Sept. 4, 2005
ATLANTA–After opening the season with an impressive road victory at No. 16 Auburn, Georgia Tech begins Atlantic Coast Conference play by hosting North Carolina in the Yellow Jackets’ home opener, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field.
A matchup between Coastal Division rivals in the new ACC, the Tech-UNC game will be regionally televised on ABC-TV.
While the Tar Heels did not play last weekend, Tech defeated the 16th-ranked Tigers, 23-14, knocking off a nationally-ranked Auburn team for the second time in three years and snapping the Tigers’ 15-game winning streak.
P.J. Daniels rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown and the Tech defense forced five turnovers to the lead the Yellow Jackets
The Tech defense held the Tigers to just 50 yards rushing while grabbing four interceptions and one fumble recovery, all in the second half, in which Auburn was held scoreless.
Daniels recorded the 11th 100-yard game of his career and scored on a two-yard run, and quarterback Reggie Ball hit Calvin Johnson for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Ball posted modest numbers, completing 17 of 36 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown but was very effective in directing the Tech offense.
“Reggie made a lot of good decisions in the ballgame,” said Tech head coach Chan Gailey. “If he continues to make good decisions, we’ve got a chance to be an effective offense, and he did a nice job with decision-making last night.”
Travis Bell added three field goals, including a 28-yarder with 1:32 left that sealed the victory.
Another positive was the play of Tech’s rebuilt offensive line.
“I thought overall, they played very well for the first game together,” said Gailey. “We can improve, and we did play as well as we need to at the end of the ballgame, but for the first three quarters, especially, they played pretty well.”
LAST MEETING WITH NORTH CAROLINA
In 2004 at Chapel Hill, N.C., North Carolina defeated Georgia Tech, 34-13, behind the running of Jacque Lewis, who had career-high 161 yards and two touchdowns, and the pasing of Darian Durant, who threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Adarius Bowman. That win snapped a six-game winning streak in the series for the Yellow Jackets, who were plagued by five turnovers.
Tech captured the last meeting in Atlanta by a 41-24 margin in 2003 as P.J. Daniels rushed for 240 yards, at the time the second-best game in school history. Reggie Ball threw three touchdown passes, and Jonathan Smith accounted for three scores as he threw a 26-yard touchdown pass off a reverse, caught a 30-yard scoring pass and returned a punt 73 yards for a score.
THE SERIES WITH NORTH CAROLINA
Georgia Tech leads the series, 20-17-3, after winning six of the last seven meetings. The series between Tech and North Carolina began in 1915 with a 23-3 Yellow Jacket victory in Atlanta.
Tech holds a 13-7 advantage in Atlanta, and the Jackets have won four of the last five and six of the last eight games at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field. North Carolina’s last win in Atlanta was a 16-13 decision in a Thursday night game in 1997, when the Tar Heels were undefeated and ranked fifth in the nation.
TECH TAMES TIGERS AGAIN
For the second time in three seasons, Georgia Tech knocked off a nationally-ranked Auburn team, this time on the road. P.J. Daniels rushed for 111 yards and a touchdown and the Tech defense forced five turnovers to the lead the Yellow Jackets to the 23-14 victory at 16th-ranked Auburn, ending the Tigers’ 15-game winning streak. The win followed Tech’s 17-3 victory over a 17th-ranked Auburn team in 2003 in Atlanta.
The Tech defense held the Tigers to just 50 yards rushing while grabbing four interceptions and one fumble recovery, all in the second half in which Auburn was held scoreless.
Daniels recorded the 11th 100-yard game of his career and scored on a two-yard run, and quarterback Reggie Ball hit Calvin Johnson for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Travis Bell added three field goals, including a 28-yarder with 1:32 left that sealed the victory.
GAILEY’S FIFTH WIN OVER RANKED OPPONENT
Georgia Tech’s 23-14 victory at 16th-ranked Auburn gives the Yellow Jackets five wins over ranked teams in three-plus seasons under head coach Chan Gailey. Four of the five victories have been on the road, including two wins last season.
Last fall, Gailey’s Jackets won at 18th-ranked Clemson (28-24) and at 23rd-ranked Maryland (20-7).
