Georgia Tech ranked 25th in way-too-early Top 25 for 2024 season

bobongo

bobongo

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GTHomer said:
Looks like some in the national media thinks that we are moving in the right direction:

College football rankings: Georgia, Alabama, Texas lead way-too-early Top 25 for 2024 season​

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Wow, first ranking since I don't know when:

25. Georgia Tech (7-6 in 2023)​

Brent Key is building an ACC contender with the Yellow Jackets, and the return of quarterback Haynes King – who had 2,842 passing yards, 737 rushing yards and 37 total TDs is a good start. Running back Jamal Haynes (1,059 yards) is back, and Kyle Efford will anchor the defense. The Yellow Jackets added nine players via the portal. There is excitement heading into the Aug. 24 season-opener in Dublin, Ireland, against Florida State.
 

tmhunter52

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Offense should be solid. Way-too-early-to-tell what the defense will look like, since the roster isn’t settled and the DC remains a mystery.
 
mts315

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GTflyer0116 said:
I am 100% optimistic about the future of the program but our schedule next year is absolutely daunting. Winning 9 games is highly optimistic......
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I don't see our schedule as any more difficult in 2024 as it was in 2023. We are replacing Clemson with FSU and Ole Miss with Notre Dame. Every other team on our schedule is very beatable and probably worse next season than this season.

Our offense return almost 100% of the production. The only real piece that will need to be filled is Donte Smith. Would not be surprised to see us beat FSU to open the season. It will be interesting to see how that program responds to being left out of the playoff and then an absolute destruction in their bowl game. Not to say the ACC would do it, but perhaps FSU may piss off enough people that refs start missing some calls.

Notre Dame will be breaking in a new QB so you never know how that is going to play out.

The only team I see on the 2024 schedule that is objectively better than Us (assuming we have a top 50 D) is unfortunately UGA.
 
stinger78

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bobongo said:
Wow, first ranking since I don't know when:

25. Georgia Tech (7-6 in 2023)​

Brent Key is building an ACC contender with the Yellow Jackets, and the return of quarterback Haynes King – who had 2,842 passing yards, 737 rushing yards and 37 total TDs is a good start. Running back Jamal Haynes (1,059 yards) is back, and Kyle Efford will anchor the defense. The Yellow Jackets added nine players via the portal. There is excitement heading into the Aug. 24 season-opener in Dublin, Ireland, against Florida State.
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Cool. It’s nice to be liked.
 

CEB

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bobongo said:
Wow, first ranking since I don't know when:

25. Georgia Tech (7-6 in 2023)​

Brent Key is building an ACC contender with the Yellow Jackets, and the return of quarterback Haynes King – who had 2,842 passing yards, 737 rushing yards and 37 total TDs is a good start. Running back Jamal Haynes (1,059 yards) is back, and Kyle Efford will anchor the defense. The Yellow Jackets added nine players via the portal. There is excitement heading into the Aug. 24 season-opener in Dublin, Ireland, against Florida State.
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Wait just a minute here… are we still supposed to hate preseason rankings? They are still just bunk, right? Popularity contest to sell magazines?
Do they still sell magazines?
Mind is racing right now….
 

Root4GT

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mts315 said:
I don't see our schedule as any more difficult in 2024 as it was in 2023. We are replacing Clemson with FSU and Ole Miss with Notre Dame. Every other team on our schedule is very beatable and probably worse next season than this season.

Our offense return almost 100% of the production. The only real piece that will need to be filled is Donte Smith. Would not be surprised to see us beat FSU to open the season. It will be interesting to see how that program responds to being left out of the playoff and then an absolute destruction in their bowl game. Not to say the ACC would do it, but perhaps FSU may piss off enough people that refs start missing some calls.

Notre Dame will be breaking in a new QB so you never know how that is going to play out.

The only team I see on the 2024 schedule that is objectively better than Us (assuming we have a top 50 D) is unfortunately UGA.
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How do we make the defensive jump from 120 to top 50? New coaches can help but players are needed at every defensive position. That is a monster jump you are asking for.

FSU and ND will have a significant talent advantage over GT next year as will UGA. Beating any of those 3 would be a huge upset. Considering that to get to 9 wins we would need to beat the other 9 teams on our schedule. Several of our other opponents are as talented as we are. Winning 8 regular season games would be a very good year next year.
 
leatherneckjacket

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Root4GT said:
How do we make the defensive jump from 120 to top 50? New coaches can help but players are needed at every defensive position. That is a monster jump you are asking for.

FSU and ND will have a significant talent advantage over GT next year as will UGA. Beating any of those 3 would be a huge upset. Considering that to get to 9 wins we would need to beat the other 9 teams on our schedule. Several of our other opponents are as talented as we are. Winning 8 regular season games would be a very good year next year.
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You would be surprised how much good coaching can move the needle on performance. Get the right coaches and some more decent transfers and we can be a top 50 defense next year.
 
stinger78

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bobongo said:
Great to see a number by our name again.
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I think the at-large football press who are maybe 40+ years of age might just generally like GA Tech as a long-standing traditional power that is kind of doing it the "romantic," old-fashioned way - through players who are also students in rigorous majors that are worthy of a college diploma. We kind of represent the way college football was and I think most want us to succeed and may even feel some sense of loss when we don't. Just a feeling I get. I may be totally wrong about it.
 

yeti92

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GTHomer said:
Looks like some in the national media thinks that we are moving in the right direction:

College football rankings: Georgia, Alabama, Texas lead way-too-early Top 25 for 2024 season​

Click to expand...
Part of this is hype to sell interest for the kickoff game by having two ranked teams in the game, but I would not be surprised at all to see us end up around #25 at the end of next season. I do think we knock off FSU in Ireland to start the season, but just comparing this season under Key to last, not only did he take over mid-season last year and immediately outperform his predecessor, but there is clear improvement from last year to this year.

The games we won last year were all pretty close and could have easily gone the other way. 5, 3 (OT), 1, and 4 point victories. Except for UVA, every other game we lost was by 3+ scores. Our offense struggled, and our defense was average at best.

This year, not only did we win more games and make a bowl, but most of the games we won were by at least two scores. Of the games we lost, two were 1-score games and two were 2-score games. The offense was far more potent, though the defense did regress some.

Looking to next season, we are returning one of the most prolific scoring quarterbacks in the country in the second year in our program and his 5th year of college football. We return our top producing RB, almost our entire line, and almost our entire WR corp. The offense should be really, really good next year barring significant injury. The defensive outlook isn't great at the moment, but at the same time we *fingers crossed* can't get much worse, and we aren't losing a ton of playmakers there. With a solid defensive staff hire, we could make significant strides.

8 or 9 wins with the bowl game is doable.
 
bobongo

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stinger78 said:
I think the at-large football press who are maybe 40+ years of age might just generally like GA Tech as a long-standing traditional power that is kind of doing it the "romantic," old-fashioned way - through players who are also students in rigorous majors that are worthy of a college diploma. We kind of represent the way college football was and I think most want us to succeed and may even feel some sense of loss when we don't. Just a feeling I get. I may be totally wrong about it.
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I would like to think that. I hope so.
 
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