Reigning National Champions Accept Chick-fil-A Bowl Bid
LSU to Face No. 15 Georgia Tech in Atlanta Dec. 31

ATLANTA (Dec. 7, 2008) – The reigning national champion LSU Tigers have accepted a bid to represent the Southeastern Conference in the Chick-fil-A Bowl Dec. 31 against No. 15 Georgia Tech Bowl officials announced today.

LSU and Georgia Tech last met in the 2000 Chick-fil-A Bowl when LSU downed the favored Yellow Jackets 28-14.

“LSU is one of the great national football brands in college football and we feel very fortunate to be in a position to host the defending national champions,” said Gary Stokan, Chick-fil-A Bowl president. “This is a first-class program that in the last five years has earned 50 wins, an SEC championship, a national championship and has won its last three bowl games. We’re looking forward to another of our close, competitive rivalry games on New Year’s Eve.”

This will mark LSU’s fifth appearance in the Chick-fil-A Bowl where the Tigers are undefeated at 4-0. The Bayou Bengals’ most recent appearance came in 2005 – a 40-3 thrashing of Miami. Other opponents have included Georgia Tech (2000), Clemson (1996) and Florida State in the inaugural Bowl in 1968.

“On behalf of LSU, I want to accept the invitation and say how excited we are to have this great opportunity to play one of the best teams in the country in Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Bowl,” said Director of Athletics Joe Alleva. “I’m very familiar with them. They have an outstanding coach in Paul Johnson and he’s done a remarkable job there. This will be a great challenge for our team, one that I think Coach Miles and our players will be very excited to play and will give tremendous effort and represent the state of Louisiana to the fullest.”

“In my conversation with Coach Miles before the bowl selection was done, he wanted to play the highest ranked team that we could play.” Alleva said. “He thought that would be the best thing for this team and the program. He felt it was something he could use to motivate his team to play well and he’s really excited to play Georgia Tech.”

Chick-fil-A Bowl officials will travel to Baton Rouge, La. on Thursday to make the formal invitation on LSU’s campus.

The series between LSU and Georgia Tech dates back to 1915 with the Yellow Jackets holding a 12-6 advantage. LSU, however, has won the last four meetings.

The Chick-fil-A Bowl will be broadcast nationally by ESPN Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m.

The Chick-fil-A Bowl is the longest-running rivalry series of top-ranked teams from the ACC and SEC and is recognized as one of the most competitive bowl games in college football. The Chick-fil-A Bowl owns exclusive rights to the first selection in the ACC – after the BCS – and will set records this year with its 12th straight sellout and an all-time high $6.01 million in total team payout. The Chick-fil-A Bowl is the highest-attended non-BCS game in the country and leads all bowl games in charitable and scholarship contributions.