They didn’t; and credit Georgia for not making the mistakes. The purpose of this history isn’t to demonstrate that Tech has been better than Georgia, because they haven’t. The purpose is to demonstrate that the gap between Tech and Georgia is more of a canal than a gulf, particularly in the last few years.
Note, yardage and turnover information wasn't available on ESPN.com for some of the earlier games.
2001 Georgia 31; Georgia Tech 17
This was George O’Leary’s last year. He’d beaten UGA the three previous years in a row, but he’d lost Offensive Coordinator Ralf Friedgen during the previous off season. O'Leary enjoyed his most successful years with Friedgen calling the plays on offense. The Yellow Jackets where down by four going into the fourth quarter, but couldn’t match Georgia’s 10 point out-put to finish the game.
I'd like to take this time to nominate George O'Leary as the most overrated coach in Tech history. I'm not saying he was bad, but he never had a good defense, he only won when Friedgen was there, he left the school with NCAA restrictions and no talent, and he sold Tech out for Notre Dame. I'm not saying O'Leary was all bad, he saved the program after Bill Lewis sunk the ship, but Tech fans wax a little to nostalgic for the O'Leary years.
2002 Georgia 44; Georgia Tech 7
Ouch, that one hurt, but we all saw it coming. Tech was in a bad spot that year. O’Leary had suddenly left for Notre Dame, where he was soon fired for fabricating parts of his resume. Scholarship limitations where looming because of some academic shenanigans under his regime. The talent cupboard was bare as the program had been on the decline for the last year and a half under O’Leary, and Tech had replaced O’Leary with the rather underwhelming Chan Gailey.
Gailey did keep Tech’s streak of bowl games alive, and he did so with AJ Suggs as his starting quarterback. I’ve never seen a QB run an option pitch with so little interest in contact. One step and pitch, that was how Suggs ran the option.
Ouch, that one hurt, but we all saw it coming. Tech was in a bad spot that year. O’Leary had suddenly left for Notre Dame, where he was soon fired for fabricating parts of his resume. Scholarship limitations where looming because of some academic shenanigans under his regime. The talent cupboard was bare as the program had been on the decline for the last year and a half under O’Leary, and Tech had replaced O’Leary with the rather underwhelming Chan Gailey.
Gailey did keep Tech’s streak of bowl games alive, and he did so with AJ Suggs as his starting quarterback. I’ve never seen a QB run an option pitch with so little interest in contact. One step and pitch, that was how Suggs ran the option.
Georgia Jumped out to a 34 nothing lead by half time and never looked back. Tech scored late in the game to salvage a modicum of respect. It was Tech’ worst loss sense a 1996 loss to Florida State.
I'd like to take the time now to nominate Gailey for most under rated Tech Coach of the last 30 years. I'm not saying he was a great coach, but he cleaned up the mess left behind by O'Leary. He recruited top notch talent, took Tech to the ACC championship game, went to a bowl game every year (with below average talent early in his time at Tech), and he did it all while dealing with NCAA restrictions. Given he didn't appreciate the importance of the Georgia game, and he made the stupid comment about 7-8 wins being the best Tech could hope for, but he did a nice job as a care taker, and improved the overall health of the program.
2003 – Georgia 34; Georgia Tech 17
Another big loss for the Jackets, but they showed signs of improvement. Tech really was in the middle of a rebuilding process. The O’Leary Regime had left them with nothing. Freshman ACC Rookie of the year Reggie Ball was knocked out of the game early with a concussion. Georgia jumped out to a quick 14 nothing lead, but the Jackets where able to stabilize the situation and trade blow for blow with Georgia over the last three quarters. The score bounced back and force between 17 and 14 points with AJ Suggs under center. In the end it was another sizable win for Georgia, but it didn't come easy.
Another big loss for the Jackets, but they showed signs of improvement. Tech really was in the middle of a rebuilding process. The O’Leary Regime had left them with nothing. Freshman ACC Rookie of the year Reggie Ball was knocked out of the game early with a concussion. Georgia jumped out to a quick 14 nothing lead, but the Jackets where able to stabilize the situation and trade blow for blow with Georgia over the last three quarters. The score bounced back and force between 17 and 14 points with AJ Suggs under center. In the end it was another sizable win for Georgia, but it didn't come easy.
2004 – Georgia 19; Georgia Tech 13
This game set the pattern for the rest of the Gailey regime. Gailey had come to Tech heralded as an offensive genius, but his teams mostly ground out sub twenty point wins, and losses, and relied heavily on defensive coordinator John Tenuta’s hard blitzing defenses.
The Jackets fell behind 16-0 in the first half. Then the defense knocked David Green out of the game. Then in the third quarter Tech put up 13 unanswered points in large part due to the significant field position advantage they enjoyed thanks to Tenuta’s defense.
By the start of the fourth Tech had clawed its way to within three points. That’s when David Green returned and led his team on an efficient drive resulting in a field goal with a little over three minutes left.
