Head coach Brent Key said he suspected from the beginning that the game would come down to a field goal. Kicker Aidan Birr said he had no intention of missing two kicks in a row.

Both were right, which made many Tech fans very, very happy (to say the least) both at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin and at home in the USA.

After a clean snap and a clean hold – the latter by Irish native David Shanahan – Birr sank a 44-yard field goal as time expired, giving Tech a thrilling upset victory over #10 Florida State in the Aer Lingus Classic in Dublin, Ireland. The Week 0 game was the first FBS game of the 2024 season and marked Tech’s first season-opening victory since the 2020 season.

The win in Dublin was Tech’s first victory over a top-10 team since beating Florida State in 2015 (which was also a tiny bit memorable). It makes Tech 2-0 in games played outside the United States and the first team not named Notre Dame to win two games in Ireland, while FSU is now 0-1 in games played outside the United States. The 2020 season-opening win also happened to come against FSU in Tallahassee. And that win leaves GT alone in first place in the ACC, at least for a while, while FSU, the reigning ACC champion, is alone in 17th place in the standings.

This concludes today’s edition of FSU Fun Facts for now.

For a moment early on, it looked like it wasn’t going to be pretty. FSU moved the ball pretty much at will on their first drive, pounding a seemingly overwhelmed GT defense and scoring one score after another, and running back Lawrence Toafili’s 28-yard run capped a 7-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. To top it off, they lined up in a swinging gate formation for the conversion attempt and actually ran a play that tight end Brian Courtney punched in to give FSU an 8-0 lead.

But it turns out GT’s defense wasn’t the only one that had to refocus. When the Jackets got the ball, they returned the favor, starting with gains of 14 (Jamal Haynes’ run), 10 (Eric Singleton’s jet toss sweep – this is truly the new meta) and 42 (Malik Rutherford’s screen pass with a terrific run after the catch). Zach Pyron finally capped a six-play drive with a one-yard TD off a heavy package to make it 8-7.

And from then on… the defenses were awakened.

It looked like Tech was going to allow a second touchdown drive as FSU forced its way across the halfway line, but they quickly pulled themselves together, forcing an incomplete pass and holding off two runs to force fourth-and-4. FSU coach Mike Norvell risked a punt attempt, and Uiagalelei slammed a pass to Toafili, who had just one man to overcome — but that man was Tech cornerback Ahmari Harvey, who brought Toafili down with a perfect rugby tackle two yards from the line.

That stop set the tone for the GT defense’s extremely effective performance in Tyler Santucci’s debut as defensive coordinator. FSU gained 58 yards on their opening drive but didn’t even manage 100 in the game. Once they got into position, Tech was impressive in the run game all night, holding FSU to 40 yards on their 26 carries for the rest of the game. From an advanced stats perspective, FSU had -0.17 EPA/game on runs in the game. This forced FSU to rely more heavily on Uiagalelei, the former Clemson QB who spent last season at Oregon State.

Overall, Santucci’s unit was able to limit FSU to 291 yards – a remarkable feat for a GT defense that allowed an average of 437 yards per game last season and had major problems in its front seven lines.

“You only develop that kind of resilience when you start early … We got our confidence from the progress our defense made in the spring and summer, and our offense took a real beating in training camp,” Key said.

The strong play came from all three levels of defense. Tech had seven tackles for loss in the game, including a sack of Kevin Harris (a second sack by Romello Height was negated by a face mask penalty) and a 12% Havoc rate compared to FSU’s 8%. Kyle Efford swept the field and finished the game with 10 tackles, his team’s most. The secondary couldn’t force many incomplete passes, but their support was crucial against the run game and in shutting down plays before they could develop – as evidenced by plays like Harvey’s fourth-down stop and a later run against a Uiagalelei keeper.

Tech’s offense also ran into a defensive wall, going three-and-out on its second possession. But after FSU scored a field goal and took the usual football lead of 11-7, it followed perhaps its best drive of the day – which, aside from a Haynes King pass to Chase Lane, was all on the ground. Tech ran 75 yards in 14 plays for a touchdown, including 64 yards on the ground, to pull ahead 14-11. FSU had the final possession of the first half, and Ryan Fitzgerald’s 59-yard field goal tied the game 14-14 at halftime.

The third quarter was scoreless — that’s when the game really became a defensive battle — but Tech put together a long drive to end the quarter. King picked up a QB keeper for 21 yards and moved the ball to FSU’s 1-yard line on the final play of the third quarter. Jamal Haynes punched the ball in early in the fourth quarter, capping an 89-yard drive in 6:22 and setting the stage for a dramatic final quarter that saw GT lead 21-14.

FSU mounted a grueling attack that lasted more than half the quarter and included two fourth-down conversions, gaining 84 yards on 15 plays and taking 8:18 to tie the game at 21-21. At that point, it was crucial for Tech to run down the clock, get first downs and protect the ball.

They nearly nailed the first two attempts, as King relied on a run-heavy offense to push the team to the edge of field goal range. Disaster nearly struck on the third attempt, when a receiver movement error led to a botched snap that King recovered for a loss of 10 yards. But he got the yards back with a pass to Eric Singleton on the sideline that gained him 12 yards, setting up Birr’s winning kick.

Among the specialists, Birr missed a 51-yard pass in the third quarter, which he said strengthened his resolve to make the final kick. Shanahan, making his debut in his native Ireland, had two punts of 44 and 49 yards, the last one he managed to block just in time as FSU’s coverage team closed in on him. And the team nearly avoided disaster on a punt return when Rodney Shelley went down after failing to signal for a fair catch but was able to hold onto the ball.

King himself didn’t have any overwhelming statistics; he finished the game 11 of 16 passing for 146 yards and had 15 carries for 54 yards, a total that was marred by a few botched snaps. The most important thing was the balanced running game. Running back Jamal Haynes led the team with 75 yards and two TDs on 11 carries, and Chad Alexander proved to be an intriguing second back, showing speed and toughness (and impressive agility) as he managed 41 yards on seven carries. Malik Rutherford led the team with 66 receiving yards, 42 of which came on the screen pass on the opening drive.

And to top it all off, Paul Johnson returned from his Twitter hiatus to praise the team’s effective running game – something he may know a thing or two about from his time at the game.