DALLAS (FWAA) – Quarterback Haynes King engineered a final-minute scoring drive Saturday capped by a walk-off 55-yard field goal from Aidan Birr as Georgia Tech toppled No. 12 Clemson 24-21. For snapping its nine-game losing streak in the series and winning its ACC opener, the Yellow Jackets (3-0) are the Pop-Tarts Crazy Good Team of the Week for games the weekend of Sept. 13, as selected by the All-America Committee of the Football Writers Association of America.
This is the fifth time for Georgia Tech has been honored by the FWAA and marks a second consecutive season to earn the award. The Yellow Jackets most recently earned the honor the weekend of Nov. 9, 2024, after beating then-No. 4 Miami, 28-23.
King was the catalyst on the game-winning drive, responding to Clemson’s tying touchdown (21-21) with 3:26 left, rushing for 18 yards and passing for another 18 to position the team for the game-winner with 20 seconds left. With no timeouts and the clock running, the special teams unit got set and Birr nailed the 55-yarder for the win, tying the school record for the longest field goal in school history and its longest since 1986.
Birr’s two field goals helped give the Yellow Jackets an early 13-0 lead, and his winning kick grabbed the headlines. But it was a feature day for King as well after he missed last week’s win over Gardner-Webb due to injury. He passed for 211 yards with an efficient 20-of-28 effort and ran for 103 yards on a career-high 25 carries. King topped 300 yards of total offense (314) for the ninth time in 26 games as a Yellow Jacket.
The win was Georgia Tech’s first over Clemson since 2014, snapping a nine-game losing streak in the series. The Yellow Jackets have now won seven straight home games, its longest home win streak since it won eight in a row from 2016-17.
Georgia Tech, 3-0 for the first time since 2016, is now 7-1 against nationally ranked ACC opponents in Brent Key’s 37 games as head coach. It returns to non-conference play Saturday hosting Temple at 3:30 p.m. ET in a game that will be broadcast on The CW Network.
Since 2002, the FWAA has named a National Team of the Week. Coming into the 2025 season, 284 teams have been honored, including 101 different Division I programs. Each honored team will receive a custom Pop-Tarts "care package" along with a hand-crafted game ball made in America by Dallas-based Big Game USA, the nation's leading manufacturer of custom footballs.
The other National Team of the Week nominees for the weekend of Sept. 13 were:
- Georgia (3-0): The No. 6 Bulldogs won a back-and-forth contest, rallying from what was a 21-7 deficit in the first quarter to take a 44-41 win in overtime at No. 15 Tennessee. Josh McCray scored on a one-yard dash on the first overtime possession to win it for Georgia after Tennessee had kicked a field goal on its possession. The teams combined for almost 1,000 yards of total offense (UGA 502, UT 496) in front of 101,915 fans, with Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton throwing for 304 yards and two touchdowns. It was Georgia’s ninth straight win over Tennessee.
- Texas A&M (3-0): The No. 16 Aggies toppled No. 8 Notre Dame, 41-40, in South Bend on Saturday when quarterback Marcel Reed connected with tight end Nate Boerkircher in the end zone with 13 seconds remaining coupled with kicker Randy Bond’s PAT conversion. The win was Texas A&M’s first win against an Associated Press top-25 team on the road since 2014 and its first win over a ranked non-conference opponent in a true road game since 1979. The Aggies had 488 yards of total offense and averaged 7.1 yards per play.
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Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,100 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.