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ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Hold those Heisman ballots. Joe Hamilton re-entered the race for college football's most prestigous trophy, throwing for a career-high five touchdowns and 322 yards in 14th-ranked Georgia Tech's wild 45-42 victory over Atlantic Coast Conference rival Clemson. Hamilton completed 22-of-30 passes while also carrying 19 times for 88 yards. His five TD passes tied the school record, set by Eddie McAshan against Rice in 1972. "For the most part, I think I played pretty well," said Hamilton. "I threw two interceptions that were very key and changed the momentum around a little bit. For the most part, though, we were able to take advantage of what they were giving me." "I think Joe Hamilton had a very good game today," said Georgia Tech wide receiver Kelly Campbell. "Once again, we were in a dogfight, and being the leader that he is, Joe got the team up and brought us through with another victory." Despite Hamilton's heroics, the Yellow Jackets (7-2, 5-2 ACC) were forced to hang on after building leads of 21-0, 28-7 and 45-28. Luke Manget's 36-yard field goal with 9:25 to play in the third quarter put Georgia Tech on top for good. "It was a shootout. A shootout," said Hamilton. "It was a war. We were playing for second place in the conference, and it was a war out there. We made the plays when we had to at the end." "Obviously a great college game for the fans in terms of points scored and the tremendous individual athletes out there," said Georgia Tech coach George O'Leary. "I was happy we got the opportunity to stop someone in the fourth quarter, then we were able to run the ball to preserve the win." Quarterback Woodrow Dantzler accounted for three touchdowns and Travis Zachery ran for three one-yard scores for Clemson (5-5, 5-3), which will need to win at South Carolina next weekend to become bowl eligible. "I thought it came down to two bad quarters," said Clemson coach Tommy Bowden. "The offense had a bad first quarter and the defense had a bad third quarter and that's pretty much what the game came down to." Manget's field goal capped a 10-play, 43-yard drive. The Yellow Jackets quickly got the ball back and marched 73 yards in 12 plays to take a 38-28 lead on Hamilton's nine-yard scoring strike to Kerry Watkins. Hamilton's nine-yard TD pass to fullback Ed Wilder just 36 seconds into the final quarter made it a 17-point contest. Clemson fought back, however, as Dantzler hit Mal Lawyer for a 19-yard score and almost five minutes later Zachery plowed into the end zone. The Tigers drove to the Georgia Tech 43-yard line with a little over three minutes left but could get no further and the possession ended on downs. The Yellow Jackets were then able to run out the clock. "I thought it was a hard-fought football game between two teams that made a lot of plays on both sides of the ball," said O'Leary. "It was a good win for us, especially coming off the game last week (a loss to Virginia)." Georgia Tech dominated the opening quarter, taking a 21-0 lead on Sean Gregory's three-yard TD run and touchdown passes of 28 and 42 yards by Hamilton to Campbell, who caught eight passes for 135 yards. "I thought after the touchdown that made it 21-0, we were going to put them away," said Campbell. "They fought back and kept playing hard against us. We made some mistakes, but we fought through it and came out on top." Gregory caught two passes for 72 yards for the Yellow Jackets, who racked up 537 yards of total offense. Dantzler's 17-yard TD pass to tight end Pat Cyrgalis 24 seconds into the second quarter got Clemson on the scoreboard, but Georgia Tech regained its 21-point advantage 1:16 later on Hamilton's 12-yard scoring toss to Conrad Andrzejewski. But the Tigers came alive and scored three touchdowns in a 7 1/2-minute span. Dantzler ran for a 22-yard score followed by two one-yard touchdowns from Zachery, who finished with 86 yards on 18 carries. Dantzler completed 13-of-24 passes for 185 yards and carried 26 times for a team-high 120 yards. "When you score 42 points and don't make any turnovers, you would expect to win," said Clemson. "The better team won today. I thought we showed a lot of character." Cyrgalis caught four passes for 58 yards and Lawyer and Rod Gardner combined to catch six passes for 89 yards for the Tigers, who totaled 428 yards on offense. "Cyrgalis came in and did some good things," said Bowden. "There are some things we can do with a tight end if the defenses give it to you."
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