Both teams got a good look at the stadium since it was only one third full. Unlike Tech, Maryland is used to playing in front of empty seats.
The Jackets entered the game last Saturday as the favored team, a status they had not enjoyed in an entire month. Playing an inferior team gave Tech an excellent opportunity to regain some confidence after having humble pie stuffed down their throat at home by the Seminoles the previous week.
The Jackets took that excellent opportunity and threw it out the window in the first half in Baltimore. The Tech offense evoked bad memories from the Boston College game, managing only 95 total yards in the first two quarters and missing two field goal attempts. Junior quarterback Joe Hamilton, who suffered a hip pointer in the loss to Florida State, was way off track, completing only six of 16 passes for 58 yards before halftime.
"I was in some pain but that was no excuse," admitted Hamilton. "It was very frustrating. Those plays I'm counted on as a quarterback to make, I just wasn't making them."
Things looked really bad for the Jackets during their first possession. Sophomore wide receiver Dez White hurt his left ankle on the first play of the game but was able to walk off the field under his own power. A few plays later, on a broken play, Hamilton lobbed the ball towards freshman running back Joe Burns in a desperate attempt to avoid a sack. His weak toss was grabbed out of the air by Maryland junior defensive end Peter Timmins, who then danced his way 32 yards into the endzone to give the Terps a 7-0 lead with 12:56 remaining in the first quarter.
Maryland did not retain the lead for long, though. White's dazzling 100-yard return of the ensuing kickoff nullified the seven-point Terp advantage. His ankle injury was obviously not that serious.
The Tech defense stopped Maryland on its first two offensive series, but the Tech offense stalled both times. Maryland seized the lead again on its next possession with a 40-yard scamper by freshman quarterback Randall Jones, his first career touchdown. White gave Tech excellent field position again with another long kickoff return, but the Jackets were once again not able to get anything going. It took yet another exciting play by the swarming Yellow Jacket defense to tie the score.
With nine and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter, Maryland tried in vain to run the option against an all-out Tech blitz. Jones pitched the ball too high for sophomore tailback Lamont Jordan to handle, and the ball bounced right into the path of senior safety Jerry Caldwell. Caldwell scooted 27 yards for the score, the Jackets' second fumble recovery of the day and sixth defensive touchdown this season.
The rest of the first half was sloppy and ugly, with neither offense making much progress. Tech went into the locker room at halftime with the score tied at 14 despite zero offensive production in the first thirty minutes of play.
Both the Yellow Jacket players and their fans expected O'Leary to rip the team during his halftime remarks; however, that turned out not to be the case.
"He told us the second half decided the rest of our season," said senior defensive end Nate Stimson. "He put it on us. He didn't yell at us. He didn't have to tell us we were playing like crap."
The Jackets obviously took O'Leary's halftime words to heart and came back out of the locker room showing determination and a definite will to win. The Ramblin' Wreck rolled out 17 third-quarter points and shut down the Terrapins for the remainder of the game.
The winning score came with 8:25 remaining in the third quarter when Hamilton and Burns gave Maryland a lesson on the correct way to run the option. Burns took the pitch from Hamilton and sprinted down the sidelines virtually untouched for a 44-yard touchdown. After the extra point by senior placekicker Brad Chambers, Tech was on top 21-14.
In the second half, Burns could not be stopped or contained as he ran for 143 yards on 10 carries. In addition to the 44-yard touchdown, the Burns highlight reel also included a 54-yard tackle-breaking run on another option pitch from Hamilton. Burns finished the day with 204 total yards, not bad for a first career start.
With 179 yards rushing, Burns became Tech's first 100-yard rusher this season. Also, he was named ACC Rookie of the Week.
"Joe Burns had a good day," praised O'Leary. "We needed someone to step up, and he did that."
Hamilton's passing improved in the second half. He completed one- half of his passes in the second half, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to sophomore fullback Ed Wilder in the final seconds of the third quarter to put a 31-14 stranglehold on the Terps. Overall, Hamilton was 11-26 and passed for 118 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He led the team to 312 yards of total offense.
Tech extended its lead on Chambers's 38-yard field goal with 6:15 left in the third quarter. Tech got the ball in great field position after Stimson hit sophomore wide receiver Jason Hatala hard, resulting in another fumble deep in Maryland territory. Yet a field goal was the best that Tech could do on that possession.
Chambers did not have a good day kicking the ball; he was unsuccessful in four out of five field goal attempts. Had Chambers made each of the field goals, Tech would have scored over 40 points for the sixth time this season; however, the missed opportunities cannot be blamed solely on Chambers.
The Tech offense blew many chances to score and could not pick up necessary first downs for most of the game, which can be attributed to a number of instances of poor blocking, dropped passes, and fumbled snaps.
Maryland's 252 yards of total offense were almost entirely on the ground. The Terps' nonexistent passing game produced only 27 yards on 4 completions (15 attempts).
For the most part, the Jackets kept Maryland's running attack under control. Jordan led the Terrapins with 99 yards rushing, but he did not score a touchdown. Jordan did break into the secondary on many occasions, but Tech's defensive backs stayed on their toes.
The first place Jackets have a bye this week and will finally be able to recuperate from the tough midseason stretch. By next week's game, the Jackets should be back to full strength. Tech's biggest concerns, Hamilton's hip and Rogers's shoulder, will most likely be in good shape, meaning that the Jackets will have all the confidence in the world when they play Clemson next Thursday night on ESPN.
Now that the Jackets have come this far, let's see how far they can go.
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Copyright © 1998 by Gregory S. Scherrer, Editor and by the Student Publications Board
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