Five things to know about Georgia-Georgia Tech in Saturday football rivalry game in Athens
Top-ranked Georgia football plays unranked Georgia Tech Saturday in Athens. Here are five things to know about the matchup:
Senior Day not so simple anymore
Georgia will bid farewell to its senior class before Saturday’s final home game of the season. Or maybe in some cases, let’s do this again next year?
A good chunk of players that took part in ceremonies last year are doing it again after opting to return for 2022. They include quarterback Stetson Bennett, outside linebacker Robert Beal, offensive guard Warren Ericson, kicker Jack Podlesny, wide receiver Kearis Jackson and safety Chris Smith.
“It's really not a class,” coach Kirby Smart said. “It's like a jigsaw puzzle. …You've got seven or eight guys — I think we got seven or eight that will be repeat walkers. Meaning, they walked last year and they're walking this year. And then we'll probably have the same because the timetable for decisions and things like that. It's off in college football. So, when you look at it, you got a kid that's going to out there and walk for his last home game, but he hasn't decided if that's his last home game. But that is what we deal with.”
More: On a day of close calls & a big upset, what a ‘ho-hum’ Georgia football win means moving forward
Georgia had some players that took part in Senior Day last year go in the transfer portal and play elsewhere: Latavious Brini, Owen Condon and Ameer Speed.
This year’s list also includes running back Kenny McIntosh, defensive lineman Tramel Walthour and outside linebacker Nolan Smith who is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle.
Smart said the number of players to be recognized Saturday could reach up to 25.
The senior class this year are 45-5 and will set a record for most wins with a victory Saturday.
“To look and see what they've done, to be the winningest class and go through a COVID year where every game was an SEC game,” Smart said, “ I just — you know, I find that respectful and amazing. Because you don't get the games outside the conference in that season. And they were still able to do it. And a lot of credit goes to the character of that group.”
Podlesny, by the way, said “it’s yet to be decided if it will be my last home game.” He could return for a sixth season of eligibility.
Yellow Jackets trending up under interim coach Brent Key
Georgia Tech’s new athletic director, J Blatt, walked into a job with a head coaching position to fill after Geoff Collins was fired.
Brent Key is certainly giving him much to think about at 4-3 as interim coach.
That includes upsets of No. 24 Pittsburgh and No. 13 North Carolina, both on the road.
“They're playing really well now,” Smart said. “They're playing really hard now. And I think he's done a tremendous job at getting these guys to compete.”
Key coached the Yellow Jackets offensive line the last four seasons and coached the position at Alabama and UCF before that.
“I can’t say enough about these kids, what they’ve been through the last couple of months,” Key said after a 21-17 upset at North Carolina Saturday. “You cannot go through more ups and downs than these kids have. You cannot have more adversity hit you in the face than these kids have in the game of football.”
Georgia Tech under Collins was 10-28 including 1-3 this season.
“You can see that the kids are playing with a lot more passion and energy,” Smart said. “They're one game from bowl eligibility and you saw it come out in the play against UNC.”
All the Yellow Jackets have to do is beat the unbeaten Bulldogs who won the last two games against Georgia Tech by a combined 97-7.
The Yellow Jackets are on their third starting quarterback after Jeff Sims and Zach Pyron went down with injuries.
Arkon transfer Zach Gibson from Johns Creek High in Marietta and Clemson transfer Taisun Phommachanh rotated in the first half against the Tar Heels before Gibson took over in the second half and completed 13 of 18 passes for 174 yards.
“The improvement that Gibson's made over the recent games to me is astounding,” Smart said. “He's throwing the ball much better, much more efficiently.”
More: Georgia lets Kentucky hang around in Bulldogs road win. Here are five takeaways
A head coach matchup for the ole alma mater
The college careers of Smart and Key overlapped two seasons when they took part in two Georgia-Georgia Tech games together in 1997 and 1998.
Georgia won 27-24 in 1997 and Georgia Tech 21-19 in 1998, the first of three straight Yellow Jacket wins in the series.
Key started at offensive right guard for a team that led the ACC in rushing three straight seasons and led the nation in total offense in 1999.
