Georgia: 12
Georgia Tech: 20

Having already accepted a bid to play in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, Georgia Tech would close out the regular season against the archrival Georgia Bulldogs at Grant Field. Victor in the previous four meetings between the schools, the Jackets looked to close out the regular season on a positive note against a poor 3-7 Georgia team. The Bulldogs’ victories came over Villanova, Tulane, and North Carolina, but had not won since October 24, dropping four straight since.

Midway through the opening period, Georgia’s Robert Clemens lost a fumble at the Bulldog 27 yard line. Tech advanced to the 6 before giving the ball back on a Pepper Rodgers fumble, but quickly regained possession when Charles Madison coughed the ball up at the 13. This time Rodgers led the offense to the end zone in four plays, scoring on a 1 yard sneak to jump ahead 7-0 with 8:50 left in the first quarter.

Late in the period, Tech took over on a Georgia punt to the Yellow Jacket 30 yard line. Rodgers entered to mount a drive deep into Georgia territory and Henry Humphreys scored on a 13 yard run to extend the Ramblin’ Wreck lead to 14-0.

On the first Yellow Jacket possession of the second quarter, Wade Mitchell lost a fumble to William Saye at the Tech 25, giving Georgia her first serious scoring opportunity of the day. It took 8 plays to reach the end zone, with Clemens scoring on a 1 yard run to get the Bulldogs on the scoreboard. Sam Mrvos’s missed extra point left the Tech lead at 14-6.

Shortly thereafter, Georgia was on the move again, looking as if they would score once more to tighten the contest before intermission. But then an amazing turn of events unfolded. Madison caught a Bratkowski pass and raced towards Tech’s end zone, but coughed up the ball at the Yellow Jacket 5 while trying to juke. Ben Daugherty happened to be in the right place and was able to snatch the ball before it hit the ground to regain possession for the Jackets.

Having taken the wind out of the Bulldog sails, the Yellow Jacket offense marched 95 yards in 14 plays to extend its lead before halftime. Bill Teas hit Jimmy Durham on a running touchdown pass for the score with just second remaining and Tech was ahead 21-6 at the break.

The third quarter passed with little action before the Jackets took over at Georgia’s 49 late in the period. They traveled the distance in 9 plays with Rodgers finding Henry Hair on a 14 yard touchdown pass that made it 28-6 early in the fourth period.

Georgia answered with their second score of the game after a roughing the kicker penalty moved them to the Tech 34. Howard Kelly scored on a short run shortly thereafter, but another missed extra point left the score at 28-12.

The Bulldogs had one more chance at a score, but eventually turned the ball over on downs at the Yellow Jacket 22, setting the stage for Tech to burn the remaining minutes off the clock.

With the victory, the Jackets jumped to 8th in the final AP poll on the following Monday and looked to extend their bowl winning streak to five games when they would face the 10th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers a month later in the Sugar Bowl.

Statistics:

First downs:
UGA – 11
GT – 25

Rushing Yards:
UGA – 114
GT – 270

Passing (Comp-Att-Yds):
UGA – 9-18-109
GT – 10-17-131

Interceptions thrown:
UGA – 2
GT – 0

Fumbles lost:
UGA – 4
GT – 3

Penalty yards:
UGA – 20
GT – 50

References:
Danforth, Ed. “Tech Rolls Past Bulldogs, 28-12.” The Atlanta Journal Constitution. 1953 Nov. 29