Georgia Football: 3 takeaways from Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate blowout

Georgia football heads to the SEC title game with a shot at the College Football Playoff, thanks to its takedown of in-state foe Georgia Tech.

Entering this year’s Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate melee between Georgia and Georgia Tech, the road team had won each of the past five editions of the rivalry game. That trend came to an end between the hedges on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, as the Bulldogs improved to 11-1 ahead of the SEC championship game against Alabama with a 45-21 victory over the Yellow Jackets.

The win by Kirby Smart’s squad gives Georgia the first back-to-back wins in the rivalry since the Bulldogs went on a five-game winning streak under Mark Richt between 2009 and 2013. With the win, Georgia kept their chances of reaching the College Football Playoff alive. In essence, this year’s conference championship against the Crimson Tide could turn into a play-in game for one of the four semifinal spots.

Georgia Tech, down 38-7 by halftime, tried to mount a late comeback but ran far short on time as they concluded a 7-5 regular season. After missing the postseason last year, the Yellow Jackets will be headed back to a bowl game in 2018. Paul Johnson’s side nearly took down ACC Coastal winner Pittsburgh on the road, but each of their other four losses call came by double digits.

What can we take away from Saturday’s mismatch between the top-five Bulldogs and the bowl-eligible Yellow Jackets? Here are three things we learned about Georgia in their big 2018 win over Georgia Tech.