ATHENS, Ga. — On an afternoon Georgia honored former football coach Vince Dooley and former announcer Larry Munson, Georgia Tech couldn’t have cared less.

The 18th-ranked Yellow Jackets entered with their own agenda of ending a seven-game series losing streak and did just that, defeating the 18th-ranked Bulldogs 45-42 on a damp and dreary afternoon at Sanford Stadium. Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense rushed for 409 yards, with Roddy Jones collecting 214, Jonathan Dwyer 144 and the two totaling four touchdowns.

Georgia Tech amassed 286 of its rushing yards after halftime, when the Yellow Jackets turned a 28-12 deficit into 10-point leads on two occasions.

“I’m really proud of our team,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson said. “We told them to hang in there for 60 minutes, and what a 60 minutes it was.”

The Bulldogs and Yellow Jackets ended their regular seasons with identical 9-3 records, a fact nobody expected three months ago when Georgia was No. 1 nationally and Johnson was implementing his offensive system.

By halting Georgia’s seven-game series streak, Tech preserved the historical value of the eight straight times the Jackets beat the Bulldogs under Bobby Dodd from 1949 to ’56. That remains the longest streak by either side.

Georgia players are having to get used to losing to Tech for the first time, as are most of the Bulldogs coaches. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo entered Saturday with a 12-0 record against the Jackets, 7-0 as a Georgia coach and 5-0 during his days as a Bulldogs quarterback.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to those guys,” Bobo said. “They came out in the third quarter and stopped us. We were not able to do anything in the third quarter, and that was disappointing, but you’re bound to get beat sometime.

“Hopefully everybody on this football team remembers what it feels like and has a sick feeling in their stomach from this year and not just this game. We’ve got one more game to show people what Georgia football is about and then get ready for next year.”

Tech outscored Georgia 26-0 in the third quarter behind its rushing offense and a costly fumble by Richard Samuel on a kickoff return. Dwyer scored from 23 yards out one play after the fumble to give the Jackets their first lead at 35-28.

The 26 points allowed in the third quarter were the most yielded by the Bulldogs in a quarter since Tennessee scored 27 in the final 15 minutes of their 51-33 win in Sanford Stadium in 2006.

“It’s a numb feeling,” Bulldogs senior tight end Tripp Chandler said. “I was wanting to get off that field there at the end. It was unbearable to look up at that scoreboard and see that Tech had more points than us.”

Capital One Bowl representatives attended Saturday’s game and still believe Georgia has an excellent shot at their New Year’s Day Bowl. Because LSU and South Carolina each has two fewer wins than Georgia, the only SEC team even in the running for the Capital One besides Georgia is Ole Miss, which is 8-4.

Georgia Tech’s rushing onslaught — Tech quarterback Josh Nesbitt completed just 1 of 6 passes for 19 yards — overshadowed a productive day for Georgia’s offense. Junior quarterback Matthew Stafford completed 24 of 39 passes and had career-bests with 407 yards and five touchdowns, with three of those scores going to senior receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, who had 11 catches for 180 yards.

Redshirt sophomore Knowshon Moreno didn’t have a 100-yard game but came close with 94 on 17 carries.

After the game, neither Stafford nor Moreno wanted to comment on his future. NFL scouts believe Stafford could be the top overall selection and Moreno is a certain first-rounder.

“I’d really love to see Knowshon and Matthew play behind a veteran offensive line,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I think they would have a blast.”

Even if both return, there is still the matter of dealing with Dwyer and Jones next year. Dwyer is just a sophomore and Jones is a redshirt freshman.

“I imagine it will be a fun game next year since we won,” Johnson said.

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