Chick-fil-A Bowl has come a long, long way

By Bud L. Ellis

It’s the ninth-oldest bowl game, and has worked its way from an outdoor game that drew just a little bit of attention into a New Year’s Eve college football tradition.

The Chick-fil-A Bowl has changed names (it was known as the Peach Bowl) and venues (it was played for years at old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium), and it has grown in statue and importance through the years.

The first Chick-fil-A Bowl, then known as the Peach Bowl, was held on Dec. 30, 1968. LSU knocked off Florida State 31-27 in front of 35,206 fans at open-air Atlanta Stadium. The bowl purse for the inaugural game: $460,000.

My, how things have changed.

Now held at the Georgia Dome and beamed from coast-to-coast on the final evening of the calendar year, the Chick-fil-A Bowl has drawn 68,000 or more fans in 11 of the past 12 years. Last year’s game, in which LSU beat Georgia Tech 38-3, drew 71,423 to the Georgia Dome, the two teams splitting a $6 million purse.

LSU, which appeared in that inaugural Peach Bowl way back in 1968, didn’t appear in the game again until 1996. Starting with that 10-7 win over Clemson on Dec. 28, 1996, the Tigers have been back four times and are 4-0 (5-0 overall, counting its win in the inaugural game). Last year, the Tigers jumped all over Georgia Tech and the Yellow Jackets’ vaunted triple-option attack.

The two previous Chick-fil-A bowls were nail-biters. In 2007, Auburn edged Clemson 23-20 in overtime. The year before that, Georgia thrilled the Atlanta crowd with a 31-24 win over Virginia Tech.

The Hokies are back this year, meeting Tennessee on Dec. 31 at the Georgia Dome. It figures to be another great game, writing another chapter in what’s been a great story of growth for the bowl game that started 41 years ago.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 10:05 pm by bud

Tags: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Auburn, Chick-fil-A Bowl, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Dome, Georgia Tech, LSU, Tennessee, Virginia Tech

Hokies have history with Chick-fil-A Bowl

By Bud L. Ellis

Virginia Tech’s history with the Chick-fil-A Bowl goes way back to a time when the game wasn’t held at the Georgia Dome, and when the game wasn’t even named after the famous chicken sandwich.

Turn on the wayback machine to Jan. 2, 1981, when the bowl game in Atlanta was called the Peach Bowl and graced the long-since razed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

On that day, the Hokies made their Peach Bowl debut, losing 20-10 to Miami in front of 49,252 fans (about 11,000 fans short of capacity at the old stadium). Ashley Lee recorded 15 tackles for the Hokies and Virginia Tech forced four turnovers, but could not recover from a 14-3 halftime deficit.

Amid published reports Tuesday that the Hokies will play in this year’s Chick-fil-A Bowl against Tennessee, a look back reveals the Hokies have been in this game three times.

Virginia Tech returned to the Peach Bowl after the 1986 season, posting a thrilling 25-24 victory over N.C. State on New Year’s Eve that year at the old stadium. With just 1:53 left on the clock and 80 yards from the end zone, the Hokies drove downfield and got a 23-yard field goal from Chris Kinzer as time expired for the victory.

The Hokies returned to Atlanta for the bowl game 20 years later. The name of the game and the venue had changed as the Hokies took the field to face the fan-favorite Georgia Bulldogs on Dec. 30, 2006. In a thrilling game, the Dogs downed the Hokies 31-24. Virginia Tech built a 21-3 halftime lead before Georgia rallied for a thrilling victory, as Tony Taylor picked off two Virginia Tech passes.

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 10:03 pm by bud

Tags: Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Chick-fil-A Bowl, Georgia, Georgia Dome, Miami, N.C. State, Peach Bowl, Virginia Tech