The 1971 Peach Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

between the

Ole Miss Rebels The Ole Miss Rebels are the 18 men's and women's intercollegiate athletic teams that are funded by and represent the University of Mississippi, located in Oxford. The first was the football team, which began play in 1893. Originally known as th ...

and the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

Background

This was the 15th straight season of postseason play for the Rebels, who tied for fourth in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). The independent Yellow Jackets were playing their last game under coach

Bud Carson Leon H. "Bud" Carson (April 28, 1930 – December 7, 2005) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1967 to 1971, compiling a record of 27–27. Carson then coa ...

, while competing in their second straight bowl game. This was the first Peach Bowl played at

Atlanta Stadium Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

after the first three were played at Georgia Tech's

Grant Field Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It has been home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets foo ...

. Unfortunately, the field turned soggy prior to the game, getting worse as the game progressed. This was the last college football game to feature an all-white team due to

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

. Ole Miss and SEC rival

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

each suited up their first black varsity players in 1972. LSU won the

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

over

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

12 days prior to this contest.

Game summary

The Rebels scored 38 straight points in the first half, starting with Norris Weese's touchdown run. Porter added in two touchdown runs, and touchdown passes from Lyons and Weese as the Yellow Jackets could not respond until the first half was almost over, on a Bill Healy run. Georgia Tech scored once more on another Healy run to make it 38–12. Ole Miss only scored once in the half on Hinton's second field goal, but Georgia Tech only scored once more as well on Healy's third touchdown run as Ole Miss stymied the Yellow Jackets, forcing three turnovers. Weese threw 7-of-14 for 116 yards along with 32 yards on 11 carries. Greg Ainsworth rushed for 119 yards on 28 carries.

Scoring summary

*Ole Miss – Weese 1 run (Hinton PAT) *Ole Miss – Hinton 25 FG *Ole Miss – Porter 2 run (Hinton PAT) *Ole Miss – Porter 10 run (Hinton PAT) *Ole Miss – Felts 15 pass from Lyons (Hinton PAT) *Ole Miss – Myers 11 pass from Weese (Hinton PAT) *Georgia Tech – Healy 2 run (Run failed) *Georgia Tech – Healy 1 run (Pass failed) *Ole Miss – Hinton 30 FG *Georgia Tech – Healy 1 run (Run failed)

Aftermath

As it turned out, this was the last bowl season for the Rebels until 1983. Georgia Tech reached a bowl the following year, and returned to the Peach Bowl in 1978, losing to

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. The Yellow Jackets are 0–4 in the Peach/

Chick-Fil-A Chick-fil-A ( , a Word play, play on the American English pronunciation of "wikt:filet#Pronunciation, filet") is an American fast food restaurant chain which is the country's largest which specializes in chicken sandwiches. Headquartered in Coll ...

Bowl, also losing in 2000 and 2008 to

. Poor field conditions plagued nearly every Peach Bowl contested at Atlanta Stadium (renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in 1974), thanks to the wear and tear of full seasons of

Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

baseball and

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

football. The game moved indoors to the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center ...

in January 1993, and later to the retractable-roofed

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) ...

in December 2017.

Statistics

References

{{Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bowl game navbox

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially re ...

Peach Bowl Ole Miss Rebels football bowl games Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games

December 1971 sports events in the United States