MIAMI LAKES – The #9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-2), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Champions, and #10 Iowa Hawkeyes (10-2) of the Big Ten Conference will meet in the 2010 FedEx Orange Bowl (www.orangebowl.org) to be played January 5, 2010 at Land Shark Stadium.
The game will be televised live at 8 p.m. on the FOX Network, as well as on ESPN Radio.
Led by the ACC Coach of the Year, Paul Johnson, the Coastal Division champion Georgia Tech won the conference title with a thrilling 39-34 win over Atlantic Division champion Clemson at the 2009 Dr. Pepper ACC Football Championship at Raymond James Stadium on December 5. It was the Yellow Jackets first outright ACC championship since 1990. Tech did share the 1998 ACC crown with Florida State. Georgia Tech has been to the Orange Bowl five times with its last appearance coming in 1967, in the final game coached by the legendary Bobby Dodd.
Georgia Tech placed five offensive players and six players overall on the 2009 All-ACC first-team – quarterback Josh Nesbitt, running back Jonathan Dwyer, receiver Demaryius Thomas, guard Cord Howard, center Sean Bedford and defensive end Derrick Morgan. Morgan was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, the first Yellow Jacket to ever earn the award. He was also named as a first team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. Georgia Tech led the ACC in scoring (35.0 points per game), total offense (440.5 ypg), rushing offense (305 ypg) and pass efficiency (160.7 rating). The Yellow Jackets bring in an offense that currently ranks 11th in total offense and 11th in scoring offense nationally.
Kirk Ferentz brings his Hawkeyes to South Florida for only the second time in school history. Ferentz, the Big Ten Coach of the Year, is in his 11th season at the helm at Iowa. The Hawkeyes have one of the nation’s stingiest defenses, ranking 11th nationally in total defense 10th in scoring defense. Seven Hawkeyes earned Big Ten first team honors which was a league high. Offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga, offensive guard Dace Richardson, tight end Tony Moeaki, defensive end Adrian Clayborn, linebacker Pat Angerer and defensive backs Tyler Sashand and Amari Spievey were tabbed by the league’s coaches as first team performers. Bulaga was also named the Big Ten’s Offensive Lineman of the Year.
This will mark the first meeting ever between these schools and is only the second time in Orange Bowl history that the Big Ten will face the ACC. The two conferences previously met in the 2006 FedEx Orange Bowl where Joe Paterno and his Penn State Nittany Lions outlasted Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles 26-23 in a triple-overtime thriller.
