Everything you need to know about Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech
No. 13 Georgia Tech is back at Bobby Dodd Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, its first home game since beating Temple on Sept. 20 and first action since surviving a 30-29 overtime win at Wake Forest on Sept. 27.
The Yellow Jackets (5-0, 2-0 ACC) should be refreshed and refocused after the first of two bye weekends on the schedule.
“Really came to a good time because we’re able to take some time to reflect on that first third of the season, which was very, very deserving,” Tech coach Brent Key said Tuesday. “I was extremely proud of the way the guys came out of the gate sprinting and really pushed through that first third of the season. It was not always easy, and they did.
“The thing we have to understand now is we’re going into that middle third of the season, and we’re in a good place today, but there’s a lot of things that take place in this part of the season.”
Virginia Tech (2-4, 1-1 ACC) comes to Atlanta for the first time since 2021. The Hokies are 2-1 in their past three games since firing coach Brent Pry in September following an 0-3 start to the season.
A win for Georgia Tech would equal the program’s best start to a season (6-0) and in the ACC (3-0) since 2011. The Jackets, favored by 14.5 points for Saturday’s matchup, also are going for a ninth consecutive win at home, which would be the longest since a 17-game home win streak from 1989-91.
“There is no scoreboard, there’s no opponent,” Key added. “It doesn’t matter who we play, right? We watch game tape to see things they’re doing, but you get in games, too, and 30, 40% of what you see is not what you’ve seen on tape yet. They have good football coaches, too, so it is about what we do, how we do it, and then how we adjust within the game and take that information and translate it back out to the field.”
Details about Saturday’s Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech game
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Bobby Dodd Stadium (51,913)
TV: ACC Network
Streaming: ACC Network Extra
Weather: 76 degrees at kickoff, 0% chance of rain
Tickets: Tickets are available on Georgia Tech’s official ticket site starting at $46 and via secondary sites starting at $35.
Storylines ahead of Virginia Tech at No. 13 Georgia Tech
Haynes King continues to focus on the task at hand: They’re trying to do what now?
“Virginia Tech, they’re playing really good ball right now,” King said. “They had a tough break early on. Now, I’d say, they’re a really dangerous team. They’re coming in here, you could say, almost with nothing to lose. They’re gonna come in here, play hard, let it rip, not a lot of pressure on ‘em and just gonna try to, pretty much, piss in our cornflakes. So we know they’re gonna play hard.”
Trio of Jackets out Saturday: Key announced Thursday that three key players will miss Saturday’s game.
Key said defensive lineman Akelo Stone, linebacker Myles Forristall and long snapper Will Benton IV won’t play against the Hokies. Benton will miss the remainder of the season, Key added.
Stopping the run: If there were a moment in time for Tech’s defense to make a significant step forward, Saturday would be that time.
While their offense is not overly impressive on paper as a whole, the Hokies may come to Atlanta looking to rely heavily on an apparent matchup advantage.
Protecting what’s been earned: The Jackets didn’t win or lose Saturday, yet they still continued to become a more prominent player on the national scene by moving up four spots in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25.
Now ranked No. 13, Georgia Tech is one of only 15 remaining undefeated squads in the FBS. It goes into Saturday’s matchup with Virginia Tech with its highest ranking in the poll since finishing eighth in the final poll for the 2014 season (Georgia Tech was ranked 12th ahead of the 2014 ACC title game and was 10th ahead of an Orange Bowl win over Mississippi State on Dec. 31, 2014).
Opposing defenses still zeroing in on King: Offensive production, in theory, could become increasingly difficult for Tech as this season progresses.
The Jackets have an unmistakable identity of a physical, run-heavy attack that goes as their unique quarterback goes. And that identity hasn’t been a secret for quite some time.
Tech’s defense still a work in progress: The numbers, of course, never tell the full story. And some of Tech’s defensive numbers, truthfully, aren’t great.
But Blake Gideon’s defense has been pivotal on some of the Jackets’ most important plays of the 2025 season, and is a big reason why Tech is undefeated after five outings.
Jackets focused on mental rest during bye weekend: Tech will welcome a few quiet days on campus this week as the Jackets have their first bye of the season.
After five games, five wins, two road trips and two game-winning plays, Tech intends to rest, reset and recharge before returning to its normal schedule Sunday, when it begins to prepare in earnest for its Oct. 11 game against Virginia Tech. Key told radio station 680 The Fan on Monday he would have preferred for his team’s bye to have come a week earlier.
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