Primetime College Football: Bulldogs vs Jackets

TALENT

Georgia Tech can earn its first trip to a BCS bowl with a victory in the ACC championship game. Considering how it’s fared at home against Georgia recently, though, it has something else to prove first.

Paul Johnson Yellow Jackets won a thriller in Athens last season to snap a seven-game skid in the series, and they’ll look for their first home win over the Bulldogs in a decade as the area rivals meet Saturday.

Georgia Tech (10-1) clinched the Coastal Division with a 49-10 win at Duke on Nov. 14. That set up a rematch of its 30-27 victory over Clemson on Sept. 10 next Saturday in Tampa for the right to represent the conference in the BCS.

Before the Yellow Jackets renew that series, which dates to 1898 and has been played 74 times, they will face their oldest rival. Georgia’s Tech’s history with Georgia (6-5) extends through 103 games back to 1893 and has been given the nickname “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.”

The Bulldogs were ranked in seven of the last eight matchups and four times in the top 10. The Yellow Jackets were ranked four times, but never higher than 16th. This season, Georgia Tech is the ranked team with its eye on the BCS, while Georgia is not in the Top 25 entering the game for just the second time since the start of the 1996 season.

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt and tailbacks Jonathan Dwyer and Anthony Allen have run for 2,600 yards, more than 115 teams. Nesbitt had a season-low nine carries for 30 yards against the Blue Devils, but threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns. He completed one pass for 19 yards and was held to 40 on the ground in the victory over Georgia last season, but faced a Bulldogs defense that ranked 22nd in the nation at 312.0 yards allowed per game. The team possesses one of the ACC’s top wideouts in Demaryius Thomas, who leads the team in 950 receiving yards and 6 TD catches.

The key contributor to the Yellow Jacket pass rush is All-American candidate Derrick Morgan. The 6-4, 275-pound junior has been unstoppable, recording 17 tackles for loss and an impressive 12.5 sacks. Linebacker Brad Jefferson team-high 76 tackles, two forced fumbles.

Georgia has allowed an average of 354.6 yards against opponents this season and forced eight turnovers in 11 games fewest in the nation. Almost as bad is the Bulldogs’ tendency to give the ball away. They are tied for 11th in the country with 26 giveaways, leaving them 119th in turnover margin at minus-18. Georgia turned it over four times last Saturday against Kentucky in a 34-27 loss, its first to the Wildcats since 1977. Junior linebacker Rennie Curran has done everything he can this season, leading the team in tackles with 107 stops.

Mark Richt Bulldogs are also fourth in the nation with 94 penalties.

Senior quarterback Joe Cox has played to mixed reviews, completing 56.1 percent of his passes, for 2,350 yards, with 21 TDs and 14 INTs. Georgia leading receiver A.J. Green, second in the SEC at 83.4 yards per game, sat out last week with a sprained shoulder and is doubtful. He had four catches for 64 yards and a touchdown against Georgia Tech last season.

This is the 102nd meeting in this longstanding rivalry that dates back to 1893. Georgia has won seven of the eight games under Richt, to take a 59-37-5 series advantage.

The Yellow Jackets haven’t beaten Georgia in Atlanta since a 51-48 win in 1999.

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