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FSU fumbles in loss to Georgia Tech

ATLANTA - The last time Georgia Tech beat Florida State the country was facing an economic malaise caused by skyrocketing fuel prices and a Republican president named Gerald Ford was in office.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Florida State (6-2, 3-2) went to Atlanta Saturday in control of their own destiny in the hunt for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship. And a last minute fumble recovered by Georgia Tech (7-2, 4-2) handed the Seminoles their second loss in conference this season 31-28.

The Seminoles were down 24-20 at the break but appeared ready to come back once again.

"We've been behind at the half almost every game this year," FSU coach Bobby Bowden said. "We're used to this. You just have to take care of your responsibilities."

Tech appeared in control of the game going into the final stanza with a 31-20 lead. The Yellow Jackets opened the fourth quarter dropping a pooch punt pinning the Seminoles on their own one-yard-line.

Despite being forced to punt, FSU took the ball on their next drive and with 6:39 left on the clock decided to go facing fourth and three.

Sophomore quarterback Christian Ponder completed a slant pass to redshirt freshman Bert Reed to keep the drive going.

During the next play, backup sophomore quarterback D'Vontrey Richardson came in. Georgia Tech lined up to stop Richardson from running. Instead after faking the run up the middle he dropped back and completed 39-yard pass to junior wide receiver Preston Parker.

The Noles then completed the two-point conversion with a fade route to senior wide receiver Greg Carr.

Carr snagged the conversion pass despite a defensive pass interference call against the Yellow Jackets that FSU declined to bring the Seminoles within three points at 31-28.

Following the kickoff, junior corner back Patrick Robinson intercepted the Yellow Jacket pass putting the Seminoles in the driver's seat with momentum to take yet another come from behind victory.

But the Yellow Jacket defense refused to roll over sacking Ponder for the fifth time in the game on third down. Facing fourth and 11, with slightly more than three minutes in the game, FSU lined up to punt. But once again, the yellow flags of penalties reared their head. However, this time it was in the Seminoles' favor as Georgia Tech got called for defensive off sides.

Facing only fourth and six, Ponder came back in and completed the slant pass to Carr to keep the drive going and also putting the Noles into range for senior kicker Graham Gano which would tie the game.

But with the momentum on their side and seconds ticking away in the game, FSU appeared ready to score a touchdown and win the game.

With less than a minute to go and facing second and goal from the four-yard-line, Ponder handed off to junior full back Marcus Simms for a safe run up the middle.

Freshman tackle Cooper Taylor speared the ball with his helmet forcing Simms to fumble the ball and Georgia Tech recovered in the end zone sealing the win.

Ponder completed 16 of 27 passes for 149 yards with a touchdown and interception but was sacked four times.

With the win, Georgia Tech is now in the lead in the Coastal Division of the ACC while FSU is tied with Boston College and Wake Forest for second in the Atlantic Division. Maryland, which has only one loss in the conference leads the Atlantic division. Should FSU win the remainder of their conference games against Clemson, Boston College and Maryland they would finish the season with two losses in conference. However, if Wake Forest also wins out in conference, they too would have two losses and based on beating the Seminoles at home would win the division.