Notes: Tech-USC nearly happened last year
Greetings
A few notes regarding Georgia Tech’s bowl date with Southern California Dec. 31 at the Sun Bowl.
1. It’s the third time that Tech has played in the same bowl in consecutive years. The first two times were the Sugar Bowl to finish the 1952 and 1953 seasons. On the first trip, Tech beat Mississippi 24-7 to complete a 12-0 season and win a share of the national championship. That team, you may remember, was honored earlier this season. The next year, Tech won the Sugar Bowl again, 42-19 over West Virginia.
The other instance was back-to-back trips to the Gator Bowl at the end of the 1998 and 1999 seasons, a 35-28 win over Notre Dame (Tech’s fifth bowl-game win in a row; Joe Hamilton had 356 yards of total offense) and a 28-13 defeat to Miami.
2. The bowl game brings together a matchup that was almost put together for the 2011 Chick-fil-A Kickoff game. Chick-fil-A Bowl president Gary Stokan had coach Paul Johnson and then-athletic director Dan Radakovich on board, as well as USC coach Lane Kiffin, but talks dried up when USC AD Mike Garrett was fired and replaced by Pat Haden.
Incidentally, I had a poster of Haden, then a L.A. Rams quarterback, on my wall as a child. I think my parents have thrown it away. No disrespect to Mr. Haden, but I find it a curious choice for a child growing up in suburban Chicago. I also had Earl Campbell, Ken Burroughs and Walter Payton, among others.
Back to Stokan. I talked to him a couple weeks ago, and asked about the possibility of Tech playing in the kickoff game, a popular topic among fans, it seems. He said he’s booked through 2014, but is going to start looking to fill dates in 2015-16-17. He noted that Notre Dame planning to begin its series of five games with ACC teams in 2014, that could create some possibilities with Tech or other teams in the ACC.
Nothing, though, is imminent.
3. This will be USC’s first bowl after its two-year bowl ban. Said Trojans coach Lane Kiffin, “It’s very exciting, especially after two years of sitting at home and not being able to go to a bowl game.”
4. I’m not sure we’ll ever get the full story, but the possibility of Tech dropping past the Sun Bowl never materialized, obviously. Tech officials, as I’ve noted, were open to the idea, both because they figured the Sun Bowl might want a different team and coaches and players might prefer a new destination.
Sun Bowl executive director Bernie Olivas said Sunday night that the bowl decided to honor the contract obligating it to take the ACC runner-up if available. Interestingly, the El Paso Times reported last week that there was also another clause in the contract that allowed the Sun Bowl to avoid picking a team in consecutive years, but Olivas wasn’t sure which rule took precedence.
Water under the bridge.
5. The Sun Bowl had the third pick of Pac-12 teams after the BCS games. Stanford will be in the Rose Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl picked up Oregon. After that, the Alamo Bowl took Oregon State (9-3) and the Holiday Bowl chose UCLA (9-4). The Sun chose between Arizona (7-5) and USC (7-5).
6. Due to the extended season, Tech players won’t have much time to recuperate. A year ago, the team took a week off before beginning practice the day after the announcement Dec. 5. The Jackets won’t practice Monday or Tuesday, but could begin shortly thereafter.
Tech can practice 15 times between now and the bowl game. Starting Wednesday, that’s a 25-day window until the 29th, the last day that the team would practice. Final exams run Dec. 10-14, all of next week. It’s conceivable Tech would not use all 15 practices. USC coach Lane Kiffin said he figured his team would practice 13 to 15 times and start Wednesday.
7. There’s nothing up on the Tech website about bowl tickets yet. I imagine something will be posted soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks for reading.
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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123 comments Add your comment
Ken Sugiura
December 3rd, 2012
4:37 pm
SansWorld – the picture of me is pretty old. i just turned 40.
Yeah, as I said, the Pat Haden choice doesn’t make much sense. i wonder if members of pat haden’s family had pat haden posters.
dick butkus was a little before my time.
