ATLANTA (AP) — Justin Thomas passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as No. 15 Georgia Tech romped to another dominating win, beating lowly Tulane 65-10 on Saturday.
Thomas got a chance to shine after playing only the first quarter in a 69-6 win over Alcorn State to open the season. He threw a 17-yard scoring pass to Qua Searcy late in the first half, and then hooked up with Micheal Summers on a 30-yarder midway through the third quarter. The junior quarterback also scored on a 4-yard run.
Thomas went to the bench late in the third quarter with the Yellow Jackets (2-0) leading 44-7.
Georgia Tech put up the most points in two consecutive games since 1918, when the John Heisman-coached Yellow Jackets scored more than 100 points three times. The real season begins next weekend when they travel to South Bench to face No. 9 Notre Dame, the first of four games this season against teams currently ranked in the Top 25.
Georgia Tech certainly wasn’t challenged by Tulane (0-2), which got blown out at home in its opening game by another Atlantic Coast Conference team, losing 37-7 to Duke.
The Green Wave have been outscored 102-17 this season. They were especially bad on special teams, getting a punt blocked to set up a short touchdown drive for Georgia Tech, and then snapping it over the punter’s head for a safety. For good measure, Tulane missed a 47-yard field goal and surrendered a 44-yard punt return.
The Yellow Jackets extended the nation’s longest streak of 250-yard rushing games to 15 in a row, finishing with 439 yards on the ground. Thomas had 10 carries for 71 yards. Patrick Skov chipped in with 50 yards on 11 carries, including a 6-yard touchdown.
Searcy scored twice, putting up Georgia Tech’s opening touchdown with a 13-yard run in which he bounced off a defender and leaped into the end zone. Clinton Lynch broke off a 45-yard touchdown run.
Matthew Jordan, Georgia Tech’s new backup quarterback, did a pretty good impression of Thomas in the fourth quarter. The redshirt freshman threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to TaQuon Marshall and got loose for a 65-yard touchdown run.
Jordan had been playing A-back, looking to get more playing time, until No. 2 quarterback Tim Byerly went down with a knee injury in practice during the week. Byerly watched from the sideline on crutches.
Tanner Lee’s 44-yard pass to Devon Breaux accounted for Tulane’s only touchdown. At least the Green Wave finally ran a play out the red zone for the first time this year, setting up a meaningless field goal in the fourth quarter.