College Football: History of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have had football as a priority in their school’s athletics for more than a century. The team began playing in 1892 and has seen a lot of success in terms of winning since their conception.

Success began for the Yellow Jackets in the early 1900’s. Football was still growing in popularity in the United States. The team was lead by John Heisman. Heisman of course is one of the most famous names in football history and he turned the team around. The highlight of his turnaround at Georgia Tech was not the championship that he won, but the historic victory that he accomplished.

Georgia Tech played Cumberland in a football game following an embarrassing loss to Cumberland in baseball. Georgia Tech had suffered an embarrassing loss to Cumberland and sought revenge on the football field. The Georgia Tech team would not let up as they faced Cumberland and ran up to score in an unprecedented manner. The team ultimately scored 222 points en route to one of the most lopsided victories in the history of all professional sports. The game featured scores on almost every play from scrimmage for Georgia Tech.  To demonstrate the lopsided nature it may be noted that neither team achieved a first down. This is because Cumberland was not able to get 10 yards before punting. The Georgia Tech team also failed to get a first down, but it was because they would score without being stopped short of the goal line on nearly every single play.

As was mentioned, the team did manage to win a national title in 1917. This marked the first time in the history of the school that they would win a title. John Heisman had really turned this program into one with a tradition of excellence.

Success continued with the next coach, William Alexander. He was a former student at Georgia Tech and an assistant coach to Heisman. After taking over the team he helped them to win another National Championship in 1928, the second in the history of the school.

The next coach, Bobby Dodd, continued the trend of National Championships. He became the third consecutive coach of the program to lead the team to a National Championship. He took over the team in 1945 and the team won the National Championship in 1952 under his direction.

Unfortunately after Bobby Dodd, things began to slow down for the Yellow Jackets. The following coaches were lost in the expectations that surrounded the coach that would follow Bobby Dodd and they were unable to bring home the success that was expected at the school. The winning tradition started to fade a bit over time.

After nearly 40 years of play without winning the big game, the team was back in 1990. Bobby Ross was the coach and helped turn the team around. He managed to recruit some key players that came and carried the team to the National Championship in 1990. The team had finally come full circle after all those years of disappointment.

The team has once again fallen away from consistency since that point. They have had good years and disappointing years, but have not been a perennial threat for the National Title like they were in their years of glory.