College Football HQ

National reaction after Georgia Tech upsets No. 12 Clemson

More than a few analysts had picked Georgia Tech to upset Clemson this weekend, and those predictions turned out to be very accurate.
James Parks|
Georgia Tech takes down Clemson in college football's big Week 3 upset.
Georgia Tech takes down Clemson in college football's big Week 3 upset. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

All that Clemson preseason hype looks more than a little inaccurate sitting just three weeks into the 2025 college football season, as the presumptive ACC title favorites fell to 1-2 on the year after a surprising 24-21 defeat at the hands of unranked Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Or was it so surprising? More than a few analysts confidently predicted the Yellow Jackets would pull off the upset against the Tigers, a prognostication that looks prophetic now, and raises considerable questions around the state of the Clemson program and if head coach Dabo Swinney has lost control.

No such questions for Brent Key, the fourth-year Georgia Tech head coach, who moved to 21-16 overall in his tenure with the win, one of many his team pulled off against ranked opponents thus far.

Tech marched out to a confident 13-0 lead over Clemson before the Tigers made adjustments and rallied to take a 14-13 lead.

Yellow Jackets quarterback Haynes King was instrumental in the comeback, rushing for a touchdown to put Tech back on top and then leading the final drive, after Clemson tied with 3:21 left, to put their field goal unit in position to kick the eventual game-winner.

In the process, that preseason speculation about Clemson being the easy favorite to repeat as ACC champs and return to the College Football Playoff officially goes out the window.

Here is some of the national reaction after Georgia Tech took down Clemson this weekend...

The play

Tech drove 38 yards over 10 plays in just over 3 minutes to put Aidan Barr in position to win or lose the game, and he did the former with a dramatic field goal from 55 yards out as time expired.

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Underdog? Not so fast...

Clemson may have been the favorite at the sports books around the country as bettors continued to have faith in them, but Tech head coach Brent Key knew otherwise.

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Georgia Tech is on a roll

Key and the Yellow Jackets have saved some of their very best play for their toughest opponents, winning 7 of 8 opportunities against ranked opponents

Trickeration!

Down by a point in the fourth quarter, Georgia Tech drive over 90 yards on a Clemson defense loaded with top-tier talent, capping it off as Haynes King ran for a 1-yard touchdown.

Opting for a two-point conversion, Tech put the ball in the hands of Malik Rutherford, who circled around to the right and executed a perfect toss for Dean Patterson.

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Haynes King is him

King was the better quarterback on the field on Saturday, covering 216 yards while completing 19 of 27 pass attempts and leading the team with 103 rushing yards and a late touchdown.

His performance against Colorado in the season opener was also noteworthy, rushing for 3 touchdowns on 156 yards while adding 143 yards passing in a big win over the Buffaloes.

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Oh, Clemson

Coming into the 2025 season, Clemson was considered the near-consensus favorite to repeat as ACC champions and make it to the College Football Playoff a second-straight year.

All that returning talent. Cade Klubnik at quarterback. An experienced offensive line. All those studs on the defensive side of the ball. But so far, the product on the field does not match the potential.

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Dabo is struggling

A key part in the apparent decline of Clemson football comes when judging its performance against ACC competition, nearly tripling its intra-conference losses since 2021 from the 5 years prior, back when it was a national championship contender.

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What happened?

Cade Klubnik was projected to be one of the top two or three quarterbacks in college football this season, but thus far the performance of this offense has not matched his potential.

Clemson, what happened?

This is not what we were expecting out of Clemson this season.

Or was it? There is no argument that the quality of play from this program had declined in recent years given its four-year absence from the College Football Playoff. Is the decline irreversible?

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The thrill of victory

Technically, it wasn't a river, but it was the nearest body of water that a thrilled Georgia Tech fan base could find to hurl the goal posts into, a well-earned celebration for a college football team on the rise.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He has covered football for a decade, previously managing several team sites and publishing national content for 247Sports.com for five years. His work has also been published on CBSSports.com. He founded College Football HQ in 2020, and the site joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022 and the On SI network in 2024.

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