Not to be out done, Ball turned around and drove his team right back down the field to the Georgia 21, and that’s when all hell broke loose. Ball and the coaching staff lost track of downs after an 11 yard sack and spiked the ball to kill the clock on what they thought was second down. It was actually third down, making the ensuing play fourth down. Reggie then threw the ball away trying to avoid a sack, thus ending Tech’s chances of a win.
There’s no guarantee Reggie would have completed a pass if he would have fired it into the end zone, but Tech was knocking at the door.
This game set the pattern for the rest of the Gailey regime. Gailey had come to Tech heralded as an offensive genius, but his teams mostly ground out sub twenty point wins, and losses, and relied heavily on defensive coordinator John Tenuta’s hard blitzing defenses.
The Jackets fell behind 16-0 in the first half. Then the defense knocked David Green out of the game. Then in the third quarter Tech put up 13 unanswered points in large part due to the significant field position advantage they enjoyed thanks to Tenuta’s defense.
By the start of the fourth Tech had clawed its way to within three points. That’s when David Green returned and led his team on an efficient drive resulting in a field goal with a little over three minutes left.
Not to be out done, Ball turned around and drove his team right back down the field to the Georgia 21, and that’s when all hell broke loose. Ball and the coaching staff lost track of downs after an 11 yard sack and spiked the ball to kill the clock on what they thought was second down. It was actually third down, making the ensuing play fourth down. Reggie then threw the ball away trying to avoid a sack, thus ending Tech’s chances of a win.
There’s no guarantee Reggie would have completed a pass if he would have fired it into the end zone, but Tech was knocking at the door.
One more note, Tech was 0-4 on fourth-down conversion during that game. The box score doesn’t say where they were on the field, but kicking the ball away or kicking a field goal could have easily led to at least three more Jacket points, which totally changes the end game scenario.
2005 – Georgia 14, Georgia Tech 7
Once again Tech dominated the field position battle, and this year they out gained the Bulldogs 327 to 266, but Tech also turned the ball over three times.
Both Teams scored early in the first quarter, but it wasn’t until the 3:18 was left in the game that the Bulldogs scored a second touchdown for the go ahead score.
Tech wasn’t done yet, once again Ball drove the Jackets deep into Georgia territory, but with just over a minute remaining, Tim Jennings picked of a pass from Reggie Ball at the goal line and returned it out to Georgia’s 33 yard line. For the second year in a row, an unforced error by the Jackets preserved a Georgia victory.
2006 – Georgia 15; Georgia Tech 12
Reggie Ball had a truly horrible game in his fourth and final bid to beat Georgia. He was 6 of 22. Threw 2 interceptions and fumbled the ball once. Georgia recovered the fumble for a touchdown.
The jackets kicked an early field goal to go up 3-0, and went into half time down 7-6. They kicked two more field goals in the second half to go up 12-7. It looked like Tech might win as the Yellow Jackets’ defense bottled Georgia up, and Tashard Choice ground down the clock on his way to 146 yards rushing.
Late in the game Matthew Stafford strung together a drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Mohamed Massaquoi with 1:45 remaining in the game. For the fourth straight year it was close but no cigar.
2007 – Georgia 31; Georgia Tech 17
This may have been the most unlucky game ever for the Yellow Jackets. Expectations where low, as Chan Gailey was likely going to relieved of his duties at the end of the season, but the Jackets hung tight going into half time down 14-16. Things got ugly in the second half. Georgia outscored Tech 15 to 3. It would be an understatement to say the Jacket’s quite on their coach.
Tashard Choice did rush for 134 yards, and deserves credit for being one of the few players to finish the game strong.
Now comes the bad luck part.
Georgia fumbled the ball 3 times, and three times the ball rolled out of the end zone for a touch back, twice on punt attempts when the ball sailed over the punter's head, and once on a pitch broken up by Morgan Burnett. The odds of recovering a fumble are 50/50, so its surprising that Tech couldn’t recover one or two of those punts for touchdowns. Corry Earls also dropped a wide open touchdown pass, a finally Morgan Burnett was called for a questionable pass interference penalty in the end zone that led to a Georgia touch down.
What I'm trying to say is both teams played like crap, but one of them was very unlucky and then quit.
And that’s the history of the last seven games. Tech spent three years clearing out the cobwebs and getting their feet under them after the O’Leary years petered out, and then basically beat themselves the next four years.
By no means am I suggesting that Tech deserved to win any of the past seven games, but Tech has played Georgia very close recently. The gap between Georgia and Georgia Tech could have been eliminated by the bounce of the ball. Now that Tech has a very good coach and a team that really believes in itself, Georgia should be very worried. Coach Paul Johnson will make a difference this year, and he doesn’t have to make a very big difference to swing the game for Tech.
And that’s the history of the last seven games. Tech spent three years clearing out the cobwebs and getting their feet under them after the O’Leary years petered out, and then basically beat themselves the next four years.
By no means am I suggesting that Tech deserved to win any of the past seven games, but Tech has played Georgia very close recently. The gap between Georgia and Georgia Tech could have been eliminated by the bounce of the ball. Now that Tech has a very good coach and a team that really believes in itself, Georgia should be very worried. Coach Paul Johnson will make a difference this year, and he doesn’t have to make a very big difference to swing the game for Tech.
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