The Escape Game Vs Hokies in 1990
All Georgia Tech fans with an eye to the history of the program remember the 1990 season. The Yellow Jackets entered the season without much fanfare or expectations.- as befitting a program that had gone a combined 10-12 over the two prior seasons.
And so when the Jackets got off to a quick start, it took a while to get serious attention.
At 6-0-1 , they had gained a #16 ranking and then they bested #1 Virginia in Charlottesville ina game for the ages.
The following week Tech was ranked #7 . They came home to face a 5-4 Virginia Tech team. Today they would call in a trap game.
Georgia Tech escaped by a 6-3 score, winning on another last minute field goal by Scott Sisson- one that got less attention than a week earlier vs Virginia, but no less important.
On a raw, windy, gray November day, the Jackets managed 6 points in the final 5 minutes to overtake Virginia Tech's meager three point lead.
It was a defensive battle that only a true football fan could appreciate. Sisson's winning 38 yard field goal wobbled through with only 8 seconds to play.
I remember it well because it was the last game I attended with my father. He had been a lifelong Georgia Tech fan, and when we saw an opportunity to see this game, we headed to campus despite the poor weather and the less-than- glamorous match-up. We had cheap, last- minute seats in the lower north stands, the same end of the field where Sisson s kick delivered the game's verdict.
I was disappointed that the #7 ranking of Georgia Tech had not led to a more comfortable win on this cold, blustery day. I offered my summary that Tech had pulled out a narrow escape. Dad agreed, but said that the key word was "escape", and that the margin would be meaningless– one way or the other– within a few weeks for this up-and-coming bunch of Yellow Jackets under Coach Bobby Ross.
He was right. Possibly refocused after the tight Virginia Tech game, the Jackets improved with each remaining game, besting Georgia before putting a wallop on Nebraska to run away with a Citrus Bowl win on New Year's Day 1991.
That was the year a talented and tenacious Georgia Tech team won the logical half of the national championship.
There was a lesson there.
I remember it well.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports