Georgia Tech entered its Week 13 matchup against Pittsburgh with a straightforward goal: Beat the Panthers and you’re in the ACC championship game.
The Yellow Jackets left the game not with a guaranteed conference title game berth, but with regrets about what could have been.
Pitt’s Ja’Kyrian Turner rushed for 201 yards and a touchdown and Georgia Tech’s Haynes King threw a pair of interceptions — including a backbreaking 100-yard pick-6 that caused a 14-point swing in the third quarter — as the Yellow Jackets fell 42-28 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta.
The loss was Georgia Tech’s second in its past three games after an 8-0 start that had vaulted it into the top 10 of the major national polls. More consequentially, though, the setback knocked the Yellow Jackets from the ranks of ACC teams with only one loss in conference play, a crowded group that now includes Virginia, SMU and Pitt, the last of which now owns a critical head-to-head tiebreaker against Georgia Tech. Without a chance at a conference championship, coach Brent Key’s team will have a meager chance at an at-large berth to the 12-team College Football Playoff field.
What does the loss to the Panthers mean for the Yellow Jackets’ short-term outlook? Here’s a look at where Georgia Tech may fall in the US LBM Coaches Poll:
Georgia Tech rankings: Where will Yellow Jackets drop after Pitt loss?
Even before Saturday’s loss to Pitt, there were signs that Georgia Tech wasn’t being valued as much by voters in the major national polls as other teams with similar records.
With a 9-1 record, the Yellow Jackets were No. 12 in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll, making them the lowest-ranked Power Four team with one loss or fewer.
At least some of that had to do with Georgia Tech’s propensity for close games, even against subpar competition. Four of the Yellow Jackets’ nine wins had come by one score, a run that included a 27-20 win against a 3-7 Colorado team, a 24-21 victory against 6-5 Clemson and a 36-34 win last Saturday against 1-10 Boston College. What appeared to be good wins in the moment haven’t held up well over time, either. Wake Forest, at 8-3, has the most wins of any FBS team they’ve defeated this season.
Georgia Tech’s lone loss before Week 13 wasn’t easy to shake off, either, as it came against a North Carolina State team that had been 1-3 in ACC play entering the matchup.
It wasn’t just human voters that were skeptical of the Yellow Jackets, either. Georgia Tech entered this weekend at No. 36 of 136 FBS teams in ESPN’s SP+ rankings, with the No. 17 strength of record and No. 88 strength of schedule.
Key’s squad has gotten some help this week, which may mitigate the impact of the Pitt loss a bit. Three of the teams behind it in the Coaches Poll — No. 16 USC, No. 21 Missouri and No. 24 Houston — lost this week.
The Yellow Jackets are a tough-minded team that has consistently found ways to win, but it may see a sizable drop in the polls, especially since voters will likely try to contort their rankings so that an unranked Pitt team is ahead of them.
Final ranking prediction: No. 21