Is anyone ready to watch a second consecutive season of clean, old-fashioned hatred airing in primetime?
According to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, the Georgia Tech-University game has been moved to Black Friday this year and will air in primetime on ABC, marking the second straight year that the game between college football's greatest rivalries will air in primetime after several years of airing at noon.
This season's game between Georgia and Georgia Tech has been moved to Black Friday and will air in primetime on ABC, according to a source. Yahoo Sports.
Start times for other SEC games are expected to be announced later Thursday, with many of them early-season games.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) May 30, 2024
This marks the second kickoff time announcement for Georgia Tech. They open the season in Week 0 against Florida State in the Irish. That game is scheduled to kick off at 12:00 PM ET after College GameDay.
Georgia Tech played almost as well as Georgia last year. Georgia won 31-23, but the Yellow Jackets got the ball back on an onside kick and had a chance to tie the score. In 2022, Coach Key had his alma mater within six points of the No. 1 ranked Bulldogs (13-7) midway through the third quarter, but Georgia finally pulled away. Over the past two seasons, Coach Key has had this team play better against the Bulldogs since 2016, when the Yellow Jackets last won. Georgia held off the Yellow Jackets with ease in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021, but struggled to beat Georgia Tech the past two seasons.
So when will Georgia Tech finally break through and end their losing streak against the Bulldogs? I don't know if it will happen in 2024, and I'm not predicting it, but I think it will be Georgia Tech's best chance to get a win against Georgia since 2016.
They have a chance to be the best team in Atlanta since 2014, a year in which the Yellow Jackets made it to the ACC Championship and nearly beat undefeated Florida State. Georgia Tech returns most of the starters from one of the ACC's best offensive lines, which found success against a stout Georgia defense last season, rushing for over 200 yards and racking up nearly 400 yards of offense against the Bulldogs. Not only does Georgia Tech return most of its offensive key players, Faulkner also returns to call the plays, and his offensive line struggled mightily against the Georgia defense last season.
Last year against Georgia (and really this entire season), the Yellow Jackets' inability to stop the run was the biggest reason they couldn't stop their losing streak. Georgia ran for 262 yards and nearly seven yards per carry against one of the worst defensive teams in the country. This is an area Georgia Tech has been trying to improve this offseason with both its coaching staff and personnel.
Georgia Tech needs to improve on what was one of the worst defenses in the country last season, and head coach Brent Key has opted to make some big changes to that side of the football. He brought in former Duke defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci and three other defensive assistants to spearhead a rebuild of that side of the football. If they can improve that side of the football even a little, they have the offensive firepower to make an impact and compete with Georgia in the ACC race this season.
In his one season at Duke (2023), Santucci led the ACC's top-ranked scoring defense, allowing just 19.0 points per game, good for 16th in the nation. The Blue Devils also ranked in the top 50 nationally in rush defense, pass defense, total defense, tackles for loss, third-down defense, fourth-down defense and red zone defense. Duke allowed just 10 points combined in two wins against teams that finished the season in the top 25 (#20 Clemson (28-7) and #21 North Carolina State (24-3)) and finished the season with an 8-5 record overall, including a 17-10 win over Troy in the 2023 Birmingham Bowl.
Georgia Tech also strengthened its defensive line through the transfer portal this offseason, acquiring defensive end Romello Height from USC, defensive tackle Jordan Van den Bergh from Penn State, defensive tackle Thomas Gore from Miami, linebacker EJ Lightsey from Georgia, linebacker Jackson Hamilton from Louisville, cornerback Syed Gibbs from Rhode Island, cornerback Warren Burrell from Tennessee, cornerback Zachary Taub from Illinois, and safety Jayden Davis from Cincinnati. Georgia Tech needs to improve its win-loss record and have a chance to beat Georgia.
Beating the Bulldogs is something Key has emphasized since the day he was hired as the permanent head coach at his alma mater.
“There's one thing I want everyone in this room to understand, and everyone associated with Georgia Tech understands: There are opponents in this state that we work 365 days a year to beat. We work 365 days a year to win. We wake up in the morning wanting to dominate our opponent. That feeling of dominating your opponent is like nothing else, and that's our goal no matter what team we have on our schedule. We're going to work for that every day.”
The guys here understand that. That's our goal, that's our mindset. We have an opponent in the state that has that goal in mind. 365 days a year, we're going to try to dominate that opponent. We understand that.”
They may not win their season-ending game against the Bulldogs in Athens, but this is arguably their best chance since their last win in 2016. We'll see what happens in November.
