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BOX SCORE
ATLANTA (AP) -- Joe Hamilton had the national stage to himself
Thursday night. All those Heisman Trophy voters had to be
impressed.
Working against a defense that had allowed only 10 points in the
three games, Hamilton threw for 387 yards and three touchdowns, ran
for a 41-yard score and guided Georgia Tech (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today. No. 9 AP) to a 49-31 victory over Maryland.
|  | | Georgia Tech's Sean Gregory outruns Maryland's Shawn Forte en route to the Yellow Jackets' first touchdown. |
Hamilton, the nation's top-rated passer, threw his first two
interceptions of the season but more than compensated with
touchdown passes of 80 and 29 yards to Dez White and a 30-yarder to
Kerry Watkins.
"We have a mentality that every time we touch the ball, we're
going to get it into the end zone," said Hamilton, who has
completed 71 percent of his passes for 1,074 yards and 10 TDs.
"Whatever approach I can take ... I'm going to do it."
Against Maryland, the senior quarterback completed 19 of 31 and
also rushed 13 times for 87 yards, finishing with 474 yards. That
shattered the school total offense mark of 412 yards set by Darrell
Gast in 1987.
His passing yardage matched his career high, established earlier
this season against top-ranked Florida State.
"He's a great player," Maryland coach Ron Vanderlinden said.
"I can't imagine a better college football player than Joe
Hamilton. I can't imagine a more complete player."
Georgia Tech (3-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) shredded the
nation's top-ranked scoring defense, scoring two touchdowns in the
first 6½ minutes. That was more points than Maryland (3-1, 0-1) had
surrendered in its first three games.
White, a junior, had the second 200-yard receiving game of his
career, finishing with five catches for 215 yards.
"I was really disappointed we gave up so many explosive
plays," Vanderlinden said. "They're awfully good. We're a little
stung right now, but we'll get it back."
Although unable to stop Tech's explosive offense, Maryland
matched the Yellow Jackets virtually score for score until Hamilton
broke loose on his long scoring run.
Carrying around right end, the diminutive quarterback got a good
block from receiver Kelly Campbell and sidestepped another defender
to reach the end zone with 5:37 remaining in the third quarter,
stretching Tech's lead to 35-24.
"It was sort of a track meet for a while," Tech coach George
O'Leary said, "but we made some big plays. Dez White and Joe
Hamilton made some nice combinations out there."
Phillip Rogers added a couple of 1-yard scoring runs to seal the
victory.
Lamont Jordan, who was questionable because of a sore knee,
carried a career-high 27 times for 79 yards, scoring twice, and
also threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Jermaine Arrington.
Maryland's Calvin McCall completed 15 of 28 passes for 221
yards.
Sean Gregory gave the Yellow Jackets a quick lead, breaking free
off left guard for a 48-yard touchdown just 4½ minutes into the
game. Maryland evened the score on Jordan's first TD, a 1-yard run
that was set up by Guilian Gary's 84-yard kickoff return.
On Tech's next play from scrimmage, White hauled in a pass over
the middle running toward the right sideline, spun completely
around to get away from cornerback Renard Cox and took off toward
the left corner of the end zone.
After Cox took a futile swipe at White's legs, the receiver put
on one more move to avoid Lewis Sanders, stopping short of the goal
line to allow Sanders to fly out of bounds.
"He's special," Hamilton said, referring to White. "He can
stretch the defense on any given play and is a threat to score any
time he touches the ball."
Maryland was resilient, taking advantage of three Tech turnovers
to lead 17-14 with less than two minutes remaining in the first
half. Unfortunately for the Terps, that was enough time for
Hamilton to throw two TD passes.
The first was the 29-yarder to White, who made a great
over-the-shoulder, fingertip catch in the right corner of the end
zone with 1:21 remaining.
After Maryland went three-and-out and Tech preserved the clock
by calling its last two timeouts, Shawn Starner shanked an 8-yard
punt to give the ball back to Hamilton at the Terps 30.
After one incompletion, Hamilton hooked up with Watkins on a
backbreaking TD with just 18 seconds remaining. Instead of leading,
the Terps went to the locker room down 28-17.
Georgia Tech finished with 587 yards against a defense that was
allowing only 241 per game.
"That's a lot of yards," Sanders said, "but we knew they were
a good football team."
Maryland piled up 399 yards against the leaky Yellow Jackets
defense, prompting O'Leary to visibly chastise his players on the
field during a timeout.
"We made some bad mistakes on defense on big plays that should
have been covered," the coach said. "It's a great win considering
some of the mistakes we made."
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Maryland Clubhouse
Georgia Tech Clubhouse
Top 25 overview
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Joe Hamilton connects with Dez White for an 80-yard touchdown.
avi: 792 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Lamont Jordan finds a hole and makes his way into the end zone.
avi: 586 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Sean Gregory busts up the middle and goes 48 yards for the TD.
avi: 795 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
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