Georgia Tech: 24
Stanford: 14

Playing in its 5th consecutive bowl game, Georgia Tech would face the 11th ranked Stanford Cardinal on December 27th, 2001. Tech was seen as a solid underdog to the Cardinal, given that George O’Leary had departed to take the head coaching job at Notre Dame earlier in the month. The Jackets would instead be led by O’Leary’s assistant head coach Mac McWhorter. Stanford entered the game at 9-2 with losses to Washington and Washington State, while the Jackets had finished the regular season at a disappointing 7-5 after beginning the season in search of a BCS berth.

Stanford took the game’s first possession and quickly marched to the Georgia Tech one yard line. But Tech’s defense stood strong and came up with one of its best stands of the season, stopping Brian Allen on two runs from the one yard line and hitting Kerry Carter for a two yard loss on fourth down to give the offense the ball at its own three yard line.

Playing in his last game as a Yellow Jacket, senior quarterback George Godsey led the offense 97 yards in 16 plays to take a 7-0 lead. Will Glover scored on a run from 5 yards out to notch the Tech touchdown.

After little action for the remainder of the opening period, Stanford marched 62 yards to the Yellow Jacket 18 before having to settle for a 35 yard Mike Biselli field goal at the start of the second quarter.

Godsey extended the Tech lead soon after when he hit Kelly Campbell on a 34 yard touchdown strike to make it 14-3 in favor of the Jackets.

With little time remaining in the first half, Sean Gregory exploded for a 54 yard run to the Cardinal three yard line, where Luke Manget hit a 20 yard field goal with just two seconds to play to give the Jackets a 17-3 advantage at the half.

Tech’s offense did little in the third quarter, but the defense made another impressive stop, halting a Stanford drive that advanced all the way to the Yellow Jacket two yard line and forcing the Cardinal to settle for a 26 yard Biselli field goal. The Jackets would lead 17-6 with one quarter to play.

The Cardinal got its offense going early in the fourth quarter, and backup quarterback Chris Lewis hit Teyo Johnson for a 4 yard touchdown pass. Lewis then connected with Ryan Wells for a two point conversion to get Stanford within a field goal at 17-14.

But the comeback would stop here. Tech’s defense held Stanford scoreless for the remainder of the contest, while the offense added a touchdown on a two yard Kelly Campbell run with 1:29 to play to solidify the 24-14 victory.

Stanford dropped five spots to 16th in the final AP poll, while the Jackets (8-5) cracked the final rankings at #24.

Statistics:

First Downs:
GT – 20
STAN – 20

Rushing Yards:
GT – 137
STAN – 125

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
GT – 23-38-266
STAN – 17-34-225

Fumbles (Total-Lost):
GT – 0-0
STAN – 0-0

Interceptions thrown:
GT – 0
STAN – 0

Penalties (Total-Yards):
GT – 3-35
STAN – 4-20

References:
Game Summary: http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/122701aaa.html
USA Today Recap: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores101/101361/101361338.htm