Sept. 11, 2005
ATLANTA–After opening Atlantic Coast Conference play with a victory, 16th-ranked Georgia Tech (2-0, 1-0 ACC) steps out of conference to host undefeated Connecticut (2-0) Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field. Kickoff is at 6:45 p.m. ET, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Georgia Tech moved to 2-0 with a 27-21 victory over North Carolina in which Reggie Ball passed for a career-high 320 yards and accounted for three touchdowns. For the season, Ball is averaging 247.0 yards passing and 266.0 yards of total offense. He has accounted for four touchdowns while throwing just one interception.
Damarius Bilbo recorded career highs with eight catches for 131 yards and Calvin Johnson added six catches for 114 yards as nine different Yellow Jackets caught passes against the Tar Heels, including Ball, who had a 33-yard catch from Bilbo. P.J. Daniels led the ground game with 103 yards rushing and had a five-yard TD catch. Ball also hit Bilbo for a 48-yard touchdown and scored on a 12-yard run.
Middle linebacker Gerris Wilkinson is the leading tackler (19) on a Tech defense that forced eight turnovers and held its two opponents to an average of 55.0 yards rushing.
Connecticut, coached by former Tech defensive coordinator Randy Edsall, is off to an eye-catching start. The Huskies have won their first two games over Buffalo and Liberty by a cumulative score of 97-0.
JACKETS IN THE RANKINGS
Georgia Tech moved into the national rankings for the first time the week of Sept. 4 at No. 17 in the Associated Press poll and No. 21 in the USA Today coaches’ poll. This week, the Yellow Jackets moved up to No. 16 by AP and No. 18 by USA Today.
Before this season, the last time Tech was ranked was the final poll of the 2001 season, when the Jackets were No. 24 by AP. No. 16 is the highest the Yellow Jackets have been in either poll since Tech achieved a No. 15 ranking in both polls the week of Oct. 7, 2001.
LAST MEETING WITH CONNECTICUT
In 2004 in Atlanta, Reggie Ball passed for a then-career high 288 yards and two touchdowns and the Georgia Tech special teams blocked two punts to back a strong effort by the Yellow Jackets’ defense in a 30-10 victory over Connecticut. Ball completed 22 of 28 passes, including six completions for 131 yards to Calvin Johnson. The Tech defense held the Huskies to 225 total yards, including just 20 yards rushing. Freshman Djay Jones recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown and then blocked a punt of his own to set up a field goal.
THE SERIES WITH CONNECTICUT
Georgia Tech leads the series, 2-0. The two schools, who played for the 2004 NCAA men’s basketball title, first met on the gridiron in 2002, when Tech defeated the Huskies, 31-14, at Memorial Stadium in Storrs, Conn. Tony Hollings rushed for 144 yards and four touchdowns on just 16 carries to lead the Jackets. Then last year, Tech won 30-10 as Connecticut made the first of its two trips to Atlanta.
EDSALL RETURNS TO TECH
Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall spent one season (1998) as Georgia Tech’s defensive coordinator before taking the reins of the Connecticut program in 1999. Edsall helped Tech to a 10-win season that year, capped by a victory over Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.
Edsall is one of two former Tech defensive coordinators that the Yellow Jackets will face this season. His successor at Tech, Ted Roof, is now the head coach at Duke. Since 2001, Tech has played 10 games against former assistants, posting a 6-4 record (Edsall, 2-0, Roof, 1-1; Ralph Friedgen, Maryland, 2-2; Gary Crowton, BYU, 1-1).
ON THE BALL
Junior quarterback Reggie Ball has gotten off to a strong start, including his outstanding performance in Georgia Tech’s win over North Carolina. Ball recorded career highs for passing yards (320) and total offense (340) and accounted for three touchdowns against the Tar Heels. He threw two touchdown passes, scored on a 12-yard run and caught a 33-yard pass from Damarius Bilbo to set up a field goal.
Ball’s 320 yards passing is the best game by a Tech quarterback since George Godsey threw for a school-record 486 yards against Virginia in 2001.
In his last three games, including his MVP performance in the Champs Sports Bowl, Ball has averaged 233.7 yards passing and 259.0 yards of total offense per game while completing 52 percent (53-102) of his passes, with five TD passes, two touchdowns rushing and two interceptions.
JACKETS SECOND IN THE NATION IN TURNOVER MARGIN
After collecting seven interceptions in two games, Georgia Tech is second in the nation in turnover margin at +3.50 per game. The Jackets trail North Texas, which forced five turnovers in its only game.
