Georgia Tech

Today's challenger for the UCFC is one of the all-time great college football programs: the Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech. As one of the first major football powers in the South, the richness of Tech's tradition compares favorably to almost every other school. Their gold and white uniforms, with the interlocking GT on the helmet, are one of the glories of the sport. Tech's football stadium was originally built in 1913, making it the oldest continuously-used football stadium in Division I. Tech was coached by John Heisman -- the Heisman of the trophy -- who went 102-29-7 in Atlanta from 1904 to 1919. Tech was the second team from the South (after Alabama) to appear in a bowl game; the Jackets beat California 8-7 in the 1929 Rose Bowl. Tech was also one of the founding members of the Southeastern Conference, and was a great SEC power until the early 1960's.

But after the 1963 season, Tech withdrew from the SEC. Bobby Dodd, the legendary Tech coach, pushed for this move for a number of reasons. He had a personal feud with Bear Bryant, who he considered to be a dirty coach, and he didn't want to continue playing Alabama. He also thought SEC teams had become too aggressive in their recruiting. I also feel like a cultural gap had opened up between the aggressive Northernizers who run Atlanta, and the more traditional Southerners who dominate the other SEC fan bases.

Tech's program floundered after leaving the SEC, but I suspect that had more to do with Dodd's retirement in 1966 than with a change in conference status. In fact, Dodd's basic insight -- that any Southern team would find it almost impossible to compete with Bear Bryant -- was fundamentally sound. Most SEC schools spent the 1970s getting their heads handed to them by Bryant's almost-unbeatable squads, while two major Southern independents -- Florida State and Miami of Florida -- built themselves into powerhouses. So Dodd's strategy made sense, even though Tech couldn't pull it off.

Tech eventually found its way into the ACC, and I must admit that the ACC's snobbery and elitism is a much better fit for the Atlanta types who tend to support Tech. And Tech has thrived in the ACC, winning the UPI national title in 1990 and having winning records in most seasons.

These days, the Tech coach is Paul Johnson, a triple option wizard who won a national I-AA title at Georgia Southern and who built Navy into a great power. Johnson has gone 31-16 in Atlanta, and he took Tech to the ACC championship in 2009. The Jackets got off to a 6-0 start this year, but have struggled recently in losses to Virginia and Miami of Florida. But those games were on the road, I suspect Tech will put on a better effort at home tonight.

Tech's all-time record in UCFC play is 9-8. Tech's last and longest title run took place in 1966, when the Jackets took the title in a 6-3 victory over Tennessee on October 3d, and kept it for five more weeks, before finally losing the title to Georgia 23-14 on November 26, 1966. Since then Tech has had four more shots at the title, but they've lost each of them.