Top 15 Clash in South Bend

Sept. 14, 2015

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – One of the great rivalries in college football renews Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium when No. 15 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Notre Dame clash for the 35th time in a series that dates back to 1922. The game is live nationally on NBC, and can heard on the Georgia Tech IMG Sports Network, locally on 1230 The Fan 2 and 98.9 FM.

QUICK SLANTS
• Georgia Tech and Notre Dame are meeting for the first time since the Yellow Jackets’ 33-3 win in South Bend, which opened the 2007 season.
• Of the many historic Tech-Notre Dame games, this season marks the 40th anniversary of the 1975 game that helped spawn the movie “Rudy.”
• The game matches up two of the winningest active Power 5 head coaches in Brian Kelly (third, 218 wins) and Paul Johnson (eighth, 167).
• Tech is 10-13 under Paul Johnson versus ranked teams, including winning three of four in succession to end the 2014 season.
• The Jackets set a modern-day school record for points in consecutive games (134), and an ACC mark for points in a season’s first two games.
• Tech is averaging 54.4 points over its last five games (4-1) and 46.8 over its last 10 (8-2), which includes wins over Clemson, at Georgia and Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl.
• Through two weeks, only four teams remain that have not had a three-and-out possession on offense: Tech, Ole Miss, Arkansas, UConn. Last year, Tech went three-and-out on just 7.9% of its possessions, by far the best percentage in the FBS (Oregon was second at 13.5%).
• Tech is one of seven FBS teams this season to have converted 100% of its Red Zone possessions into touchdowns (12-for-12). Only Memphis has more Red Zone touchdowns (13).
• With three new starters in the offensive backfield, Tech has rolled up 915 yards rushing this season to lead the FBS. The Jackets are averaging 8.47 yards per carry (1st in the FBS) and 9.14 yards per play (3rd).
• Twelve different Jackets share the team’s 19 touchdowns this season. Graduate B-back transfer Patrick Skov, who played for Stanford last year when the Cardinal visited Notre Dame, leads Tech with four TDs and is averaging 61.0 yards rushing.
• Senior DB Chris Milton blocked a punt versus Tulane (his fourth career punt block) and the senior is the FBS’s active career leader with six blocked kicks. Georgia Tech has blocked 12 kicks since 2013 — the most in the FBS.
• The 2015 season marks the 25th anniversary of Georgia Tech’s 1990 National Championship campaign. A full season of events are planned and a special 25th Anniversary coin will be used by the game offi cials for every coin toss at home.

SERIES NOTES
• Georgia Tech and Notre Dame will meet on the gridiron for the 35th time overall, but first since 2007.
• The Fighting Irish lead the series 27-6-1 overall and 15-3 in South Bend.
• Saturday’s game marks the fourth time in the series that the teams are meeting with each ranked in the Top 25.

MORE ON THE ND SERIES
• This is Georgia Tech’s first game at Notre Dame since the Yellow Jackets opened up the 2007 season with a 33-3 victory against the Fighting Irish in South Bend.
• The Yellow Jackets have won two of the last three meetings, including a win in the 1999 Gator Bowl (35-28).
• Three of Tech’s six wins in the series have come at Notre Dame Stadium (1942, 1959, 2007).
• Head coach Paul Johnson is 1-5 all-time vs. Notre Dame — all six meetings came with him at Navy. Johnson led the Midshipman to an upset at Notre Dame in 2007, defeating the Fighting Irish, 46-44, in triple overtime. The win snapped Navy’s 43-game losing streak to Notre Dame, which at the time was an NCAA record for longest winning streak by one team over another.
• This is the first of a four scheduled games over the next 10 years between Tech and Notre Dame. The Irish will make the return trip to Atlanta in 2019 and 2024 and the Jackets head back to South Bend in 2021.

TECH AD WITH ND TIES
• Georgia Tech Athletic Director Mike Bobsinki is a 1979 graduate of Notre Dame, and a former pitcher for the Fighting Irish.
• He graduated magna cum laude from Notre Dame with a degree in business administration.

DID YOU KNOW?
• Tech is appearing on NBC for the first time since beating Notre Dame 33-3 in South Bend.
• All-time the Yellow Jackets are 4-4 on NBC.

NOTING TECH’S 2-0 START

• The Jackets’ 134 points in the first two games also sets an ACC record for most points scored through the first two games. The previous mark was held by Florida State in 2012 (124).
• Over the last 16 quarters played at Bobby Dodd Stadium, dating back to last season, Tech is out-scoring the opposition 197-32.
• Tech’s 69 points in the season-opening 69-6 over Alcorn State were second in the program’s modern-era (since 1950) behind the 70 in wins against Navy in 2001 (70-7) and Elon in 2013 (70-0).
• The Yellow Jackets did not commit a single penalty in the Alcorn State — the second time Tech has played penalty free under Johnson. The other game was against Syracuse on Oct. 19, 2013.
• Tech enters Week 3 leading the FBS in fewest penalty yards (12.0 per game).
• Tech’s 34 first-quarter points versus Alcorn State were a modern day school record for most points in a quarter — the previous record was 32 (4th qtr.) vs. Chattanooga on Nov. 9, 1985.
• The 48 first-half points versus ASU were the second-most in modern school history — the record being 52 in the first half versus Alabama A&M on Nov. 23, 2013 in a 66-7 win.
• Against Alcorn, Tech’s 10 touchdowns and nine rushing TDs each tied modern school records.
• Tech played eight true freshmen in the season openr — LB Victor Alexander, LB A.J. Gray, AB TaQuon Marshall, BB Marcus Marshall, LB Brant Mitchell, OL Will Bryan, WR Brad Stewart, DL Anree Saint-Amour.

QUICK-STRIKE ABILITY
• Of Georgia Tech’s 85 offensive touchdowns since the start of 2014, 29 have been scored in drives of two minutes or faster (34%), while 31 have come on drives of five plays or less (36%).
• This season, nine of Tech’s 19 offensive TDs have come in two minutes or quicker.
• Georgia Tech, which scored the fi rst time it touched the ball an FBS-leading 71.4 percent of the time last season, did so again Saturday for the second time in as many games this season.
• Dating back to last season, Tech has scored a touchdown on its first possession in seven of the last nine games.

BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW…
• Tech has thrown for at least one touchdown pass in 10 consecutive games, dating back to last season.
• Justin Thomas’ streak of six consecutive games with a TD pass is the longest by a Tech QB under Paul Johnson.
• Thomas’ streak is the longest by a Tech QB since Reggie Ball threw for a TD in nine straight games in 2006 — a streak that began versus Notre Dame in the season opener.

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