ACC · Brent Key, year 5 (28-22) · Bobby Dodd Stadium · 55,000 · 51,692 avg in 2026
LastW 44–11 vs Mercer · Sat Sep 19 · Justice Haynes 141 rush yds, 2 TD, 26 rec yds
Nextat Stanford · Sat Sep 26 · 10:30 pm ET · Stanford Stadium · Georgia Tech by 3.5 · series 2-0, won the last 2 · Game preview
Updated Tue Sep 22 · through week 3
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 4 | #74 | #163 | -6.5✗ | Colorado | L 13–14 130 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 2 | Sep 12 | #78 | #32 | +12.5✗ | Tennessee | L 24–45 137 | 0-2 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 19 | #85 | #164 | -38.5✗ | Mercer | W 44–11 122 | 1-2 | 0-0 |
| 4 | Sep 27 | #99 | #106 | -3.5 | @Stanford | |||
| 6 | Oct 10 | Duke | ||||||
| 7 | Oct 17 | @Virginia Tech | ||||||
| 8 | Oct 24 | Boston College | ||||||
| 9 | Oct 31 | @Pittsburgh | ||||||
| 10 | Nov 7 | Louisville | ||||||
| 11 | Nov 14 | @Clemson | ||||||
| 12 | Nov 21 | Wake Forest | ||||||
| 13 | Nov 28 | @Georgia |
| Date | Opp | Result | Yds | TO | TOP | EPA/play | Success% | Explosive% | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 19 | Mercer | W 44–11 | 405 | 0 | 27:18 | +0.333 | 47.6% | 114.3% | Season-high EPA/play |
| Sep 12 | Tennessee | L 24–45 | 356 | 2 | 31:12 | -0.066 | 45.8% | 101.6% | Season-low EPA/play |
| Sep 4 | Colorado | L 13–14 | 288 | 1 | 25:51 | +0.074 | 37.0% | 120.0% | Most explosive |
| Season average (3 games) | 350 | 1.0 | +0.114 | 43.5% | 112.0% | ||||
Georgia Tech is the engineering school that out-thinks you on Saturday — a 1990 national champion that spent two decades in the wilderness and, under alum Brent Key and Haynes King, has clawed its way back to top-of-the-ACC relevance.
Tech fans live two miles from a program with more recruits, more money and more rings, and 'To Hell With Georgia' isn't a chant so much as a worldview — the engineers against the football factory…
The season in chapters
What fans said
Real posts from the day of the game, chosen by community score · usernames not shown
What it is like to watch them2025 · 9-4 · last season
✓ measured from 13 games · ranks are among ACC teams the same season
Recent form · last 10 games · incl. 2025
Cold. 4-6 over the last 10, and won the last one.
Coach Prime just gave me the opportunity, like, ‘Chauncey, what can you do on that D-line?’
Next Sep 27
vs Stanford · away
✓ fact on line · ~ our read on style
Market outlook
Sportsbook consensus · best odds across multiple books · 2026-09-22
the open questionwhere does it go from here?
Georgia Tech leaped 31 spots in SP+ — the gap between the ranking and its 9-4 record is the story Brent Key has to answer in the ACC this year.
our readbackground
Brent Key's fifth season opens with a 9-4 record and a talent rank of #34, but a 1.5-win drop below bowl eligibility raises questions about sustaining momentum in a competitive ACC.
our readfront page
Eric Rivers is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
our readbackground
Isiah Canion is a real deep-ball threat -- a high share of his targets come on throws past the sticks.
our readbackground
Jordan Allen is used almost exclusively underneath -- a low share of his targets are downfield shots.
our readbackground
Outcome band · Georgia Tech · 2026
Floor, base and ceiling come from the season-path projection, which plays out conference title games and the CFP — so a ceiling can run past 12 games.
Georgia Tech enters 2026 rated No. 35 in 2025 SP+ (+9.3), up 31 spots from 2024. It is top-quintile returning production in FBS — 1% of production comes back. One of the bigger model jumps in the country — the tape moved faster than the consensus noticed. Preview coverage is split — believers and skeptics are reading the same data differently.
The off-field storyline driving the noise right now. Not analysis — the soap opera, and that's the point.
The 'the projection is underselling us' read -- fans betting the season beats the preview number.
The 'the model has seen the tape' counter -- efficiency ratings reward what a program has actually done, not hope.
This event was in 626 of 4161 board posts (15%) over the last 60 days — a fanbase consumed by it. Fan text shown verbatim, attributed to the community not the individual poster.
The boards ≠ the fanbase: a vocal, self-selected slice.
Fan mood index · most recent r/cfb data
More in this tab
Georgia Tech is the ACC engineering-school flagship — 1990 national championship under Bobby Ross, four split-T / triple-option / Paul Johnson eras, and Brent Key's 2024 7-6 rebuild that reset competitive cycles.
The program ledger
since 2025NCAA denies sixth-year waiver for MSU's James BlackStrain
BlackStrain's waiver denial stings — Key's LB room already absorbed two draft exits and was counting on a veteran plug, not another developmental rep.
Georgia Tech releases depth chart
Two NFL Draft departures and a developing LB room — Key's first depth chart is less a revelation than a stress test, and Mercer is exactly the wrong time to find out who's not ready.
Win total: 6.5 → 5 (▼1.5)
The 6.5 to 5 move confirmed what was already public — the market repriced after the news landed.
Georgia Tech releases initial depth chart
Depth chart drops with LB still the loudest question mark — two draft exits and a #41 class means Key's linebackers are playing with a thinner margin than the SP+31 jump suggests.
Georgia Tech updates Week One depth chart
Two NFL exits and a linebacker room under pressure — Key's Week One depth chart tells you whether the development class filled the gaps or just papered over them.
Georgia Tech wins first game of 2026
First win on the board, but the real number is 5 — that's where the market landed after two draft exits and an LB room under construction; Key needs this thing to build fast.
Top 3 commits
Recruiting Footprint · 2026
GA leads the 2026 class with 14 commits. National footprint reaching 5 states.
Where they recruit · 2023-2026
93 signees across 12 states, 2023-2026. GA leads the pull.
That is 5.3% of every high-school FBS signee GA produced over those cycles — second only to Georgia, 1 signee back. The full map →
Miles from home · 2026 roster
The median Georgia Tech player grew up 92 miles from campus.
Half this roster came from closer than that; half came from farther.
Straight-line distance from each player's listed hometown to Bobby Dodd Stadium. Hometowns are placed at city-centroid precision, not street address — fine at this scale, but a player's true door-to-door number can differ by a few miles. 109 of 110 listed players have a geocoded hometown. Source: CFBD roster hometowns.
Top community posts · last 12 months · r/cfb
Fan confidence a bit lower than recent years
27th percentile among FBS programs
The bounces haven't gone their way on the fumbles they've forced: 20% recovered, vs. ~48% expected.
1 of 5 forced fumbles recovered, 2026 only.
The flags have favored them: 28 penalties drawn on opponents vs. 20 committed, 123 yards to the good.
154 penalty yards committed vs. 277 drawn on opponents, 2026 season total.
Outcome band · Georgia Tech · 2026
Recruiting Footprint · 2026