PITTSBURGH — Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson challenged his defense to get more aggressive after the Yellow Jackets gave up 579 yards in a loss to North Carolina a week ago.

Get after the ball, Johnson said. Attack instead of react.

Done and done. Over and over and over.

Georgia Tech overwhelmed mistake-prone Pittsburgh 56-28 on Saturday, recovering five fumbles in the first quarter alone and turning four of them into touchdowns to snap a two-game losing streak to get back in the race in the preposterously wide-open ACC Coastal Division, where six of the seven teams have at least two losses.

“We had lost two very tough games that we should’ve won, so we wanted to come up here and establish a tone,” linebacker Quayshawn Nealy said. “And I think we did that with all the turnovers. Coach talked about finishing, and we were able to do that with the victory.”

The Yellow Jackets (6-2, 3-2 ACC) recovered six fumbles in all, or five more than they recovered all season coming in. Pitt gave it away five times in its first 13 snaps.

“I was just thinking in my head, `Wow, did this just happen again?”’ Nealy said. “But, at the same time, I wanted to keep doing it over and over again to get our offense back out on the field.”

Georgia Tech’s triple-option did the rest. The Yellow Jackets rolled up 615 total yards on the nation’s fourth-ranked defense. Their 56 points were the most ever by an opponent at Heinz Field.

Junior reserve running back Broderick Snoddy ran for 82 yards and three touchdowns.