Clean Old-Fashioned Hate: 5 things to know about Georgia Tech

Here are five more things to know about the next edition of Clean Old-Fashioned Hate:

1. Defusing the bombs

Tech coach Brent Key and Jackets defenders have referenced all week how explosive the Georgia offense is and can be. If Tech stands any chance of winning Saturday, it will need to limit, if not altogether eliminate, those big plays.

“Extremely explosive offense, so if we’re gonna be successful we just have to limit explosives,” Tech linebacker Kyle Efford reaffirmed.

Georgia’s offense ranks fourth nationally with 205 plays from scrimmage that have gained 10 yards or more, fifth with 139 passing plays of 10 yards or more and sixth with 53 passing plays of 20 yards or more, 69 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or more and with 15 passing plays of 40 yards or more. The Bulldogs also have six kickoff returns of 30 yards or more.

Tech certainly has been susceptible to big gains this season, as its defense has given up 156 plays from scrimmage of at least 10 yards.

2. Battling Brock Bowers

Very few Georgia opponents, if any, have been able to contain Brock Bowers.

Georgia’s tremendous tight end has been a headache for defenses since he arrived at UGA from California in 2021. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior is a matchup nightmare for most teams and because of that he is projected to be an early NFL draft pick in 2024.

Tech will get its third crack at trying to keep Bowers out of the end zone Saturday. It hasn’t been very successful the first two times Bowers has lined up against the Jackets.

“He’s definitely an exceptional player,” Tech safety LaMiles Brooks said. “We kind of have a game plan of a certain player who will be matched on him. I guess we’ll see who that is. Hopefully we can go out there and execute the game plan that (defensive coordinator Kevin) Sherrer has in place and then everything will fall in line.”

Bowers is Georgia’s leading receiver with 51 catches for 661 yards and six scores. He has at least one catch in 38 of the 39 games he has played in and is closing in on 30 career TD receptions. Bowers also has 193 career rushing yards and five career rushing touchdowns.

In two career games against Tech, Bowers has eight catches for 120 yards and three touchdowns.

“Put three guys one him? I don’t know,” Key responded to how to defend Bowers. “Put one person and cross your fingers and hopes things don’t happen? If you live in hope, you die in a whole pile of something else.”

3. Just get to the red zone

As good as Georgia’s defense is and has been in recent years, maybe, just maybe, there’s a fissure.

Inside the 20-yard line has been a struggle for UGA defenders this season. Georgia opponents have scored in 22 of 25 trips and 16 of those scores have gone for touchdowns. Only Alabama-Birmingham, Auburn and Tennessee failed to be perfect in the red zone this season against the Bulldogs – and Auburn and Tennessee still managed to score red-zone touchdowns in those games.

The red zone was a worrisome issue for the Jackets through five games, but since then Tech has converted 16 of 17 chances with 13 touchdowns. The one failed conversion? Tech ran the clock out at the Syracuse 2 in last week’s 31-22 victory.

4. Inside Tech’s losing streak

It has been six years since the Jackets topped the Bulldogs, but that span probably feels like a lifetime to those in white and gold.

No player who has spent his entire career with Tech has been on the winning side of the state’s biggest rivalry. Jaylon King and Dontae Smith, Jackets who joined the program in 2018, have been witness to four of the five consecutive losses Tech has endured to Georgia.

The two programs have been on opposite trajectories since the Jackets’ last win in 2016 in Athens. The Bulldogs have become a annual national title contender while Tech has had to reset the course of its program by going away from option football and suffering through four consecutive losing seasons and a coaching change.

During UGA’s five-game win streak, the outcomes haven’t been all that respectable. The 2022 score of 37-14 was the closest margin during that span.

Georgia has outscored Tech 217-49, an average score of 43.4-9.8, and the Jackets have led for only 17 minutes and 43 seconds (all of that occurring coming in the 2022 contest) of game time during the streak.

The Bulldogs are still two wins shy of tying their longest win streak over the Jackets of seven, a run from 1991-97.

5. Quartet named captains

Key said earlier this week that the Jackets voted on permanent team captains to close the ‘23 season. Quarterback Haynes King, guard Joe Fusile, safety Jaylon King and tight end Dylan Leonard were bestowed that honor ahead of Tech’s final two games of the campaign.

“I was very honored,” Fusile said. “I know how hard all the guys on the team work to be given that honor. It’s something special.”

Fusile, who arrived at Tech as a walk-on, has played more offensive snaps this season than any of his Tech teammates and is the sixth-highest graded offensive player on the team, according to Pro Football Focus. Leonard has 12 catches for 122 yards and a touchdown and is the team’s best pass blocker out of Jackets with at least 300 offensive snaps.

Jaylon King is second on Tech’s defense with 62 tackles and leads the Jackets with four interceptions. Haynes King has been the team’s catalyst on offense with 2,597 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 624 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns.