Georgia Tech's Win vs. Clemson—and Soft Schedule—Make Yellow Jackets True CFP Threat

The Yellow Jackets took down the Tigers on a dramatic last-second field goal, a win that could have significant playoff ramifications.

After a win over Clemson, Malik Rutherford and his Georgia Tech teammates have some serious College Football Playoff potential. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Saturday's victory over Clemson is the biggest win of Georgia Tech's Brent Key era to this point, but weirdly it was a loss that put the program on the radar as one to watch across college football. Last November, the Yellow Jackets took Georgia to the brink in an unforgettable eight-overtime game, falling 44–42 to the Dawgs in Athens.

Despite a losing effort in the game known as Clean Old Fashioned Hate, Key's Yellow Jackets looked the part of a contender at the end of the 2024 season. Georgia Tech finished just 7–6 (including a bowl game loss to Vanderbilt), but picked up an upset of Miami three weeks before the near-upset of Georgia, and faced a rough schedule, ultimately falling in road games to solid ACC programs at Louisville and Syracuse and a non-conference home game to national runner-up Notre Dame.

The 2025 schedule isn't nearly as daunting on paper, and with a win over Clemson, it isn't overly hasty for Yellow Jackets fans to start prognosticating on just how special this season can be—and whether the Ramblin' Wreck could make a run at the College Football Playoff. Georgia Tech doesn't draw Notre Dame in this year's rotation of ACC opponents for the Fighting Irish. It misses Miami and a rejuvenated Florida State. Virginia Tech looks very shaky and the Hokies head to Atlanta, as does a Syracuse team that has taken a major step back from its 10-win 2024 form. The toughest conference matchup left may be a late-season trip to Boston College, or perhaps NC State.

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Georgia Tech's Remaining Schedule Is Very Manageable Until the Season Finale vs. Georgia

Here's a look at what the Yellow Jackets will contend with from here on out, along with their chances to win the game as of Saturday, according to ESPN's FPI matchup predictor. It is not a perfect metric by any stretch, but shows how Georgia Tech has a chance to be a solid favorite all the way until the season concludes with a rematch of last year's eight-overtime game with Georgia.

Date	Opponent	Score/GT % Win Prediction (FPI)
Aug. 29	at Colorado	27–20 W
Sept. 6	vs. Gardner-Webb	59–12 W
Sept. 13	vs. Clemson	24–21 W
Sept. 20	vs. Temple	87.6% chance to win (FPI)
Sept. 27	at Wake Forest	85.1%
Oct. 11	vs. Virginia Tech	77.4%
Oct. 18	at Duke	64.5%
Oct. 25	vs. Syracuse	79.3%
Nov. 1	at NC State	61.8%
Nov. 15	at Boston College	58.1%
Nov. 22	vs. Pitt	68.1%
Nov. 28	vs. Georgia	19.7%

The work is far from done for Tech. Even with an impressive start to the season, wins over Colorado and Clemson weren't dominant, and plenty of those ACC games down the stretch could become coin flips as things progress. The offense is dangerous, but extremely reliant on Haynes King, the Jackets' battering ram of a quarterback who has dealt with injuries over the last few seasons. The team won't look nearly the same if he's out of the lineup.

If they can keep King intact and execute the way they did late against Clemson, this is a tough out for anyone in the middle of the ACC pack—the teams that almost exclusively make up Georgia Tech's ACC schedule from here on out. At this point, it would be no surprise to see the Yellow Jackets playing in Charlotte in early December, and as we saw last year, even that end-of-season rivalry game against Georgia is far from a certain loss.

With a 3–0 start and a signature win under its belt, Georgia Tech absolutely controls its own destiny from here on out, and should be taken seriously as a threat to crash the playoff party. As we saw with teams like Arizona State and SMU coming out of nowhere to make the field a year ago, stranger things have happened with 12 teams in the mix.

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