As the invitee to the grand rededication of Notre Dame Stadium Saturday afternoon, Georgia Tech was not supposed to scare the life out of the 11th-ranked home team.
The Yellow Jackets were expected to serve as a nice complement to the lovely yellow mums planted behind both benches, maybe keep things interesting until halftime, when NBC could go to the up-close-and-personal Bob Davie interviews.
Notre Dame 17, Georgia Tech 13 was supposed to be a partial score, not a final.
After dropping its last four games in 1996, including a 10-point loss to Navy, the Rambling Wreck appeared an unlikely homewrecker on its first visit here since 1981.
But Tech had grown tired of hearing about the renovated stadium and all the ghosts it housed. It wanted to let folks up north know that it has its own football tradition, complete with a coach named John Heisman.
“As I was growing up, the only thing I knew about Notre Dame was that Georgia beat them in the Sugar Bowl in 1980,” said linebacker Ron Rogers, a native of Dublin, Ga. “In the South, in football, they’re really not that big down there.”
The Irish did nothing to change Rogers’ opinion, but after pushing Notre Dame all over its newly sodded field for three quarters, the Yellow Jackets couldn’t move the chains once in the final 15 minutes.
“The world saw it,” offensive tackle Ken Celaj said. “We should have won that game.”
Tech can trace its demise to three blown scoring chances in the second half. Credit Notre Dame’s defense, or blame Tech’s offense. It doesn’t matter.
The first came on Tech’s initial thrust after intermission. The Yellow Jackets drove 55 yards to the Irish 6-yard line when Joe Hamilton made a regrettable decision, as sophomore quarterbacks will.
Instead of tucking the ball and trying to run for a first down on third and 2, Hamilton tried zipping a pass into the end zone, where strong safety Benny Guilbeaux made a tumbling interception.
“Joe probably should have tucked it and run,” Tech coach George O’Leary said. “No. 2 (Guilbeaux) made a great play on it. You’re down there on the 6-yard line, you come away with points.”
Hamilton readily agreed. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d tuck it,” he said.
In years past, visitors have been allowed only one misstep in Notre Dame Stadium. But these aren’t the unforgiving Irish of old. Having asked Tech up for their party, the Irish tried to hand over the game two more times–both on interceptions of Ron Powlus.
But Tech, schooled in Southern manners, refused to accept.
The first interception, by Rogers, gave Tech the ball at Notre Dame’s 29 with 11 minutes 3 seconds left. The Yellow Jackets led 13-10 and were ready to drop the Irish for good.
“We had the chance to stab them in the neck,” Celaj said. “Notre Dame would have been in shock.”
But Tech gained a single yard before senior placekicker Dave Frakes, a product of Rockford’s Guilford High School, missed a 43-yard field goal to the right.
Less than 2 minutes later, cornerback Jason Bostic made a diving, juggling interception at the Irish 32. But Tech gained exactly three yards, and this time Frakes missed from 47 yards.
