Army: 6
Georgia Tech: 45

Vying for their eighth straight win, the 3rd ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets would square off with the 3-2-1 Army Black Knights in early November on the flats. It was the first ever meeting between Tech and Army and the Ramblin’ Wreck made it a memorable one, dismantling her guest by an astounding score of 45-6.

Leon Hardeman scored Tech’s first points early in the opening period on a 24 yard touchdown dash, but left the game shortly thereafter with a sprained ankle.

Late in period, the Jackets mounted a drive deep into Army territory before stalling short of the end zone at the start of the second quarter. Pepper Rodgers then hit a short field goal on the second play of the quarter to increase Tech’s lead to 10-0.

Tech regained possession just into Army territory shortly thereafter and began a drive for its third score. Averting near disaster, Bill Brigman recovered from a bad snap and hit Bill Teas for a first down at the Black Knight 34 to kick start the drive. Runs by committee moved the Jackets to the Cadet 2 yard line before Brigman finally snuck in for the touchdown on fourth down, making it 17-0.

The Black Knights answered with their lone score of the afternoon when Freddie Attaya capped off a 10 play, 70 yard drive with a 29 yard touchdown run. But Sam Hensley blocked Rox Shain’s extra point and the Jackets held an eleven point advantage at 17-6.

The Jackets came up big with just 10 seconds left in the half when Roger Frey blocked Attaya’s punt and recovered at the three yard line. One play later, Brigman found Jake Martin in the end zone to extend the Ramblin’ Wreck lead to 24-6 at intermission.

Tech continued its dominance as the third quarter opened, scoring on its first drive of the second half to increase the lead to 31-6. The touchdown came on a 12 yard pass from Brigman to Martin after a committee of running backs moved the Jackets into scoring position.

Rodgers took over for Brigman late in the period and began a 7 play, 66 yard drive that made it 38-6 early in the final stanza. Henry Humphreys accounted for the touchdown on a short run.

Later in period, Frank Givens recovered an Army fumble at the Cadet 36 yard line. The Jackets did little with reserve quarterback Jack Hall at the helm, but Rodgers came in on fourth and long to hit Mike Austin for a 28 yard touchdown for the final points of the contest.

The loss dropped the Black Knights to 3-3-1 on the season and they would go on to split their final two games to finish at 4-4-1 for the year. Tech improved to 8-0 on the season, and jumped to 2nd in the AP poll with perhaps the toughest test of the season upcoming against Alabama one week later.

Statistics:

First Downs:
ARMY – 14
GT – 16

Rushing Yards:
ARMY – 115
GT – 211

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
ARMY – 12-23-121
GT – 10-21-133

Interceptions thrown:
ARMY – 2
GT – 1

Fumbles lost:
ARMY – 2
GT – 1

Penalty yards:
ARMY – 60
GT – 90

References:
Danforth, Ed. “Tech’s Bruising Attack Scalds Army, 45-6.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 1952 Nov. 9