Pittsburgh Beats Georgia Tech 34-11 as Ferguson Scores Twice

Pittsburgh beat Georgia Tech 34-11 on Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium, behind two rushing touchdowns from Damon Ferguson Jr. and a defense that held the Yellow Jackets to 238 yards of offense.

A one-sided first half

Pittsburgh scored first on a 45 yard field goal by Antonio Chadha in the first quarter. Ferguson opened the scoring in the second quarter at 14:45, ending a 15 play, 86 yard drive with a 3 yard touchdown run. LaVell Wright added a 1 yard touchdown on a direct snap with 3:11 left in the half to make it 17-0, and Aidan Birr kicked a 49 yard field goal for Georgia Tech just before halftime.

Ferguson had done much of his work by then. He ran for 112 yards on 17 carries in the first half alone. Quarterback Holden Geriner completed 9 of 20 passes for 118 yards in the first half, and Pittsburgh led 17-3 at the break despite a strong first half from Georgia Tech defensive back Jonas Duclona, who recorded six tackles, two passes defensed, a forced fumble and a tackle for loss.

Ferguson finishes it

Pittsburgh added a field goal in the third quarter for a 20-3 lead, then broke the game open early in the fourth. Catarus Hicks caught a 30 yard touchdown pass with 11:20 left to make it 27-3.

Georgia Tech answered with its only touchdown. Grady Adamson, who had entered after starter Alberto Mendoza struggled, scored his first career rushing touchdown on an 18 yard run with 6:36 left and added the two point conversion to cut the lead to 27-11. Ferguson closed the scoring with 3:28 left, finishing an eight play, 44 yard drive with his second rushing touchdown and the final 34-11 margin.

The yardage told the story of the night. Georgia Tech managed 77 yards in the first half and 95 rushing yards for the game, its worst rushing performance of the season, while Pittsburgh ran for 225 yards. Justice Haynes carried 10 times for 33 yards for the Yellow Jackets. Mendoza threw for 81 yards and fumbled three times, recovering all three, while Georgia Tech fumbled five times in all and lost two.

Georgia Tech fell to 2-6 with its sixth loss of the season, a result SI described as an all time low in the Brent Key era. Pittsburgh had come into the game at 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the ACC, favored by 9.5 points at home in a game shown on ESPN2, and it led from Chadha's opening field goal to Ferguson's late score.