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P R E G A M E R E P O R T P E N N S T A T E v s . G E O R G I A N O O N , J A N . 2 E S P N GEORGIA FACTS COACH Bryan McClendon (Geor- gia, '05) COACH'S RECORD 0-0; career record: same 2015 RECORD 9-3 (5-3 South- eastern Conference) RECORD VS. PSU Penn State leads the all-time series, 1-0. MOST RECENT MEETING Sec- ond-ranked Penn State defeated the top-ranked Bulldogs, 27-23, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day 1983 to claim the program's first national championship. GOOD NEWS Georgia's defense has been tremendous against the pass this season. The Bulldogs are allowing only 146.1 yards per game through the air, fewer than any team in the the Football Bowl Subdivision, and have surrendered only nine touchdown passes. BAD NEWS Although the Bulldogs are great at preventing opponents from passing the ball, they aren't so good at passing it themselves. They head into their bowl game ranked 103rd in the FBS in pass- ing offense with an average of 187.1 yards per game. DID YOU KNOW? The Bulldogs are no strangers to EverBank Field. In fact, Georgia's seniors will be playing in Jack- sonville for the sixth time. It will be the team's second visit to the TaxSlayer Bowl in the past four years, and the Bulldogs also play an annual neutral-site game against Florida at EverBank, which is also home to the Jack- sonville Jaguars. "It does have that home-field vibe to it," senior linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. M A T T   H E R B | M A T T @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M D E C E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 5 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Eight-year-old Bryan McClendon may not have grasped all the implications when he learned in early December that his father, also named Bryan, had been named head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. But he grasped them well enough to offer a piece of advice heading into his dad's first news conference. "He said, 'Just make sure there's nothing in your nose,'" the elder McClendon recalled. "I said, 'OK, I think I can handle that.' He's excited." He should be. As McClendon has acknowl- edged, this is the kind of opportunity that doesn't come along every day. His debut as a college head coach will be in a January game against a high-profile opponent, as his Bull- dogs are getting set to take on Penn State in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla. A former Georgia receiver, McClendon joined the Bulldogs' staff in 2007 as a graduate assistant and was later hired full-time to coach the team's running backs. Dur- ing the 2015 regular season, he held four titles: wide receivers coach, passing game coordinator, recruiting coordinator and 1 TAX INCENTIVE McClendon seeks strong showing in first game as head coach MEET THE NEW BOSS McClendon was the Bulldogs' re- ceivers coach before being named interim head coach fol- lowing Richt's dismissal in No- vember. Photo courtesy of Georgia Athlet- ics

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