ATLANTA (Oct. 7) Seventh-ranked Georgia Tech will play before a sellout crowd for Saturday’s Homecoming contest as the Yellow Jackets (3-1, 1-1 ACC) host Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina (1-3, 0-3 ACC) at 3:30 p.m. at Bobby Dodd Stadium/Grant Field in a regionally televised contest on ABC-TV (WSB in Atlanta).
“North Carolina is 1-3 but they have played some very good football teams–Florida State, Virginia and Clemson,” said Tech head coach George O’Leary, who is 2-2 against the Tar Heels. “They are a talented team”.
“Our players understand that it is one game at a time. This is the fifth season, and that’s the way they’re looking at it. They know what North Carolina is capable of. Films don’t lie, so I think the best thing you can do is to show them film”.
When asked about Homecoming, O’Leary joked that “the coaching staff is building a float. It’s coming along well, but they ran out of tissue paper last night.”
Georgia Tech, which has won 13 of its last 15 games, owns its highest ranking since 1991 at No. 7 in this week’s AP poll and No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll. The Yellow Jackets, featuring the nation’s top passer in Joe Hamilton (Alvin, S.C.), lead the country this week in both scoring and total offense. Tech is averaging 43.5 points per game, just ahead of second place Florida State (43.4), while the Jackets have a slightly larger lead in total offense, averaging 517.3 yards per game to 504.2 for second-place Florida.
Tech ranks seventh nationally in rushing (243.3) and 22nd in passing (274.0). North Carolina leads the series, 16-15-3, making the Tar Heels one of only two ACC teams that have a winning record against Tech, along with Florida State. Tech and UNC have split the last four meetings, with the Jackets winning 43-21 last year in Chapel Hill.
