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Georgia Tech, Kentucky riding winning streaks ahead of Taxslayer Bowl clash (Dec 31, 2016)
Two teams that used strong finishes as their tickets to the postseason will clash when the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Kentucky Wildcats meet in the TaxSlayer Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Kickoff at Everbank Field in Jacksonville will be at 11 a.m. Saturday with ESPN airing the action.
The Yellow Jackets (8-4) go into the game riding a three-game winning streak and have won five of their last six games, including a 30-20 win over then-No. 18 Virginia Tech.
After falling one win short of bowl eligibility the last two years, the Wildcats (7-5) won their last two games and five of their last seven, including a 41-38 victory over then-No. 11 Louisville in their regular-season finale.
"Last season we came up short to go to a bowl game, we went 5-7, so this year all season and all summer we talked about finishing," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said, "and we're certainly very proud of the way we finished the regular season.
"This game is an extension of that so it's very important for us to try to get the victory. That could lead to a lot of momentum with the fan base, with season tickets, and with support."
Coach Paul Johnson's Yellow Jackets split their first six games, winning their first three and losing their next three.
"We started out 3-3 and kind of had a break and felt like the season was just kind of mediocre and just sitting there," Johnson said. "We got fortunate and got hot a little bit and started playing a little bit better and really finished up the season on a positive note."
Senior quarterback Justin Thomas leads Tech's triple-option attack that often is credited with causing some consternation among opposing defensive coordinators.
Johnson, however, doesn't see what all the fuss is about.
"We don't ourselves see it being all that different," he said. "We're basically an option football team offensively. We try and run forms of the option, and we change things up every once in a while.
"It's just something we've been doing a long time and something where we know what we want to do. We have an idea of what we want to do offensively."
In addition to his numbers -- 562 yards rushing and 1,454 passing -- Thomas has been a clutch performer for the Jackets. Four times in his 37 starts he has engineered last-minute scoring drives that have resulted in wins for the Jackets, including two this season.
The Jackets scored on B-back Dedrick Mills' four-yard run with 35 seconds remaining to get by Georgia Southern 17-14 in their opener in Dublin, Ireland, and on A-back Qua Searcy's six-yard scamper off a busted play with 30 seconds left for the 28-27 win over Georgia in their finale.
But the key to the season's turnaround was improved play on defense.
"Defensively, we played a little better during the back half of the year and got some turnovers and stops," Johnson said. "Early on, we really struggled on defense getting off the field."
Kentucky stumbled out of the gate, blowing a 25-point lead to lose to Southern Mississippi 44-35 in their opener and then getting demolished 45-7 at Florida. But despite losing starting quarterback Drew Barker to a back injury in their third game, the Wildcats got their season in gear by winning five of their next six games with the only loss a 34-6 setback at Alabama.
Junior college transfer Stephen Johnson took over for Barker and passed for 1,852 yards and rushed for another 278.
Of course, it helped -- a lot -- that the Wildcats also got 1,000-yard rushing seasons out of junior Boom Williams (1,135) and freshman Benny Snell (1,079) to take some of the load off of Johnson. Stoops really didn't see that coming.
"Probably not," he said. "We probably didn't anticipate that. I knew we had good depth at running back and some very skilled players. Maybe we would have had three if Jojo didn't get hurt that for a while."
That would be senior running back Jojo Kemp, who finished with 321 yards in nine games.
The TaxSlayer Bowl will be Kentucky's first bowl since 2010, which ended a streak of five consecutive postseason appearances. The Wildcats are 8-7 all-time in bowls.
Georgia Tech will be playing in its 44th bowl, which ranks 13th all-time. The Jackets are 24-19 all-time in bowls.
