1st Touch Down. Georgia Tech vs Florida State

For a school that churns out astronauts and engineers with numbing efficiency, spontaneous moments of joy are easily traced to meticulous preparation.

And that's why the bruising hugs, violent fist pumps and relentless excitement that Georgia Tech unleashed on Aviva Stadium after upsetting No. 10 Florida State 24-21 on Saturday night in Ireland represented both a celebration and a culmination.

In beating a Top 10 team for the first time since 2015, Georgia Tech rang in the 2024 season with a rollicking upset -- capped by a 44-yard walk-off field goal from Aidan Birr. It also provided the empirical tipping point of Tech's burgeoning ambitions.

For Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key, a proud alum and defiant believer in Tech's bruising identity, all those giddy moments of spontaneity were byproducts of an exacting plan, for both a game and a program, concisely executed.

"More than anything, to see or to know that so many people now see Georgia Tech and the brand of football that we play, and it's not a gimmicky brand of football," Key told ESPN in a quiet moment after the game. "It's real. It's hard-nosed. We're going to build at the line of scrimmage. That's where games are won."
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