Tigers bury Tech early

• By SCOTT HOTARD
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Jan 1, 2009 - UPDATED: 8:45 a.m.

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ATLANTA — Officially, the Chick-fil-A Bowl was played at a neutral site. But most of the Georgia Tech players didn’t see it that way.

They could drop a ball at One Georgia Dome Drive by beating LSU two miles from the Tech campus. They could make this a New Year’s Eve to remember.

“That’s all I’m feeling right now,” Tech defensive end Derrick Morgan said. “We let down the fans — all the fans throughout the city. Playing in your home city, you’re supposed to come out and represent. We didn’t. We didn’t get the job done.”

By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, most of the navy and gold in the crowd of 71,423 had cleared, ostensibly to find the kind of celebration they’d enjoy.

LSU (8-5) wrecked Tech early, building a 35-3 lead by halftime on its way to a 38-3 victory, handing the 14th-ranked Yellow Jackets (9-4) their most lopsided loss in three seasons.

“Those guys looked like a defending national champion,” Tech safety Morgan Burnett said.

Burnett spoke of a team that entered with more losses than any LSU squad since 1999. A team that lost three of its final four games in the regular season. But this wasn’t the regular season. It was Atlanta, where the Tigers are 6-1 the last nine years, including a 28-14 victory over Tech in the 2000 Peach Bowl.

By the 8:27 mark of the second quarter, LSU — which has celebrated three Southeastern Conference championships on the Georgia Dome turf — had put the Jackets in a 21-3 hole, their largest deficit this season.

With two more touchdowns in the final six minutes of the first half, LSU backed Tech into the type of halftime corner it hadn’t seen since a 34-0 deficit against Georgia on Nov. 30, 2002.

“Things hit us in the face pretty quick,” said Tech running back Roddy Jones, part of a rushing attack that netted 164 yards, 118 below its average.