ATHENS, Ga.— It hasn’t happened very often in the Mark Richt era at Georgia, but last year it did. The Bulldogs went to overtime with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and it was their rivals from Atlanta coming away with the 30-24 win.
During his career at UGA, head coach Mark Richt has only lost to the Jackets twice since he took over in 2001. He has never lost back to back games.
So needless to say, this loss was a shock to many in the Butts-Mehre Building in the days following their third loss of the 2014 season. Senior offensive lineman Kolton Houston says it still bothers him.
“It stuck with me a lot,” Houston said. “Just in the program’s standpoint you have to wait a whole month for that next game. All of last December you had to just stick with that loss to them. All offseason you hear about them raving about winning the game. So, we’ve got to beat them this year.”
Houston has been on the field for the last two games and knows what life is like winning/losing in this rivalry.
With this being a rivalry between in-state schools, these players know each other very well. The majority of these rosters are comprised of players from Georgia.
It also allows for some good natured trash talking to be heard according to senior outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins. He says even when he sneaks back to Hamilton, he’s still getting bombarded with the “scoreboard talk.”
“I heard a lot about it in January,” Jenkins said. “Then, with all the preseason hype. One of my teammates in high school goes to Georgia Tech, (running back) JaQuon Marshall. He never let me hear the end of it.”
The preseason hype that Jenkins was referring to, is that Tech was supposed to have a huge season in 2015. Like Georgia, the Jackets have fallen short of those expectations this season.
Another story line from last season is the end of the game inside Sanford Stadium, when Richt decided to “squib kick” the ball in the final seconds of the game. This gave Tech a strong return and eventually put them in position for placekicker Harrison Butker to try a 53 yard field goal to send it to overtime.
Richt says he still takes the blame.
“Just I really think if I had to do it again, I would kick it deep and just see if we could get them on the ground a little bit farther away from that goal line,” Richt said. “But as far as a lot of people would say, you should do that. So it just depends on how it ends up I guess.”
If Georgia wins on Saturday, they’ll finish the 2015 season at 9-3. They would have a chance at their second straight 10-win season with a bowl victory.
Floyd Up For Huge Award
Earlier this week, it was announced that Georgia junior outside linebacker Leonard Floyd is one of five players up for the prestigious ‘Butkus Award,’ given to the nations top linebacker. Floyd is joined on this list of finalists by Ohio State’s Raekwon McMillan, LSU’s Deion Jones, Alabama’s Reggie Ragland and Notre Dame’s Jaylon Smith.
Floyd has put together a very strong 2015 season, with 67 tackles. His 11 tackles for a loss and four and a half sacks are enough to lead the team.
The Eastman, Ga. native had a huge game on Saturday against Georgia Southern, with 12 tackles (3.5 for a loss).
The award will be given to the winner on December 8 on their campus.
Newest Bowl Projections
- CBSSports.com: Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl on January 1 vs. Michigan
- ESPN: Auto Zone Liberty Bowl on January 2 vs. Texas Tech or TaxSlayer Bowl vs. Penn State on January 2.
- SportingNews.com: Outback Bowl on January 1 vs. Northwestern
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