2023 AP Preseason Top 25: Georgia Tech will face four ranked teams in 2023
Georgia Tech annually plays one of the toughest schedules in the country and that is not going to change in 2023. The preseason AP Poll was released this afternoon and the Yellow Jackets are set to face four teams that are starting the season ranked.
Starting off at the top of the poll is the Georgia Bulldogs, who have won two straight national championships, and the Bulldogs have won five straight games over the Yellow Jackets (they did not play in 2020) and they have won those games handily. Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key has made it a point since the day he was hired that he wants to close the gap with the Bulldogs and that is something that he is working towards:
"There is one thing I want everyone in this room to understand and everyone associated with Georgia Tech understands... There is an opponent in this state we will work 365 days a year to defeat. We will work 365 days a year to dominate. When we all wake up in the morning, we want to dominate our opponent. The feeling of dominating your opponent is like no other and whatever team is on our schedule, that will be our goal. That is what we will work towards every single day.
Players in here, understand that. That is our goal and that is our mindset. We have an opponent in this state that is included in that. For 365 days, we will work to dominate that opponent. Understand that."
ESPN's David Hale wrote an intriguing piece about how Key wants to change the narrative of the rivalry and Key made some interesting comments:
"Is it annoying? Heck, yeah," Key said Tuesday of the Georgia accolades. "Kirby [Smart] has done a great job -- he has. And I told him, 'We've got to do something about it."
"What pisses me off is to look at lists of the 10 or 20 best rivalries in the country and, not to have [Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate] on there, that's bulls---," Key said. "But at the present time, they're probably right. So we've got to do something about that."
Offensive lineman Jordan Williams also talked about the rivalry:
"It really gets on my nerves," Williams said. "But rivals or not, they're the best. You've got to beat the best, and it's kind of a burn-the-boats mentality, stake everything on it. That's the place we want to be."
Georgia Tech might not be ready to take down Georgia right now, but that is clearly a goal for Key and this program and something he wants to build towards.
The Bulldogs will start the year No. 1.
Georgia Tech will face four opponents starting the 2023 season ranked, including No. 1 Georgia
Clemson is the other top-ten team that the Yellow Jackets are going to play this season and they play the Tigers on Nov. 11th in Death Valley. Georgia Tech has not won in this rivalry since 2014, but they almost pulled a stunning upset the last time they played the Tigers in Clemson in 2021. Clemson was the preseason pick to win the conference.
North Carolina checks in at No. 21 in the preseason poll and this is a program that Georgia Tech has not lost to since 2019. The Yellow Jackets have pulled two upsets in a row over Mack Brown's program and North Carolina travels to Atlanta to face Georgia Tech on Oct. 28th, which is also homecoming for GT. UNC returns the preseason ACC player of the year in Drake Maye, but there are questions as to how good this team is.
Ole Miss is at No. 22 to start the season and Georgia Tech travels to Oxford on Sept. 16 for their first road game of the season. The Yellow Jackets are hoping this game against Lane Kiffin and the Rebels goes better than the 42-3 loss they suffered in Atlanta last season, though that was under Geoff Collins and not Brent Key. That game will kick off at 7:30 on SEC Network that week.
Lousiville is Georgia Tech's first opponent this season and they did receive 10 votes in the poll but did not make the top 25.
Georgia Tech and Louisville will kick off Sept. 1st at 7:30 on ESPN.
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