ATLANTA — (AP) — Haynes King threw two touchdown passes to Josh Beetham in the second quarter and accounted for five on the day, and No. 7 Georgia Tech cruised to a 41-16 victory over Syracuse on Saturday in its first home game as a top-10 team since 2009.
The Yellow Jackets (8-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) briefly fell behind 3-0 early, but even Syracuse's lone points of the first half felt like a missed opportunity. The Orange (3-5, 1-4) had
the ball first-and-goal at the 1, but two pre-snap penalties and a sack killed the momentum and forced a field goal attempt.
Georgia Tech scored the next 20 points, with the two King-to-Beetham touchdowns sandwiched between field goals, and ended up allowing its lowest point total of the season in conference play.
King tacked on another touchdown pass to Dean Patterson, and reached the end zone twice with his legs later on to make it five total touchdowns.
The Yellow Jackets are 8-0 for just the sixth time in school history, and first time since 1966.
Syracuse: Outside of a quick touchdown drive to open the second half, it was another dismal day for the struggling Syracuse offense. The Orange are 0-4 since quarterback Steve Angeli's injury, and are averaging just 12.5 points during the streak.
Georgia Tech: King continued his outstanding season, accounting for 395 total yards. He completed 25-of-31 passes for 304 yards along with 91 rushing yards. His second-half scores brought his rushing touchdown tally to 12, the most by any FBS quarterback.
Syracuse will turn around and prepare for a short week with a home game against North Carolina on Friday night.
Georgia Tech will travel to Raleigh to take on NC State for its last game before its second bye week.
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