Chilling experience for Stanford

By Elliott Teaford

Los Angeles Times

SEATTLE – No coach, no momentum – and nothing to lose. That was Georgia Tech in a nutshell during the inaugural Seattle Bowl on Thursday.

The Yellow Jackets went for it three times on fourth down. Their quarterback played wide receiver and their wide receiver played quarterback for a play. They used two quarterbacks and two punters.

And they never missed a beat. Unranked Georgia Tech’s lighthearted approach wreaked havoc on 11th-ranked Stanford, as the Yellow Jackets rolled up 403 yards en route to a 24-14 victory before 30,144 well-chilled fans at Safeco Field.

The other news for the beleaguered Yellow Jackets (8-5) is they are expected to announce Saturday that Chan Gailey has been hired to replace George O’Leary as coach. O’Leary left Dec. 9 for Notre Dame, then quit there after it was revealed that he embellished significant details on his resume.

At game’s end, the Yellow Jackets celebrated their victory by chanting the name of Mac McWhorter, their interim coach.

“We want Mac! We want Mac!” they shouted.

“If we had lost, maybe they would have said, ‘We don’t want Mac,’ ” McWhorter said. “We asked the players to have fun, work hard and be accountable. It was our goal to come out here and win the game. We never lost focus of why we were here.”

Stanford (9-3) suffered through a slate-gray, 45-degree afternoon. A victory would have given the Cardinal only its fourth 10-victory season in 106 seasons, and maybe a berth in the top 10 in the Associated Press poll.

Plus, Stanford could have shown a national cable audience that the Pac-10 is better than what USC showed in its Christmas Day loss to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. Instead, the Cardinal couldn’t pass, couldn’t run and couldn’t defend. Quarterback Randy Fasani was benched in favor of Chris Lewis late in the third quarter.

“We felt a responsibility to our conference,” Stanford coach Tyrone Willingham said. “We think we have a heck of a conference. We wanted to stand up for Stanford and for our conference.”

Never happened.

“They have an explosive offense,” said Stanford linebacker Coy Wire, one of the few Cardinal players to excel Thursday. “Their ability to move the ball didn’t surprise us. Their passing game was sharp and their quarterback played a wonderful game.”

Tech quarterback George Godsey was named the game’s most valuable player, completing 23 of 37 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown. But backup Andy Hall tossed the Cardinal a curveball, rushing for 32 yards in seven carries in spot relief of Godsey.

With the game on the line, after Stanford had narrowed a 17-3 halftime deficit to 17-14 in the fourth quarter, Godsey led the Yellow Jackets on a 13-play, 63-yard drive for the backbreaking touchdown. He faked an option play with the Yellow Jackets on the Cardinal two-yard line, then flipped the ball to wide receiver Kelly Campbell, who scored on a reverse.

“There had been so much negative attention around our program and it seemed to steamroll,” Godsey said, referring to O’Leary’s departure and the Yellow Jackets’ 3-4 finish. “The seniors got together and worked to salvage the season. We felt we didn’t meet expectations this season.”

The anticipated offensive shootout materialized as if on cue, with Stanford driving from its own 35 to the Georgia Tech 5 on the opening possession. But four cracks at the end zone yielded nothing for the Cardinal, setting the tone for a frustrating game.

Georgia Tech also moved the ball at will, scoring on all three first-half possessions. The Yellow Jackets’ 17-3 lead was more a product of risk-taking than particularly eye-catching execution. They went for it on fourth down twice and made the needed yardage twice, keeping drives alive.

The first fourth-down try was an 18-yard pass play from Godsey to Campbell. On the next play, they clicked on a 34-yard scoring play. With the extra point, the Yellow Jackets had a 14-3 lead with 9:33 left in the half.

The second fourth-down gamble paid off when running back Sean Gregory gained five yards to set up first-and-goal at the three. Four plays later, Luke Manget kicked a 20-yard field goal and the Yellow Jackets had a 17-3 lead.