TaxSlayer Bowl 2016: Georgia Tech vs. Kentucky TV Schedule, Time and Odds
Two red hot teams square off Saturday when the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Kentucky Wildcats get together in the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl.
The Yellow Jackets (8-4) finished the season on a three-game tear, upending then-No. 14 Virginia Tech in the process before capping the campaign off with a road win against Georgia out of the SEC.
Speaking of the SEC, the Wildcats (7-5) closed the year on a two-game streak, giving the program its first bowl appearance since 2010. Fans surely remember the season-ending upset of then-No. 11 Louisville.
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As far as warmups to Saturday's College Football Playoff matchups go, it doesn't get much better than this. Here is everything to know about the morning showdown.
TaxSlayer Bowl 2016
Date: Saturday, Dec. 31
Time (ET): 11 a.m.
Location: EverBank Field, Jacksonville, Florida
Watch: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Tickets: ScoreBig.com
Over/Under: 62
Spread: Georgia Tech (-3.5)
Team Injury Reports
| Jordan Woods | DL | Ques Sat |
| Jeff Badet | WR | Ques Sat |
| Jordan Jones | LB | Ques Sat |
| De'Niro Laster | LB | Out for season |
| Kobie Walker | LB | Out for season |
| Drew Barker | QB | Out for season |
| Darius West | S | Out for season |
Injury reports courtesy of USA Today.
Staying Grounded
The Yellow Jackets won't go away from what got them here, despite facing a defense that overcame Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson to close the season.
As usual, the offense leans on the triple-option look led by quarterback Justin Thomas. He attempted 134 passes this year—while the offense rushed 560 times—completing 54.5 percent of those with eight touchdowns against two interceptions.
Fans will find the signal-caller high on the lengthy list of effective Georgia Tech runners:
| Marcus Marshall | 96 | 624 | 6.5 | 67 (TD) | 4 |
| Dedrick Mills | 121 | 602 | 5.0 | 39 | 11 |
| Justin Thomas | 128 | 562 | 4.4 | 82 (TD) | 5 |
| Clinton Lynch | 35 | 392 | 11.2 | 45 (TD) | 2 |
| Qua Searcy | 41 | 271 | 6.6 | 60 (TD) | 2 |
| Matthew Jordan | 65 | 243 | 3.7 | 53 (TD) | 6 |
Impressive, though defense seemed to be the key to the Yellow Jackets forgetting about a 3-3 start and surging toward the bowl. Over the three-game tear to end the season, the defense allowed one team to breach the 20-point mark.
Of note, the Yellow Jackets held Virginia Tech to 20 points while bottling up versatile quarterback Jerod Evans, holding him to one passing touchdown against two interceptions while his ground game averaged 3.7 yards per carry.
Georgia Tech will need a similar performance Saturday to stop a strong Kentucky rushing attack. From the looks of it, though, Thomas and the Yellow Jackets head into a run-first game befitting of their style.
Making a Statement
Unlike Georgia Tech, Kentucky doesn't have a rich bowl history and often gets glossed over in the SEC.
A win Saturday would go a long way toward altering the perception around the program.
The athletes certainly deserve it. Kentucky started the season with two consecutive losses before finishing 5-2 over their final seven games, looking good in SEC play and even giving Georgia and Tennessee scares.
Quarterback Stephen Johnson turned it on to close the season, throwing five touchdowns and one interception over the final two games, both wins. This combined with an elite backfield to propel the Wildcats to a bowl.
Said elite backfield boasts a pair of 1,000-yard rushers in Stanley Williams and Benny Snell Jr. The former ran for 1,135 yards and seven touchdowns on a 7.1 per-carry average, while the latter went for 1,057 and 13 on a 5.9 mark in the same areas. Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops admits even he didn't see the duo coming.
"Probably not," Stoops said, according to Stats LLC (via ESPN.com). "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."
The strength and opponent helps create a war of wills of sorts, though Kentucky showed against Louisville the offense can produce through the air when necessary.
If Kentucky wants to use this bowl game as a turning point and start a climb, Stoops will need to have his guys prepared to do both.
Prediction
It might be easy for some to look at the conference comparison here, pair it with the fact Kentucky downed a team like Louisville, and give the nod to the Wildcats.
Look closer, though, and those picking this game will see Louisville was the only team Kentucky beat that finished with a winning record. All five losses came against programs with winning records.
In other words, Kentucky has inflated numbers going into this encounter, and it is hard to see how the defense could stop Georgia Tech from imposing its will. The Yellow Jackets make headway with too many players for the Wildcats to match and have done so consistently against better competition.
Look for the Yellow Jackets to jump out early and control the clock in this one.
Prediction: Georgia Tech 30, Kentucky 20
Statistics courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified. All betting information courtesy of OddsShark.
Follow Chris Roling (@Chris_Roling) on Twitter.
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