JM – you’ll remember that, after Tech-USC died, Stokan arranged Boise State-Georgia. Not exactly a game heavy on out-of-towners. plus tech and georgia have been in the chick-fil-a bowl in recent years. I don’t think he wants Tech or Georgia every year, but I think he’d like to have both in the game occasionally. that said, part of his job is bringing in people from out of town.
i don’t think there’s a secret about Orwin’s health. i’d guess he’ll be back practicing soon.
fuzzybee78
December 3rd, 2012
4:54 pm
@Ken,
Are there any kids like FHolton or JThomas who were hurt or redshirted who can play in this game without affecting eligibility?
Anyone else know?
SansWorld
December 3rd, 2012
5:06 pm
I think CPJ has managed the Vad Lee’s development pretty well. Lee had stuff to offer this year that TW did not have, but Lee was not a replacement for TW in most situations.
The plays that Lee ran in the first half of the year were basically just called plays, and scrambling draws up the middle if things did not work out. There was little option, and almost no true triple option.
But he developed, gained confidence and experience without having to take the whole load himself. I think he learned a lot about leadership from TW example.
If Lee applies himself and works hard with the right attitude, he should be well positioned for 2013.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 3rd, 2012
5:10 pm
@ 10Dawgs, you probably said the exact same thing about FSU. Get a life!!!
Born2Buzz
December 3rd, 2012
5:29 pm
Hey SansWorld, I just watched our 5th year Sr QB lose the first game of the season throwing a stupid INT in OT and the last game of the season throwing a wounded duck INT after leading the team to a whopping 13 pts. In between he won 6 games, none against decent competition…oops, I will only give him 5 wins since Vad basically played the whole UNC game.
The TW record speaks for itself, and it ain’t pretty. Sure the guy is a great kid who tries hard but who cares about that. I want a winner.
What if Vad had played the entire year, every single snap? Do you think he would have matured quickly, kind of like the RS Fr in College Station that is being hyped for the Heisman?
PJ seriously screwed this season up. Of course we might have masked the fact that Al Groan was the worst DC hire ever by winning a few more games.
Oh well, I’m on to basketball. I will watch the Sun Bowl but I have no real passion to see it. I think 15 practices is too few to completely change what we do, which is what PJ needs in order to be successful against decent competition, which USC most definitely is.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 3rd, 2012
5:31 pm
@ GTFan27…..from the Tech side of the field, the FSU crowd looked sorta spotty. Yes, there were lots there in the lower deck, but there were lots of visible empty seats too. Of course, you may have seen the same thing in the Tech section, but it looked packed from where I sat.
As far as the FSU fans being gracious, let’s face it, MOST ALL opposing teams’ fans are gracious except for one, and I think you know who that is. I think it says a lot that so few Tech fans went to Athens last week, but so many went to Charlotte. I will NEVER go to Athens again. In spite of the fact that Sanford Stadium LOOKS pretty, it was pretty much a dump the last time I went there—-cramped concourses, terrible sight-lines, hard to get to, and, again, their fans. I haven’t lost anything there, and even if I had, I wouldn’t go back to try to find it.
Cliffy
December 3rd, 2012
5:40 pm
I better get my tickets pronto! Hear they are movng swiftly.
Tears
December 3rd, 2012
5:45 pm
Hurts doesn’t it 10Dawgs? HAHAHAHA.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 3rd, 2012
5:53 pm
LOL @ Tears. I texted a UGA friend of mine Saturday night, like 4 hours after the game ended, asking him if it still hurt. He still hasn’t responded.
Skeptic
December 3rd, 2012
6:07 pm
My guess is Ft Bliss will be better represented than Tech in the seats. Good write-off for the school, I guess.
Many would rather sit on handjob mountain, anyway (2008).
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/3572906/college-football-fan-gets-hj
1 4 GT
December 3rd, 2012
6:17 pm
Yeah, it still hurts for a lot of the dwags! I haven’t looked at their blogs. I wonder how many are calling heads to roll?
Silly Mutts
December 3rd, 2012
6:18 pm
GT will have another losing season next year and everyone will still be saying that PJ needs to get his players, get a defense, find a QB…..It’s always next season with GT fans and GT football. What a frickin’ JOKE!
Well, at least the UGA...
