Tech Heads West For BYU Battle Saturday Night

Oct. 7, 2013

Tech Heads West For BYU Battle
• Georgia Tech is on the tail end of back-to-back road games and heads to BYU for the fourth all-time meeting between the Yellow Jackets and the Cougars Saturday night in Provo, Utah.
• Tech is looking to win its second consecutive game west of the Mississippi River after beating USC, 21-7, in last season’s Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
• The game can be seen nationally on ESPNU with Clay Matvick, Matt Stinchcomb and Dawn Davenport.
• 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 and on the web at RamblinWreck.com.

Quick Hitters
• Georgia Tech, which played at Miami last Saturday, will log nearly 5,000 miles over the Yellow Jackets’ only two-game road swing of the season. The Jackets are home for four of their final six games.
• Tech and BYU are meeting for the second straight season and for the fourth time in the series history. BYU won the teams’ only meeting in Provo, 24-13, that opened the 2003 season on a Thursday night.
• Tech ranks eighth nationally in third-down conversion percentage (.542), while BYU ranks 21st in third-down conversion defense (.301).
• The Yellow Jackets rank second nationally in yards per pass completion (17.94) behind only Baylor. BYU is not far behind, averaging 14.35 yards per completion.
• Saturday’s game will feature two of the nation’s top rushing offenses. Georgia Tech ranks seventh nationally in rushing (300.0 ypg) and BYU ranks 13th (277.8).
• Both Georgia Tech (20th) and BYU (24th) rank in the top 25 nationally in total defense.
• After controlling the time of possession in each of the last four games, Tech now ranks third nationally in that category (34:47).
• Senior B-back David Sims leads the team and is ninth in the ACC in rushing (65.0 ypg). Sims is coming off a two-TD, 77-yard game at Miami and ranks third in the ACC in scoring (8.4 ppg).
• Only 15 players in the FBS have scored more touchdowns than Sims this season.
• With 21.0 career sacks (2.0 this season), senior DE Jeremiah Attaochu ranks sixth all-time at Tech and is 10.5 sacks shy of breaking Tech’s career record. Attaochu is fifth among active FBS players in career sacks.
• The game matches up two of the NCAA’s active career sack leaders in Tech’s Attaochu (21.0) and BYU senior LB Kyle Van Noy (23.0).
• Both Tech (21-7 over USC in the Sun Bowl) and BYU (23-6 over San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl) won bowl games over Southern California programs last season.
• Head coach Paul Johnson picked up his 150th career win on Sept. 21 versus UNC. Johnson is 150-67 in 17 years as a head coach and only eight active FBS coaches own more career wins.
• 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.
• 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 BYU Series
• BYU leads the all-time series, 2-1, including a 41-17 Cougar victory last season in Atlanta.
• The Yellow Jackets and Cougars split a pair of meetings in 2002 and 2003.
• The last meeting came in Provo in the 2003 season opener — a 24-13 BYU victory on a Thursday night.
• Georgia Tech is 1-4 all-time against teams from the state of Utah, including an overtime loss to Utah in the 2011 Hyundai Sun Bowl.
• Yellow Jacket head coach Paul Johnson is 0-1 all-time against BYU.
• Both teams won their bowl game in 2012, and both beat teams from California in the process. Tech beat USC in the Hyundai Sun Bowl. The Cougars topped San Diego State in the Poinsettia Bowl.