From OnlineAthens.com
November 23rd, 2015 07:55 AM
A year after they squared off in a top 20 matchup, Georgia and Georgia Tech collide Saturday in Atlanta in a game pairing unranked teams.
It will be the 8-3 Bulldogs against the 3-8 Yellow Jackets at noon in a game that will be aired on ESPN2.
Georgia Tech stumbles into the in-state rivalry with a sub-.500 record for the first time since 1994 when interim coach George O’Leary brought his 1-9 Yellow Jackets to Athens and lost 48-10. O’Leary had replaced Bill Lewis with three games left in the regular season.
“I know with these rivalry games you can throw out records, you can throw out all of it,” Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert said. “It’s going to be a bloodbath. It’s going to be a war.”
Georgia is coming off a 23-17 overtime win against Georgia Southern.
Coach Mark Richt felt the same way Sunday about getting pushed past regulation by the Sun Belt Conference team that he did late Saturday night.
“It doesn’t matter whether you win by 30 or win by five or overtime or not,” Richt said. “The bottom line was we found a way to win the ballgame and that’s just the most important thing. That’s what we were striving for. We knew they were going to challenge us and they did and we met the challenge and won the game.”
Georgia Tech dropped its eighth in the last nine games Saturday at Miami, 38-21. The lone win in that stretch came in the 22-16 “Miracle on Techwood” blocked field goal against Florida State.
It’s a long way from being Orange Bowl champions and finishing 11-3 a year ago.
Georgia, despite losing three of four games in October, still can match last season’s 10-3 record by beating Georgia Tech and winning a bowl game.
Georgia opened Sunday as a 4 ½ point favorite, according to VegasInsiders.com
The status of Georgia Tech starting quarterback Justin Thomas for Saturday is up in the air after he left the Miami loss midway through the first quarter.
Coach Paul Johnson said after the game he thought Thomas “hit his head on the ground.” He said he did not have a concussion.
Redshirt freshman Matthew Jordan replaced Thomas in Georgia’s Tech’s triple option and fumbled six times, losing one at the Miami 3-yard line.
“We don’t know for sure who’s going to play so it’ll be hard to say for sure,” Richt said. “I don’t think they’re going to reinvent what they do.”
The Yellow Jackets had nine fumbles, losing two.
“We can’t seem to get out of our own way,” Johnson said Saturday. “We’ve got one left. Try to go back and correct the mistakes. It’s like a broken record, same old-same old.”
A No. 16 Yellow Jackets team upset No. 8 Georgia 30-24 in overtime last year.
“That one lingers for the rest of my life,” senior offensive lineman Kolton Houston said. “I’m not going to shy away from that. I don’t like Tech and I’m ready to come after them again. … We’re going to come back. We’re going to get that trophy back in our place.”
Georgia won 12 of 13 against Georgia Tech under Richt before last year. The other loss was in 2008.
“Something about losing the last game of the year is just tough,” Richt said. “Then you’ve got to go recruit for a month before playing a bowl game.”
Notes: Richt was asked about the performance of the offense and specifically first-year offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer: “I think that we certainly have had our struggles, but as of late we’ve scored enough points to win the last few games, which is the most important thing. That’s how I feel about it. It’s a team sport. That’s how we play it. That’s how we coach it.” Georgia is 76th in the nation and ninth in the SEC in scoring offense at 27.7 points per game. … Freshman defensive tackle Trenton Thompson didn’t play Saturday because both of his ankles “were bothering him,” Richt said. “It’s been that way for a little while now and he’s been trying to fight through it, but we just feel like he wasn’t as ready as we’d like him to be as far as being full speed. We want to get him to that point.” His status for Georgia Tech is uncertain. … Richt visited McEachern defensive lineman Julian Rochester on Sunday, his third visit with a UGA commitment who has signed financial aid papers after Washington state quarterback Jacob Eason and Stephens County offensive lineman Ben Cleveland.