December 3rd, 2012
6:25 pm
…guys waited until AFTER the season to ask for heads to roll, during an 11-2 season, too, unlike Tech, who, during a 3-5 start to the season, en route to a 6-7 finish, were asking for heads to roll from the middle of October, and even today…
Supersize that order, mutt
December 3rd, 2012
6:33 pm
@ Silly Mutts…….It’s always THIS season for the mutts, but they haven’t had a THIS season since 1980. Po thangs!!!!!
Yellow Jacket AJ
December 3rd, 2012
6:52 pm
The Sun Bowl is a great opportunity for Tech to showcase our program and tradions in front of a national audience if we can figure out a way to win. We all need to get out there support the team. USC is nationally prominent and they recruit nationally just like we should. One question…how do we stop Barkley?
Toadster
December 3rd, 2012
6:55 pm
10Dawgs
December 3rd, 2012
4:33 pm
“OMG! USC is gonna beat Tech like rented mule!”
What is it about dwag fans and mules (rented or otherwise)?
wreckmaniac
December 3rd, 2012
7:04 pm
Am I impatient or should PJ have appointed a defensive coordinator by now ? He’s had 6 weeks.
My vote is for Ellis Johnson who did a superb job at South Carolina.
If do right, no can defense
December 3rd, 2012
7:11 pm
USC defense is not as good as FSU. In fact, I would compare it to be just slightly better than our own. The offense with Barkley though is orders of magnitude better than our own. I think if we play hard and for a full 60 minutes, we pull out the win. Orwin Smith should return and provide much better perimeter blocking and angle-running than BJ Bostic/Deon Hill (who are both faster than Smith, but don’t take tackle-avoiding angles).
I have some optimism for next year… if Attaochu returns, I won’t hesitate to say that we will have the best linebacker corps in the ACC. And a much better pass rush too, with Green/Gamble at NT and Kallon/Gotsis at one DE with Cummings/Dieke at the other DE. Kallon is starting to look less like a malnutritioned soccer player and more like a 300-lb beast.
Shane
December 3rd, 2012
7:21 pm
I was gonna say ” I hope you beat USC ” because I really hate Kiffen. I’m a dawg fan and really don’t care as long as youre not playin us, but wow, tears and supersize, you are bitter cruel. Sooo to you guys I hope you lose 42-10.
Shane
December 3rd, 2012
7:28 pm
To supersize “this season” really? You would be happy with just beating UGA each season, pathetic. Have faith and support in your team instead of worrying about UGA. Win the ACC. That is what should be important.
Shane
December 3rd, 2012
7:32 pm
To beat Tech is just a Bonus to UGA, not a year long goal. Change your priorities tears and supersize
If do right, no can defense
December 3rd, 2012
7:45 pm
As for the offense, we should get everyone except Uzzi on the OL back. Alford is too good a lineman to be a backup to Finch, but we need a good center to replace Finch when he gets injured (which is often) or drops his weight over the course of the season, and the defensive linemen get bigger and bigger. Will Jackson/Tyler Kidney also have tons of experience… though they are backups currently. The OL package from Tri-Cities should be redshirted, and Braun/Mason/Bailey should be our OG core.
Vad Lee needs to follow protocol over the spring and he should have the starter spot. If he continues to struggle with the TO reads, Justin Thomas will easily eclipse him as the starter, having played a lot of option in HS and a faster runner than Lee (though he doesn’t have Lee’s arm). Also can’t overlook Synjyn Days, a solid warrior-runner like Nesbitt, or Tim Byerly, who executes the option pretty well too (and Byerly should not be underestimated simply because he was 3rd string at MTSU before transferring here).
B-back will be our deepest position next season, even if Perkins leaves as per the rumors. Sims is beginning to look real solid and I believe rotation with Laskey will make both better at blocking and breaking tackles. Snoddy and maybe a true/RS freshman RB should round out the pack.
I’m a little worried about A-backs: Zenon, D. Hill, Godhigh and Bostic are little too small to be effective at perimeter blocking (though Robbie makes up for this with a tremendous work ethic) or slot-receivers who can catch non-accurate throws (a lot of Washington’s game-ending INTs have been due to small ABs outmaneuvered by the larger DBs of opposing defenses, in addition to bad throwing by Washington – or missing open receivers). Perhaps Days can add the size we need. Ideally the pitch man should be a fast HB-type runner, which we have a lot of, while the lead blocker should be a TE-type. Though I must add that Roddy Jones – our best A-back in my opinion – was not that big either.
