GEORGIA TECH YELLOW JACKETS NOTES:
TOP STORYLINES
• Georgia Tech returns to the postseason for the first time since 2018 when it takes on UCF in the 2023 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl on Friday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. • Georgia Tech is making its 46th all-time bowl appearance (16th-most in college football history) but its first since the 2018 Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit, where the Yellow Jackets fell to Minnesota, 34-10. • Tech’s 25 bowl victories are good for a tie for 13th all-time, and its .556 winning percentage in bowl games (25-20) stands alone in 13th in college football history. The Jackets are in search of their first bowl win since defeating Kentucky, 33-18, at the 2016 TaxSlayer (Gator) Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. • The Yellow Jackets earned bowl eligibility on the strength of a 5-3 record in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Jackets tied for fourth in the 14-team ACC after being picked to finish 12th in the conference’s preseason poll. • Georgia Tech is led offensively by r-So. QB Haynes King. King was one of just two NCAA Division I FBS players with at least 2,700 passing yards, 25 touchdown passes, 600 rushing yards and five touchdown runs during the 2023 regular season, joining Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels (LSU). • Defensively, the Jackets are led by r-Sr. DB Jaylon King. King, a third-team all-America selection by College Football Network, has intercepted four passes and recovered two fumbles for Tech in 2023. His four interceptions are tied for third in the ACC and 17th nationally, while his two fumble recoveries are good a tie for second in the conference and 17th in the nation. His six total takeaways are tied for tops in the ACC while his 12 passes defended rank third in the league.
A GEORGIA TECH WIN WOULD …
• give it a final record of 7-6, good for its first winning season since 2018; • be its first bowl win since a 33-18 victory over Kentucky in the 2016 TaxSlayer (Gator) Bowl; • be the 26th bowl victory in program history, which would move Tech into a tie with Clemson, Nebraska and Ohio State for the 10th-most bowl wins all-time; • would up Tech to 26-20 all-time in bowl games, which would move the Yellow Jackets into 11th place in college football history with a .565 bowl winning percentage (min. 15 bowl victories); • be its third win in its last four bowl games and fourth win in its last six bowl appearances; • would be the Yellow Jackets’ fourth win in the final six games of the season; • would up Tech to 4-2 all-time against UCF; • be its first win over UCF since 2000 and snap a two-game losing skid against the Knights; • be the Yellow Jackets’ second win in three all-time games at Raymond James Stadium.
A GEORGIA TECH LOSS WOULD …
• drop it to 6-7 on the season; • give it consecutive losses for first time this season; • mark the first time since that it has lost back-to-back games in the same season since it suffered consecutive defeats against Virginia and Florida State on Oct. 20 and 29, 2022; • be its third-straight loss to UCF and drop Tech to 3-3 all-time against the Knights; • drop it to 25-21 all-time in bowl games.
GEORGIA TECH-UCF SERIES HISTORY
• Georgia Tech and UCF are meeting for the sixth time in a series that dates back to 1996. • Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 3-2. • The Yellow Jackets won the first three matchups in the series in 1996 (27-20), 1999 (41-10) and 2000 (21-17), all at Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. • The Jackets’ wins over the Knights all came when UCF was an NCAA Division I FBS independent (the Knights joined the FBS ranks in 1996 but were not members of an FBS conference until they joined the Mid-American Conference as a football-only member in 2002). • Tech has dropped its last two meetings with UCF — a 49-21 loss to the 14th-ranked Knights on Sept. 19, 2020 in Atlanta and a 27-10 defeat on Sept. 24, 2022 in Orlando
GEORGIA TECH vs. THE BIG 12
• Georgia Tech is squaring off against a member of the Big 12 for only the third time since the conference began competition in 1996. • The Yellow Jackets’ only previous games against Big 12 competition came in 2010 and 2011, when they had a home-and-home series against Kansas. No. 15 Georgia Tech lost the first game of the series, 28-15, at Kansas on Sept. 11, 2010, but rebounded to rout the Jayhawks, 66-24, on Sept. 17, 2011 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. • In all, Tech is 16-9 against current members of the Big 12.
GEORGIA TECH IN TAMPA
• Georgia Tech is playing in Tampa, Fla., for only the third time in program history. • The Yellow Jackets’ previous two games in Tampa were both played at Raymond James Stadium, the home of the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers and site of Friday’s 2023 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. • Tech is 1-1* in its previous two games in Tampa. The Yellow Jackets defeated Clemson, 39-34, in the 2009 ACC Championship Game (Dec. 5, 2009) but lost to USF (which plays its home games at Raymond James Stadium), 49-38, on Sept. 8, 2019. * Georgia Tech’s win in the 2009 ACC Championship game was later vacated due to NCAA sanctions, making Tech officially 0-1 all-time in Tampa.
TECH NOTES vs. RANKED OPPONENTS
• Georgia Tech is 4-3 against ranked opponents under head coach Brent Key, including an ultra-impressive 4-0 record against ranked Atlantic Coast Conference competition, with three of the four wins coming on the road (26-21 at No. 24 Pitt – Oct. 1, 2022; 21-17 at No. 13/11 North Carolina – Nov. 19, 2022; 23-20 at No. 17 Miami (Fla.) – Oct. 7, 2023; 46-42 vs. No. 17 North Carolina – Oct. 28, 2023). • Tech is 2-2 against ranked teams this season after going 2-3 against ranked opponents in 2022, which marks the first time since 2008 and 2009 that the Yellow Jackets have beaten multiple ranked teams in consecutive seasons. • Key became the second coach in Georgia Tech history to ever defeat a ranked opponent in his first game as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach when the Yellow Jackets knocked off No. 24 Pitt, 26-21, on Oct. 1 of last season. Tech head coaches were previously 1-4 when facing nationally ranked teams in their GT debuts (Bill Fulcher – L, 34-3 vs. No. 15 Tennessee – 1972; Pepper Rodgers – L, 31-7 vs. No. 2 Notre Dame – 1974; Bill Curry – L, 26-3 vs. No. 2 Alabama – 1980; Mac McWhorter – W, 24-14 vs. No. 11 Stanford – 2001 Seattle Bowl; Geoff Collins – L, 52-14 vs. No. 1 Clemson – 2019). • Tech has played the No. 17-ranked team in the Associated Press poll three times this season (Sept. 16 at No. 17 Ole Miss, Oct. 7 at No. 17 Miami (Fla.) and Oct. 28 vs. No. 17 North Carolina), which marks only the second time in program history that the Yellow Jackets have played three teams in a season with the same AP ranking. In 1959, the Jackets played three teams that were ranked No. 6 in the AP poll — SMU (W, 16-12 on Sept. 26), Clemson (W, 16-6 on Oct. 3) and Georgia (L, 21-14 on Nov. 28).
CENTRAL FLORIDA KNIGHTS NOTES:
No team release available.
