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December 7, 1998

ATLANTA (AP) – The 1998 Peach Bowl is a rematch of the 1995 contest. TheGeorgia Bulldogs hope for different results, though.

Virginia beat the Bulldogs 34-27 three years ago in their most recent PeachBowl appearance.

On Sunday, officials of the Chick-fil-A-sponsored event announced thatGeorgia would represent the Southeastern Conference in the New Year’s Eve bowlgame in the Georgia Dome.

Virginia, of the Atlantic Coast Conference, accepted its Peach Bowlinvitation last month.

The Bulldogs finished at 8-3 after losing a last-second heartbreaker toGeorgia Tech 21-19 in their final regular season game.

Virginia, 9-2, will be playing in its third Peach Bowl in 15 years.

The 31st annual Peach Bowl will mark the first time that two teams ranked inthe Top 20 will play in the game. Virginia is No. 13 and Georgia is ranked 19thin the latest Associated Press poll.

Officials said they expect a sellout in the 71,151-seat stadium. The game,with a 5 p.m. EST kickoff, will be televised by ESPN. The last Peach Bowl paid$1.5 million to each team, and officials said the payout this year would bemore.

It will be Georgia’s fourth appearance in the Peach Bowl. The Bulldogsdefeated Maryland 17-16 in 1973 and lost to Syracuse 19-18 in 1989.

There was some speculation that Georgia would go to the Outback Bowl inTampa, Fla., but Bulldog coach Jim Donnan said he was not disappointed.

“I don’t have anything to say about anybody else’s selection,” Donnansaid. “After our loss to Georgia Tech, it was a disappointment to us, buteverybody’s got to make their own selection.

“The Peach Bowl has two higher ranked teams,” Donnan said.

No. 22 Penn State and unranked Kentucky were picked for the Outback Bowl.

In addition to its loss to 12th-ranked Tech, Georgia lost only to No. 1Tennessee and No. 7 Florida. Virginia’s only losses this season were to GeorgiaTech and second-ranked Florida State, which will play Tennessee for thenational championship in the Fiesta Bowl.

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