Tech forced five turnovers in its season-opening win over Auburn with four interceptions and a fumble recovery, all in the second half. The Jackets added three interceptions against North Carolina, again all in the second half. Tech’s lone turnover in the two games was an interception against Auburn.
D-BO BREAKS OUT
Senior Damarius Bilbo proved that Georgia Tech’s receiving corps is more than just Calvin Johnson with a breakout game in the Yellow Jackets’ victory over North Carolina. The former quarterback caught eight passes for 131 yards, including a spectacular 48-yard touchdown catch that was the No. 3 Top Play of the Day on ESPN.
Entering the game, Bilbo had eight catches for 108 yards in his career as a wide receiver, covering two seasons and one game.
But Bilbo proved that he can still throw. He took a pitch from quarterback Reggie Ball and rolled right before hitting Ball across the field for a 33-yard completion.
The game was especially gratifying for Bilbo, who is from Moss Point, Miss., on the Gulf Coast. His mother, Deborah Coney, was able to attend the game after listening to the Tech-Auburn game on her car radio due to the power outages.
BEN BOOMS
Punter Ben Arndt has developed into a reliable weapon for the Yellow Jackets. The senior from Young Harris, Ga., is averaging 45.0 yards per kick with four of his 12 punts downed inside the 20. Arndt leads the ACC and ranks ninth nationally in punting average, while Tech’s net of 40.08 per punt is third in the ACC and 14th in the nation.
LANDRY LEADS ACC
Free safety Dawan Landry leads the ACC in interceptions with two (tied for fourth in the nation). The senior from Ama, La., sealed Georgia Tech’s 27-21 victory over North Carolina with an interception in the final seconds. One week earlier, he had the first of Tech’s four interceptions against Auburn with his leaping pick at the Tech three-yard line.
Landry is in his third year as a starter in the Tech secondary, moving to free safety this season after two years at strong safety. He came to Tech as a left-handed quarterback before moving to defense as a redshirt freshman.
Dawan’s brother LaRon Landry is a starting safety at LSU.
ANOAI COUSINS
Defensive tackles Joe Anoai of Georgia Tech and Afa Anoai of Connecticut are first cousins. Their fathers, Sika and Afa were professional wrestlers who formed the championship tag team of “The Wild Samoans.” Joe’s older brother, Matt, is also a professional wrestler known as “Rosey.”
CENTURY MARK, TIMES THREE
For just the second time in school history, Georgia Tech had two 100-yard receivers (Damarius Bilbo and Calvin Johnson) and a 100-yard rusher (P.J. Daniels) in the same game in its victory over North Carolina.
Bilbo had a career-high 131 yards receiving, and Johnson added 114 yards. Two 100-yard receivers in the same game has happened several times in Tech history, most recently last year against Clemson (Johnson and Levon Thomas). But Daniels added 103 yards rushing against the Tar Heels. The only other time that Tech also had a 100-yard rusher in a game with two 100-yard receivers was Nov. 15, 1997 against Duke. In that 41-38 Tech victory, Harvey Middleton caught seven passes for 106 yards, and Derrick Steagall added six catches for 125 yards, while Charles Wiley rushed for 125 yards on 20 carries.
PRINCE OF A RUNNER
Senior tailback P.J. Daniels looks like the Daniels 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, and he managed 714 yards and eight touchdowns.
But he has topped 100-yards in both games of 2004, going for 111 yards against Auburn and 103 against North Carolina. He actually has three straight 100-yard games, including his 119-yard performance in the Champs Sports Bowl.
The Houston, Texas, native ranks fifth on Tech’s career rushing list with 2,630 yards, and he needs just five yards to pass current Buffalo Bill Joe Burns (2,634) for fourth place. 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, had two of the top three rushing games in Tech history in the 2003 season with 307 yards against Tulsa in the Humanitarian Bowl and 240 yards versus North Carolina.
Tech's Career Rushing Leaders Years Att. TD Yards1. Robert Lavette 1981-84 914 45 4,0662. Jerry Mays 1985-89 695 18 3,6993. Eddie Lee Ivery 1975-78 609 22 3,5174. Joe Burns 1998-01 614 31 2,6345. P.J. Daniels 2002- 553 21 2,630
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. He added two field goals against North Carolina.
He is currently third in the ACC (sixth in nation) in field goals with 2.50 per game and second in the league in scoring at 10.0 points per game.
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 20-for-22 (90.9 percent) in his career, as well as a perfect 36-for-36 on extra points.
