Dawgs In Liberty Bowl

FOOTBALL

The Dawgs have accepted an invitation to play in the Liberty Bowl on New Year’s Eve in Memphis.

The opponent will be the Conference USA Champion University of Central Florida (UCF 10-3). UCF is coached by former Georgia Tech coach George O’Leary, who is in his seventh season there.

The Dawgs have made two previous trips to the Memphis bowl. They lost to N.C. State, 14-7, in the 1967 contest and defeated Arkansas, 20-17, on John Kasay’s 39-yard field goal on the final play of the game in 1987.

This will mark the second meeting between Georgia and Central Florida. The Dawgs defeated UCF, 24-23, in a 1999 regular season game in Athens. Georgia has faced Central Florida coach George O’Leary on seven occasions during his tenure as head coach at Georgia Tech. Mark Richt has faced O’Leary on only one occasion―2001.

The elbow injury suffered by senior defensive end Demarcus Dobbs against Georgia Tech will not keep him out of the bowl game. Three players, nose tackle Justin Anderson, linebackers Dexter Morant and T.J. Stripling have missed the majority of the season due to injuries and will not play in the bowl game. Everyone else on the roster should be healthy and any academic casualties will not be known for at least another week.

This will be Georgia’s 46th bowl game―sixth most of any team in the country. The Dawgs’ bowl record is 26-16-3.

	Record	Rushing	Rank	Passing	Rank	Scoring	Rank	Defense	Rank
UCF	10-3	196.5	25	193.8	80	35.2	19	18.9	17
Georgia	6-6	147.7	71	246.1	38	34.3	24	23.1	49

Kickoff for the Liberty Bowl is set for 3:30 pm EST and the game will be televised by ESPN.