PLENTY OF WEAPONS
The Georgia Tech defense will have enough playmakers to handle from the Ole Miss offense.
Freshman wide receiver Laquon Treadwell broke virtually all of the school’s freshman receiving records this season, with 67 catches for 557 yards and five touchdowns. Of wide receiver Donte Moncrief’s 53 receptions, nine went for 30 yards or more.
Ole Miss runs a high-tempo spread offense, similar to what Tech saw this season against North Carolina and Clemson. Quarterback Bo Wallace has completed 64.4 percent of his passes, with a 17 to 9 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions.
“They’ve got a very good receiving corps,” coach Paul Johnson said. “Their quarterback has been really, really good at times, and when he’s on, he’s probably as good as anybody.”
The Rebels have a 51/49 run/pass ratio. Running back Jaylen Walton also has big-play potential, with six plays of 30 yards or more on 124 touches. Ole Miss likely will be without running back Jeff Scott, who reportedly is not expected to play after leaving Nashville, Tenn., because of a family illness.
“Really good speed,” defensive coordinator Ted Roof said. “They’ve got some guys that are home-run hitters.”
The pressure will be on Roof and the defensive front to create enough of a pass rush without relying on blitzes.
TOUGH IN THE SECONDARY
Ole Miss free safety Cody Prewitt is someone Tech will have to monitor. Prewitt is tied for sixth in the country with six interceptions and credited with seven pass breakups. He was named a first-team All-America by the Associated Press.
At nickel back, or what Ole Miss calls its Huskie position, Tony Conner was named a freshman All-American by Sporting News with 59 tackles and six passes defended. Ole Miss typically plays something of a 4-2-5, with the Huskie being a hybrid linebacker/defensive back position, and brings its backs up to the line.
“Their secondary is awesome,” A-back Robert Godhigh said. “They’re fast. They fly to the ball, so it’s going to be a good challenge for us at the A-backs and receivers to get those blocks on the perimeter.”
The most prominent player on the Ole Miss defense is freshman defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche, a Grayson High product who was the top overall prospect in his recruiting class. Nkemdiche recorded eight tackles for loss despite missing two games. He began at end before moving inside to tackle.
The Rebels rank 39th in scoring defense, at 24.3 points per game, but played five of the top 21 scoring offenses in the country (all but one within the SEC West — Texas A&M, Auburn, Missouri, Alabama and LSU).
SPECIAL-TEAMS MATCHUP
Both teams have solid kicking games. Kicker Andrew Ritter is 15-for-21, including 7-for-10 from 40 yards and out, and recorded touchbacks on 45 of his 73 kickoffs. Punter Tyler Campbell averages 44.7 yards per punt, although the team’s net punt of 37.8 yards is fairly standard.
Tech’s duo hasn’t been shabby. Kicker Harrison Butker is 9-for-13, including 5-for-7 from 40 yards and out. He has 28 touchbacks on 68 kickoffs. Punter Sean Poole has averaged a career-best 42.8 yards and Tech also has a 37.8 punting net.
Both teams, though, have been susceptible to long returns. Tech has given up seven kickoff returns of 30 yards or more, one more than Mississippi.
Tech punt returner DeAndre Smelter has held the spot since taking it over toward the end of the season. He has averaged 12.0 yards per return. Kickoff return duties have rotated since Jamal Golden’s season-ending shoulder injury, but now fall to Jemea Thomas and David Sims. Tech has not returned a punt for a touchdown since 2009 (Jerrard Tarrant) and has not had a punt returned for a score since 2010 (N.C. State, on a block).
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
According to data reported to the U.S. Department of Education, Tech spent $19.1 million on its football team in the 2013 fiscal year, with $30.7 million in revenues. Mississippi spent $25.2 million with $41.1 million in revenues.
Ole Miss sold a school-record 50,386 season tickets this season. Tech sold 23,008. Not surprisingly, Rebels fans quickly bought their 12,000-ticket allotment for the bowl game, while Tech sold about 4,500 tickets out of its 10,000-ticket allotment.
It has been famously said that Ole Miss is so overrun with attractive female students that the school “redshirts Miss Americas.” Tech, meanwhile, is about 67 percent male.
The average SAT score for Tech’s 2012 freshman class was 1405. The average ACT score for Ole Miss’ 2012 freshman class was 23.9, which converts to an SAT score of about 1080.
Students from both schools were the stars of viral Internet videos this year. Tech sophomore Nicholas Selby’s freshman convocation speech, in which he famously encouraged students that if they wanted to change the world, “you’re at Georgia Tech! You can do that!” An unnamed Ole Miss student, in a video produced by a Texas A&M fan site, described her school’s famed tailgating scene, apparently having already consumed some liquid refreshments.
“Everyone, like, has the same mission, and the mission is we don’t care about anything but the party,” she said.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS
A few Tech players have chances to reach milestones against Ole Miss. Defensive end Jeremiah Attaochu is tied with Greg Gathers for the career sack record at 31, having piled up 10 sacks in the final five regular-season games. With 12 this season, he ranks sixth for most single-season sacks, behind Pat Swilling (15), Coleman Rudolph and Gathers (13) and Derrick Morgan and Marco Coleman (12.5).
By playing, safety Jemea Thomas will tie T.J. Barnes and Rod Sweeting with most career games played, at 54. Thomas played in the 14-game 2009 season before redshirting in the 2010 season, played all 13 games in 2011, all 14 in 2012 and all 12 thus far this season.
B-back David Sims is a monster game away from his first 1,000-yard season. He has 846 rushing yards this season, but his career best is 111 yards, and Ole Miss has allowed only one 100-yard rushing game to an opposing running back (Alabama’s T.J. Yeldon).
With 2,214 career rushing yards, he can pass Tevin Washington for 11th all-time with 12 yards. With 61 yards, he would pass a familiar name for 10th — former running back David Sims (no relation).
He also is tied with P.J. Daniels for seventh place in career rushing touchdowns with 23.
NOTABLE
- Both teams are coming off an overtime loss to their in-state rival. Two days before Tech lost 41-34 in double overtime to Georgia, the Rebels lost 17-10 in overtime to Mississippi State in the 110th Egg Bowl. On Ole Miss' possession, quarterback Bo Wallace fumbled a few yards shy of the end zone, and Mississippi State recovered to seal the victory.
- While both schools were together in the SEC from its founding in 1932 through Tech's departure after the 1963 season, the Jackets and Rebels have met only three times, only once in a regular-season game.
“Whatever is there to go to Mississippi for,” Tech coach Bobby Dodd was reported to have said. “We like to take our fans to exciting places, and Mississippi isn’t one.”
Tech defeated Ole Miss in 1946 in the only regular-season meeting between the two teams (in Atlanta) and won again in the 1953 Sugar Bowl, which capped the Jackets’ 12-0 season and was part of their 31-game unbeaten streak. Tech lost to Ole Miss 41-18 in the 1971 Peach Bowl in a rain-soaked matchup.
- Ole Miss has 12 players on the roster from Georgia. Tech has only one player from Mississippi, walk-on defensive back Jerredith Jiles. In the past 20 years, in fact, Tech has signed only two players from the state to letters of intent.
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