The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, December 21, 2018, Image 13

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The times., December 21, 2018, Image 13

About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2018)

Page of 20

Prev Issue Next Issue

Text PDF JP2 (3.0 MB) Clip/Print Image

Page of 20

Prev Issue Next Issue

Return to Top

Newspaper Page TextCOLLEGE FOOTBALL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Georgia Tech adds 18th player to early signing class Newly hired coach Geoff Collins has added a sec ond tight end, Tyler Davis, a graduate transfer from UConn, to Georgia Tech’s class of early signees. The addition of Davis (6-foot-4, 243) on Thursday gives Collins, the former Temple coach, 18 players in his first signing class. The early signing period contin ues through Friday. Davis had 22 catches for 237 yards and six touch downs as a junior in 2018. On Wednesday, Collins signed tight end Dylan Deveney. Georgia Tech did not use tight ends while running the spread option offense under coach Paul Johnson the last 11 years. Johnson is continuing to coach the team through the Quick Lane Bowl against Minnesota on Dec. 26. Associated Press Georgia’s season openers in 2022, 2024 to net $2M in additional revenue Georgia’s season-opening football games at Mercedes- Benz Stadium in the 2022 and 2024 seasons should bring the school about $2 million more in revenue than a home game in San ford Stadium. Georgia and Clemson will each receive a minimum of $5 million for opening the 2024 season in the Chick-fil- A Kickoff Game in Atlanta, according to a contract with Peach Bowl Inc., obtained by the Athens Banner-Her ald from Clemson in an open records request. Georgia also will receive $5 million for playing Ore gon in 2022, according to UGA athletic director Greg McGarity. Oregon will get $4.5 million for that game, according to the Oregonian. Georgia made about $2.94 million per nonconference home game in 2018. The school paid out $4 million total in guarantees for non conference matchups with Austin Peay, Middle Ten nessee, UMass and Georgia Tech but brought in $15.74 million in projected ticket revenue, according to infor mation provided to the UGA athletic board last May. When Georgia hosts Notre Dame next September, the revenue would be “much more significant,” than the 2017 home games because of about 7,500 tickets sold to the visiting team at a higher price, McGarity said. The contract with Peach Bowl Inc. lays out the terms of the Aug. 31 2024 game in Atlanta. The schools will get $5 million each or 80 percent of the agreed upon ticket rev enue that each school sells from its allotted tickets if it’s more than that. Each school will be obligated to sell or purchase 28,500 tickets for the game, according to the contract dated Aug. 30,2018. The schools each may also request an additional 1,500 tickets. As reported in 2017, Geor gia will receive a minimum guarantee of $4.25 million for a 2020 game with Vir ginia in Atlanta and that could jump to $4.58 million based on tickets sold. Athens Banner Herald WEDNESDAY’S L7\TE BOWL GAME Ohio rolls past San Diego State, 27-0 Ohio running back A.J. Ouellette doesn’t think of Frank Solich as the oldest head coach in FBS. He sees him as the guy who stuck around a smaller program long enough to run it for going on 15 years. Ouellette gave Solich and the Bobcats a little some thing to build on in his final game. The senior had his fourth straight 100-yard game with 164 yards rush ing, quarterback Nathan Rourke accounted for all three touchdowns and Ohio rolled to a 27-0 victory over San Diego State in the driz zly Frisco Bowl on Wednes day night. Ohio (9-4) finished with six wins in seven games and won a second straight bowl game under Solich, who became the oldest head coach in FBS at 74 before bowl season when 79-year- old Bill Snyder retired at Kansas State. Associated Press Friday, December 21, 2018 3B Alabama fans cheer Hurts on field, stage Press JOHN BAZEMORE I Associated Press Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts (2) celebrates his touchdown against Georgia during the second half of the Southeastern Conference championship on Dec. 1 in Atlanta. MARK WALLHEISSER I The Associated Press Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks (13), rear, helps Florida wide receiver Trevon Grimes (8) celebrate his touchdown in the second half against Florida State on Nov. 24 in Tallahassee, Fla. They cheered Jalen Hurts as he picked up his diploma, and applauded his every big play this season. Sometimes, Alabama fans gave the backup quarterback a nice hand for even stepping on the field — especially for his fifth game, which assured that he wasn’t leaving, at least not right away. So if he decides to leave Alabama after the play offs, there probably would be no booing from Crim son Tide faithful. Even before Hurts came off the bench to lead Alabama to a comeback win over Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game, his popularity only seemed to grow since his role shrank. “Jalen is a special guy. Everybody knows that,” said