In 2002 in Gailey’s first season on the Flats, the Jackets won at eighth-ranked NC State, 24-17. In 2003, Tech knocked off No. 17 Auburn, 17-3, at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field.
Tech has defeated at least one nationally-ranked team each of the last 11 seasons.
PICK FOUR
Georgia Tech’s outstanding defensive performance in its victory at 16th-ranked Auburn was keyed by four interceptions, the most by a Yellow Jacket defense since a 1997 win over Duke.
All four interceptions of Tiger quarterback Brandon Cox came in the second half, including three in the fourth quarter. In fact, the four picks came on four consecutive possessions, beginning with safety Dawan Landry at the Tech three-yard line with four minutes left in the third quarter. On Auburn’s next possession, linebacker Philip Wheeler made a one-handed grab at the Tigers’ 26. Then Joe Anoai hurried Cox into an interception by linebacker KaMichael Hall at the Tech 26. Finally, middle linebacker Gerris Wilkinson intercepted Cox at the Tech 47-yard line and returned it 33 yards to set up the Jackets’ game-clinching field goal. Auburn’s final possession ended with the Tigers’ fifth turnover as defensive end Eric Henderson forced a Cox fumble that was recovered by defensive end Adamm Oliver.
MORE ON TECH’S DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCE
Four times in Georgia Tech’s 23-14 victory at 16th-ranked Auburn, the Tigers drove inside the Jackets’ 30-yard line, only to be stymied by the Tech defense. In the second quarter, after Auburn drove to the Tech 22, a Tiger touchdown pass was nullified by a holding penalty. Still Auburn was in field goal range with third-and-17 at the Tech 32, when Eric Henderson sacked quarterback Brandon Cox, forcing a punt.
Three more times in the second half, the Tech defense held after the Tigers drove inside the 30. On Auburn’s first possession of the third quarter, Adamm Oliver tackled Cox for a four-yard loss on third-and-one at the Tech 26, and then Cox threw incomplete on fourth down.
On its next drive, Auburn had third-and-six at the 26 when Dawan Landry’s interception at the three-yard line snuffed the threat. Then in the fourth quarter, the Tigers drove for a first down at the Tech 29 but drew a false start penalty before KaMichael Hall’s interception ended the drive.
TENUTA FACES FORMER TEAM
Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta spent one year in the same position at North Carolina before joining the Yellow Jackets’ staff in 2002.
In 2001, Tenuta’s unit, which featured NFL first-round draft picks Julius Peppers and Ryan Sims on the defensive line, ranked 15th in the nation in total defense.
BELL RINGS TRUE AGAIN
Sophomore placekicker Travis Bell has picked up where he left off last season, when he enjoyed an outstanding freshman campaign.
Bell booted three field goals to help Georgia Tech to a 23-14 victory at 16th-ranked Auburn. His third field goal came with 1:32 left to essentially seal the victory.
The former walk-on, who was placed on scholarship this fall, has missed just two kicks in 14 games. After going 15-for-17 last season, he is now 18-for-20 (90 percent) in his career, as well as a perfect 33-for-33 on extra points.
RECEIVING CORPS STEPS UP
Sophomore Calvin Johnson caught 48 passes for 837 yards and seven touchdowns in a spectacular rookie campaign in which he was named first-team all-ACC and ACC Rookie of the Year. However, Georgia Tech graduated its second and third-leading receivers from last year’s squad in Nate Curry and Levon Thomas, as well as starting tight end Darius Williams.
Other than Johnson, Tech’s receiving corps, which consists of senior Damarius Bilbo, juniors Chris Dunlap and Xavier McGuire, sophomore Pat Clark and redshirt freshman James Johnson, caught a total of six passes for 65 yards last fall. But the quartet of Bilbo, Clark, Dunlap and James Johnson (McGuire did not play) combined for 10 catches for 91 yards against Auburn, to go along with Calvin Johnson’s four receptions for 66 yards and one touchdown. Clark was actually Tech’s leading receiver in the contest with six catches.
NO ROOM TO RUN
Twenty times in 39 games under defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, Georgia Tech has held its opponent under 100 yards rushing. The Jackets are 16-4 in those games, including this year’s victory over Auburn, in which Tech held the Tigers to 50 yards rushing.
