Georgia Tech’s slide has left the Yellow Jackets stuck in a brutal spot, and Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh only made the picture uglier. They dropped their third straight game, and now they’re on the verge of missing the postseason for the first time in the Brent Key era. A shot at Louisville is next, but the outlook in Atlanta is grim.
That defeat came in a game where Georgia Tech never really found its footing. The Jackets couldn’t slow the run, couldn’t get anything going offensively, and were never truly in the fight on the road. A 2-10 season is now staring them in the face, and Louisville looks like a nightmare matchup for a defense that already has major issues.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, finally snapped its own three-game losing streak by beating Georgia Tech and locking up bowl eligibility at six wins. Considering the Panthers lost their star quarterback, that’s a solid accomplishment for Pat Narduzzi’s group. A bye week is next.
At the other end of the same result, Georgia Tech’s loss helped keep them planted at the bottom of the ACC power rankings, where they may stay the rest of the year.
The rest of the league had its own mix of collapse, recovery, and survival. Cal went to Raleigh and came away with a 31-10 loss to NC State, continuing a season that has gone sideways in familiar fashion.
Still, the Wolfpack deserve some credit for responding after head coach Dave Doeren was fired following an embarrassing loss to Stanford. They’re still alive for a bowl game and get a much-needed bye before the stretch run.
A chance to pull an upset against Duke comes next.
Virginia’s season keeps unraveling. Wake Forest blasted the Cavaliers 51-7, and the final margin told the story of a team that was never in the game.
UVA had a long injury report, but that doesn’t change how bad the result was for a program that wanted to get back to the ACC Championship this season. Tony Elliott’s team now heads into a bye.
Boston College had momentum after an impressive showing against Georgia Tech a week earlier, but that disappeared fast in a 47-2 road loss to Duke. The Eagles had won two straight before getting flattened, and now they return home to face a Florida State team that just fired its head coach.
Florida State’s coaching change came after the latest loss to Clemson, and now the bigger question is how much fight the Seminoles will show the rest of the way. Boston College is next, and while that’s a game Florida State can win on the road, it’s not exactly a comfortable spot.
Syracuse is trending the right way after back-to-back wins over North Carolina and SMU. The Orange knocked off one of the ACC favorites in the Carrier Dome and now get Clemson at home. A bowl game is very much in play for Fran Brown’s team.
SMU, on the other hand, is once again dealing with the frustration of letting a promising season get complicated. Last year, the Mustangs were one win against Cal away from the ACC Championship game and a playoff shot, but they lost to the Golden Bears and settled for a bowl. This time, they dropped a game to a 3-4 Syracuse team and now have to get through Virginia Tech on Friday night before even thinking about Wake Forest.
Duke has bounced back from its two-game skid in a big way, clinching another postseason berth with its blowout of Boston College. Manny Diaz now gets a chance to keep the Blue Devils’ ACC Championship hopes alive with a rivalry game against NC State.
Louisville handled Stanford by pulling away after a shaky first half, and the Cardinals’ second-half surge gave them a little life in the ACC race. They’re still only working with faint championship hopes, but that’s better than none. Georgia Tech is up next, and Louisville should be a heavy favorite.
Stanford, after hanging around early, ran out of answers once Louisville settled in. The Cardinal’s defense couldn’t get stops and the offense faded, and now they head into their second and final bye week before trying to win two of their last three and reach a bowl.
UNC got a strange but encouraging effort from Bill Belichick and Bobby Petrino’s game plan against Miami, and Billy Edwards turned in the best game of his career. Still, the defense couldn’t generate enough stops to pull the upset against the No. 1 team in the country. A trip to UConn is next.
Wake Forest continues to look like one of the league’s best stories. The Demon Deacons rolled Virginia 51-7 and have kept surging since their loss to Miami earlier in the season. Merrimack comes next before a huge matchup with SMU on Nov. 14th.
And then there’s Miami, still the class of the conference, even if the last three games have shown a few more cracks than the Hurricanes would like. Their offense was unstoppable against North Carolina, but the defense, especially against the pass, was not nearly as sharp. The whole country will be watching when Miami heads to Notre Dame in one of the biggest games of the season.
In Other News...
Nebraska Is Still Paying For One Brutal Problem In The Rankings
Late October has already started to reshape the college football picture, and the ripple effects are being felt well beyond the teams that actually lost. As the selection committee gets ready to meet, several ranked programs have watched their standing wobble, while others have taken advantage of timely wins to keep their place in the conversation. South Carolina has helped itself with recent victories, but Florida and Nebraska have both run into problems that make every remaining game feel heavier.
For Georgia Tech, the timing matters because the next stretch will help define where the Yellow Jackets sit in the broader ACC pecking order. Louisville is coming to town after beating Stanford and hanging onto a spot in the rankings, even with a 5-3 record, and ESPNs algorithm still has the Cardinals positioned ahead of the league leaders. It is another reminder that the numbers are only part of the story, and with more important games still ahead, the bracket and ranking debates are far from settled. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Techs Offense Just Made A Bad Stretch Feel Even Worse
The latest loss to Pittsburgh only deepened a rough stretch for Georgia Tech, and the offense did little to ease the frustration. The Yellow Jackets managed just 238 yards and never found much rhythm, with the ground game limited to 95 yards as the unit spent much of the night fighting uphill.
Even with the offense sputtering, the defense had a few bright spots to hang onto. Jonas Duclona was active around the ball and helped create some disruption, but Georgia Tech still had trouble slowing Pitt on the ground and could not overcome the mistakes that kept putting the Jackets in tough spots. [Read more 🡒]
Brent Key's Postgame Comments Raised Bigger Georgia Tech Questions
Georgia Techs loss to Pittsburgh only deepened an already difficult season, and Brent Key spent much of his postgame time trying to make sense of why the Yellow Jackets keep falling short. The defeat dropped the team to 2-6, and Key pointed to the kind of uneven play that has followed Georgia Tech too often this fall, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
The larger concern was not just the result, but the direction of the program as Key addressed what has to change beyond one bad afternoon. He acknowledged the need to sort through the roster and the broader structure around it, with staffing, recruiting and transfers all part of the conversation as Georgia Tech looks for a way out of the rut. [Read more 🡒]