The Georgia Tech football program faces off against Vanderbilt in the Birmingham Bowl on Friday, December 27, in Alabama. Georgia Tech finished the regular season with a 7-5 record, including a massive opening week win over Florida State in Dublin, Ireland. The regular season ended with anear-upset of Georgia, although Georgia Tech lost in an 8-overtime classic in Athens.

Vanderbilt has a 6-6 record, and the Commodores had that unreal upset win over Alabama that put Diego Pavia and the program on the map this season.

Ahead of the Birmingham Bowl, Georgia Tech will be without two defensive starters, per Chad Bishop of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

‘Georgia Tech coach Brent Key confirms today that starting linebacker Kyle Efford and starting nickelback Rodney Shelley will miss the Birmingham Bowl due to injury.'

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Here's what Key said about those players missing the game, per Bishop:

“They had surgery right after the last game,” Key said. “We made a decision on when to do it. Both those guys had continued to play that way through the season, and it got to the point where they had nothing left in them to keep going.”

Both of these players are big losses for Georgia Tech. Efford has a total of 35 solo tackles with three sacks on the season as he has emerged in his sophomore campaign. Shelley is a junior cornerback who has 16 solo tackles on the year and has been another key starter for the Yellow Jackets this season.

Georgia Tech also lost top wide receiver Eric Singleton Jr., as he entered the portal and then landed at Auburn on Monday in a big addition for the Tigers as they revamp their roster this year.

With all of those losses and the constant shuffling in the college football transfer portal, Georgia Tech will have a tougher battle against Vanderbilt on Friday.