Sept. 30, 2001
ATLANTA – Seventeenth-ranked Georgia Tech looks to rebound from its first Atlantic Coast Conference loss in more than a year as the Yellow Jackets (3-1, 0-1 ACC) travel to Duke (0-4, 0-2 ACC) Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The game will not televised but can be heard on the Georgia Tech ISP radio network, including Atlanta flagship WQXI-AM 790 The Zone, featuring the call of Wes Durham and Kim King.
“It was a tough loss against Clemson, but there are corrections that can be made and need to be made,” said Tech head coach George O’Leary following his team’s 47-44 overtime loss to the Tigers.
“We need to play one game at a time, just like I’ve been saying all along. We just need to regroup and correct the mistakes. We’ve got a lot of the football left and we’ll just continue to work.”
Georgia Tech is ranked 17th in both polls. Duke carries a 16-game losing streak into the contest.
Senior quarterback George Godsey (Tampa, Fla.) ranks second in the nation in pass efficiency with a 180.4 rating. He is 54-for-78 (69.2 percent) for 820 yards with six touchdowns and just one interception. He leads an offense that ranks eighth in the nation in scoring, averaging 40.5 points per game.
Godsey is surrounded by a talented cast of skill players, including the one-two punch of all-ACC receiver Kelly Campbell (Atlanta, Ga.) in the passing game and junior tailback Joe Burns (Thomasville, Ga.) in the running game.
Campbell is the ACC’s leading receiver with 19 catches (6.3 per game) for 313 yards (104.3 per game) and two touchdowns. Sophomore Jonathan Smith (Argyle, Ga.) is developing into another go-to receiver and has 15 catches for 186 yards and one score.
Burns is the backfield workhorse with 336 yards rushing and six touchdowns on 80 attempts. Junior Sidney Ford (Lindale, Ga.) has shown promise, rushing for 233 yards and a team-leading 5.2-average with one TD.
The Tech defense is led by the all-star defensive end tandem of junior Greg Gathers (LaPlace, La.) and senior Nick Rogers (East Point, Ga.). Gathers leads the Jackets with five sacks, nine tackles for loss and two fumbles caused. Rogers adds four tackles for loss and one sack.
Placekicker Luke Manget, a junior from Conyers, Ga., is one of the nation’s best. He is perfect on extra points (18-for-18) and 6-for-7 on field goals, including four three-pointers against Clemson.
GEORGIA TECH VS. DUKE
Georgia Tech has won six in a row and 10 of the last 11 meetings with Duke to take a 38-29-1 lead in the series, which began in 1933. Tech won last year’s game, 45-10 in Atlanta. Duke’s only victory in the 1990s was a 27-12 decision in Atlanta in 1994. Tech head coach George O’Leary is 6-0 against the Blue Devils.
Tech has won the last five games at Wallace Wade Stadium, including a 38-31 decision in 1999 in the last meeting there. Duke’s last victory over Tech in Durham was in 1989 by a 30-19 score.
The two teams have met every year since 1933, a string of 68 consecutive games that makes this series the Yellow Jackets’ second-oldest continuous rivalry, behind only the Tech-Georgia rivalry. The only schools that Tech has played more than Duke (68 times) are Georgia (95) and Auburn (90).
LAST TIME OUT
In a game that featured 10 lead changes, Woodrow Dantzler’s 11-yard run in the first overtime gave 25th-ranked Clemson a 47-44 victory over ninth-ranked Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field. Amazingly, it was the sixth straight year that the Tech-Clemson game has been decided by exactly three points.
Trailing 34-26 in the fourth quarter, Tech took a a 38-34 lead with less than four minutes to play on touchdown runs by Joe Burns and Sidney Ford. But Clemson answered by converting a fourth-and-13 into a 63-yard touchdown pass from Dantzler to J.J. McKelvey with 1:58 to play. Tech quarterback George Godsey, who was 17-for-26 for 216 yards and two touchdowns, then directed an 87-yard, 10-play drive to set up Luke Manget’s game-tying 20-yard field goal with six seconds left.
Tech had the ball first in overtime but had to settle for another Manget field goal, and then Dantzler scored for the win.
ROOF, MCWHORTER FACE FORMER TEAM
Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Ted Roof and offensive line coach Mac McWhorter are former assistants at Duke.
Roof spent four seasons in Durham, coaching the Blue Devils’ outside linebackers from 1990-93 on Barry Wilson’s staff. McWhorter was also on the Duke staff in 1990, coaching the offensive line.
