A matchup between two very similar teams is featured in the 2024 Birmingham Bowl, where Georgia Tech will square off against Vanderbilt at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Tech, which lost its season finale Nov. 29 to rival Georgia in an eight-overtime thriller, is in a bowl game for the second consecutive season. The Yellow Jackets (7-5) will have junior quarterback Haynes King to guide its offense and playmaker Jamal Haynes in the backfield, but have lost a few key starters to the transfer portal. The same can be said for the team’s defense which was hit hard by portal deflections and a couple season-ending injuries.
Vandy, which ended the season on a three-game losing streak, is in a bowl game for the first time since 2018. The Commodores (6-6) are led by star quarterback Diego Pavia who was at the center of national headlines when Vandy upset No. 1 Alabama in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this season.
Friday’s game will give the Jackets a chance to win eight games for the first time since 2016.
Things to know about Friday’s Birmingham Bowl
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Protective Stadium (capacity 41,700)
TV: ESPN
Streaming: WatchESPN app
Weather: 59 degrees at kickoff, 45% chance of rain
Tickets: The get-in price through the event’s official partner, Ticketmaster, is $40.
Vanderbilt football social media: X | Instagram | Facebook
Georgia Tech football social media: X | Instagram | Facebook
Storylines ahead of the Birmingham Bowl
Brent Key is back home: When Brent Key took a glance outside his room at the Sheraton Hotel this week, he spotted the Regions Center skyscraper downtown, a building decorated for the holiday season. It was a site that pinged nostalgia for Key, a Georgia Tech alum and now coach of the Yellow Jackets who is trying his darnedest to make the Birmingham Bowl about anything but him.
But try as he might, Key can’t escape the fact that the Friday game between his Jackets and Vanderbilt at Protective Stadium very much is about him.
Tech running backs coach faces alma mater: The 2024 edition of the Birmingham Bowl has any number of unique storylines. For Georgia Tech running backs coach Norval McKenzie, one of them is extra personal.
“Vanderbilt, obviously, is a special place for us just for the simple fact that I went there and played there,” McKenzie told Tech radio announcer Andy Demetra in a pregame interview for the Georgia Tech Sports Network. “I addition to that, I met my wife there. So we love Vanderbilt, we love Nashville. It’s near and dear to my heart.”
Tech linebacker looking to go out on top: Success is measured differently for Trenilyas Tatum.
A 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker for Tech, Tatum will be playing in his personal finale when he and the Jackets take the field at the Birmingham Bowl. That contest will be the culmination of career that has been full of ups and downs — on and off the field.
Haynes King back for more: The second half of the 2024 season did not go as King had hoped it would.
Tech’s junior quarterback hurt his shoulder in a win at North Carolina on Oct. 12, missed the next two games, split playing time with freshman Aaron Philo in wins over Miami and North Carolina State, respectively, in November, and then gutted out every offensive snap but one in an excruciating, eight-overtime loss at Georgia on Nov. 29.
King, speaking after the Yellow Jackets finished practice Friday, was asked if the grueling last month-and-a-half of the season made him consider sitting out the Birmingham Bowl against Vanderbilt to further rest and recover after all he’s been through.
Jamal Haynes poised for finale: Haynes had a very solid and productive season in 2024, his second as Tech’s No. 1 running back. But he knows it could have been much better if not for the nagging injuries he had to deal with over the past four months.
“I’m not gonna say I didn’t meet my goals, but just with injuries and a lot of things going on throughout this season, it didn’t really happen with the way that I wanted it to,” Haynes said Wednesday after the Yellow Jackets’ practiced at the Brock Football Practice Facility in preparation for the Birmingham Bowl. “So definitely looking to respond next year and get back on track.”
Bowl tickets flying off the shelves: Tech sold out its allotment of Birmingham Bowl tickets.
Tech originally was given 3,000 tickets for the game at Protective Stadium (capacity 47,100). Tech had nearly 9,000 ticket requests ahead of the request deadline earlier this month and worked with bowl organizers to fill those requests. Ticket requests were fulfilled based on Alexander-Tharpe Fund priority points.