“When you've got someone that played at that university and that's their alma mater, there's a certain level of want to desire to represent the University the right way,” said Smart, a former All-SEC safety at Georgia. “And, you know, when they won the first game …you can see the emotion that he had after the Pitt win in the locker room because of how much it means to him.”
Smart and Key are two of 12 current Power 5 head coaches at their alma mater.
Smart beat Michigan and Jim Harbaugh 34-11 in the Orange Bowl national semifinal last season and defeated Clark Lea and Vanderbilt 55-0 on Oct. 15.
Coastal Carolina's Jamey Chadwell and East Carolina Mike Houston have been mentioned as candidates by the job by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg. Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien's name also has come up.
Is Georgia-Georgia Tech still a big rivalry?
No. 1 Georgia will carry a top 5 ranking into the Georgia Tech game for the fourth straight time. Georgia Tech will enter the game unranked for the seventh straight season.
So it’s probably not a big surprise that Georgia-Georgia Tech has a 12 p.m. kickoff (this time on ESPN) for the eighth straight meeting, going up at the same time with one of the games of the year--Michigan-Ohio State.
The 2013 game was the last in a different TV window at 3:30 p.m.
“It's still a big rivalry,” Smart said on Monday ahead of the 114th meeting between the schools some 70 miles apart. “I mean, I think maybe it shifted in the dynamic of what their offense was. Because it went from one extreme to the other in terms of that.”
So much so that former Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney is now on the support staff as an analyst.
The triple-option of Paul Johnson, thankfully for Georgia, is gone from the Flats. His teams beat Georgia in 2008, 2013 and 2016.
“It's what this program's biggest rivalry was many, many, many years ago when they were in the SEC,” Smart said. “Our kids don't know that history. They don't know the history of this rivalry and what goes into it. …And I think educating our players on that so they understand it -- because it means a lot to our players in terms of what they want to achieve and they got to win this game to achieve those things. So making sure they understand that is really important. And teaching the history of that is important because it'll mean something to the Georgia Tech players and the Georgia players 20/30 years from now.”
Inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson put it like this: “I know in the 90s, it was kind of back and forth. Lately, it’s been all Georgia winning the rivalry.”
Actually, Georgia won seven in a row from 1991-97 before losing three in a row.
“Growing up, I didn’t watch much football,” Podlesny said. “I just always knew there was that Clean Fashion, Old Hate or whatever the saying it is for it.”
Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. Close enough.
One area where Georgia Tech could have an edge
Statistically, Georgia Tech may have a profile of a team with a record worse than 5-6.
It is 123rd nationally in scoring, 111th in passing, 87th in total defense and 102nd in run defense.
Where it is excelling is turnover margin (1.00) at fifth best nationally and turnovers gained at seven (23 total).
That just so happens to be an area where Georgia is lagging. The Bulldogs rank tied for 88th in the turnover margin at (-.27) and 103rd in turnovers gained with 12.
“We try to take the ball away every day in practice,” Dumas-Johnson said. “We do turnover drill every day.”
It showed up for Kelee Ringo at Kentucky when the cornerback picked off a pass at the 2-yard line that carried him into the end zone and took it out to get the Bulldogs the ball near midfield.
“When he went up to catch that pick all I could think of and all I see is the practice days that Schu (co-defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann) throwing the ball up to him, getting the ball drills in,” Dumas-Johnson said. “
Georgia has forced three turnovers total in the last four games—with none against Mississippi State and Florida.
“We talk about it a lot,” Smart said. “We try to change up drills. We show NFL clips of turnovers. We show all SEC turnovers. We talk a lot about it, and I thought that we actually did our best job this year of trying to punch balls out and strip balls out (against Mississippi State) because they had a lot of loose plays where the balls out in the open. We just didn't get any. We certainly got to do that to offset of our own.”
Linebacker Ayinde Eley has 3 forced fumbles for Georgia Tech and linebacker Charlie Thomas has 2 forced fumbles and 2 interceptions.
Defensive tackle Jalen Carter leads Georgia with two forced fumbles and Ringo and safeties Chris Smith and Malaki Starks have two interceptions each.
"We all say, it is points when you get the ball out,” outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss said. “It is just a momentum swing every time you get a turnover."
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Here are 5 things to know about UGA-Georgia Tech rivalry game
