 Today I attended the Georgia Tech vs. Clemson game at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field. This was the second football game of the 2009 season for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (they beat Jacksonville State 37-17 on Saturday, September 5th). Following last season's amazing response to the White-Out game (see what it looked like here), Georgia Tech decided to go with the same theme (which is surely going to become a tradition) for today's game. Most of the Georgia Tech fans came dressed in white shirts and/or dresses. The game was nationally televised on ESPN, and except for the upper level seats in the north end zone, the stadium was packed. The game itself was wild! Georgia Tech got off to an incredible start. For the first score, Anthony Allen rushed to the right for an 82 yard touchdown run. Then Jerrard Tarrant of the Yellow Jackets returned a punt for 85 yards. One of the most exciting plays of the game also occurred in the first quarter. It happened with 2:47 left to play with Georgia Tech on Clemson's 34 yard line and facing a fourth down and 13 yards to go. What appeared to be a field goal attempt by Scott Blair surprised the Clemson defense (not to mention many Georgia Tech fans) in a fake field goal attempt; Blair threw a wobbly pass to Demaryius Thomas, who caught the ball and rushed forward for the score. This is the image you see in today's entry: #8 Demaryius Thomas using the stiff arm to break away from his defender, just moments before he scored. And this is the shot I captured as Demaryius Thomas crossed the plane of the goal line for the touchdown (I was shooting from the fifth row of the south endzone bleachers using the Canon 5D and the Canon 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens). After another field goal, Georgia Tech led 24-0. And then Clemson started responding. And respond they did. Clemson scored 27 unanswered points to take the lead 27-24 in the fourth quarter. Truly, Georgia Tech played horrendously in the second and third quarters. However, the Yellow Jackets finally regrouped in the fourth quarter. The Jackets went on a 69-yard drive that set up Blair’s tying kick (34 yards) with 5:40 to go in the game. After a holding penalty on Clemson’s Thomas Austin wiped out Kyle Parker’s 38-yard completion to Jacoby Ford, Georgia Tech received an opportunity to win the game. The Yellow Jackets took advantage, and Josh Nesbitt connected with Demaryius Thomas for a 39-yard pass. This pass was enough for Scott Blair to play hero for the night, as he nailed a 36 yard field goal with 1:01 left to go in the game. Georgia Tech's defense held off Clemson's final four downs. Final score: Georgia Tech 30, Clemson 27. It was definitely a wild game, but I am glad the Yellow Jackets pulled off the victory. Did you go to this game? Did you catch it on ESPN? What are your thoughts on how the game played out? Update: I chose not to move around the stadium for this game. I figured that my wide-angle shot of Bobby Dodd Stadium from last year is hard to top. I also figured that because this game was sold out, that if I moved, I would have given up my seat for the rest of the game (and I sat next to two awesome fans, Lauren and Jacob). In the fourth quarter, when the intensity of the game picked up, I chose to pay attention to the game rather than walk about taking pictures. In fact, midway through the fourth quarter, I put away the camera and just cheered for the Jackets (I felt that I had completed my 'photographer duties' for the night). Had this game been a blowout, I probably would have migrated to the upper deck and captured some shots. I did take out my camera again at the end of the game to capture the coaches, Paul Johnson of the Yellow Jackets and Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers, exchange a few words at midfield (here is the image of the two coaches hugging). |
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