With Saturday night’s hard-fought 24-10 loss to Clemson, Georgia Tech’s already-slim chances of winning the ACC Coastal Division were dealt a crushing blow. At 4-3 overall, and 3-2 in ACC play, the Yellow Jackets need a miracle to have any shot of playing for the ACC title in early December.
After dropping one-point decisions to Tennessee and Miami, and a 14-point loss to defending national champion Clemson on its home field, can Georgia Tech football be considered a top-tier ACC program?
A+ schedule
What cannot be debated is that the Yellow Jackets have played a top-tier ACC schedule. Along with the Coastal Division battles with bowl-bound squads such as Miami and Virginia Tech, the Jackets annually draw Clemson as part of their cross-divisional ACC schedule. GT also has to battle College Football Playoff contender Georgia in its regular season finale.
Georgia Tech played Miami tough in their Hurricane Irma-postponed Oct. 14 showdown. But the Yellow Jackets dropped a heartbreaking 25-24 decision after allowing the Canes nine unanswered fourth quarter points. Giving up the critical tiebreaker to the Canes was one thing. But the loss to Clemson now means that Miami would have to lose all three of its remaining ACC games to Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Pitt to give the Yellow Jackets a chance to come out on top in the Coastal. Although the Canes are potentially vulnerable to Virginia Tech’s high-scoring offense, the odds of Miami losing to UVa and Pitt are slim at best.
Long odds
Georgia Tech still has a crack at Virginia Tech Nov. 11 in Atlanta. If Virginia Tech can knock off undefeated Miami, and the Yellow Jackets can take the Hokies, hope would still be alive for Paul Johnson’s squad. But they would still need a miracle in the form of UVa and Pitt upsets of Miami.
Regardless of how Miami finishes, a win over Virginia Tech could give the Yellow Jackets a realistic shot at second place in the Coastal. In fact, if VT loses to both Miami and Georgia Tech, and the Yellow Jackets can beat Virginia and Duke, GT would finish in second place. But the only path to first place is a complete Miami meltdown in the closing weeks of the regular season.
Although GT avoided Notre Dame this fall, their other ACC cross-divisional matchup aside of Clemson was a win over Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are an improving 5-3 squad that is poised for a bowl berth under Dave Clawson following an upset of Louisville.
The narrow loss to Miami gave away Georgia Tech’s chances of winning the Coastal. The loss to Clemson proves that the 2017 Yellow Jackets are not the ACC’s best team. But at 4-3, the Yellow Jackets can still make something out of this season.
With the UCF game cancelled, Georgia Tech will only play 11 regular season games this fall. If they could pull off an upset over either Virginia Tech or Georgia, the Yellow Jackets can finish 7-4. Otherwise, they’re staring at a 6-5 finish. While that will be good enough for another bowl game, it won’t be evidence that in year ten under Paul Johnson, the Yellow Jackets are one of the ACC’s top-tier programs.
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