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

ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Public Safety has released a preliminary report on holiday traffic statistics through Wednesday, showing that three people have been killed in crashes across the state so far this Christmas.

What we know:

Statewide, all law enforcement agencies have reported three fatalities. Of those, the Georgia State Patrol (GSP) investigated one fatal crash.

The latest statistics from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) also highlight a significant number of arrests and citations as troopers maintain a heavy presence on Georgia’s interstates.

By the numbers:

Through Wednesday, troopers have reported:

• DUI arrests: 38
• Distracted driving citations: 24
• Seatbelt citations: 30
• Total crash reports: 36
• Total people injured in crashes: 12
• Total DUI-related crashes: 4
• Commercial vehicle crashes: 0

Local perspective:

The current Christmas travel figures are significantly lower than those recorded during the 102-hour Thanksgiving holiday period. Preliminary GSP figures show that Thanksgiving travel led to 11 fatal crashes and 12 deaths statewide. During that November period, state troopers handled six of the fatalities, while local police departments investigated the remaining five.

What’s next:

DPS will continue to track traffic data throughout the holiday weekend.

ATHENS — It’s fair to say the Georgia football season has been filled with surprises, many of the most pleasant variety.

The great success Gunner Stockton has been the most surprising.

Raise your hand if you had Stockton finishing in the Top 10 of the Heisman Trophy voting ahead of the likes of preseason favorites Arch Manning, DJ Lagway, LaNorris Sellers, Garrett Nussmeier and Cade Klubnik.

Here’s a look back at this author’s five fearless Georgia preseason predictions, and how they turned out.

1. Ryan Puglisi will play a key role

To this point? Not at all, and Georgia fans and likely Puglisi himself, the good teammate that he is, probably hopes this one stays wrong.

But if it doesn’t — if the unexpected happens and Stockton has to miss some action in this rough and tumble game that has seen former UGA starting quarterbacks Jacon Eason, D’Wan Mathis, Stetson Bennett, J.T. Daniels and Carson Beck all miss time — Puglisi has the talent to help UGA finish the job.

2. Zachariah Branch will have 1,000 receiving yards

Branch leads the SEC with 73 catches, but he’s at 744 yards — 266 short of the magic 1,000-yard number.

At the current clip of 57.2 yards per game, Branch wouldn’t make 1,000 even if UGA plays the maximum three games that could be remaining.

Branch would need to average 85.3 yards per game over the next three games to hit 1,000 — we’ll stick with the prediction for now.

3 Georgia will average 200-yards plus rushing per game

Looking back, this was a bit too much to expect with four new offensive linemen and a new lead back.

Missouri (234.1) was the only SEC team to average more than 200 yards rushing per game, and of the remaining CFP teams, only Indiana (221.2) and Oregon (217.1) are averaging more than 200 yards per game.

Georgia is averaging 186.6 yards rushing per game — a major jump from the 124.4 yards per game averaged last year — but short of the preseason prediction.

This one came up wrong and seems unlikely to change with the level of competition still ahead.

4. Georgia’s home win streak will end

Yep, it happened against Alabama, 24-21, back on Sept. 27 when the Tide survived and snapped the Bulldogs’ 33-game home field win streak.

The prediction wasn’t so much about knowing Alabama would be the team to beat Georgia, so much as the sheer odds of such a feat continuing with capable teams like the Tide, Ole Miss and Texas all coming to Sanford Stadium.

5. Georgia will play in the SEC championship game

This one was spot on, and so was the logic ….

“Smart’s teams most often get better as the season progresses, and while one SEC loss seems more likely than not, the feeling here is the head coach will get whatever goes wrong fixed.

This Georgia team has stressed the sort of unity great teams possess and have likely realized they will need to band together to accomplish their goals….

The offense, while no longer possessing an NFL talent at quarterback, has more dynamic and consistent pass-catching weapons in addition to a deeper offensive backfield with tailback Nate Frazier ready to prove more reliable and certain with the ball in his hands.

It’s too early to predict Georgia will win the SEC Championship Game as injuries always seem to play a role.”

Injuries did play a role — but for both teams — and the Bulldogs handled those injuries and the playoff-related pressure than Alabama did.