It’s been a while, but it is time for Yellow Jacket fans to go into the preseason
Georgia Tech fans stood in anticipation at the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa. The season was already a success by getting to 6 wins and making their first bowl since 2018. UCF was starting a drive with just over a minute left in hopes of making up a two-score deficit. Tim McClain took the first snap of the drive and threw short of his receiver near the sideline. Georgia Tech’s Ahmari Harvey had run underneath the receiver and sealed the first winning season in 6 years with a pick.
Making a bowl wasn’t a requirement for Coach Brent Key and the Yellow Jackets in his first full year, but there was cautious optimism that maybe Tech could get a break (Thanks Miami) or two and hit the mark. Optimism in the preseason has been elusive of late for the fanbase. This year it is time to embrace it.
Where does Georgia Tech stand with a new look ACC and the beginning of the 12-team playoff era? Oddsmakers in Vegas have set Georgia Tech’s over/under to 5.5 wins. That doesn’t seem too optimistic considering they finished with 7 a season prior, but Vegas did miss the mark by a wide margin last year when they pegged them at 3.5 wins. The biggest driver of the low confidence is the daunting schedule that has become a norm for this team. My take? It’s not as bad as it appears.
Georgia and Notre Dame highlight the nonconference schedule. Those are both teams with playoff aspirations but are still only nonconference games, and they get two beatable teams in Georgia State and VMI. Certainly, you want to win every game you play but the focus for what is success this season should be on the ACC. If they steal some upsets to get into the conference championship all it takes is a conference title to qualify for the playoffs.
Before we get that far though, let’s look at why this team can improve upon the 7 wins from last year. The biggest strength of this team is the offense. Buster Faulkner and Chris Wienke did an outstanding job scheming a new offense and developing QB Haynes King. Haynes King led the ACC in 27 touchdown passes and added 10 on the ground. Interceptions were the crux of his play last year, but they came congregated midseason and 4 were to Clemson and 3 to Boston College. Another year in the system and he should see improvement.
The biggest surprise last year was the play of the offensive line. The Jackets led the ACC in rushing yards per game at 198. That ranked them 13th in the nation. Scaglione will be gone but the rest of the unit returns along with a solid addition of Kaylen Rutledge from Middle Tennessee. Running Backs Jamal Haynes and Dontae Smith get the rest of the credit and Haynes will return after a 1,000-yard season. Dontae Smith was the final player from the Paul Johnson era and will be missed. A capable backup still needs to emerge behind Jamal Haynes. To top off the returning production, wide receivers Malik Rutherford and Eric Singleton led a deep group of receivers who return.
Now the defense left plenty to be desired by finishing near the bottom in key categories in the conference and the nation. It doesn’t feel great either that several starters have graduated or transferred out. The silver lining is that Coach Key was intent on overhauling the defensive staff and grabbed a proven coordinator to lead the defense. Tyler Santucci will take over as the defensive coordinator after a two-year stint in the same position at Duke where he served under Mike Elko who was known for his defenses at Texas A&M. Duke led the conference in scoring defense last under Santucci and was in the Top 50 in the nation across all other statistics. To help with continuity Jess Simpson follows Santucci from Duke where he will work with the defensive line. If the defense even rises to the middle of the conference this becomes a dangerous team.
Let us assume the offense continues to grow and is more refined, and the defense sees improvement to get them Top 75 nationally in key areas. The schedule doesn’t appear too difficult anymore. Georgia State and VMI would be the two expected wins. Duke and Syracuse are under new head coaches and don’t have equal talent as Tech. UNC and Louisville have major roster turnover, and UNC decided to hire Geoff Collins to run their defense so have fun with that. Those are all winnable games and by taking care of business Georgia Tech has already found 6 overall wins and 4 in the ACC.
Florida State, Virginia Tech, Miami, and NC State are the four Georgia Tech needs to steal a game from. Under Coach Key, Georgia Tech has made a reputation of knocking off Top 25 teams and each of these could be in that group.
Everything hinges on the defense getting better. There isn’t a conference game on the schedule that would be out of reach if Georgia Tech fields a better defense. It’s doubtful they go 8-0 in conference play but beating Louisville last year would have had them playing Florida State in the conference championship. Closing out the winnable games would have made last season a stellar performance against expectations. This team returns talent, new staff has been added to address the deficiencies, and we’ve seen visible results of players developing in just one year.
Ninety-nine days remain until renewed expectations are put to the test. I’m excited once again about the direction of the program. If they open the season in Ireland with a win over Florida State, the foundation will be set for Georgia Tech to prove it is a contender in the ACC.