For the 2021 season, Georgia Tech has its open date Oct. 16. Aside from that, the Yellow Jackets don’t have much in the way of breathing room.
The opponents for Tech’s season already were known, but the release of the ACC schedule Thursday underscored again how difficult a ride the Jackets appear to have in coach Geoff Collins’ third season.
In playing at Clemson in both teams’ ACC opener Sept. 18 and at Notre Dame on Nov. 20, Tech is one of only three teams in FBS that will play two of the 2020 College Football Playoff participants. After a one-year hiatus, Tech will again face Georgia, on Nov. 27 at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Bulldogs finished No. 7 in the final AP poll and figure to start the coming season even higher.
There’s also two more opponents, North Carolina (Sept. 25, the week after Clemson) and Miami (Nov. 6), that were ranked in the final Top 25 poll. And there are two others, Boston College and Pitt, which defeated the Jackets by a combined 35 points in 2020.
The supposed cupcake, Kennesaw State (Sept. 11), merely is one of the dominant teams in FCS. Led by coach Brian Bohannon, formerly an assistant at Tech for Paul Johnson, the Owls undoubtedly will be primed for an upset.
Of the three teams that the Jackets beat in 2020 – Florida State, Louisville and Duke – Tech will play only the Blue Devils.
Some of the details of the schedule released Thursday:
Tech will open the ACC schedule against Clemson, the six-time defending conference champion, for the second time in three seasons. The Jackets were supposed to open the 2020 season against the Tigers before the schedule was modified because of COVID-19.
After playing games on Thursday and Friday nights in 2020, the Jackets will play every game on a Saturday this year. Often a participant in Thursday-night games, Tech hasn’t had a Saturday-only schedule since 2014.
The team has not yet determined which game will be moved to Mercedes-Benz Stadium as part of its six-year series at the sports palace, but it will be one of the four home ACC opponents – Boston College, North Carolina, Pittsburgh or Virginia Tech. An announcement could be made next week; North Carolina or Virginia Tech would seem the likely choices.
The Jackets will play at Virginia, where they are 2-12 since the famed upset win in 1990, coming out of their open date. Virginia will play Duke the previous week. No team will have an open date before playing the Jackets.
Closing with Notre Dame and Georgia looks like a brutal finish. The Fighting Irish have many pieces to replace, starting with quarterback Ian Book and All-American linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, but they’ve won 43 games in four seasons and figure to have capable replacements.
It doesn’t help Tech’s cause that the Bulldogs will play Charleston Southern on the same day that Tech is in South Bend, Ind.
The Tech athletic department is finalizing season-ticket information and expects to announce it “in the near future,” according to its news release of the schedule.
GEORGIA TECH 2021 SCHEDULE
Sept. 4 vs. Northern Illinois
Sept. 11 vs. Kennesaw State
Sept. 18 at Clemson
Sept. 25 vs. North Carolina
Oct. 2 vs. Pittsburgh
Oct. 9 at Duke
Oct. 23 at Virginia
Oct. 30 vs. Virginia Tech
Nov. 6 at Miami
Nov. 13 vs. Boston College
Nov. 20 at Notre Dame
Nov. 27 vs. Georgia
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