Georgia Tech looking to break nine-game losing streak against No. 12 Clemson
Since Brent Key took over the Georgia Tech football program in late September 2022, his teams have made a habit of slaying dragons.
The former Tech offensive lineman leads his Yellow Jackets into Saturday’s showdown with No. 12 Clemson having beaten six ranked ACC opponents in seven tries. The lone loss came Sept. 21 when Tech lost 31-19 at Louisville.
Two of those six wins have been at Bobby Dodd Stadium, where the Jackets and Tigers meet at noon Saturday. It’s there that Tech will be looking to win a seventh consecutive home game and to beat rival Clemson for the first time in 10 tries (home or away). The Jackets last beat the Tigers in 2014.
“It seems like every game we play here at Bobby Dodd, it gets better and better with the support that we get from our fan base,” Key said. “And I can’t thank ‘em enough and can’t wait to see ‘em really double down on (Saturday) and for the next home game and the one after that and the one after that and one after that.”
The Tigers come to Atlanta trying to rectify a slow start this season.
Despite being ranked No. 4 in the preseason Top 25, Clemson lost in its opener at home to LSU (now ranked No. 3) by a 17-10 score, then had to fend off Troy at home Saturday in a 27-16 game. Clemson trailed 16-3 at halftime against the Trojans and managed only 316 yards of offense by day’s end.
Through two games, Clemson is only 8-for-24 on third downs and have only 151 yards rushing. One saving grace is the Tigers’ five takeaways on defense.
That latter statistic is not a good sign for a Tech team that committed five turnovers in its first two contests.
“This is uncharacteristic of our football team and what we take pride in and what we work (on),” Key said Saturday about his team being careless with the ball. “At the end of the day, it’s gotta be fixed. We’ve gotta continue to work these things; we’ve gotta continue to put the players in positions that practice is gamelike. Whether they feel that pressure in the decisions and whatnot — some of the things from last week were drastically cleaned up this week. And then something else (happened).”
Despite having already lost one game and having dropped in the national poll, the Tigers were the preseason favorite to win the ACC after going 7-1 in the league in 2024, winning the league title game and losing at Texas in the College Football Playoff. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, defensive tackle Peter Woods, offensive tackle Blake Miller, wide receiver Antonio Williams and defensive end T.J. Parker all were named preseason AP All-American, and Clemson had 11 players selected to the preseason all-ACC team.
If Tech takes down this Clemson team it would give the Jackets their first 3-0 start to a season since 2016. A win over Clemson would break a nine-game losing streak in the series and be only the third victory for the Jackets in the rivalry since 2010.
During the losing streak, Tech has been outscored by an average margin of 40.8-13.1.
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