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November 23rd, 2015 07:55 AM
A year after they squared off in a top 20 matchup, Georgia and Georgia Tech collide Saturday in Atlanta in a game pairing unranked teams.
It will be the 8-3 Bulldogs against the 3-8 Yellow Jackets at noon in a game that will be aired on ESPN2.
Georgia Tech stumbles into the in-state rivalry with a sub-.500 record for the first time since 1994 when interim coach George O’Leary brought his 1-9 Yellow Jackets to Athens and lost 48-10. O’Leary had replaced Bill Lewis with three games left in the regular season.
“I know with these rivalry games you can throw out records, you can throw out all of it,” Georgia quarterback Greyson Lambert said. “It’s going to be a bloodbath. It’s going to be a war.”
Georgia is coming off a 23-17 overtime win against Georgia Southern.
Coach Mark Richt felt the same way Sunday about getting pushed past regulation by the Sun Belt Conference team that he did late Saturday night.
“It doesn’t matter whether you win by 30 or win by five or overtime or not,” Richt said. “The bottom line was we found a way to win the ballgame and that’s just the most important thing. That’s what we were striving for. We knew they were going to challenge us and they did and we met the challenge and won the game.”
Georgia Tech dropped its eighth in the last nine games Saturday at Miami, 38-21. The lone win in that stretch came in the 22-16 “Miracle on Techwood” blocked field goal against Florida State.
It’s a long way from being Orange Bowl champions and finishing 11-3 a year ago.
Georgia, despite losing three of four games in October, still can match last season’s 10-3 record by beating Georgia Tech and winning a bowl game.
Georgia opened Sunday as a 4 ½ point favorite, according to VegasInsiders.com
The status of Georgia Tech starting quarterback Justin Thomas for Saturday is up in the air after he left the Miami loss midway through the first quarter.
Coach Paul Johnson said after the game he thought Thomas “hit his head on the ground.” He said he did not have a concussion.
Redshirt freshman Matthew Jordan replaced Thomas in Georgia’s Tech’s triple option and fumbled six times, losing one at the Miami 3-yard line.
“We don’t know for sure who’s going to play so it’ll be hard to say for sure,” Richt said. “I don’t think they’re going to reinvent what they do.”
The Yellow Jackets had nine fumbles, losing two.
“We can’t seem to get out of our own way,” Johnson said Saturday. “We’ve got one left. Try to go back and correct the mistakes. It’s like a broken record, same old-same old.”
A No. 16 Yellow Jackets team upset No. 8 Georgia 30-24 in overtime last year.
“That one lingers for the rest of my life,” senior offensive lineman Kolton Houston said. “I’m not going to shy away from that. I don’t like Tech and I’m ready to come after them again. … We’re going to come back. We’re going to get that trophy back in our place.”
Georgia won 12 of 13 against Georgia Tech under Richt before last year. The other loss was in 2008.
“Something about losing the last game of the year is just tough,” Richt said. “Then you’ve got to go recruit for a month before playing a bowl game.”
Notes: Richt was asked about the performance of the offense and specifically first-year offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer: “I think that we certainly have had our struggles, but as of late we’ve scored enough points to win the last few games, which is the most important thing. That’s how I feel about it. It’s a team sport. That’s how we play it. That’s how we coach it.” Georgia is 76th in the nation and ninth in the SEC in scoring offense at 27.7 points per game. … Freshman defensive tackle Trenton Thompson didn’t play Saturday because both of his ankles “were bothering him,” Richt said. “It’s been that way for a little while now and he’s been trying to fight through it, but we just feel like he wasn’t as ready as we’d like him to be as far as being full speed. We want to get him to that point.” His status for Georgia Tech is uncertain. … Richt visited McEachern defensive lineman Julian Rochester on Sunday, his third visit with a UGA commitment who has signed financial aid papers after Washington state quarterback Jacob Eason and Stephens County offensive lineman Ben Cleveland.
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