Friday’s game will give the Jackets a chance to win eight games for the first time since 2016.

Things to know about Friday’s Birmingham Bowl

Start: Friday, 3:30 p.m

Where: Protection Stadium (capacity 41,700)

TV: ESPN

Streaming: WatchESPN app

Weather: 59 degrees at kickoff, 45% chance of rain

Tickets: Admission through the event’s official partner, Ticketmaster, is $40.

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Pre-Birmingham Bowl storylines

Brent Key is back home: When Brent Key peeked out of his room at the Sheraton Hotel this week, he spotted the Regions Center skyscraper downtown, a building decorated for the holiday season. It was a site that evoked nostalgia for Key, a Georgia Tech graduate and current Yellow Jackets coach who is doing his best to make the Birmingham Bowl something other than him.

Haynes King back for more: The second half of the 2024 season did not go as King had hoped.

Tech’s junior quarterback injured his shoulder in a win at North Carolina on Oct. 12, missed the next two games, shared playing time with freshman Aaron Philo in wins over Miami and North Carolina State, respectively, in November and then left all offense out. He managed just one goal in a painful eight-overtime loss to Georgia on Nov. 29.

After King finished the Yellow Jackets’ practice on Friday, he was asked if the grueling final month and a half of the season had led him to sit out the Birmingham Bowl against Vanderbilt to continue resting and recovering after everything he had been through recover.

Jamal Haynes is heading to the final: Haynes had a very solid and productive season in 2024, his second as the No. 1 running back at Tech. But he knows things could have gone much better if he hadn’t had the nagging injuries he’s had to battle over the last four months.

“I’m not going to say I didn’t achieve my goals, but because of the injuries and a lot of things going on this season, it didn’t really go the way I wanted it to,” Haynes said Wednesday after the Yellow Jackets practiced at the Brock Football Practice Facility to prepare for the Birmingham Bowl. “So we definitely want to react next year and get back on track.”

Bowl tickets are flying off the shelves: Tech has sold out its allotment of Birmingham Bowl tickets.

Tech originally received 3,000 tickets for the game at Protective Stadium (capacity 47,100). Tech had nearly 9,000 ticket requests before the application deadline earlier this month and worked with bowl organizers to fulfill those requests. Ticket requests were fulfilled based on Alexander Tharpe Fund priority points.

Jordan Williams breaks bowl game record: The number of high school students in the tech industry may not be large, but its impact could be felt for years to come as Brent Key’s program continues its upward trajectory in 2025 and beyond.

The Jackets, who have been at Tech the longest, some having already joined the program in 2019, are part of a squad that has won 14 games over the last two seasons and will make two consecutive bowl games, a program first since 2013-14 .

And while 14 wins isn’t that big of a number, the Jackets have only won 14 games total from 2019 to 2022.

The Faulkner family is aiming for their second trophy this month: On Dec. 16, Buster Faulkner watched history unfold from the stands at Mercedes-Benz Stadium along with the rest of the North Oconee High School community.

Faulkner, Tech’s offensive coordinator, has been involved in the game of football most of his life, both as a player and as a coach. However, nothing prepared him for what he experienced that day.

Bowl preparation and uncertainty in the squad: There was a lot going on in tech football this week.

Transfers from other programs have been held at Bobby Dodd Stadium and on campus as they consider a possible move to Tech. Jackets players from the 2024 roster have entered the NCAA transfer portal and have already left the team. Key and his staff continue to review film of potential players from the high school and college ranks who could join the program in 2025. It was finals weekend on campus.

Oh, and the current team has a bowl game in two weeks.

Starting lineup competitions: Tech continued its on-field preparations for Tuesday’s Birmingham Bowl, the second practice of the week at the Brock Football Practice Facility and Rose Bowl Field. Tech’s practices have become a little more important with each passing day and with the continued departure of key players like wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., left tackle Corey Robinson and defensive end Romello Height.

These losses open up competition for more in-game snaps for some of the younger players on the roster when the Jackets (7-5) face Vanderbilt on Friday at 3:30 p.m.

Birmingham is home to Key: Key, Tech’s second-year coach, is a Birmingham native who played high school football at Hewitt-Trussville High School. Key, who has been a Tech coach for 18 to 15 years, received a contract extension this month.

Of all the bowls across the country, Tech’s Wheel of Fortune landed on the one that allows Key to take his alma mater to a stadium 20 minutes from where he played high school ball.

Ring: Not only are Tech and Vanderbilt playing for the right to take home the Birmingham Bowl trophy, the two teams are also playing for a Prize Cowbell, an award given to the winning team in the series between the two schools first competed against each other in 1892 and last met in 2016 at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Since 1924, the winning team of the series has owned the rights to the silver cowbell, which will be engraved with the year of the game and the final result. Tech has held the trophy since a 38-7 victory in 2016, one of six straight wins since 1965. Vanderbilt hasn’t beaten Tech since 1941 and has gone 0-12-1 to the Yellow Jackets since then.

Vanderbilt back in the postseason: On October 5, Vanderbilt captured the attention of the entire college football landscape.

A 22-point underdog that day in Nashville, Vandy defeated No. 1 ranked Alabama with a 40-35 victory. It was Vanderbilt’s first win in program history against a team ranked at the top of the national polls – and its first win over a team ranked in the top five.

Portal exits open in-depth questions: “We plan to have the Georgia Tech football team (in the bowl game) in 2024. That’s our plan,” Key said. “You control what you can control and you don’t worry about things you can’t control. If you worry about this, you won’t have time during the day to get what you need to get done. We have taken the actions and worked to build our team in a way that is best for our team. But I can’t predict the future.”

Tech’s bowl starting lineup will have a different look as top wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr. and starting left tackle Corey Robinson II have declared their intent to play elsewhere in 2025. Backup quarterback Zach Pyron and defensive back Taye Seymore were also among the nine Jackets who have entered the transfer portal so far, although it’s not out of the question for Singleton, Robinson, Pyron or Seymore to play in the bowl game or return for 2025.

Two coaches, two alma maters: A fascinating aspect of the Birmingham Bowl is that it pits two coaches against each other who played football for their respective schools. And as Vandy coach Clark Lea said, the similarities don’t end there.

“From two great academic institutions from two great cities, two graduates with two great haircuts,” Lea said, referencing the lack of a shared hairstyle between him and Tech coach Brent Key.