Stats Crunch: Georgia Tech Game

Clean Old-Fashioned Hate!

Saturday marks the 114th time that Georgia and Georgia Tech will square off on the football field (not counting the two Yellow Jacket wins in 1943-44). Georgia has won 69 times in the series overall. That's the most against any opponent for the Bulldogs. The team the Dawgs defeated last Saturday is not that far behind as well.

Georgia and Georgia Tech faced each other for the first time on November 4, 1893, with Tech coming out on top. For the first part of the 20th century, it went back-and-forth. It has been a different story for the remainder of the 1900s and beyond. Here is a deeper look at the series decade-by-decade.

During this four-game win streak in the series, the Dawgs have outscored the Jacket 180 to 35. The 35 total Tech points are lower than Georgia’s low total in a single game in that stretch (38).

Last week, the offense struggled (especially in the red zone). The 16 total points scored was the lowest by Georgia since the season-opener in 2021 against Clemson. The Bulldogs scored just one touchdown in the game against the Wildcats. It was just the fourth time under Kirby Smart that Georgia won a game despite scoring just one touchdown.

Prior to the Kentucky win, the previous occasion when Georgia won a road game while scoring just one touchdown was against Georgia Tech in 2015.

Since that 2015 Georgia Tech game, Georgia’s offense in the series has been pretty good, especially in the running game. The Yellow Jackets’ rush offense has gone downhill ever since.

One player who will help in the running game is Kenny McIntosh. Last week, McIntosh had career-highs in both attempts (19) and yards rushing (143). The 143 was the 11th highest total on the ground for a Bulldog under the current head coach. The strange thing is many of these great rushing games have come against Kentucky (one has come against Tech).

McIntosh also scored his seventh rushing touchdown of the season. He, along with Stetson Bennett and Daijun Edwards, all have exactly seven touchdown rushes this season. The Bulldogs are the only team in the FBS that have three separate runners with at least seven rushing touchdowns this season. The last time Georgia had three in a season with at least seven scores on the ground was in 1971, when Andy Johnson (13), Jimmy Poulos (8), and James Ray (7) each had that many for the Dawgs. This season’s team may have a fourth, since Kendall Milton with five is not far behind.

All four of Georgia’s main rushers could play a role in this week’s game. Check out how each has fared so far this season in each quarter of play.

Edwards is close to an important milestone. He needs 20 more rush yards to reach 1,000 for his career.

Partially due to weather, Georgia’s passing game struggled against Kentucky. Bennett had season-lows in completions (13), attempts (19), and yards passing (116). The 13 completions were enough to move the signal caller ahead of some impressive Dawgs on the single-season list, while the 13 completions and 116 yards helped him reach an impressive milestone.

Bennett’s total of 3,011 passing yards moves him to third all-time in single-season passing yards by a Bulldog senior behind Eric Zeier’s total in 1994 and Aaron Murray’s total in 2013. The player in fourth place is Bennett himself. He was technically a senior last season when he threw for 2,862 yards.

Bennett also has 7,312 yards passing in his career. He is 419 yards away from Matthew Stafford’s fifth place total. Bennett also needs 37 completions to tie Stafford for fifth there as well.

Georgia’s longest pass play against Kentucky went to Dominick Blaylock. The completion late in the third quarter went for 35 yards. It was Blaylock’s longest since 2019. Ladd McConkey led the Dawgs with three receptions in the game. McConkey also leads the Bulldogs with 46 receptions this season. He is second on the team in receiving yards with 606. Brock Bowers leads Georgia with 625 yards receiving and is second in receptions with 41.

Georgia is one of four SEC teams with two players with at least 600 yards receiving (Arkansas, Ole Miss and Tennessee). Five SEC teams (Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, and Mississippi State) do not have any player this season with 600 receiving yards.

Bowers is reaching a special number of his own. The tight end needs three receptions to hit the 100-mark in his career. Georgia’s record book does not keep track of individual position reception records (that is something STATS CRUNCH will dig deep into in the future). Here is a look at Georgia’s top ten career reception leaders and what they had after their sophomore season.

For the most part on Saturday, Georgia’s defense was very strong. The six points allowed against Kentucky was the fifth time this season the Bulldogs have allowed single digit points. The 11.1 points per game allowed the season currently leads the nation.

While the 11.1 points per game is impressive, Georgia has allowed a total of nine points (three field goals) in the first quarter of play this season (11 games).

Georgia allowed 295 yards against Kentucky (99 on one drive). Since 2019, the Dawgs have had the most games allowing fewer than 300 yards in a game. Their lead in conference in that stat is more than you may think.

The Bulldogs forced just one turnover as Kelee Ringo picked off his second pass in three games for his fourth career interception.

In tough conditions, Jack Podlesny went 3-for-3 in field goals and added an extra point. It was Podlesny’s fourth game this season with at least three field goals made. He has made 20 field goals on the season. It is the 12th time a Georgia kicker has made at least 20 in a season. He also moved past Brandon Coutu and now stands in eighth place on the Bulldog career field goal list with 55. He needs one more to tie Rex Robinson for seventh place.

Georgia’s record holder in field goals is Billy Bennett with 87. He set another school record when he connected on six field goals in one game. That game was in 2001 against Georgia Tech and ended the Yellow Jackets three-game win streak against the Bulldogs.