2024 Birmingham Bowl: Who Will Win in the Battle of Giant Killers?
The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets face off against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the Birmingham Bowl today. The Yellow Jackets come into this game with a 7-5 record and they are led by junior quarterback, Haynes King. The mobile QB has run for 548 yards and 11 touchdowns so far this year. He has also held onto the ball very well, only throwing one interception.
Haynes King also has some help from his junior running back Jamal Haynes. The running back from Georgia has run for 808 yards and nine touchdowns. The ground game will need to get going in this one for Georgia Tech to have a chance. Georgia Tech ranks 35th in rushing yards as a team, as they run for 190 per game.
Vanderbilt comes into this bowl game with a 6-6 record. They are led by transfer quarterback Diego Pavia from New Mexico State. The senior leads his team in rushing with 716 yards and six touchdowns. He also can throw the ball pretty well, throwing for 2,133 yards with 17 TDs and only four interceptions.
The defenses in this game likely won't be the star of the show. The Vanderbilt defense ranks 76th overall and the Georgia Tech defense ranks 46th. That certainly isn't awful but this won't be the type of game where defenses dominate it. I am interested to see how each team plans for the other however with both teams having mobile QBs.
Georgia Tech has shown they can win big games. They beat Florida State in the first game of the year in Ireland, and just a few games ago beat a number four ranked Miami team. I am interested to see if they are going to bring that same energy to this game. Vanderbilt certainly will come out with nothing to lose in this game. They have also shown they can win big games, upsetting Alabama and tearing down the goalpost in the process.
Georgia Tech is slightly favored by three points in this game. This game seems like one of those games where whichever team has the ball last will win. I am really interested to see if it lives up to the hype. I am leaning towards Georgia Tech in this game but we will see. Kickoff is set for 3:30 Eastern/2:30 p.m. Central Time on ESPN.
