Live from Ga. Tech, where N.C. State hopes to drive safely

Here we are at historic Bobby Dodd Stadium on another sun-splashed Saturday. (Photo by M. Bradley)

The North Carolina State Wolfpack arrived at Hartsfield-Jackson late Friday afternoon, just in time for what we Atlantans know to be the absolute worst traffic period of any week. The Wolfie entourage piled into four chartered buses for the ride up the Downtown Connector  to their Buckhead hotel.

Buses 1 and 4 made it.

Buses 2 and 3 ran into each other.

According to Debbie Yow, State’s athletic director, the bus drivers weren’t at fault. Apparently pesky Atlanta motorists kept buzzing between the buses, who were endeavoring to stay in formation. Buses 2 and 3 were rendered inoperative after 3 rear-ended 2 — one of them needed to have its door pried open — and no other charter coaches were available for rescue duty and the only solution was for Buses 1 and 4 to drop their passengers at the hotel and return for the occupants of 2 and 3.

“We weren’t crazy about the idea of 60 people walking by the side of I-75,” Yow said.

Long story short: Everybody eventually got to the hotel, and nobody was injured. And the State party made it to Bobby Dodd Stadium for today’s noon start without difficulty. And we’re 44 minutes from kickoff as I type, and I’m intrigued to see how Georgia Tech handles an ACC opponent at full strength. (North Carolina worked without 12 men last Saturday in Chapel Hill.)

I’m assuming Tech will win, but State has been better than advertised, and its victory over Cincinnati was one of the few early games this beleaguered league can identify as a point of pride.

And with that, the ajc.com blogline is open for questions, observations and lamentations about the Braves. I’m here to watch and report — and I’m happy to say that I feel much better this Saturday than I did a week ago in Chapel Hill — and I’d appreciate if you’d, er, come along for the ride.