5:10 2Q– BYU begins its drive at its own 25 yard line

5:14 2Q- Will Kiker with a big fumble recovery after a muffed catch by Cody Hagan of BYU. Georgia Tech is in business. Haynes King finds J.T. Byrne on a six yard touchdown pass. The Yellow Jackets lead 21-10

5:28 2Q– Georgia Tech takes for lead of the game after a 10 play 76 yard drive that is capped off by a five yard touchdown pass from Haynes King to Eric Rivers. Georgia Tech leads 14-10

5:33 2Q- Jonathan Kabeya pass interference penalty on Malik Rutherford keeps the chains moving.

9:06 2Q– Georgia Tech former five star prospect Josh Petty goes down with an injury.

9:42 2Q- After a nice run back from Shane Marshall. Georgia Tech takes over at its own 24 yard line.

9:52 2Q- Georgia Tech defense gets a stand and forces a field goal. Will Feerin nails the 22 yard field goal 10-7

End of 1st Quarter- Score is tied 7-7 and BYU is on fire offensively with 132 passing yards in the first quarter.

0:06 1Q- Bear Bachmeier completes a 35 yard pass to Carsen Ryan to set up the Cougars in Georgia Tech territory

0:20 1Q- Georgia Tech goes for it on 4th and goal with a direct snap from Trelain Maddox who rushes it for three yard touchdown. Game is tied 7-7.

4:00 1Q- A big 22 yard reception from Malik Rutherford puts the Yellow Jackets in the BYU territory

4:56 1Q- Bear Bachmeier connects with Chase Roberts on a seven-yard touchdown pass to give BYU the first score of the game. A five-play 62-yard drive that results in a touchdown. BYU leads 7-0

7:40 1Q– Ahmari Harvey called for a pass interference penalty on a questionable call on BYU’s opening possession.

7:53 1Q- Georgia Tech forced to punt on its opening possession and will have to punt. BYU takes over at its own 38 yard line.

8:39 1Q- Kyle Efoord makes a big hit at the goaline and stops BYU short of the touchdown on fourth down and goal. Georgia Tech will take over at its own one yard line for its first possession

15:00 1Q- BYU takes the opening possession of the game and will begin with the ball.

Game day is officially here

Georgia Tech plays its final game of the regular season as they match up against BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. The Yellow Jackets are looking to secure a 10 win season for the first time since 2014 and is looking to finish the season strong. They will be playing a Cougars team who was on the verge of making the College Football Playoff and is seeking their 12th win of the year. Can the Yellow Jackets finish the Haynes King era on top?

More Georgia Tech Football News:

•When Can Georgia Tech Expect To Win The ACC Under Brent Key?

•Georgia Tech Will Face A Lot of New Quarterbacks in 2026

•Georgia Tech Remains An Underdog vs BYU as Game Week Officially Arrives

•Making A Transfer Portal Wish List For Georgia Tech

ATLANTA (AP) — It’s the biggest mystery in Georgia politics right now: Who’s paying for the attacks on Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones?

Someone operating under the name “Georgians for Integrity” has dumped around $5 million into television ads, mailers and texts. The attacks claim Jones, who already has President Donald Trump’s endorsement in his run for governor next year, has been using his office to enrich himself.

For any Georgian settling down to watch a football game, the ads have been nearly inescapable since Thanksgiving. They’re the opening shot in the public battle for the Republican nomination that will be settled in May’s primary election. But the ads also show how dark money is influencing politics not only at the national level but in the states, with secretive interests dropping big sums seeking to shift public opinion.

The Jones campaign is hopping mad, threatening legal action against television stations if they don’t stop airing ads that a lawyer calls “demonstrably false” and slanderous.

So far, the ads remain on air.

“They want to be anonymous, spend a lot of money, and create a lot of lies about myself and my family,” Jones told WSB-AM in an interview Dec. 16, calling the ads “fabricated trash.”

Attorney General Chris Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Jones’ top rivals for the Republican nomination, say they are not involved in the attacks. All three want to succeed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who can’t run again because of term limits. There are also multiple Democrats vying for the state’s top office.

Dark money marches on

The Georgia Republican Party has filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission. The GOP claims the ads violate Georgia’s campaign finance law against spending on an election without registering and disclosing donors.

“I think there are far-reaching consequences to allowing this activity to go forward unchecked,” state Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon told The Associated Press. “And the consequences are much broader than the outcome of the May primary.”

It’s a further filtering down of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which led to dramatic increases in independent spending in U.S. elections, said Shanna Ports, senior legal counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center, which seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics.

“Dark money is becoming more and more the norm in races, up and down the ballot, and at early times,” Ports said.

