Georgia Tech Defeats No. 10 Florida State On Last-Second Field Goal

Georgia Tech's Aidan Birr kicked a 44-yard field goal with no time left to give the Yellow Jackets a 24-21 win over No. 10 Florida State in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland.

Florida State tied the game 21-21 with 6:33 remaining in the fourth quarter forcing the Yellow Jackets to begin what would prove to be the last drive of the game at their own 25. Tech drove 49 yards on 12 plays and milked every second off the clock to set up the game-winning field goal.

FSU quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei completed 19-of-27 passes for 193 yards in his first game at FSU. Roydell Williams and Lawrance Toafili accounted for Florida State's two touchdowns, both on the ground, and Toafili added 25 yards on three receptions.

Eight different receivers caught a pass for Florida State led by Ja'Khi Douglas with four catches for 55 yards. Malik Benson had four receptions for 39 yards, including a 19-yard catch on 4th-and-7 in the 4th quarter that set up Williams' one-yard touchdown that tied the game at 21-21 the next play.

Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King was 11-of-16 through the air for 146 yards, but it was Tech's running game that allowed them to keep the ball away from FSU's offense.

The Yellow Jackets averaged 5.3 yards per carry on their 36 rushes and totaled 190 yards on the ground. Jamal Haynes was Tech's top rusher with 11 carries for 75 yards. King had 54 yards on 15 carries, while Chad Alexander had 41 yards on seven carries.

FSU could not have asked for a better start to the game taking the opening kickoff 75 yards in just seven plays taking the lead 6-0 on Toafili's 28-yard touchdown run with 10:58 to go in the first quarter.

The Seminoles remained aggressive after the touchdown, as Brian Courtney pushed into the end zone for a 2-point conversion and 8-0 lead. The two-point conversion was FSU's first since Courtney converted a two-point play in the 2023 win vs. Virginia Tech.

Georgia Tech also had success on its first possession driving 79 yards on six plays with backup quarterback Zack Pyron running up the middle for a 1-yard touchdown to make it 8-7.

The Seminoles extended their lead to 11-7 on senior Ryan Fitzgerald's 52-yard field goal at the 11:06 mark of the second quarter.

The Yellow Jackets took a 14-11 lead with 3:13 left in the half on a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Haynes that capped a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ate 7:53 off the clock.

Georgia Tech's slim lead looked like it might hold through halftime, but Fitzgerald lined up from 59 yards out on the final play of the first half and reset his career-long field goal to knot the score at 14 at the half. Fitzgerald's make was the longest in a conference game in ACC history and third-longest overall. He also became only the third kicker in program history to make two 50-yard field goals in the same game.

After trading punts throughout the third quarter, King took a quarterback keeper 21 yards to the FSU 2-yard-line on the last play of the third quarter. Haynes scored behind the left side of the Tech line to give the Yellow Jackets a 21-14 lead on the next play.

Trailing early in the fourth quarter, Florida State mounted a 15-play drive that took over 8:00 minutes. Uiagalelei converted a pair of pressure-packed fourth-down passes, including a 19-yarder to Malik Benson to the Tech 1, on the drive and Roydell Williams powered through the middle of the line for the score to tie it at 21-21 with 6:33 remaining in the game.

Georgia Tech Defeats No. 10 Florida State On Last-Second Field Goal

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Team Stats

DJ Uiagalelei

Players Mentioned

Malik Benson

Brian Courtney

Ja’Khi Douglas

Ryan Fitzgerald

Lawrance Toafili

Roydell Williams

Florida State University Athletics