After two years in west Texas, Georgia Tech will go bowling in Nashville.
The Yellow Jackets accepted an invitation Sunday to play in the Music City Bowl against Ole Miss. The game will be held Dec. 30 at LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans.
It will be the closest that Tech has been for a bowl game since the 2008 season, when the Jackets stayed at home for the Chick-fil-A Bowl. Since then, Tech has been in south Florida for the Orange, Shreveport, La., for the Independence and El Paso, Texas, the past two years for the Sun. As the crow flies, Nashville is 1,075 miles closer to Atlanta than El Paso, which drew few Tech fans out west the past two years.
Music City Bowl president Scott Ramsey, whose game has been aligned with the ACC since the 2006 season, had targeted the Jackets for the last few weeks. It’s the first time Tech will have played in the game.
“I think Georgia Tech is one of those teams that we’ve always kind of had marked as a team that we felt like fit what we try to do here in Nashville,” Ramsey said. “A fan base that’s drivable, a great college football brand in Georgia Tech and somebody that has a historical set of rivalries with the SEC that goes back several years.”
Tech will make its 17th consecutive bowl appearance, including six under coach Paul Johnson. It’s tied with Georgia for the nation’s third-longest streak.
“To play a bowl game within driving distance for our fans, and to play a high-quality opponent in Ole Miss, is a great opportunity,” Johnson said in a statement.
The Music City Bowl held the fifth pick of ACC teams after the BCS bowls. Ramsey said that if Clemson was picked as an at-large team for the BCS – the Orange selected the Tigers to play Ohio State – “we were pretty locked in on Georgia Tech.”
The ACC’s bowl lineup: Florida State (BCS national championship vs. Auburn), Clemson (Orange vs. Ohio State), Duke (Chick-fil-A vs. Texas A&M), Miami (Russell Athletic vs. Louisville), Virginia Tech (Sun vs. UCLA), North Carolina (Belk vs. Cincinnati), Boston College (AdvoCare V100 vs. Arizona), Maryland (Military vs. Marshall), Pittsburgh (Little Caesars vs. Bowling Green) and Syracuse (Texas vs. Minnesota).
Ole Miss is No. 34 in the Sagarin ratings, one spot below Tech. Playing in the SEC West, the Rebels beat LSU but lost to Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Missouri and Mississippi State. The Sagarin ratings ranked Ole Miss’ schedule tenth in the country.
Notably, the Rebels defensive coordinator is Dave Wommack, Tech’s coordinator for 2008 and 2009 before getting fired after the Orange Bowl season.
Tech has a 10,000-ticket allotment in the 69,000-seat stadium, located in downtown Nashville. Having had discussions with athletic director Mike Bobinski, Ramsey said that “I think they feel very optimistic about that as we go into it.”
With the game on a Monday afternoon, Ramsey pitched the possibility of Tech fans coming up to Nashville for a long weekend to enjoy the city’s live music scene before attending the game.
To purchase tickets through the athletic department, fans can visit ramblinwreck.com/tickets or call 1-888-832-4849.
