Chubb, seniors even the score against hated rival Tech

Nick Chubb can now sleep easy at night.

When he approached head coach Kirby Smart a year ago about returning for his senior season, Chubb reeled off the factors as to why he wanted to stay. One of those reasons happened to do with last year’s loss to the Yellow Jackets. It hurt in a major way, to where Chubb couldn’t leave college on a loss to his archrival.

Head coach Kirby Smart remembers Chubb visiting his office and explaining that to him. Being able to defeat Georgia Tech 38-7 was a big deal in that accord.

“Nick specifically said he couldn’t sleep at night thinking about it,” Smart said. “We gave him an opportunity to go to sleep now.”

Chubb contributed 12 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown in the win. He admitted after the game that beating Georgia Tech was one of the factors that contributed to his return to the program.

“It played a small factor – or a big factor,” Chubb said. “Losing to them (last year), I didn’t want to go out like that. But now we won in our last game ever, so it’s better.”

Chubb wasn’t the only senior who wanted to erase the memory of last year’s loss. Nose tackle John Atkins was also among those who had gone 1-2 against the Yellow Jackets heading into Saturday’s game.

For Atkins, it was a relief to be able to continue the 2017 season knowing that his team was able to even the score against Georgia Tech.

“I couldn’t lose to Tech my senior year,” Atkins said. “That would crush me.”

As for the players who aren’t seniors, it was imperative to them that those in their final year were able to come out on top over their most hated foe.

“Last year left a bad taste in our mouth,” junior inside linebacker Natrez Patrick said. “Everybody did a good job of coming out and doing their assignments and we came out with the victory.”

Even head coach Kirby Smart, a Georgia alum who lost to Georgia Tech as a senior in 1998, said it was a big deal for his program to come out victorious on Saturday. And that says a lot since Smart generally treats each win as the same, regardless of the opponent.

Smart admitted a year ago – “almost 365 days ago (Saturday)” – that he decided to implement a one-per-week Georgia Tech period in practice to ensure his players would be prepared for the Yellow Jackets. Critical of himself for last year’s coaching performance, he wanted to make sure the Bulldogs were ready for everything Georgia Tech could throw their way.

“(It meant) a lot personally after last year,” Smart said. “A lot of our seniors talked about – you guys make a big deal about a revenge tour and we try not to make it about that, but we checked the last box on that list (Saturday). We sent the seniors out the right way.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 6:47 PM with the headline "Chubb, seniors even the score against hated rival Tech."