Jordan Williams to break record in bowl game: Tech’s senior class may not be large in number, but its impact could be felt for years to come if Brent Key’s program continues its upward trajectory in 2025 and beyond.
The Jackets who have been with Tech the longest, a few who joined the program as far back as 2019, are part of a squad that has won 14 games in the past two seasons and will be playing back-to-back bowl games, a program first since 2013-14.
And while 14 victories isn’t that great of a number, the Jackets only won 14 games total from 2019-22.
Faulkner family aiming for second trophy this month: On Dec. 16, from the stands inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Buster Faulkner watched history unfold standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the rest of the North Oconee High School community.
Faulkner, Tech’s offensive coordinator, has been involved in the game of football, both as a player and coach, nearly his entire life. Nothing, however, prepared him for what he was witnessing that day.
Bowl prep and roster uncertainty: There was a lot going on this week for Tech football.
Transfers from other programs have been at Bobby Dodd Stadium and on campus as they consider a possible move to Tech. Jackets players from the 2024 roster have entered the NCAA’s transfer portal and already left the team. Key and his staff are continuing to sift through the film of potential players from the high school and college ranks who could join the program for 2025. It was graduation weekend on campus.
Oh, and there is a bowl game for the current team to play in two weeks.
Starting lineup competitions: Tech continued its on-field preparation for the Birmingham Bowl on Tuesday, its second practice of the week in the Brock Football Practice Facility and on Rose Bowl Field. Tech’s practices have become a bit more important with each passing day and with the continued departure of key players, such as wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., left tackle Corey Robinson and defensive end Romello Height.
Those losses open competition for increased in-game snaps for some of the younger players on the roster when the Jackets (7-5) face Vanderbilt at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Birmingham is home for Key: Tech’s second-year coach, Key is a Birmingham native and played high school football at Hewitt-Trussville High School. Key, 18-15 as Tech’s coach, received a contract extension this month.
Of all the bowls in all the land, Tech’s wheel of destiny landed on the one that affords Key to lead his alma mater into a stadium 20 minutes from where he played high school ball.
Ring the bell: Tech and Vanderbilt won’t be playing only for the rights to take home the Birmingham Bowl trophy, the two teams also will play for a prize cowbell, an award given to the winning team in the series between the two schools that first played in 1892 and last met in 2016 at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The winning team in the series, since 1924, has held the rights to the silver cowbell, which will have the year of the game and final score engraved on it. Tech has held the trophy since a 38-7 victory in 2016, one of six consecutive wins since 1965. Vanderbilt has not beaten Tech since 1941, going 0-12-1 against the Yellow Jackets since.
Vanderbilt back in the postseason: On Oct. 5, Vanderbilt captured the attention of the entire college football landscape.
As 22-point underdogs that day in Nashville, Vandy stunned No. 1-ranked Alabama in a 40-35 victory. It was Vanderbilt’s first win in program history against a team ranked atop the national polls — and its first win over a team ranked inside the top five.
Portal departures open depth questions: “We’re planning on having the 2024 Georgia Tech football team (at the bowl game). That’s our plan,” Key said. “You control what you can control, and you don’t worry about things you can’t control. If you worry about that, there’s gonna be no time during the day to get done what you have to get done. We took the measures and worked to build our team that’s best for our team. But I can’t predict the future.”
Tech’s bowl starting lineup will have a different look with top wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. and starting left tackle Corey Robinson II having declared their intentions to play elsewhere in 2025. Backup quarterback Zach Pyron and defensive back Taye Seymore were also among the nine Jackets who have entered the transfer portal so far, though it’s not out of the question for Singleton, Robinson, Pyron or Seymore to play in the bowl game or return for 2025.
Two coaches, two alma maters: An intriguing aspect of the Birmingham Bowl is that the matchup pits two coaches against one another who each played football for their respective schools. And as Vandy coach Clark Lea said, the similarities don’t end there.
“From two great academic institutions from two great cities, two alums with two great haircuts,” Lea said, referencing the lack of combined hair between himself and Tech coach Brent Key.
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