There will be Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate tomorrow afternoon in Atlanta when No. 4 Georgia and No. 23 Georgia Tech meet in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Now, ahead of kickoff tomorrow in this neutral-site edition of the game, those on the ‘College GameDay Podcast’ have made their picks between UGA and GT.
ESPN’s Rece Davis and Dan Wetzel previewed and picked the game between the Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets. Davis began that by noting the recent poor play for Georgia Tech, especially after their two-score loss last weekend to Pittsburgh. So, with that likely ending their hopes of making the playoff, they’ll have to settle for harming those same hopes for Georgia.
“Georgia Tech had a devastating loss, probably going to keep the Yellow Jackets from going to the ACC Championship by losing against Pitt. That one probably didn’t hurt the heart as much as the eight overtime loss against Georgia last year in a game that they completely squandered,” said Davis. “They’ll have a chance to sort of stick it to the ‘Dawg’s resumé on Friday afternoon.”
As for selections, Wetzel went first with Georgia. He thinks the Yellow Jackets can be dangerous in this spot, and certainly so in a rivalry game, but that they haven’t played well enough this month for him to expect them to win over the Bulldogs.
“You got to take Georgia. I mean, obviously. Georgia Tech has just not been good lately – the NC State game, the Boston College game, and then the loss last week (to Pittsburgh). I think it’s going to be a good game, though,” said Wetzel. “I think that Georgia Tech will be fired up – Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. Haynes King would make me nervous if I’m a Georgia fan. And Georgia Tech still has something to play for here. But, you know, it’s in The Dome, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. There’ll be a lot of Georgia fans there, I’m sure. I’ll take Georgia to win the game, but it’s a pretty good one.”
Davis then did the same in going with the ‘Dawgs. He also expects a competitive, play-for-pride kind of effort in this rivalry game by GT, but, in the end, the outcome will still go to UGA, who’ll then sit and wait to see if they’ll be waiting for a spot in the SEC Championship or go straight into the College Football Playoff.
“I think, based on what happened to Georgia Tech against Pittsburgh, and then the way they played against Boston College, it would be real easy to say lay ’em and laugh. But this feels like sort of a last stand, and a bit of a face-saving type of game for Tech,” Davis said. “They’re not going to push Georgia to the brink the way they did last year, but I do think that Tech will hang in there, they’ll fight to the bitter end. Probably be close enough, if you like to play games of chance and you were right on it…But, I’ll take the ‘Dawgs to win that one as well.”