Yellow Jackets pull off the upset!
Georgia Tech upsets No. 10 Florida State 24-21 on a last-second field goal to open the college football season.
GO FURTHERFlorida State upset by Georgia Tech on Aidan Birr’s walk-off field goal in Ireland
Santucci addition pays off for Tech defense
It was an impressive upset of a top-10 team for sure, but man how much better did that Georgia Tech run defense look today than it did all of last season? Give new defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci major props.
Florida State averaged 3.2 yards per carry and finished with only 98 yards rushing. A year ago, Georgia Tech allowed 221 yards per game (131st among FBS teams) and 5.4 yards per carry (130th). That's a major improvement.
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Florida State's CFP chances take a big hit
Florida State entered today's game with a 54 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff, according to our College Football Projection model. After the upset loss, the Seminoles’ odds dip to 25.5 percent. They're no longer the ACC favorites — Clemson takes the honors at 24.6 percent as the Seminoles' conference title odds fall to 16.6 percent.
Clemson is now the favorite for a first-round Playoff bye, while Florida State drops out of our projected bracket as the second team out. Despite the upset win, Georgia Tech makes the Playoff just 1.4 percent of the time in our model’s simulations.
Up next
Georgia Tech will look to move to 2-0 against Georgia State at home next Saturday at 8pm ET.
Florida State will aim to bounce back against Boston College at home next Monday Sept. 2 at 7:30pm ET.
Florida State players were the ones doing Irish jigs yesterday, but Georgia Tech's players are the ones dancing today.
Team stats
Florida State 21-24 Georgia Tech
- Total yards: 291 - 336
- Passing yards: 193 - 149
- Rushing yards: 98 - 190
- First downs: 20 - 18
- Third-down efficiency: 5/12 - 5/9
- Fourth-down efficiency: 2/3 - 0/0
- Penalties: 1 for 10 yards - 3 for 35 yards
- Turnovers: 0 - 0
- Possession: 30:39 - 29:21
Standout performers
Georgia Tech
- Haynes King: 11/16 passing, 146 yards, 9.1 yards per attempt
- Jamal Haynes: 11 carries, 75 yards, 2 touchdowns; 2 receptions, 16 yards
- Malik Rutherford: 4 receptions, 66 yards
Florida State
- DJ Uiagalelei: 19/27 passing, 193 yards, 7.1 yards per attempt
- Roydell Williams: 12 carries, 38 yards, 1 touchdown; 3 receptions, 31 yards
- Lawrance Toafili: 8 carries, 32 yards, 1 touchdown; 3 receptions, 25 yards
- Ja'Khi Douglas: 4 receptions, 55 yards
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Questions for Uiagalelei
With his first Florida State game ending in defeat, DJ Uiagalelei has received significant criticism on our discussion page.
Erik W.: Pretty obvious that the FSU coaches do not trust DJU, feels like my skepticism about the Noles was justified
Mark M.: What was Norvell thinking when he offered D.J. a position? He looks so tentative out there.
Lionel B.: DJ U is what he is--the kid does not have D1 arm talent.
Joy for college football's return
Other readers on our discussion page were simply rejoicing at the return of college football!
Erik W.: Damn it feels good to be watching college football again…..next weekend is going to be glorious
Catherine B., posted right before the game-winning field goal: College football is good, and I am glad it is back. My stomach is in absolute knots
Tyler H.: Don’t care who wins. Just happy college football is back!
'Now we see why FSU wants out of the ACC'
Plenty of schadenfreude on display on our discussion page following that upset!
Michael S.: All of the clowns on GameDay predicted a big FSU victory. Wrong again.
Jon K.: Nice. This should shut up the FSU fans for a couple weeks.
Kevin J.: Now we see why FSU wants out of the ACC... they can't handle the competition LOL.
Hassan K.: FSU eliminated:)!!!!! lol, lol, lol
Mannix B.: Sheamus is looking like a genius right now and talking crap after being the only person on the GameDay panel to pick Georgia Tech.
Instant reaction to a thrilling upset
The Athletic's Manny Navarro and Grace Raynor have unpacked the biggest talking points from Georgia Tech's upset of Florida State, looking at what worked for the Yellow Jackets, what didn't for the Seminoles, and how FSU's road to repeating as ACC champs will be tough.
Follow the link below to check out their breakdown!
Florida State had won 19 games in a row dating back to 2022 when it was controversially omitted from the CFP last season. The Seminoles have now lost two straight games since.
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Big things coming for Georgia Tech
I know it's Week 0 but this feels like a seminal moment (no pun intended) for Georgia Tech. There has been so much buzz around the program and what Brent Key is building, but not many people expected the Yellow Jackets to go into Dublin and upset No. 10 FSU.
This victory comes on the heels of Georgia Tech picking up its highest-rated commitment in 20 years, when four-star offensive tackle Josh Petty committed to the Yellow Jackets on Aug. 12. Key is building something. We might point to this offseason as the beginning.
Georgia Tech's run defense made the difference
That was an impressive upset of a top-10 team for sure, but man how much better did that Georgia Tech run defense look today than it did all of last season? Give new defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci major props.
Florida State averaged 3.2 yards per carry and finished with only 98 yards rushing. A year ago, Georgia Tech allowed 221 yards per game (131st among FBS teams) and 5.4 yards per carry (130th). That's a major improvement.
Video of Georgia Tech's winning field goal
History repeats itself as Georgia Tech upsets Florida State
This is Georgia Tech’s first win against an AP top-10 team at the time of the game since its walk-off blocked field goal return touchdown against the very same opponent Florida State in 2015. It had lost 15 in a row to top-10 opponents.
There were only five wins by unranked teams against AP top-10 opponents all last season, but it's taken us only one game to get the first of 2024!
WOW. That was an amazing game. Holy cow.
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Georgia Tech upsets Florida State!
Birr drills a 44-yard field goal as time expires and Georgia Tech beats No. 10 Florida State 24-21 in Dublin!
A huge play for Georgia Tech on third down as King finds Singleton Jr. for 12 yards! That moves them down to Florida State's 26, giving them a much more manageable field goal attempt.
Q4 0:55 Florida State 21-21 Georgia Tech
Singleton Jr. runs right in front of Haynes as the ball is snapped and the QB fumbles! He recovers it but it's a loss of 11 yards, moving Georgia Tech back to the Florida State 39 and giving them third-and-17.
Florida State uses its final timeout.
