How Georgia Tech QB James Graham kept ‘cool’ while leading team to victory over NC State
James Graham’s season has had more rises, falls and sharp turns than the Great American Scream Machine at Six Flags Over Georgia. After a severe dip last week in an embarrassing loss, the redshirt freshman found his fortunes headed up again on Thursday night in a maestro-like performance against North Carolina State.
The Fitzgerald native started hot and remained cool, even when the inevitable turmoil of the third and fourth quarter set in. And despite a pair of unfortunate fumbles, Graham was the happiest guy in the huddle after Georgia Tech’s 28-26 win over the Wolfpack.
“He’s a tremendous athlete and we had some things wired against what they were doing,” Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins said. “Whenever we got those looks, James took advantage of them. … He was really cool. Almost like a defensive back, he’s got a short memory of the bad things that happened to him. He’s really resilient.”
Graham had a lot of smile about after the victory, which ended Georgia Tech’s three-game losing streak and ensured the Yellow Jackets would not finish last in the ACC’s Coastal Division. He had a career-high with three touchdown passes and ran for another score, making him the first Georgia Tech player to account for four touchdowns since TaQuon Marshall did it against Virginia Tech in 2017.
Graham countered the worst game of his Georgia Tech career — 43 yards passing, two interceptions in a 45-0 loss to Virginia Tech — with his best game. Graham completed 7 of 15 passes for 129 yards and incorporated his best effort on the ground, rushing 14 times for 112 yards and a 26-yard touchdown.
“We don’t really like, as a team, like to point fingers,” Graham said. “It was a collective loss last week. Things happened on both sides of the ball, so we really just came out to practice to improve in every aspect of the game — passing, catching, tackling, you know, just everything. We came out and tried to clean all that up and obviously you saw the results.”
Perhaps as impressive as any of the touchdowns was the way he handled the final five minutes of the game. Graham worked the clock with great effectiveness, making sure there were only a few ticks left before the play had to start. He directed the Yellow Jackets to two first downs and nine plays to eat the final 5:17 and prevent NC State from getting a final opportunity to win the game.
Part of that was the decision to feed the ball to Jordan Mason on that final possession. The redshirt sophomore carried on seven of the final nine plays. The biggest moment came on third-and-1 at the 49 when he was hit at the line, but squirted out for a 5-yard gain that unofficially drove a stake into NC State’s fleeting chances.
“J.P. ran really, really hard,” Collins said. “We told the O-line, we got to get him three yards and he will do the rest. And he did it and even more so on that last drive the way he ran the ball.”
Mason finished with 141 yards, his third 100-yard effort of the season, and included a career-best 48-yard run in the first quarter. Mason has 862 yards this season, giving him an outside shot to reach 1,000 with a great effort in the final game against Georgia.
“When someone gives you the ball, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to be trusted,” Mason said. “I just give it all to the O-line, you know. They did their thing to get me to the second level and I did my thing.”
The Georgia Tech receivers were equally effective. Ahmarean Brown caught two touchdown passes, giving him seven, which matches the freshman record set by Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson in 2004. Warner Robins native Tobias Oliver, who started the season at quarterback and moved to receiver in the fourth week, caught his first career touchdown pass. Malachi Carter had two catches for 74 yards, including a 54-yard reception on the first play of the game.