Georgia Tech’s bowl destination, date and matchup won’t officially be announced until Sunday, but there is a little more clarity to the Yellow Jackets’ potential landing spots, thanks to insight this week from several bowl representatives.
While there are 11 bowl games Tech could possibly be chosen for, bowls that have agreements with the ACC to select one of the league’s 12 bowl-eligible teams, it’s highly unlikely the Jackets (6-6) will end up in at least three of those 11 games: the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Day in Tampa, Florida, the Gator Bowl on Dec. 29 in Jacksonville, Florida, or the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on Dec. 27.
That leaves the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 29, the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 28, the Fenway Bowl in Boston on Dec. 28, the Pinstripe Bowl in New York City on Dec. 28, the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland, on Dec. 27, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Dec. 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 23 and Tampa’s Gasparilla Bowl on Dec. 22 still in the mix for Tech.
On Wednesday, NJ.com reported the Pinstripe Bowl, a game played at Yankee Stadium between a team from the Big Ten and the ACC, will be selecting Rutgers (6-6) as one of its two participants. The game’s ACC rep will be either Tech, Boston College (6-6) or Miami (7-5), according to the report.
The Pinstripe Bowl is scheduled to kickoff at 2:15 p.m. Dec. 28. Minnesota beat Syracuse in the 2022 edition of the game.
Up the road in Boston, where the Fenway Bowl will be played at Fenway Park, Tech could be picked to play a morning kickoff Dec. 28 against a team from the American Athletic.
“Georgia Tech is a fantastic program with a tremendously passionate fanbase,” Fenway Bowl executive director Brett Miller said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “While it’s still too early to tell where we’ll land with this year’s matchup, we’d be honored to have the Yellow Jackets play at the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.
“We’ve had great conversations with the athletic department, and it’s very encouraging that they share our excitement about the prospect of playing a bowl game at the iconic sports venue of Fenway Park.”
South of the Mason-Dixon Line, officials from the Military Bowl, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and the Gasparilla Bowl, as well as the Sun Bowl out west, all confirmed to the AJC that Tech was an option to be selected for their respective games. Representatives from the Birmingham Bowl and the Pop-Tarts Bowl did not respond to requests for comment.
Tech played in the Sun Bowl in 2011, losing to Utah in overtime, and in 2012, beating Southern California. The Jackets would play a Pac-12 opponent if chosen for that contest which is scheduled for Dec. 29 at Sun Bowl Stadium on the campus of Texas El Paso.
Tech has never played a bowl game in North Carolina. If chosen for the Duke’s Mayo Bowl it would meet an opponent from the Big Ten or SEC at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Dec. 27.
The Jackets also have never played a bowl game in Tampa. If chosen for the Gasparilla Bowl, they could face a team from the SEC or the American Athletic. Wake Forest beat Missouri in the 2022 game which is played at Raymond James Stadium on Dec. 22.
Bowl officials who spoke with the AJC were all in agreement that there will be too many moving parts this weekend for any bowl matchup to be determined ahead of then. The result of Saturday’s ACC title game, for instance, will determine whether Florida State or Louisville ends up in the Orange Bowl and that will have a trickle-down effect of sorts as to where the ACC’s other bowl-eligible teams land.
The ACC championship is the finale of 10 games scheduled to be played this weekend, the results of which will shift the landscape of bowl placements before official announcement begin trickling in around noon Sunday.
The Jackets will be playing in their 46th bowl game in program history and first since 2018. Tech last won a bowl game in 2016.
About the Author
