Staff Predictions For Georgia Tech vs No.18 Tennessee On Saturday Night

How does the staff see the game vs Tennessee happening?

Sep 3, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Rahkeem Smith (3) returns a kick off against the Colorado Buffaloes in the second half at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Georgia Tech returns to action on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd against No.18 Tennessee. Georgia Tech is looking to avenge a loss to Colorado and move to .500 on the season. One major key they have to address if that is going to get done. 

Can Georgia Tech fix how conservative they were? 

The Yellow Jackets had some chances to win the game and pull out the victory over the Buffaloes at home, especially if they had been more aggressive. It starts at the beginning of the game: send a message to your opponent and don't let them get ahead of you. Far too often, we have seen the Yellow Jackets have a slow start to begin the game. You can’t have that if you are going to knock off Tennessee. Head Coach Brent Key talked about how conservative they were and why they need to correct it. 

“At the end of the day, we were way too conservative as a football team.  That's not the plan that we went into the game with.  We have talked through that, addressed that, and you can't play game conservative like that.  Can't play conservative,  okay?

Like everything I say, it's on me to get it corrected and fixed.  And that's what we are in the process of doing. But it's not like it's a wholesale change of things, right?  We've got to do what we've done and do what we've done through spring ball and training camp and be able to go out there and, at the end of the day, put points on the board and keep them from getting points.  All right, the lack of toughness showed in our football team exactly what I said after the game. Really run the ball and stop the run, right?  Bottom line. Alright, and we didn't do either one,” said Key. 

Staff Predictions 

After Jackson and I both missed our predictions for the Week 1 matchup against Colorado, we are looking to get back to .500. We have a pretty good idea of whom we are taking in this one and expect to come out on top. 

Jackson Caudell (publisher, 0-1 record)- Tennessee 38, Georgia Tech 17

While Georgia Tech has shown the ability to pull off upsets against ranked opponents under Brent Key, I think Tennessee is the superior team in every way. Last week's play along the lines of scrimmage was really concerning, and even at home, I don't think that the Yellow Jackets are going to have enough to pull this off. Tennessee wins convincingly to send Georgia Tech to their first 0-2 start since 1989. 

Najeh Wilkins (writer, 0-1 record)- Tennessee 35, Georgia Tech 24

For the Yellow Jackets, the one area that you invested the most in was the defensive line. It was virtually nonexistent against Colorado and struggled to get tackles for loss and sacks. That is concerning, given all the resources put into making this unit successful. Now, you face a dominant rushing attack led by DeSean Biship, Duane Morris, Justin Baker, and Javin Gordon.

That will be tough to stop for four quarters, especially when you aren’t good at stopping the run. For that reason, I think the Yellow Jackets will fall at home to Tennessee and move to 0-2 on the year.