Receiving corps should be okay… Jackson will be gone, but I see some upside in Waller – who I think will play better than Greene next year – and Moore. Autry is a real talent and should be back, while we also have our some big younger receivers in the pipeline.
UGA = Yawn
December 3rd, 2012
7:47 pm
Shane – 1980 is sooooo long ago. 1990 is much more recent. Sorry. 222-0. John Heisman. 5 National Championships. Football Tradition IS GT – not UGA.
GT Fan
December 3rd, 2012
7:52 pm
Can someone tell the difference between a mule and a RENTED mule?
GT Fan
December 3rd, 2012
7:53 pm
and what exactly is a RENTED mule anyway?
If do right, no can defense
December 3rd, 2012
8:09 pm
And just so we don’t overlook the importance of special teams…
Sadly, Tanner… our most consistent kicker will be gone, but Butker, a very solid kicker will be here. If the David Scully/Justin Moore duo can get their act together, we may even be able to RS him, which is no small matter, even in kicking. (Scott Blair was a terrible kicker in his first two seasons, and only became consistent in 09/10.) We need to avoid line-drive kickoffs and low FGs which are easier to block. Ryan Rodwell is a much better punter than Sean Poole, the current starter was in his freshman season. Distance-wise we have a pretty good punting unit, the issue is with punt and kick return coverage. Two ways to improve this are: a) get high kickoffs/punts that hang in the air and allow our tacklers to get into position. b) improve fundamentals of tackling and taking the proper angles.
Kickoff and punt returns should be handled by players like Jamal Golden, who understand ball security, have great downfield vision, and don’t make bone-headed plays (i.e. safeties, fair-catch bobbling, etc.). (I remember Jarrard Tarrant was very much like Golden in that respect, though he had an epic collapse against Air Force in 2010, the main reason we lost that game.)
So yeah, we will definitely have better record in ‘13 if we get Attaochu back and Vad Lee doesn’t implode.
Tech is a joke
December 3rd, 2012
8:27 pm
Does 42-10 hurt? Does 11 out of the last 12 hurt?
You can say all you want about UGA……bottom line UGA OWNS TECH!!
As far as going to visiting stadiums and there fans, Tech is by far the worse. Place is a dump,small,& fans who I personally saw yelling at women and kids that were UGA fans. They were just minding there own business. Bottom line fans everywhere are cruel so get off your high horse thinking Tech fans are above being a’holes!!
GO USC!!
leg humper
December 3rd, 2012
8:28 pm
Saw a dawg fan behind the register at Walmart still crying over loss!
GT1985
December 3rd, 2012
8:39 pm
Ken – I enjoyed your good work in covering Tech this year.
Trojan
December 3rd, 2012
8:43 pm
It is nothing short of an insult for the USC to have to stoop to play GT – a team with a losing record that shouldn’t be in a bowl game. GT should have just spared themselves the humiliation of a beatdown and the expense of getting it.
Trojan
December 3rd, 2012
8:45 pm
GT is a joke with that chicken poop offense and cheap shot blocking scheme!
Delbert D.
December 3rd, 2012
8:50 pm
I’m surprised if some of these folks actually know what a mule is. My grandfather rented mules for plowing the lot they had. Renting a tractor was out of the question and mules were available. That was in the early ’50s in very rural Georgia. I never saw him “beat” a mule. When you have both hands on the wooden plow and harness reins, that would be impossible to do. I have a picture I took of him plowing with a Brownie Hawkeye when I was about 8.
Trojan
December 3rd, 2012
8:54 pm
Will GT fire the coach before or after the sun bowl?
Trojan
December 3rd, 2012
8:56 pm
What’s all this talk about mules? Is that what yall are into over there???
Iluvnutella
December 3rd, 2012
9:08 pm
no sense of shame……..we need to hide out till our new Ad runs Fish-fry off.
beezit
December 3rd, 2012
9:14 pm
One of my favorite pastimes is discussing what didn’t happen in the past….
