Georgia Tech comes in at No. 16 in third CFP rankings

In the third installment of the College Football Playoff rankings, Georgia Tech came in at No. 16. The latest rankings were announced Tuesday night.

Tech (9-1, 6-1 ACC) beat Boston College 36-34 on Saturday. Georgia Tech was off the previous weekend and lost 48-36 at North Carolina State the Saturday before. The Yellow Jackets, No. 16 in last week’s rankings as well, started the season 8-0.

“When you look at Georgia Tech compared to the teams that are ahead of them, you’re looking at Georgia Tech’s strength of schedule, which right now their schedule strength is 88th in the country,” Hunter Yurachek, chair of the CFP selection committee said Tuesday during a teleconference.

“They struggled this weekend, kicked a field goal late to win at a 1-10 Boston College. Their quality wins, as we see them today, are against a Duke team that’s 5-5, a Clemson team that’s 5-5 and a Wake Forest that’s 7-3, but there was some controversy in that Wake Forest game. It’s a win on Georgia Tech’s side.”

The Jackets are one of three teams from the ACC inside the rankings. Virginia (9-2, 6-1) was at No. 19 and Miami (8-2, 4-2 ACC) was at No. 13.

Going by the current rankings, Miami would be the lone ACC team to make the projected 12-team field working on the projection that the Hurricanes win the ACC championship game.

“At this point we control our destiny and that’s the thing that most teams don’t have at this point,” Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert said Tuesday on 680 The Fan. “So, with a win on Saturday it puts us in position to have a monumental game against Georgia as well. Even with that rivalry game on the side, if we take care of business on Saturday it puts us in position from an ACC championship perspective to control our destiny.”