It is a special and fun time of year, college football fans from all over nation waited all year long, and now its finally here, its bowl time! 8 ACC teams made the cut and are ready to spend their Christmas/New Years at a bowl game. On New Years Eve, the 11th annual Humanitarian Bowl, (formerly known as the MPC Computers Bowl) will take place in Boise Idaho. The ACC representative is Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets finished the season at 7-5, and 4-4 in the ACC. The Jackets are no stranger to the blue turf in Boise. GT defeated Tulsa 52-10 in the Humanitarian Bowl in 2002. Tech’s opponent is Fresno State, out of the WAC conference. The Bulldogs come in with an identical 7-5 record. State closed the season on a hot streak winning 3 out of their last four. The Bulldogs are also no stranger to this game. Back in 2004, they defeated Virginia 37-34 in overtime. The last time these two teams met was back in 2007 in the Silicon Valley Classic. The Bulldogs got the better of that affair, 31-20. These teams know little about each other; not a single player from the ’02 squads remains for either team. Lucky for you, I know plenty about both of them.
Scouting the Bulldogs:
Fresno State battled injuries all season and a 1-2 start to the year to finish third in the Western Athletic Conference and earn its eighth postseason appearance in nine years. Fresno State went 4-8 last year, but turned it around to 8-4 this season with competitive losses to Hawaii, Boise State and Texas A&M (in triple overtime). Head Coach Pat Hill loves playing against teams from BCS conferences, seeing them as a great opportunity to put his program on the map, and earn some respect.
Scouting the Yellow Jackets:
An 11th consecutive bowl berth wasn't enough to satisfy the Georgia Tech fan base, which resulted in the firing of 6 year head coach, Chan Gailey. Gailey led the Yellow Jackets to bowl games in each of his six seasons, but he never beat Georgia and never won more than nine games in any season. While the search for Gailey's replacement continues, defensive coordinator John Tenuta will coach the Yellow Jackets in the bowl game. The Jackets are lead offensively, by running back Tashard Choice. Choice is the first GT player with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He should be at full strength after a month's rest. This year he has averaged an ACC-best 119 yards per game.
My Call:
Georgia Tech is obviously not thrilled to spend their holiday in Boise. No ACC team would be for that matter. The distractions of not having Chan Gaily on the sidelines will come into play, but not enough for Fresno to pull out the win.
Final score, Georgia Tech 24, Fresno State 17.
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