ATLANTA — After 26 days of waiting and more than 21,000 tickets sold, the LSU football team returns to action when it takes on the 15th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. CST (5 p.m. EST) in the Georgia Dome.
Fans can listen to the 2000 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl right here on LSUsports.net beginning at 2:30 p.m. with the pregame show. “The Voice of the Tigers,” Jim Hawthorne will be joined by Doug Moreau, Jordy Hultberg and Kevin Ford in the studio for the game.
LSU (7-4) bounced back from a dismal 3-8 season in 1999 behind the first year coaching staff led by Nick Saban. Saban’s Tigers posted a 6-1 record in Tiger Stadium this season, beating the likes to Tennessee and Mississippi State in overtime, and Alabama in Death Valley for the first time since 1969.
After handling its first two non-conference opponents, Western Carolina and Houston, LSU fell to Auburn on the road, 34-17, before being shocked by Alabama-Birmingham, 13-10, in what turned out to be the turning point of the season.
The loss became a rallying point for the Tigers, whose coaching staff didn’t give up on them and worked harder each week to get the most out of a heart-filled squad.
Inspired by the play of junior quarterback Rohan Davey, who returned to action after missing eight months with a torn ACL, the Tigers battled into overtime to beat 15th-ranked Tennessee, 38-31. The capacity crowd in Tiger Stadium of more than 91,600 stormed the field and regained respect for one of the storied arenas of collegiate athletics.
Saban continued to stress the importance of dealing with success after the Tigers struggled in a 41-9 loss to Florida in Gainesville. After returning, the Tigers responded to the challenge by winning four consecutive Southeastern Conference games for the first time in 12 seasons.
The Tigers earned their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, promised by the coaching staff if they won three games in a row, by shutting out Hal Mumme’s Kentucky Wildcats, 34-0, for the first time in his tenure in Lexington.
One week later, Tiger fans packed Tiger Stadium once again for a thrilling, 45-38, overtime victory over No. 13 Mississippi State on ESPN. And, for the first time since 1969, LSU beat Alabama in Tiger Stadium, 30-28, to give LSU its third straight win.
However, this wasn’t good enough for the Tigers. At 6-3, LSU traveled to Oxford, Miss., for a match-up with its biggest rival, Ole Miss. There, LSU overcame a turnover-filled first half to shut down the Ole Miss offense and come away with a 20-9 victory on a cold evening televised by ESPN2.
The season ending on a bitter note, however, as the Tigers were unable to handle the weather conditions in Little Rock, Ark., and fell to Arkansas, 14-3. Arkansas ran back a Josh Booty interception on the first play from scrimmage for a touchdown and what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
After much speculation, LSU was selected to the Peach Bowl on Dec. 3 and matched up against one of the most impressive late-season teams in the nation, Georgia Tech.
Winners of seven straight games to end the season, the Yellow Jackets’ only losses were to national championship contender Florida State, 26-21, at home and a to North Carolina State in overtime on the road, 30-23.
The Yellow Jackets are led by junior quarterback George Godsey, who passed for 2,906 yards on 222-of-349 passes. He was intercepted on six times while throwing 23 touchdowns. Over the final seven games, Georgia Tech averaged nearly 40 points per game.