The college football season is fast approaching, as evidenced by game time announcements for the first few weeks of the college football season and ESPN releasing its first FPI rankings for the 2024 season. ESPN college football analyst Bill Connelly released his first SP+ rankings for the 2024 season last month, placing Georgia Tech at 63rd.
In the first FPI rankings released this week, Georgia Tech ranks slightly higher at 54th.
ESPN uses the Football Power Index (FPI) as an advanced analytical model to help analyze matchups and predict outcomes. In ESPN’s own words, “The FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and forecast future performance. The ultimate goal of the FPI is not to rank teams from 1 to 128, but to correctly predict game and season outcomes. If Las Vegas were to publish a power ranking that they use to set lines, it would probably look very similar to the FPI.”
Some will argue that 54th is a bit low for a team that is putting so much into the offensive line, but I don’t think it’s a completely unfair ranking. The unknowns of Georgia Tech’s defense will weigh on them with such a high ranking, but the Yellow Jackets have a chance to surpass this ranking.
Here are the FPI rankings for the remaining teams in the ACC:
1. Florida State University (11th in the nation)
2. Clemson (15)
3. Louisville (21)
4. Miami (23)
5. SMU (25)
6. North Carolina State University (28)
7. North Carolina (42)
8. Cal (43)
9. Virginia Tech (50)
10. Duke (52)
11. Pitt (53)
12. Georgia Institute of Technology (54)
13. Boston College (58)
14. Stanford (59)
15. Syracuse (70)
16. Wake Forest (71)
17. Virginia (72)
I don’t agree with many of the rankings of these teams. I don’t think Duke and Pittsburgh should be higher than Georgia Tech, and I think Stanford is a bit too high. Virginia Tech and Syracuse are two teams I think are too low on the FPI.
Brent Key has shown the ability to get the most out of his teams during his time at Georgia Tech. Since his time as interim head coach, Key has pulled off upsets as an underdog, and looking at the schedule, he will have to do that multiple times this year. His team has a chance to be in the conversation and be the most underrated team in the ACC, maybe even the country, in 2024.
During an episode of Late Kick in May, Josh Pate called the Yellow Jackets one of the most underrated teams in the country coming into the year.
“I would say Georgia Tech is a little bit underrated as well. The difference with Georgia Tech is their schedule is a lot tougher. I’m not going to lie. They play Georgia every year. They were 7-5 last year with 5.5 wins, but I think that’s mostly because of the tough games. They still have Haynes King at quarterback. Their offense is in the top 10 this year with returning players. They have great wide receiver depth. Their defense was bad last year, I think they were 123rd in yards allowed last year, but they revamped their defensive staff, revamped their defensive roster. They’re the opposite of Nebraska, and if they play a C+ or B- defense, they should be able to win 5.5 or more games.”
Georgia Tech is by no means a perfect team, but the progress they’ve made under Coach Key and the amount of talent they have returning this season hasn’t been talked about enough. It may not be long before the Yellow Jackets make their presence felt this season, with the entire nation watching in Week 0 against Florida State, which will be nationally televised on ESPN. This could be their chance to show why they’re one of the most underrated teams in the country heading into 2024.
