Updated SP+ Rankings Show Georgia Tech Will Be In The Mix For An ACC Title Appearance

There is going to be a lot of competition to make the ACC Championship game and Georgia Tech is among the teams that has a chance to get to Charlotte

Oct 19, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Brent Key runs on the field before a game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

When you listen to analysts around the sport of college football talk about the ACC Championship race, it seems to Miami vs the rest of the field and that is backed up when you see numbers from oddsmakers and power ratings.

That rest of the field though is one big cluster of teams in the conference and it truly feels like there are as many as 10 teams that could make it to Charlotte, where they will likely face the Hurricanes, though Miami has to show they can navigate a season without any hiccups.

Georgia Tech is among those teams that have a chance to get to Charlotte and play for a conference title. Despite two new coordinators, losing a very productive quarterback in Haynes King, and a number of new starters on the roster, Brent Key's program is not going anywhere. Georgia Tech is the only ACC team to finish in the top four of the conference standings in each of the last three seasons.

New SP+ Rankings

Dec 27, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets running back Malachi Hosley (0) runs the ball against the BYU Cougars in the third quarter during the Pop-Tarts Bowl at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Arguably the top power-rating system across college football, SP+ is at the very least an interesting indicator of where a certain program is heading into a season, though it is not perfect. ESPN's Bill Connelly, who invented SP+, released the final preseason projections today, and Georgia Tech comes in ranked No. 42 in the country. The Yellow Jackets are projected to have the No. 54 offense in the country, the No. 48 defense in the country, and the No. 11 special teams unit in the country.

For those that don't know, here is how Connelly describes what SP+ is:

"As always: SP+ is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking.

Here is how the rest of the ACC stacks up:

1. Miami (No. 7 overall)
2. Clemson (No. 23)
3. SMU (No. 25)
4. Louisville (No. 27)
5. Florida State (No. 35)
6. Virginia Tech (No. 36)
7. Virginia (No. 37)
8. Pittsburgh (No. 41)
9. Georgia Tech (No. 42)
10. NC State (No. 43)
11. Duke (No. 45)
12. North Carolina (No. 56)
13. Wake Forest (No. 57)
14. California (No. 60)
15. Syracuse (No. 76)
16. Stanford (No. 79)
17. Boston College (No. 82)

There are 10 ACC teams ranked between No. 23 and No. 45, showing the big cluster of programs that is going to be competing with each other to get to the ACC Championship. There are only seven spots between Georgia Tech and Florida State, which is projected to be 5th in the ACC according to SP+. A reminder: the Yellow Jackets were picked 5th in the ACC preseason media poll.

Here is how Georgia Tech's opponents rank in the final preseason update for SP+:

• Colorado- No.66 overall
• Tennessee- No. 14
• Stanford- No. 79
• Duke- No. 45
• Virginia Tech- No. 36
• Boston College- No. 82
• Pittsburgh- No. 41
• Louisville- No. 27
• Clemson- No. 23
• Wake Forest- No. 57
• Georgia- No. 4

Georgia Tech is going to play two projected Top 15 teams this season in non-conference play, but there is not an ACC game that they cannot win. That does not mean that they are going to go unbeaten in conference play, but if these rankings are anywhere close to correct, there are going to be a number of toss-up games that could define the Yellow Jackets season and their pursuit to appear in their first ACC Championship game since 2014.