A MODEL OF EFFICIENCY
Quarterback George Godsey currently ranks second in the nation in pass efficiency with a rating of 180.4. He has completed 69 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and just one interception.
Godsey’s efficient performance in Tech’s first four games has boosted his career pass efficiency rating to 151.19-the highest mark in Atlantic Coast Conference history. He is currently just ahead of 2000 Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke.
CAREER PASS EFFICIENCY Years Rating1. George Godsey, Georgia Tech 1998- 151.192. Chris Weinke, Florida State 1997-00 151.153. Joe Hamilton, Georgia Tech 1996-99 148.194. Thad Busby, Florida State 1994-97 144.89
COOL HAND LUKE
Junior placekicker Luke Manget continues to add to his Atlantic Coast Conference record for consecutive extra points, which now stands at 109-every one he has ever attempted.
Manget, whose total includes a school-record 10 PAT against Navy, surpassed the previous ACC record of 93 in a row by Jess Atkinson of Maryland (1981-84). He broke the former Tech record of 70 in a row by career scoring leader Scott Sisson (1989-91) in just 17 games.
The NCAA record for consecutive extra points is 161 by John Becksvoort of Tennessee (1991-94).
CAMPBELL EYES ANOTHER RECORD
Already Georgia Tech’s career leader in receiving yards (2,512) and touchdown catches (23), Kelly Campbell is now eyeing the school record for receptions. The senior wide receiver has 158 receptions and needs just eight to catch record-holder Harvey Middleton (165).
In ACC annals, Campbell ranks eighth in receiving yards, 10th in touchdown receptions and 18th in receptions.
BURNS BURNS BRIGHT
Junior tailback Joe Burns is Georgia Tech’s leading rusher with 336 yards, a 4.2 average and six touchdowns. He recorded the seventh 100-yard game of his career with 126 yards against Clemson.
Burns, who currently ranks third in the ACC in rushing, has raised his career rushing total to 1,805 yards, good for seventh place in Tech history.
He also ranks second with 23 career rushing touchdowns and fifth with 25 touchdowns overall.
CAREER RUSHING Years Yards Needs 1. Robert Lavette 1981-84 4,066 2,262 2. Jerry Mays 1985-89 3,699 1,895 3. Eddie Lee Ivery 1975-78 3,517 1,713 4. C.J. Williams 1994-96 2,365 561 5. David Sims 1974-76 2,274 470 6. William Bell 1989-93 2,026 222 7. Joe Burns 1998- 1,805
BURNS RUNS HARD IN FOURTH QUARTER
Junior tailback Joe Burns has been at his best in the fourth quarter this season, gaining 140 yards on 24 carries in two games.
Burns rushed 13 times for 66 yards in the fourth quarter against Clemson, including a one-yard touchdown run. Against Syracuse, he gained 71 of his 113 yards on Tech’s final clock-consuming drive, which ended just shy of the goal line as time ran out.
Burns did not play in the fourth quarter of lopsided wins over Citadel and Navy.
GATHERS GATHERS SACKS
Defensive end Greg Gathers is making his mark as one of the most prolific pass rushers in school history. With five sacks in the first four games, the junior all-America candidate has passed former NFL All-Pro Pat Swilling for third place in Tech history with 25 career sacks. Only all-Americas Coleman Rudolph and Marco Coleman had more. Gathers also ranks third, behind Rudolph and Coleman, with 47 tackles for loss.
Gathers, ranked third in the nation last season with 13 sacks, was named to the preseason Rotary Lombardi Award Watch List for the nation’s top lineman/linebacker. He is also a preseason second-team all-America and first-team all-ACC selection by Athlon Sports and Lindy’s.
CAREER LEADERS: QB SACKS1. Coleman Rudolph 1989-92 28.52. Marco Coleman 1989-91 27.53. Greg Gathers 1999- 254. Pat Swilling 1982-85 23
CAREER LEADERS: TACKLES FOR LOSS 1. Coleman Rudolph 1989-92 52 2. Marco Coleman 1989-91 50 3. Greg Gathers 1999- 47
CAMPBELL, BURNS FIND THE END ZONE
Wide receiver Kelly Campbell and running back Joe Burns are among the most prolific players in Georgia Tech history in scoring touchdowns.
Already Tech’s career leader in receiving touchdowns by a wide margin with 23, Campbell is tied for third overall with 26 touchdowns scored, trailing only Robert Lavette (46) and Jerry Mays (28). Burns is right behind with 25 touchdowns scored.
Burns’ 23 rushing touchdowns is second in Tech history but well behind Lavette’s record of 45.
