Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
Jacksonville, Fl–
In what was a mostly uneventful game for Kentucky today, they did give Georgia Tech a good run for their money at the end of the fourth quarter, but it was still not enough to prevent the Yellow Jackets from capturing the Tax Slayer Bowl Title today in Jacksonville, 33-18.
Kentucky started heated in this game when Head Coach Mark Stoops and Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson got into a first-half shouting match while Kentucky’s training staff tended to yet another injured player, and Stoops later let the officials have it before heading to his locker room at halftime.
When it came to the in-game action, Saturday’s bowl was all Yellow Jackets until a late Kentucky rally. Georgia Tech ran 51 times for 266 yards, led by a season-high 169 yards on 31 carries from freshman Dedrick Mills.
Kentucky trailed 23-3 early in the fourth quarter when Johnson hit a diving Dorian Baker for a 20-yard touchdown, but Georgia Tech answered with a field goal drive that milked seven minutes and 27 seconds of time off the clock.
Johnson had one more shot at the Kentucky defense when he ran down the sideline for a 21-yard touchdown run with 3:57 to play and then converted a two-point pass to tight end C.J. Conrad to make it 26-18.
The comeback sort of ran out gas, if there was any left there, however. Georgia Tech recovered Kentucky’s onside kick attempt and then hit Kentucky with the big pass play that is so lethal in Tech’s run-heavy offense.
