LOUISVILLE, Ky. _ Sizzling on offense, Georgia Tech secured a much-needed win, beating Louisville, 66-31, on Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.
Running on 65 of 67 plays, the Yellow Jackets punished the Cardinals with their option game, piling up 542 rushing yards.
Tech's 66 points tied for the second most that the Jackets have scored against an FBS opponent under coach Paul Johnson and the 35-point differential was the sixth widest against an FBS team. It was among the most decisive wins that Johnson has recorded in his 11-season tenure at Tech against FBS competition.
Quarterback TaQuon Marshall was effective on his option reads, taking care of the ball and cutting upfield for gains. Marshall ran for 175 yards on 23 carries, scored twice and did not fumble the ball.
Marshall suffered a lower-body injury in the third quarter near the end of Tech's second possession of the second half and left the game. He was cleared to return, but gave way to backup Tobias Oliver to carry out the remainder of the rout.
Tech scored on its first nine offensive possessions, eight of them touchdowns, before kneeling down at game's end.
The Jackets did not fumble once in 67 snaps and were penalized only four times. For the second game in a row, Tech did not turn the ball over, just the third occurrence in Johnson's tenure that Tech has gone turnover-free in consecutive games.
With the win, Tech (3-3, 1-2 ACC) returned to .500 heading into the second half of the season, which will begin with a home game Oct. 13 against Duke. It also broke a six-game road losing streak and ended a three-game losing streak in ACC games. Tech also improved to 15-1 in its rotational crossover games against the Atlantic Division.
Tech had also come into the game with five losses in which it gave away double-digit leads. There was no such chance Friday night.
Tech players and coaches had recognized the importance of the game for the sake of momentum and getting the record back to even. With a tough schedule over the remaining six games _ three against teams in the AP top 25 _ it was a big win for the Jackets to gain bowl eligibility.
Louisville (2-4, 0-3) was virtually powerless to stop Tech's run game. It was undoubtedly a sweet outcome for coach Paul Johnson against Louisville defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, who allegedly disparaged Johnson's option offense when he became Georgia Southern's coach before the 2006 season and bested the Jackets in 2015 as defensive coordinator at Notre Dame.
The Cardinals were successful moving the ball in the first half after falling behind 21-0, closing the lead to 31-17 at halftime. Louisville gained 251 yards on only 34 plays through the first two quarters.
However, defensive coordinator Nate Woody's unit did contribute more turnovers, adding three more for a season total of 13, three more than the Jackets created all of last season.
Defensive end Anree Saint-Amour continued his productive season with two forced fumbles _ both recovered by Jack linebacker Charlie Thomas, who was making his first career start _ to twice give the offense the ball in Louisville territory, once in the first quarter and once in the third. Both turnovers led to touchdowns.
Safety Juanyeh Thomas finished off Louisville with a 95-yard interception return for a touchdown, tied for the fourth longest interception return in school history.
