Associated Press
ATLANTA ó Virginia Tech might have lost its shot at a national championship on another doomed trip to Atlanta.
Josh Nesbitt rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns ó the last of them a 39-yarder tiptoeing down the sideline with 3 minutes left ó as No. 19 Georgia Tech ran to a 28-23 win over the fourth-ranked Hokies on Saturday night, throwing the Atlantic Coast Conference race up for grabs while perhaps finishing off the league’s top contender in the national race.
Georgia Tech (6-1, 4-1 ACC) completed just one pass but ran for 309 yards out of its spread option offense ó all but 37 of those yards coming in the second half.
Excuse Virginia Tech (5-2, 3-1) if it passes on any more trips to Atlanta for a while. The Hokies opened the season with a 34-24 loss to Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game, about a mile away at the Georgia Dome.
Five straight wins pushed Virginia Tech right back into the thick of the national championship race, hot on the heels of Florida, Alabama and Texas. Then, another huge defeat on the return trip south.
Nesbitt made up for a fumble that gave Virginia Tech life by finishing off the clinching drive with his best run of the night.
On third-and-7 from the Hokies 39, the quarterback ran to his left, saw two defenders peel away to shadow potential pitch targets, turned up through a huge hole and managed to stay in bounds along the sideline, even when Dorian Porch gave him one last shove around the 5.
Nesbitt has run for six touchdowns over the last two weeks, also scoring three times in a 49-44 victory over Florida State. It was the fifth time this season the quarterback was rushed for more than 90 yards, and Georgia Tech has certainly proven in Paul Johnson’s two seasons as coach that its run-oriented offense ó incorporating elements of old formations such as the wishbone and veer ó can win at the major-college level.