Alabama tailback Damien Harris, Hurts’ roommate. “The charac ter he embodies, the way that he has handled this entire situation has been remarkable.” Backup quarterbacks are often popular among fans when the starter is struggling. Hurts, how ever, found himself as the understudy to Tua Tagovailoa , who wound up as the Heisman Trophy runner-up. He stuck it out while other players like ex- Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant opted to transfer instead of burn ing a year of eligibility. Associated Press Amari Rodgers was a freshman trying to fit into Clemson’s plans a year ago when the Tigers opened practice for the College Football Playoff. He didn’t have to go far to have any questions answered. “Last year, it was my first time, so I was kind of asking around, Deon Cain and Ray Ray (McCloud), how they prepared for it because they won a national championship the year before,” Rodgers said. “So I just followed their ways.” This time around, Rodg ers will be able to do some of the leading. The sophomore receiver is among 21 of 22 starters for the Tigers with playoff experience and said that’s a huge edge to carry into this year’s latest playoff run, which starts Dec. 29 at the Cotton Bowl when the second-ranked Tigers (13-0, CFP No. 2) take on Notre Dame (12-0, CFP No. 3) for a spot in the championship game. “Most of us don’t know anything different” than playing in the playoffs, said Clemson All-Amer ican defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. An energetic, 320-pound defensive leader, Wilkins was there with wide eyes and lots of questions in 2015 when Clemson was a first-time playoff partici pant. Things have changed since then. “Being consistent and winning at a high level is something that’s very hard to do, so it doesn’t get any easier,” Wilkins said this week. “But you kind of know things that work for you as a team and as a player and the things that didn’t work for you.” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney feels there’s a cool confidence among his players when they step onto the field for practices or games. They’re a vet eran-driven group who’ve celebrated championships (four consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference titles and the national champi onship following the 2016 season) and lived through playoff missteps (losses to Alabama in 2015 cham pionship game and last Hurts also has reaped the rewards, including perhaps a third national championship if Alabama can beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29, plus either Clemson or Notre Dame. He also cemented his Alabama legacy with his performance in the SEC title game. Hurts replaced an injured Tagovailoa in the fourth quarter against the Bulldogs. He passed for a touch down and ran 15 yards with 64 seconds left for what proved the winning score. When Hurts graduated last Saturday, he received a 30-second ovation when his name was called. Alabama coach Nick Saban touts Hurts’ story as “a great message for all young people” about stick- year’s semifinal). “We all draw on our experience, good and bad, as you go through what ever it is you’re doing,” Swinney said. “It’s our fourth time in a row (in the playoffs). We’ve learned a lot over the years and I think we’ve got a very good formula we believe in in how we get ready.” And how they perform in the biggest games. Clemson is 53-4 the past four seasons. Besides the two play off losses to the Crimson Tide, it has only lost a pair of regular-season games to unranked opponents in Pittsburgh in 2016 and Syracuse in 2017. The run includes playoff wins over Oklahoma in 2015 and Ohio State and Alabama on the way to the 2016 title. Swinney said the line between success and fail ure at this level comes down to just a few plays. “Fundamentals and tech nique and physicality and intelligence is what wins,” he said. “There are all four really good (playoff) teams. So you’ve got to play well and you’ve got to prepare well.” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly accepts his job is different with a roster full of playoff newcomers. “As a staff, we want to make sure that we get an opportunity to prepare them for the moment,” he said. “It’s much larger than a traditional game.” Not for the experienced Tigers, Clemson safety ing with something even through adversity. “I think a lot of people recognize the fact that he put the team first,” Saban said. “He stayed here and focused on improving, try ing to get better, trying to help the team, getting ready for any opportunity that might present itself for him. I think we played to get him ready for that. “When it did in the last game, the SEC champion ship game, he certainly came through in fine fashion.” Hurts hasn’t provided a hint about his plans after this season, with one more year of eligibil ity remaining. He could easily become a coveted transfer option if not “the biggest free agent in col lege football history” as father Averion predicted last spring. K’Von Wallace said. The mistakes, he believes, come when play ers place more emphasis on prepping for Notre Dame than they did to face Furman (a 48-7 vic tory) to start the season. “Each game is the big gest game,” he said. “This game is not the biggest game because it’s the play offs, it’s always that way.” PEACH ■ Continued from 1B The committee’s assign ment of Michigan to the Peach this season marks the first time in almost three decades a Big Ten team will play in the Atlanta bowl. Until joining the semi final rotation when the playoff began in 2014, the Peach Bowl -- founded in 1968 -- selected its own teams, which from the 1992 through 2013 seasons came exclusively from the ACC and SEC, thanks to the bowl’s contracts with those conferences. The ACC vs. SEC formula proved successful for the once-struggling bowl, help ing elevate it high enough in the postseason pecking order to be chosen by the College Football Playoff as one of six bowls -- dubbed the New Year’s Six -- to rotate as sites of semifinal games. “We had built a success ful brand, but joining the CFP was a step up,” Stokan said. “To be one of the top six bowl games -- who ever thought the old Peach Bowl would be in the same sen tence as the Rose, Cotton, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta bowls?” But in an aspect of the deal that Stokan acknowl edged is still not widely understood by fans and even by some college football coaches and administrators, the CFP selection commit tee also assumed responsi bility for selecting teams for the Peach, Cotton and Fiesta in the two years out of three that those bowls don’t host a semifinal. This is how the 13-mem- ber committee arrived at the Florida-Michigan pair ing for the Dec. 29 game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium: ■ First, it ranked the Top 25 teams on the morning of Dec. 2, Selection Sunday, placing the top four in the playoff semifinals, which this season will be played in the Orange and Cotton bowls. No. 1 Alabama will meet No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange, and No. 2 Clemson will play No. 3 Notre Dame in the Cotton. ■ Next, the Rose and Sugar bowls, which have contracts directly with con ferences, selected their matchups. The Rose Bowl chose the Big Ten and Pac- 12 champions -- No. 6 Ohio State and No. 9 Washington, respectively -- under terms of the bowl’s contracts with those two leagues, both of which failed to place a team in the playoff. The Sugar Bowl took SEC runner-up and No. 5-ranked Georgia vs. Big 12 runner-up and No. 15-ranked Texas, the highest-ranked available team from each of those leagues after their champi ons reached the playoff. ■ Then, the CFP commit tee sorted out the matchups for the Peach and Fiesta bowls from among the high est-ranked teams still avail able: No. 7 Michigan, No. 8 Central Florida, No. 10 Flor ida and No. 11 LSU. Central Florida played in the Peach Bowl last year, and the com mittee’s stated preference is to avoid placing a team in the same bowl in back-to- back seasons. The commit tee also prefers to avoid a bowl rematch of teams that met in the regular season, as Florida and LSU did. And it generally prefers to place the highest-ranked team in a group (Michigan in this case) in the location closest to its campus (Atlanta in this case). Those preferences left Michigan vs. either Flor ida or LSU as options for the Peach. The committee chose to send the Gators to Atlanta to play the Wolver ines and LSU to the Fiesta Bowl to play Central Florida. ■ The committee con troversially opted against a Florida-UCF game, which would have been more com pelling for many fans in the Sunshine State. Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin, a member of the CFP selection com mittee, said he was recused from the discussion and decision on the Peach and Fiesta pairings. “At that point, (other members) looked at me and said, ‘Scott, can you leave the room?’ “ Stricklin said at a Peach Bowl news conference. “Ten minutes later, they brought me back in, and I looked on the wall where they had the screen and the matchups, and that’s how I found out what happened. “The bowls don’t get to politic. The schools don’t get to politic. It’s a very pure process from that stand point,” Stricklin said. “The great beauty of it is that we get great matchups. ... If it had been us against UCF, that’d have been a great matchup. We’re blessed that it’s us against Michigan because that’s going to be a great matchup.” With Michigan, the Peach Bowl gets a Big Ten team in its game for the first time in 28 years. The most recent was Indiana in 1990, when the bowl was still played at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Michigan hasn’t played in the Peach previously. INTRODUCING eto' t/yt Little & Davenport Funeral Home To inquire about pricing packages available to memorialize a pet in print, please contact Megan Lewis at 770-535-6371 or mlewis@gainesvilletimes.com Pets at Peace will appear in The Times the last Sunday of each month. Clemson holds edge with experience against Notre Dame in CFP MARK WALLHEISER I Associated Press Clemson wide receiver Amari Rodgers runs after a reception in the second half of the game against Florida State on Sept. 24 in Tallahassee, Fla.