Skeptic
December 3rd, 2012
9:16 pm
According to the UGA extension, a rented mule means it’s “stump-broke”
westcoast techie
December 3rd, 2012
9:17 pm
I’m an alum from the early 60’s, and I’ve been a hard core Tech fan since before high school. Although now living on the west coast, I follow all of Tech’s sports daily through the AJC online.
CPJ’s offense is limited; but he and his gimmick offense is the right path for Tech given the current recruiting competition for high school athelets among big time football factories. His failure is not implementing (taking advantage of) a short passing game available to this type of offense. His only passes (90%) are hail mary fly patterns. He is just too stubborn to change from his old days at Ga. Southern. Defense is a whole different matter. He apperars to have no cohesive philosophy or interest on that side of the ball. He has and will hire a DC and wash his hands of any input.
As for the Sun Bowl, god help us. USC is the worst possible match up for our team. USC’s passing game is first class. They routinely run up 400 to 500 yards on some pretty good defenses. Needless to say Tech does not have a good deense, especially a pass defense. Not to be overlooked are USC’s running game and defense. They have bigger and better O-linemen and running backs than we do. Their D-linemen and linebackers are decent, and their D-backs are big hitters. With no worries about Tech’s passing game, we will facing 7 or 8 in the box all the time. Their corner backs are good enough to cover one-on-one. I’m afraid USC will score north of 40 points on us (and that’s by the 3rd quarter before they call off the dogs.
I’ll be pulling for my Tech team, but I won’t be making any bets with my USC friends. I definitely won’t watch the game with them.
Skeptic
December 3rd, 2012
9:23 pm
Trojan
December 3rd, 2012
8:45 pm
GT is a joke with that chicken poop offense and cheap shot blocking scheme!
———————————————————-
Chicken poop turbo-charges a lot of growth in my part of the country; and I bet you eat some of the produce
superDawg
December 3rd, 2012
9:27 pm
supersize you can say what ever you want to but gt is the bottom feeders of the football world.Backing into the acc big midget game and getting waxed! then begging for a bowl game is down right poethetik!NUFF SAID!
superDawg
December 3rd, 2012
9:28 pm
hAVE A GOOD YEQAR.
Golden Tornado
December 3rd, 2012
9:30 pm
10Dawgs, I, too, think USC is going to beat us, but probably not as badly as Heisman beat UGA in 1905 (46-0), or as badly as Alexander beat UGA in 1943 (48-0) and 1944 (44-0), or as badly as Dodd beat UGA in 1951 (48-6).
Let’s make it USC 39, Tech 20.
Supersize that order, mutt
December 3rd, 2012
9:39 pm
@ superDwag…..Sorta like UGA backed into the SECCG because they only played USC and UF, huh?
And Tech didn’t BEG to get in a bowl game. We requested a waiver, just like UCLA did last year. Big deal !!!
Skeptic
December 3rd, 2012
9:39 pm
whatever, man. dog fans are like a gut-shot deer. they run like a raped ape and when they inevitably go down, they’re bloated up full of smelly gas
Supersize that order, mutt
December 3rd, 2012
9:41 pm
@ Tech is a joke…….I have been to about 15 different stadiums throughout the country, and I can assure you NOBODY is as bad as UGA fans in Athens…..or on the blogs. BDS is small, but it is definitely NOT a dump. And it is cleaner than Sanford & Son Stadium was the last time I was there.
THWG
December 3rd, 2012
9:54 pm
Florida State gets Northern Illinois and we get USC… how’s that fair? Sure NIU is 12-1 but they lost to Iowa and beat crappy Kansas by only a touchdown. USC might be 7-5 but four of these loses were to Oregon, UCLA, ND, and Stanford. Let’s not forget that Matt Barkley will return and I’m gonna guess that our defense won’t show up.
superDawg
December 3rd, 2012
10:06 pm
Like I said.NUFF SAID!.
superDawg
December 3rd, 2012
10:11 pm
supersize UGA played the best team in the country and lost by 4 points,AND COULD HAVE WON THE GAME.tek would not have had a chance.So much for tek beeing anybody.
superDawg
December 3rd, 2012
10:12 pm
and we do have 5 national championships useing tek math!
Tech goes for back-to-back wins over UGA | Georgia Tech
December 3rd, 2012
10:20 pm
[...] Notes: Tech-USC nearly happened last year [...]