The ACC has been in the clutches of Florida State football over the last few years. This season, Georgia Tech don’t seem to get poll love compared to the Seminoles, but if there ever was a season for the Yellow Jackets to win the conference, it has to be now.
Things were really close last season when Georgia Tech lost by just two points in the conference championship game to Florida State, a team that looked vulnerable all year long but kept on scraping out wins before getting pummeled by Oregon in the playoffs. Georgia Tech went on to beat Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl, as Paul Johnson had his best season in Atlanta, finishing 11-3 and the team’s first major bowl game victory since the 1950s.
Georgia Tech actually won the conference under Paul Johnson in 2009, but that was later vacated by the NCAA. This year, with an incredibly experienced team that includes four seniors in the offensive line with just three sophomores in the starting 22, despite being ranked #16 and #17 in the polls, it feels like there’s an opportunity to grasp and some momentum to take advantage of.
The season begins with an easy game; Alcorn State. But there are tests, big ones. At Notre Dame, at Clemson and playing Florida State. Finishing the season against Georgia is never a cupcake game as well. But in a conference that might be as open as it’s been in the last four or five years, there’s no denying that Georgia Tech look like a very good choice for the championship game and maybe even more than that, finally.