Auburn: 6
Georgia Tech: 7

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets would face the 2-2 Auburn Tigers in their fourth game of the 1939 season after a 2-1 start. Their lone loss on the young season came in a 17-14 defeat in South Bend at the hands of a Notre Dame squad that would sit at the #2 spot in the opening AP poll on October 16th. The Jackets won the 1938 meeting with the Tigers 7-6 to break a four-game losing streak in the series and improve to 16-23-3 all-time.

Auburn held the edge in the early going and earned excellent field position at the Georgia Tech 36 following a poor punt by Neil Cavette from the Ramblin’ Wreck end zone. George Kenmore picked up 4 yards on first down to setup a score one play later. From the 32, Kenmore fired a pass to Teedie Faulk who pitched the ball to Carl Happer near the 12 while being tackled. Happer snagged the pitch in stride and raced to the end zone for the touchdown. Dick McGowen then made what would prove to be a costly mistake when his point after attempt missed wide left, and Auburn held a 6-0 first quarter advantage.

The Tigers threatened again in the second quarter, but failed to capitalize when a 15 yard holding penalty stopped their drive at the Tech 24 yard line. The Jackets would remain trailing by six as play was halted for intermission.

After the break, the Yellow Jacket offense came alive, but failed to convert on several promising scoring opportunities. One drive fell apart when Billy Gibson lost a fumble at the tail end of a 14 yard gain. Another went awry when George Webb dropped a fourth down pass from Johnny Bosch in the end zone to turn the ball over on downs. All the while, however, the Tech defense kept Auburn at bay and continued to provide the offense with excellent field position.

Late in the third quarter, the Jackets began again from their own 35 yard line following an Auburn punt. Bosch promptly picked up 10 yards with his legs on first down, and a 15 yard roughing penalty on the Tigers placed the ball at the Auburn 40 yard line. Gibson picked up 8 on a reverse shortly thereafter and Howard Ector followed with a scamper to the Tiger 18. Several short runs gained a first down at the 8, and Gibson pushed to the 2 as the third quarter came to a close. Ector converted the touchdown on the first play of the final stanza and Roy Goree added the point after to give the Jackets a narrow one-point advantage.

The remainder of the contest saw no further scoring threats and the Jackets went on to win 7-6 for the second straight year. Auburn would eventually finish the season at 5-5-1, closing the year with a narrow 7-0 loss to 2nd-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville.

Statistics:

First downs:
AUB – 9
GT – 13

Rushing:
AUB – 201
GT – 230

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
AUB – 3-9-60
GT – 1-7-18

References:
Blake, Morgan. “Goree’s Kick Provides Margin for Jackets.” The Atlanta Journal. 1937 Oct. 29