Welcome to Black Friday, where today you'll find a nice selection of stats and factoids about Clean Old-Fashioned Hate, all at a recuded price of $39.99.
Hi.
I hope your Thanksgiving went swimmingly, and I hope you're ready to pack in plenty of hate for Georgia's annual date with Georgia Tech.
You bring the snacks, I'll bring the facts.
(That was a lousy transition, but it rhymed, so I'm okay with it.)
The last time...
1) These teams met:
Ah, another sin to atone for.
In Athens, Georgia gashed Georgia Tech to the tune of 263 rushing yards (170 from Sony Michel), only to let a 13-point lead slip away over the final 6:28.
The Jackets won 28-27.
Moving on.
2) Georgia lost in Bobby Dodd Stadium:
This hasn't happened since the infamous Jasper Sanks "fumble" in 1999, when Sanks — who had time to order and eat a pizza while he was down — was ruled to have fumbled near the Tech goal line inside a minute to play, with the score tied.
Had replay been instituted, the Dawgs likely win the game, but instead went on to lose in overtime.
Since then, Georgia has notched eight straight road victories in this series.
God bless you, Mark Richt.
3) Georgia Tech lost to two SEC teams in the same season:
Let it not be forgotten folks: the Yellow Jackets managed to lose to Tennessee this season, nearly a month and a half before the Vols fired their coach.
For this stat, though, we need to jump back to 2013, my senior year in the Redcoat Band.
In the final week of the regular season, Georgia Tech managed to blow a 20-0 lead at home to Georgia, which was starting Hutson Mason for the first time at quarterback, filling in for the injured Aaron Murray.
The Bulldogs came back to tie the game at 27-all before RB Todd Gurley scored a pair of touchdowns in overtime — paired with a fourth-down stop by the defense in the second extra period — to steal at 41-34 victory in Atlanta.
In their bowl game, the Yellow Jackets were paired with Ole Miss in the Music City Bowl, where they would go on to lose 25-17.
4) Georgia won 11 games in the regular season:
A win Saturday would put the Bulldogs at 11-1 for the first time since 2012.
That season, it's worth noting, saw Georgia knock off Georgia Tech 42-10 in Athens before a date with Alabama in the SEC Championship.
Need another comparison?
The 2002 Bulldogs, who also finished 11-1, whipped the Jackets 51-7.
But that game, too, was in Athens.
5) Georgia Tech missed a bowl game twice in three years:
Until 2015, when the Jackets went 3-9, Georgia Tech hadn't missed a bowl game since 1996, which is, incidentally, the last time Georgia missed out on the post-season.
But now the Jackets, currently holding a 5-5 record (the UCF game was canceled during Hurricane Irma), are one loss away from needing a special waiver to get into a bowl game, assuming there aren't enough 6-win teams to fill every slot.
This would be the first time since a four-year drought from 1992-95.
Those Tech teams would finish 5-6, 5-6, 1-10 and 6-5, in chronological order.
6) Georgia beat Florida, but lost to Tech, in the same season:
Good news, Bulldog fans, this hasn't happened in forever.
(We'll skip over the real reason, which is the fact that Georgia has rarely beaten the Gators in recent memory, and also rarely lost to Tech in recent memory, but I digress.)
In fact, it hasn't happened in my lifetime, with the last occurrence being 1989, when the Dawgs knocked off Florida 17-10, then lost to the Yellow Jackets 33-22.
And yes, Internet, I was born later than 1989, okay? I can't help that I'm a #millenial.
7) Georgia Tech went undefeated at home:
The Jackets have been weirdly consistent this year, going a perfect 5-0 at home, and a perfect 0-5 away from home.
Heck, their only neutral site game so far — a 42-41 overtime loss to Tennessee in Mercedes-Benz Stadium — would've been a tie if that was still a thing.
Can you imagine? 5-0-0 at home. 0-4-0 on the road. 0-0-1 at neutral sites.
It lines up entirely too perfectly.
Anyway, a win Saturday would put Tech at a perfect 6-0 on The Flats, giving it a perfect home record for the first time since ... the Jasper Sanks "fumble" listed above.
That 51-48 overtime win in 1999 capped off a season that saw the Yellow Jackets go a perfect 6-0 at home. Every year since then (including every odd-numbered year against Georgia) Georgia Tech has lost at least one home game.
8) Georgia failed to record both a passing and rushing touchdown in a game:
The Bulldogs have been remarkably consistent this year, pouring in touchdown after touchdown through the air, and on the ground.
In fact, the last team to keep Georgia from scoring through BOTH the air and the ground was ... Auburn.
In 2016.
The Tigers came to Sanford Stadium and left with a 13-7 loss, though the Bulldogs only found pay dirt via an interception return.
Since then, Georgia has gone 13 consecutive games scoring touchdowns via both the pass and the rush.
9) This game had bowl eligibility on the line:
We've already pointed out that the 5-5 Yellow Jackets need a win to gurantee bowl eligibility.
The last time this game carried that kind of weight was 2010, when 6-5 Georgia Tech came to Athens to play 5-6 Georgia.
I remember it well. It was a cold night game, and it capped off my freshman year in the Redcoat Band.
A redshirt-freshman quarterback by the name of Aaron Murray led the Bulldogs to a 42-34 victory Between the Hedges, securing a 6-6 record and a bowl berth.
BONUS: This game had bowl eligibility on the line, AND one team lost it by losing the game:
Let us return to 1996, when Georgia (4-6) hosted Georgia Tech (5-5) in Sanford Stadium.
Back in this day and age, there were only 18 bowl games, so it's highly unlikely a 6-5 team would've been selected anyway, but still.
The Bulldogs won 19-10 and removed all doubt.
10) This game was decided by more than one possession:
Even in years where there's a big disparity in record, this game tends to be close.
Take 2015, for example. Georgia was consistent, if unspectactular, in building its 8-3 record coming into Clean Old-Fasioned Hate.
Tech, meanwhile, had self-destructed to its 3-8 record.
And yet, the Bulldogs nearly gagged away a 13-0 lead (that really should have been more, had Georgia not kept its weapon aimed squarely at its foot), hanging on for a 13-7 win.
In fact, every game in this rivalry has been within a single possession since 2012, when the Bulldogs body slammed — quite literally, in two instances — Georgia Tech 42-10 in Athens.
Since then, the outcomes have been: Georgia by 7 in overtime, Tech by 6 in overtime, Georgia 6 and Tech by 1.
***
Early lines liked the Dawgs by 11 points in this game, and it's hard not to argue with it.
Once again, it seems reasonable to expect that the crowd will be decidedly red and black, and with it being both a noon start and Thanksgiving break, I imagine plenty of students (from both sides) won't be attending.
This game, in my view, seems like one that is decided squarely by Georgia.
If the Bulldogs don't continually shoot themselves in the foot and give Georgia Tech opportunities to stick around, then the game should go swimmingly.
Starting turning the ball over or get burned on a few trick plays?
It could get dicey.
My hunch is we'll see it start somewhat slowly, as both teams try to establish their ground games, but come the second quarter, we'll see the playbooks open up a bit.
Then it might get fun.
