Head Coach: Brent Key is in his second full year with the program, but also had a partial interim year in 2022. Overall he has a 11-10 record with the Yellow Jackets. The program has been struggling in the post Paul Johnson era and he quickly brought life to it. He’s already led the Yellow Jackets to multiple upsets during his time, including back to back wins over North Carolina and of course the infamous Cristobal didn’t take a knee upset over Miami FL. Now the challenge will be to keep improving.
Program Outlook: Georgia Tech and their fans simply seem to be having fun again, that’s a positive, now they’re looking to get back into ACC contention. To take the next step they will be looking for some consistency, during last years 7-6 season Georgia Tech alternated wins and losses for the first 8 games with absolutely no regard for who the opponent was. This resulted in wild results like losing to Bowling Green/Boston College but also pulling those aforementioned upsets. There’s some hope again at least.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: There’s some things to be excited about here. Georgia Tech returns a good amount of production, especially on offense. Their QB Haynes King really seemed to get more comfortable as the year went on and could be ready to take another step this year. What will help is the return of much of his deep receiving core, but that isn’t even the biggest appeal of this offense. The Yellow Jackets ran the ball very well last year, and you can see Key’s vision as a former Oline coach taking shape up front with a good Oline that returns 4/5 starters. Defense was the Achilles heel for the Ramblin’ Wreck. They gave up way too many points and yards, but Key attempted to revamp it this offseason, just about cleaning house with a new coaching staff and hit the portal in search of more competition.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: I don’t think it’s possible to have a worse ACC schedule than this one, it’s absolutely brutal. Having Georgia as a rival they play annually will never be easy, but they also draw Notre Dame this year. They get one break by not having to play Clemson, but the Yellow Jackets play just about every other ACC championship contender, none of the teams new to the ACC or really any projected bottom feeders. Georgia Tech could improve and not see it on their record as a result.
Vegas Projection: Georgia Tech’s win total is set at 5.5 with the odds leaning toward the under. There’s enough I like about this team that could convince they can at least reach bowl eligibility despite the tough schedule.
2024 Best Case: Georgia Tech with an experienced offense and revamped defense is ready to surprise some people. They waste no time doing that, in front of everyone in the random Ireland game they upset the Noles and suddenly the prospects of the season are changed completely. Georgia Tech suffers no letdowns and avoids taking losses in tough tests against Syracuse and Louisville to set up a massive showdown with Notre Dame. They almost steal college GameDay from rival Georgia’s showdown with Texas but don’t quite, doesn’t matter the Yellow Jackets play a great game and pull off the win to keep their unbeaten season alive. Alas it can only last so long, they lose to Virginia Tech the next week but don’t lose again to have a 10-1 record when they face Georgia. Sadly even in the best of scenarios Georgia isn’t going anywhere and Georgia Tech falls short of beating them. The Yellow Jackets still earn a bid to the ACC championship, they don’t win it, nor make the playoff but they win their bowl game for a still remarkable 11-3 season, and Georgia doesn’t win the national title.
2024 Worst Case: Georgia Tech’s offense is stuck in neutral and the defense doesn’t get any better. They’re blown out by Florida State in Ireland, and don’t recover in time to stop a hungry Georgia State team from upsetting them the following week. The Yellow Jackets find themselves limping into the Duke game at 1-4 desperate for a win, they come close but the game falls out of their hands at the last moment. That proves to be the last chance to win and at 1-10 Georgia Tech makes a change in hopes of an interim coach bump against rival Georgia, it doesn’t work. Georgia scores on their first 6 drives and blows out the Yellow Jackets who now found themselves once again lost trying to find momentum.
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