Dog Tracks
2016 Liberty Bowl georgIA vs. TCU
(7-5, 4-4 SEC)
12 p.m. ET, Dec. 30, 2016 Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (58,211) Memphis, Tenn. (6-6, 4-5 Big 12) georgiadogs.com
Georgia Among Bowl Leaders
the matchup UGA
2016 Avg.
24.0 24.1 +7 382.4 186.5 195.9 11.6 21.2
TCU
Scoring Offense Scoring Defense Turnover Margin Total Offense Rushing Offense Passing Offense Punt Returns Kickoff Returns
31.7 27.8 -3 475.0 196.7 278.3 9.9 23.1
on the call TELEVISION: ESPN - Beth Mowins (playby-play); Anthony Becht (color analyst); Rocky Boiman (sideline) LOCAL RADIO: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network (IMG) - Scott Howard (play-by-play); Eric Zeier (color analyst); Chuck Dowdle (sideline) ESPN RADIO: Bill Roth, Al Groh, Alex Corddry ONLINE: GTV on georgiadogs.com REPLAY: SEC Network - TBA
Liberty bowl appearances 12/16/67 12/29/87 12/31/10
vs. N.C. State vs. Arkansas vs. Central Florida
L, 14-7 W, 20-17 L, 10-6
sid contacts Georgia - Claude Felton 706-542-1621; cfelton@sports.uga.edu TCU - Mark Cohen 817-257-5394; m.cohen@tcu.edu
2016 schedule Sept. 3 Sept. 10 Sept. 17 Sept. 24 Oct. 1 !Oct. 9 Oct. 15 Oct. 29 Nov. 5 Nov. 12 Nov. 19 Nov. 26
vs. #22 UNC& (ESPN) Nicholls (SECN) @ *Missouri (SECN) @ #23 *Ole Miss (ESPN) #11 *Tennessee (CBS) @ *South Carolina (SECN) *Vanderbilt (SECN) vs. #14 ^*Florida (CBS) @ *Kentucky (SECN) #8 *Auburn (CBS) UL Lafayette (SECN ALT) Georgia Tech (SECN)
W, 33-24 W, 26-24 W, 28-27 L, 45-14 L, 34-31 W, 28-14 L, 17-16 L, 24-10 W, 27-24 W, 13-7 W, 35-21 L, 28-27
Dec. 30 vs. %TCU (ESPN) 12 pm ET &Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game - Georgia Dome (Atlanta); ^EverBank Field (Jacksonville, Fla.); !Game moved to Sunday due to Hurricane Matthew; %Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn.
Georgia will be making its 52nd appearance in a bowl game when it faces TCU in the Liberty Bowl. Kirby Smart, who was named the Bulldogs’ head coach on Dec. 6, 2015, will be leading Georgia into the postseason for the first time as a head coach. The Bulldogs sport a bowl record of 29-19-3, and the 29 wins is ranked third nationally while the 52 appearances ranks fourth. Also, Georgia will be playing in a bowl game for a school record 20th consecutive season and that is the third longest active streak, trailing only Florida State (35) and Virginia Tech (24). Last season in the TaxSlayer Bowl, Georgia beat Penn State 24-17 in Jacksonville, Fla. This year, the Bulldogs will take on the Horned Frogs at the Liberty Bowl. This will mark the fourth time the two teams have matched up and Georgia currently holds a 3-0 edge. The Bulldogs initially faced TCU in their first-ever bowl game, the 1942 Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla., and topped the Horned Frogs 40-26 to give UGA a 9-1-1 record. The next Georgia-TCU matchup came during UGA’s 12-0 national championship season in 1980 as the Bulldogs blasted the Horned Frogs 34-3. In 1988, the Bulldogs whipped TCU 38-10 in the second game of the season en route to a 9-3 campaign. This will also be Georgia’s fourth trip to the Liberty Bowl dating back to 1967. Vince Dooley’s squad fell to N.C. State 14-7 to end the 1967 season. The Bulldogs’ sole victory in the Liberty Bowl came in 1987. Georgia edged Arkansas 20-17 under Dooley. The Bulldogs’ most recent trip to the game came versus UCF in 2010. UGA came up short, 10-6 to the Knights.
Nation’s All-Time Top Bowl Teams Entering 2016 Postseason
Team Bowl Games 1. Alabama 62 2. Texas 53 3. Nebraska 52 T4. GEORGIA 51 T4. Tennessee 51
W-L-T 36-23-3 27-24-2 27-25-0 29-19-3 27-24-0
2016-17 Bowl Game CFP - Chick-fil-A Bowl vs. Washington n/a Music City Bowl vs. Tennessee Liberty Bowl vs. TCU Music City Bowl vs. Nebraska
Seniors Aim To Complete 2016 On A Winning Note
The Bulldog senior class of 2016 enters the Liberty Bowl with a 35-16 overall record. Georgia is 2-1 in its bowl matchups since the 2013 season. The Bulldogs are 1-1 at the TaxSlayer Bowl, topping Penn State 24-17 last season and falling to Nebraska 24-19 to conclude the 2013 campaign. Georgia also bested #21 Louisville 37-14 in the Belk Bowl during the final game of the 2014 season. Offensively, junior Nick Chubb is aiming for the second 1,000-yard rushing season of his career and currently stands at 988 yards with seven touchdowns this year. Chubb is four yards from becoming UGA’s second all-time leading rusher. Chubb enters the bowl game with 3,282 yards (current L.A. Ram Todd Gurley is No. 2 with 3,285 with Bulldog legend Herschel Walker the record holder at 5,259). Chubb’s partner in the backfield is fellow junior Sony Michel, who ran for 1,161 yards in 2015 and has accumulated 753 yards with three scores this season. True freshman Jacob Eason has been directing the offense during the last 11 games and has already moved into the school’s single-season all-time top-10 list with 349 attempts, connecting for 14 touchdowns. The versatile Isaiah McKenzie leads the team with 40 catches for 530 yards and seven touchdowns. The junior from Miami, Fla., also has 224 punt return yards with a score and 131 rushing yards with two touchdowns. Defensively, the Bulldogs are led by sophomore ILB Roquan Smith. Smith has recorded a team-high 82 tackles, including five tackles for loss, while sophomore ILB Natrez Patrick, who sat out the last three games of the regular season with an injury, is second with 55 stops. The Bulldogs are tied for the SEC lead with 15 interceptions and junior safety Dominick Sanders has a team-leading three picks. The unit’s leader is senior DB Maurice Smith, who has a pair of picks to go along with two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Smith is in his first year with Georgia after arriving in the summer as a graduate transfer from Alabama.
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