Georgia Tech’s Tobias Oliver, center, runs the ball during Saturday’s win at North Carolina.CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Tobias Oliver got his chance and ran with it.
Georgia Tech’s backup quarterback rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns and passed for a score to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 38-28 win at North Carolina on Saturday.
The redshirt freshman’s 1-yard run with three minutes remaining broke a 28-28 tie, and the Jackets went on to win for the fourth time in five games, improving to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
North Carolina (1-7, 1-5) had a chance to answer, but Anree Saint-Amour intercepted Nathan Elliott’s pass with 2:44 left to set up Wesley Wells’ 22-yard field goal that put the game away for Tech.
“We did what we had to do to get out of here winning a game,” Jackets coach Paul Johnson said.
Tech, which entered the game averaging a nation-leading 366.5 rushing yards per game, ran for 461 yards against a North Carolina defensive line depleted by injuries and suspensions. It was the Jackets’ fifth 400-yard rushing performance of the season, a school record.
Oliver replaced TaQuon Marshall on Tech’s fourth offensive series and played the rest of the game. He threw an 86-yard touchdown pass to Qua Searcy, the team’s longest since 2009.
The performance came nine days after Oliver rushed for 215 yards and three touchdowns in the Jackets’ 49-28 win at Virginia Tech. Marshall, a senior, did not play in that game due to injury.
“I feel like it’s pretty evident that I can get in and play,” Oliver said. “But at the same time, we’re at the point in the season where I don’t want to get too much that I should be the starter. As of right now, I just want to win.”
Johnson stuck to his promise to play both of his quarterbacks. Marshall rushed for 61 yards on eight carries, including a 44-yard scamper, before departing. Johnson said he stuck with Oliver because he thought the freshman gave the team the best chance to win, based on how the game was unfolding.
“It was a gut thing, a feel thing,” Johnson said. “Probably the rest of the way, that’s kind of what it will be.”
After trailing 28-10 in the third quarter, North Carolina scored on three consecutive possessions, tying on a 1-yard touchdown run by Antonio Williams and a 2-point conversion.