Since the start of the 2003 season, Tech has allowed an average of 100.5 rushing yards per game. The Jackets ranked 12th nationally in 2003, allowing 100.5 yards per game, and then 13th in 2004 at 104.6 yards per game.
In 2004, the Jackets held seven of 12 opponents below 100 yards. Tech limited Maryland to a net of just eight yards, which ranks as the seventh best game in school history. Tech also held Connecticut to 20 yards, Georgia to 34 yards, Samford to 42 yards, Syracuse to 51, NC State to 72 and Duke to 84 yards on the ground.
TECH’S TOP DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCES UNDER Jon Tenuta (2002-05) Fewest Rushing Yards Allowed -56 Tulsa, 2003 -8 NC State, 2003 8 Maryland, 2004 20 Connecticut, 2004 34 Georgia, 2004 40 Auburn, 2003 50 Auburn, 2005 51 Syracuse, 2004 53 Virginia, 2002
Fewest Total Yards Allowed 82 Maryland, 2004 144 Tulsa, 2003 184 Duke, 2004 211 Samford, 2004 225 Connecticut, 2004 225 Vanderbilt, 2002 226 Georgia, 2004 230 Auburn, 2003 249 Connecticut, 2002 251 Florida State, 2003
HENDERSON CLIMBS CAREER LISTS
Eric Henderson, Tech’s all-ACC defensive end, has climbed into fifth place in Georgia Tech history with 20 career sacks.
As a sophomore in 2003, the New Orleans, La., led the ACC with 11 sacks. He also set a Tech season record with 24 tackles for loss. He has 52 career tackles for loss to rank second in Yellow Jacket annals, needing just five to break Greg Gathers’ Tech record of 57.
ON THE BALL
A starter from his first game as a true freshman in 2003, Reggie Ball enters his junior season with a string of 26 consecutive starts. That ranks seventh in the nation among all Division I-A quarterbacks, but the six signal callers with more consecutive starts than Ball are all seniors.
Ball ranks fifth on Tech’s career passing list with 4,317 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Consecutive Starts by Division I-A QuarterbacksBrad Smith, Sr., Missouri 36Jay Cutler, Sr., Vanderbilt 30Charlie Whitehurst, Sr., Clemson 30Brett Basanez, Sr., Northwestern 29Ryan Hart, Sr., Rutgers 28Matt Leinart, Sr., USC 27Reggie Ball, Jr., Georgia Tech 26Bruce Gradkowski, Sr., Toledo 26
PRINCE OF A RUNNER
Senior tailback P.J. Daniels looks to return to his form of 2003, when he led the ACC with 1,447 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns and earned first-team all-conference honors. Last season, injuries forced him to miss four games and two other halves, but he managed 714 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Houston, Texas, native ranks fifth on Tech’s career rushing list with 2,527 yards, which is the 10th-best total among the nation’s active players. A former walk-on who earned a scholarship after the 2002 season, Daniels has averaged 103.3 yards per game over the 2003-05 seasons.
Daniels, a two-time Academic All-ACC selection, owns two of the top three rushing games in Tech history with 307 yards against Tulsa in the 2004 Humanitarian Bowl and 240 yards versus North Carolina, also in the 2003 season.
Tech’s Career Rushing Leaders Years Att. TD Yards 1. Robert Lavette 1981-84 914 45 4,066 2. Jerry Mays 1985-89 695 18 3,699 3. Eddie Lee Ivery 1975-78 609 22 3,517 4. Joe Burns 1998-01 614 31 2,634 5. P.J. Daniels 2002- 532 21 2,527
TRUE FRESHMEN MAKE IMPACT
Five true freshmen played for the Yellow Jackets in the season opener against Auburn, all on special teams. Last year, 11 true freshmen played for the Jackets.
Tight end Colin Peek and defensive end Michael Johnson have earned spots on the two-deep as backups but played only on special teams, as did cornerback Tony Clark and linebacker Matt Braman.
Freshman walk-on Mohamed Yahiaoui is Tech’s kickoff specialist after taking over the duties during the Auburn game.
