Jackets Open 121st Football Season Aug. 31 At Bobby Dodd Stadium

Aug 22, 2013

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Tech Opens 121st Season With Elon
• The 121st season of Georgia Tech football begins on Saturday, August 31 at Bobby Dodd Stadium when the Yellow Jackets welcome Elon University for a 12 p.m. tilt.

• The game can be seen live on ESPN3.

• On the radio, “Voice of the Yellow Jackets” Brandon Gaudin makes his debut 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 the web at RamblinWreck.com and on satellite radio (Sirius 85, XM 194).

Quick Hitters
• The Yellow Jackets return 15 starters and 54 letterwinners from last year’s team that won the ACC Coastal Division, played in the ACC Championship Game and defeated USC, 21-7, in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.

• Tech is 83-33-3 all-time in season openers, including a 65-13-3 mark when opening the season with a home game. The Jackets have won five of their last six season-openers and are 4-1 in season openers under Paul Johnson.

• Tech and Elon have never met in football.

• Georgia Tech is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Bobby Dodd Stadium at 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.

• With the graduation of QB Tevin Washington, athletic sophomore Vad Lee is expected to make his first career start in the opener. Lee will be the first Tech quarterback to make his first career start in a season opener since Joshua Nesbitt in 2008 against Jacksonville State.

• 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.

• Tech led the ACC and owned the nation’s fourth-leading rushing attack at 311.2 yards/game in 2012. It marked the fifth consecutive year that Tech had finished fourth or better nationally in rushing.

• After starting last season 2-4 (1-3 in the ACC), Tech finished strong with a 5-3 record over the final eight games — including four consecutive ACC wins to claim the Coastal Division title and earn bowl eligibility.

• Tech’s consecutive bowl streak of 16 years trails only active streaks by Florida State (31), Florida (22) and Virginia Tech (20).

• The victory over USC in the 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 played in the ACC Championship for the third time since the game’s inception in 2005, and for the second time under head coach Paul Johnson.

• Tech led the ACC in both rushing and time of possession, and finished 35th or better nationally in 12 different statistical categories.

• Boasting a deep and talented backfield, Tech returns 68 percent of its rushing offense from 2012, including last season’s leader — junior B-back Zach Laskey (697 yards, 5.2 avg.).

• Senior DE Jeremiah Attaochu is fourth among active NCAA players in career sacks (19.0) and the preseason All-ACC pick needs 12.5 to set Tech’s career record.

The Elon Series
• First meeting.

• The Yellow Jackets are 42-1-3 all-time against teams currently in the Southern Conference. Tech’s only loss to a team currently in the Southern Conference came in 1983, a 17-14 home loss to Furman.

• Georgia Tech is 134-68-4 all-time against teams from North Carolina. The Yellow Jackets will play Duke and North Carolina in September.

• Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson is 3-0 all-time against Elon. All three of those games came while coaching at Georgia Southern. Johnson has opened a season against Elon previously – in 1998 his Georgia Southern team beat the Phoenix, 31-17.