The media that covers the ACC is not holding out much hope for Georgia Tech this season. For the second consecutive year, the preseason media poll conducted by the conference projects the Yellow Jackets to finish sixth in the Coastal Division. The conference released the poll results Tuesday.
It follows generally dim prognostications for Tech in coach Geoff Collins’ fourth season. With the Jackets up against a meaty schedule, sportsbooks have set the team’s over/under win total at 3.5.
Tech has not offered a great deal of reason for belief in a breakthrough, finishing the 2021 season with its third consecutive three-win season.
Collins has touted changes to the coaching staff, additions from the transfer portal and increased depth as reasons for confidence in the team going into the season.
Tech players, naturally, hold far more confidence in their team.
“I just feel like the fourth year is going to be a big breakout year to where everybody’s talking about Georgia Tech,” cornerback Zamari Walton said last week at the ACC Kickoff media event in Charlotte. “It’s going to be a shocker, so I’m excited.”
The poll has been fairly accurate in forecasting the Jackets in Collins’ first three seasons. Tech was picked to finish last in the Coastal in 2019, and it did. In 2020, when the league scrapped the two-division format, the Jackets were picked to finish last (15th) but finished 11th. Last year, Tech was projected to place sixth in the Coastal, which is where the Jackets finished.
“I just feel like the fourth year is going to be a big breakout year to where everybody's talking about Georgia Tech."
Clemson was the runaway favorite to win the ACC title with 103 of the 164 voters picking the Tigers, followed by N.C. State (38) and Miami (eight). Clemson has won seven of the past eight league championships.
The Tigers also were the clear-cut favorite in the Atlantic Division (111 first-place votes, well ahead of N.C. State with 44).
Miami was picked to win the Coastal, with 98 first-place votes, followed by defending ACC champion Pittsburgh, which received 38 first-place votes. Tech received one first-place vote to win the division.
Tech begins the season at 8 p.m. Sept. 5 (Labor Day) against Clemson at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
ACC preseason poll (164 total votes)
Overall champion
Clemson - 103
N.C. State - 38
Miami - 8
Wake Forest - 4
Pitt – 3
Virginia - 3
Florida State - 2
North Carolina - 2
Boston College - 1
Atlantic Division (First-place votes in parentheses)
Clemson (111) - 1,080
N.C. State (44) - 959
Wake Forest (6) - 783
Louisville - 591
Florida State (2) - 509
Boston College (1) - 469
Syracuse - 201
Coastal Division (First-place votes in parentheses)
Miami (98) – 1,036
Pitt (38) - 911
North Carolina (18) - 823
Virginia (6) - 667
Virginia Tech (3) - 592
Georgia Tech (1) - 343
Duke - 220
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