Claims that Jones has been engaged in self-dealing are nothing new —- Carr has been making similar attacks for months. But things escalated after Georgians for Integrity was incorporated in Delaware on Nov. 24, according to that state’s corporation records. The entity identifies itself as a nonprofit social welfare organization under the federal tax code, a popular way to organize campaign spending that lets a group hide its donors.

The Jones campaign says the ad falsely leads viewers to believe that Jones enabled government to take land through eminent domain to help support his family’s interest in a massive data center development in Jones’ home county south of Atlanta. As a state senator, Jones did vote for a 2017 law that opened a narrow exception in Georgia’s law prohibiting governments from conveying property seized through condemnation proceedings to private developers. But eminent domain isn’t being used to benefit the $10 billion development that government filings show could include 11 million square feet (1 million square meters) of data centers.

Group’s records are a dead end

Georgians for Integrity lists its local address as a mailbox at an Atlanta office supply store east on some paperwork submitted to television stations. A media buyer named Alex Roberts, with a Park City, Utah, address, is also listed on those papers, but he hasn’t responded to an email from the AP. Neither has Kimberly Land, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer listed on incorporation papers. After weeks of heavy spending, no one has proved who’s providing the cash.

The Republican Party contends Georgians for Integrity is an independent committee under Georgia law. That means it can raise and spend unlimited sums, but must register before accepting contributions and must disclose its donors.

But that law identifies such committees as expending “funds either for the purpose of affecting the outcome of an election for any elected office or to advocate the election or defeat of any particular candidate.” And the ads targeting Jones don’t ever identify him as running for governor or mention the 2026 elections, instead urging viewers to call Jones and “Tell Burt, stop profiting off taxpayers.”

But McKoon said those are “semantic games” and that regular voters would definitely think the ads are designed to influence them.

“If you are funding a message that is designed to impact an election — and I think it strains credulity to argue that that is not the case here — then you ought to have to comply with the campaign finance laws that the legislature has seen fit to pass,” McKoon said.

BYU (11-2, 8-2) vs. Georgia Tech (9-3, 6-2)

• Kickoff: Saturday, 1:30 p.m. MST
• Venue: Camping World Stadium (capacity: 60,219)
• TV: ABC
• Livestream: espn.com/live
• Radio: KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM/BYU Radio Sirius XM 143
• Series: BYU leads, 3-1 (last meeting: 2013)

The trends

For BYU: While having fallen in the Big 12 championship game earlier this month to lose the opportunity to play in the College Football Playoff, the Cougars could still clinch their first 12-win season since 2001 with a victory on Saturday.

BYU ranks No. 4 in the Big 12 in scoring offense (31.9 points per game) and No. 4 in scoring defense (19.0 points per game).

For Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are searching for their first 10-win season since 2011, with a victory Saturday most certainly guaranteeing they will finish the season ranked in the final AP Top 25 poll.

Georgia Tech ranks third in the ACC in scoring offense (33.1 points per game) and 10th in scoring defense (25.0 points per game).

Key player

Bear Bachmeier, freshman, quarterback, BYU. The Cougars will be without their starting running back and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year in LJ Martin, with another dynamic back in Sione Moa missing the bowl as well.

With a depleted stable of rushers behind him, Bachmeier will have to shoulder much of the load on the ground while also likely passing more than 30 times. It will be a tall task for the freshman, especially against a fellow top-25 squad.

But it’s been the Bachmeier show all season for the Cougars, and they’ll need one more great performance from him to capture the Pop-Tarts Bowl crown.

Quotable

“It is not going to be easy, but I know that I really care and want to go out and have fun and enjoy the game and play tough and take advantage of the opportunities that we have” — BYU coach Kalani Sitake

“We are really excited to play BYU, a team that I’ve said now numerous times is a team that really should have been in the playoffs this year, with their body of work and what they’ve done. It is a great opportunity for Georgia Tech to go compete. That’s what we want” — Georgia Tech coach Brent Key

BYU schedule

• Aug. 30 — defeated Portland State, 69-0
• Sept. 6 — defeated Stanford, 27-3
• Sept. 20 — defeated East Carolina, 34-13
• Sept. 27 — defeated Colorado, 24-21
• Oct. 3 — defeated West Virginia, 38-24
• Oct. 11 — defeated Arizona, 33-27
• Oct. 18 — defeated Utah, 24-21
• Oct. 25 — defeated Iowa State, 41-27
• Nov. 8 — lost to Texas Tech, 29-7
• Nov. 15 — defeated TCU, 44-13
• Nov. 22 — defeated Cincinnati, 26-14
• Nov. 29 — defeated UCF, 41-21
• Dec. 6 — lost to Texas Tech, 34-7 in Big 12 championship game