COLLEGE 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
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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.
