On Wednesday afternoon in Capitol Heights, Md., Calvin Tiggle traveled back to 1990.
He was a Georgia Tech linebacker having the game of his life in one of the more memorable and important games in school history.
“I’m getting goose bumps now from that,” Tiggle said. “It was one of the greatest feelings I’ve ever felt in my career, in my life.”
Tiggle played a starring role in Tech’s 41-38 win over Virginia, an upset over the top-ranked Cavaliers that kept the Yellow Jackets’ undefeated record intact and rocketed them toward a share of the national championship.
On Saturday, the Jackets return to Charlottesville for the 10th time since that auspicious November afternoon, bearing a No. 12 ranking and a 6-0 record. Aside from the 1992 season, when Tech visited Virginia with a 1-0 record, the Jackets have not brought an undefeated record to Scott Stadium since. Members of the 1990 team are taking note.
“You really want to get excited this year, just the same as when we were going through it, but you’re so cautious,” said Scott Sisson, whose 37-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining provided the winning margin and cemented his name in Tech lore.
Tiggle, Sisson and wide receiver Brent Goolsby did not offer much resistance to a request to re-visit the day.
“I think the most vivid memories I have are simply just remembering what a dogfight it was, and what a great and almost epic battle it was,” said Goolsby, who made a clutch third-down catch late in the game to extend a Tech drive. He recalled, too, the team buses pulling up at about 10 p.m. outside Bobby Dodd Stadium, where students had torn down the goalposts. Thousands of students and fans, some of whom had started a bonfire, cheered and chanted as players filed off the buses.
Tiggle, now the director of a community center in Maryland, contributed a fumble recovery, an interception and a diving pass breakup in the end zone from his middle linebacker spot, helping Tech recover from a 28-14 halftime deficit.
“It was like, even though they had that lead, it was like they didn’t,” Tiggle said. “We still had that belief that, we’re going to win this.”
Sisson remembered holder Scott Aldredge keeping him and his teammates loose after Virginia called a timeout to ice him.
In the huddle, Aldredge “was talking about, not, ‘We’re going to try and get this,’ it was, ‘After we make the kick, here’s what we’re going to do,’” Sisson said. “He kept saying that: ‘After we make the kick ...’” Aldredge also polled his teammates on how many diamonds they wanted in their championship rings.
Sisson, who lives in Canton with his family and runs Sisson Media, a web design company, has time-tested advice for the Jackets — one game at a time. He said that the one time that his team began focusing on a perfect record, it nearly cost the Jackets, in the form of a 13-13 tie with North Carolina two weeks before the Virginia game.
Goolsby, an Equifax employee who lives with his family in east Cobb and still holds season tickets with former teammates and their families, credited coach Bobby Ross and his staff for maintaining the team’s focus.
“You’re not going to be 100 percent all of the time, but you’ve got to find a way to get through that,” said Goolsby, echoing words that Tech coach Paul Johnson spoke this week.
The three former teammates will watch Saturday, hopeful for the Jackets to add to their chain of victories in an unfriendly location. After the 1990 win, Tech lost the next eight at Virginia before the 2009 team ended the streak on the way to its ACC championship.
“I can’t even trash talk,” Sisson said. “I can’t do anything. My mouth’s shut. It’s just, keep my fingers crossed, hold my breath, keep pulling hard.”
Etc.
After Thursday’s practice, outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu (leg) was downgraded to doubtful after being declared questionable earlier in the week. Malcolm Munroe likely will play in his place for the second game in a row. However, inside linebacker Daniel Drummond (leg) and outside linebacker Brandon Watts (undisclosed), both of whom also missed Saturday’s win over Maryland, have been cleared to play.
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