Whether it was the cold of Boise, Idaho in the Humanitarian Bowl, or the warmth of Miami in the Orange Bowl, it was a given that Georgia Tech’s football team was going to win at least six games every season and get its reward of playing one final game somewhere … even if it was in Shreveport, La.
That 18-game bowl streak was snapped because of last year’s 3-9 record.
Tech is one win away from potentially starting a new bowl streak. It will go for its sixth win — the minimum needed to be considered for an invitation to one of the 41 bowl games, barring a shortage of bowl-eligible teams — when it plays at North Carolina on Saturday.
“It will be my first bowl game,” linebacker Brant Mitchell said. “It would be awesome. I’ve always looked forward to doing that and experiencing it for myself. It would be a good thing for the team to bounce back after last year, especially.”
The streak started in 1997 with a 35-30 win over West Virginia in the Carquest Bowl in Miami. It ended with a 49-34 victory over Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl in Miami.
Tech traveled the country for bowl games in between those years: hitting Seattle; San Jose, Calif.; Jacksonville, Fla., three times; Boise, Idaho, twice; San Francisco; Nashville; Orlando again; Atlanta twice; and El Paso, Texas twice. Tech was 7-11 in those games.
Instead of enjoying a visit to the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, as Georgia State did in its first bowl game last season, Tech’s players were left at home to watch other players and teams having fun.
They didn’t like that feeling.
“It was one of the worst experiences,” safety Step Durham said. “I think that’s what caused the fire for us to try to come back this year and do better, which we are.”
Needing only one win and a schedule that includes the Tar Heels (6-2), Virginia Tech (6-2), Virginia (2-6), and Georgia (4-4), Tech is projected to make it to a bowl this season, according to most websites that try to predict in where teams will play.
Sports Illustrated has Tech facing Arkansas State of the Sun Belt Conference in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 26. The Yellow Jackets have never played that opponent, in that bowl, or in that city.
Bleacher Report projects Tech facing former ACC-foe Maryland in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl in Yankee Stadium in New York. That bowl would be another first for the Yellow Jackets. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach also has the Jackets in New York, with Brett McMurphy predicting Tech will be in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte facing Arkansas. Tech has never played in the Belk Bowl and hasn’t faced the Razorbacks since they faced off in the Gator Bowl in 1960. Arkansas won 14-7 to even the series at 1-1.
Tech’s players aren’t assuming it’s a given that they will make it to a bowl, which may have played a role last year.
“I wouldn’t say we took that for granted,” linebacker P.J. Davis said. “My first couple years we had a pretty solid team. We were pretty good. It felt like we probably came in with big heads kind of a little bit last year, just coming off the Orange Bowl win, but we’re back and we’re just trying to get back to a bowl game this year.”
