Jackets Host Heels In Key Coastal Showdown Saturday

Sept. 16, 2013

Jackets Host Heels In Key Coastal Showdown • Undefeated Georgia Tech continues a stretch of four consecutive divisional games Saturday when North Carolina visits Bobby Dodd Stadium for a 12 p.m. kickoff on ESPN.
• The Yellow Jackets are looking to move to 2-0 in the ACC, while the Tar Heels will open their ACC schedule after coming off a bye week.
• The game can be seen nationally on ESPN with Dave Pasch, Brian Griese and Tom Luginbill on the call. The Jackets will appear on ESPN again just five days later versus Virginia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Thursday night, Sept. 26.
• On the radio, “Voice of the Yellow Jackets” Brandon Gaudin has the call on the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network along with analyst Rick Strom and sideline reporter Randy Waters. The game can be heard on WYAY 106.7 FM in Atlanta, on Sirius/XM Channel 190 and on the web at RamblinWreck.com.

Quick Hitters
• It was just six games ago that Georgia Tech and North Carolina produced the highest scoring game in ACC history — a 68-50 slugfest won by the Yellow Jackets at Kenan Stadium that served as the breakout game for QB Vad Lee and helped trigger Tech’s late-season surge.
• Lee is fresh off another impressive performance in Saturday’s 38-14 win at Duke, producing all five touchdowns (four passing, one rushing) and becoming the first Tech QB since 2006 to throw for four scores.
• Lee, a dual-threat sophomore and the ACC Offensive Back of the Week, is averaging 62.5 yards rushing, 157.0 yards passing and is responsible for eight of Tech’s 14 offensive TDs this year (six passing, two rushing).
• Tech is 7-3 in its last 10 games and only 15 BCS teams have won more games over their last 10.
• Tech ranks third nationally in rushing offense (356.0), marking the sixth consecutive year the Yellow Jackets have ranked in the top five.
• Head coach Paul Johnson, with a record of 149-65 in 17 years as a head coach, is one win shy of 150 career victories. Only nine active FBS coaches own more career wins.
• Johnson is 4-1 in his career versus the Tar Heels and 16-2 in his Tech career versus North Carolina teams.
• All time, Tech leads the series 27-18-3 and has won four straight in the series.
• Since ACC divisional play began in 2005, Georgia Tech is 26-15 vs. Coastal Division opponents. Under Paul Johnson, Tech is 15-11 vs. Coastal opponents.
• Georgia Tech, which is averaging 54.0 points and allowing just 7.0 points, enters the week ranked among the top 10 in the FBS in a number of offensive and defensive statistics — Tech is the only team ranked in the NCAA’s top 5 in scoring offense, scoring defense, pass efficiency and pass efficiency defense.
• Georgia Tech is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Historic Grant Field in 2013. It is the most tenured stadium in the FBS and listed by ESPN.com as a bucket-list item for college fans.
• The Yellow Jackets have rushed for more yards than any FBS team since 2008, and in 2012, Tech surpassed the 20,000-yard rushing mark for the five-year period under head coach Paul Johnson.
• The victory over USC in last year’s Hyundai Sun Bowl was Tech’s 41st all-time bowl appearance, the team’s 23rd all-time bowl win (23-18), and snapped a streak of seven straight losses in bowl games. Tech’s streak of 16-consecutive bowl appearances is tied for the fourth-longest in the nation.

The North Carolina Series
• Georgia Tech leads the all-time series, 27-18-3.
• The Yellow Jackets have won the last three meetings, including a memorable 68-50 victory last season in Chapel Hill.
• Tech has won seven of the last eight and 13 of the last 15 meetings.
• The Yellow Jackets are 17-7 all-time at home against the Tar Heels, including a 35-28 victory in Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2011.
• Tech has won the last seven meetings in Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Jackets have not lost at home to the Tar Heels since 1997.
• The two teams have combined for more than 50 points in each of the last three meetings. Last season the two teams combined for an ACC record 118 points.
• North Carolina handed Georgia Tech its only blemish to an otherwise perfect record in 1990 when the Tar Heels tied the Yellow Jackets 13-13 in Chapel Hill. Tech finished the season 11-0-1 and earned a share of the national championship.
• Georgia Tech and UNC first met on the gridiron back in 1915. The two teams met 14 times prior to 1945, then went nearly 30 years without meeting.
• Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson is 4-1 all-time vs. UNC.
• Tech, which is playing its third consecutive opponent from the state of North Carolina, is 136-68-4 all-time against Old North State teams.
• Since ACC divisional play began in 2005, Georgia Tech is 26-15 vs. Coastal Division opponents. Under Paul Johnson, Tech is 14-11 vs. Coastal foes.

Tech-Carolina Connections
• Georgia Tech has three players on its roster from North Carolina – Vad Lee (Durham), Domonique Noble (Mount Ulla) and Tremayne McNair (Jacksonville).
• North Carolina has seven players on its roster from Georgia – Mikey Bart (Buford), Kanler Coker (Flowery Branch), Johnathan Howard (Rochelle), Nathan Staub (Buford), Junior Gnonkonde (Lakeland), Donnie Miles (Lawrenceville) and Justin Thomason (McDonough).
• Coker and Georgia Tech LB Daniel Drummond are both Flowery Branch (Ga.) HS graduates.
• Georgia Tech QB Vad Lee and Tar Heel RB Khris Francis both played at Durham Hillside HS.
• Yellow Jacket Nick Menocal and Tar Heel Nic Platt were teammates at Belen Jesuit Prep near Miami.
• Georgia Tech assistant coach Mike Pelton and North Carolina assistant Vic Koenning were on the same defensive staff at Troy – Pelton from 2001-06, Koenning from 2003-04.
• Koenning and Yellow Jacket assistant coach Dave Walkosky were on the same coaching staff at Memphis in the 1990s – Koenning from 1991-96, Walkosky from 1992-94.
• Tech assistant coach Andy McCollum and UNC assistant Ron West were on the same coaching staff at Baylor in the 1990s – McCollum was in Waco from 1993-98, West from 1993-96.