Georgia Bulldogs Face Tech for Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate

The 8-3 (5-3) Georgia Bulldogs will travel to Atlanta to face in-state nemesis in the 3-8 (1-7) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets for Georgia bragging rights.

The Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets meet once again in their annual rivalry. This year’s battle of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate will take place in Atlanta at Grant Field of Bobby Dodd Stadium. These bitter in-state rivals will square off at Noon today and the game will air on ESPN2.

For the Georgia Bulldogs, this is an important for so many reasons this year. UGA lost last year to Tech at home and Mark Richt has never lost in Atlanta to the Yellow Jackets. With how bad of a season that Georgia Tech has had, this would stand as one of the worst losses Mark Richt will have had in 15 years as the Head Coach of the Georgia Bulldogs.

-= Related: Mark Richt: Does He Have to Beat Tech to Stay? =-

For Georgia Tech, this is the program’s bowl game this year and this is the most important game on the schedule every year for the Jackets. Tech would rather beat Georgia than win the ACC Coastal and fall to their in-state nemesis. Would Paul Johnson and his team love to play spoiler and end the Mark Richt Era on their own turf? A loss to 3-8 (1-7) Georgia Tech is a loss most good coaches couldn’t come back from.

What Georgia has going in the favor are three things:

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1. UGA faced a triple option rushing attack in Georgia Southern a week before. While GSU took UGA to overtime at Sanford Stadium, the Eagles are the second best Division I team in Georgia in 2015. They will make their first bowl game since beginning the transition process three years ago.
2. Georgia still has a great shot to win 10 games in 2015. For a program that lost its best player in RB Nick Chubb to grass-like field substances in Knoxville, it’s astonishing that UGA can match its win total from the season before. A win over Tech and a bowl victory would get the 2015 Georgia Bulldogs to 10-3.
3. The entire UGA program has to know that Mark Richt cannot afford a loss to Georgia Tech this season. A defeat would certainly serve as the tipping point for the athletic department to go in another direction and pursue another head coach for their football team.

Next: Georgia Bulldogs Feeling All the Pressure vs. GT

Since this is a rivalry game, weird things will certainly happen in this game. The last two meetings between Georgia and Georgia Tech went to overtime, so why wouldn’t this afternoon’s game do the same thing and drive Dawg Nation insane? However, Mark Richt doesn’t lose at Bobby Dodd and UGA will find a way to move to 9-3 on the year in this too close for comfort football game. Go Dawgs!

Prediction: Georgia Bulldogs 27, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 21