Thanks to ACC expansion and a new football scheduling model, Carolina’s annual contest with Georgia Tech will be annual no more. But maybe that’s a good thing for the Tar Heels, who have had their hearts ripped out in three straight demoralizing losses to the Yellow Jackets.
In 2021, Tech hosted UNC in the Atlanta Falcons’ cavernous Mercedes-Benz Stadium and promptly routed Carolina by 23 points. Georgia Tech’s head coach that night? None other than current UNC defensive coordinator Geoff Collins.
The next year, with Collins fired and replaced by Brent Key, Tech marched into Kenan Stadium and stunned the Coastal Division-winning Tar Heels 21-17. The Jackets sprang an upset again the next year back in Atlanta, outgunning UNC 46-42. In all three losses, Carolina was ranked and Georgia Tech was not.
Josh Downs’ drop of a potential go-ahead touchdown was a defining moment of Carolina’s 21-17 loss to Georgia Tech in 2022. (Image via Associated Press/Chris Seward)
Quarterback Jacolby Criswell is no stranger to this series, having seen the first two of those three losses firsthand as backup to Sam Howell and Drake Maye. Now firmly entrenched as QB1, he said he knows the familiar sting of the Jackets, and also what those losses have meant in the bigger picture.
“We go on this big win streak, and then we play Georgia Tech,” Criswell said this week, “and everything kind of falls.”
But believe it or not, there have been some positive Carolina memories against Georgia Tech. In 2015, the Tar Heels erased a 21-0 deficit in Atlanta to win 38-31 on their way to an 11-1 regular season. For other memorable results before that, one needs to go back to head coach Mack Brown’s first stint in Chapel Hill, when his Tar Heels were up-and-comers and the Jackets were national title contenders.
“It’s been a good game for years,” Brown said. “I remember when I was here before, I think the thought was we could never beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta and they couldn’t beat us here. We tied them in 1990 when they won the national championship. Excuse me, they tied us. They had to kick a field goal to tie, and we didn’t have overtime at that time.”
That tie was the only blemish on an undefeated championship season for Georgia Tech. When Carolina did finally earn a win against the highly-ranked Jackets, Brown got caught up in the moment. Soon afterward, he received a phone call.
“We beat them here and tore down the goalposts,” Brown remembered. “They took them down to Franklin Street. And I got in trouble, because I said, ‘I’d like to see that again!’ And the chancellor called me and said, ‘We could have kids die. Don’t talk about tearing down goalposts.’”
But no one in the Kenan Football Center has more history with the Jackets than Collins, whose tenure in Atlanta saw its high point in that blowout win against Carolina three years ago. It was one of just 10 wins for Collins in three-and-a-half seasons with Georgia Tech. To describe his exit from the program and some of the ensuing aftershocks as “messy” would be putting it lightly, but Collins insisted there’s no extra motivation for him as he prepares to face his old team.
“I’ve had two years to process everything,” Collins said. “And I’ve come to peace with everything that happened. What we walked into, the efforts that we made, and then what happened at the end. I’ve come to peace and really been self-reflective of how I could have done better and what I would do the next time in similar circumstances. There’s zero ill will toward anybody on the administration, fanbase, any of those things.”
That fallout is not lost on Collins’ players, though, as defensive lineman Jacolbe Cowan said the Tar Heels would love nothing more than to earn a feel-good win for their coordinator.
“I know it was a place for him that he valued,” said Cowan. “So it’d definitely be great to get this win for him, knowing the background and history there.”
In recent years, Carolina has been the team entering this game on a high note, while the Jackets have been the underdogs. Now, the roles are reversed, with the Tar Heels reeling and Georgia Tech enjoying a positive start to the season. So if we can learn anything from history, perhaps the time has finally come for UNC to swat those pesky Yellow Jackets away.
Featured image via Associated Press/John Bzemore
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
I’m just thankful that we have a “Hall Of Fame” coach, who has won 53 percent of his conference games the past 10 years, between 4 years at Texas and 6 at UNC. They don’t have a “HOF” coach! Whew!!
But Georgia Tech did beat us with a 3rd string quarterback and an interim coach two years ago.
But Mack (as he has said 1000 times) is learning from mistakes, cutting down on penalties, experience life lessons in losses, etc., so I look for us to not allow Georgia Tech to score as many as JMU; and if we build a 20 point 3rd quarter lead, I’ll bet we won’t lose. Why? Because they don’t have a “HOF” coach, and Mack didn’t fire Brent Key like he fired Manny Diaz.