Opinion: Will Georgia Tech make the College Football Playoff?

We are just halfway through the college football season, but it seems like we can already pencil in the ACC conference championship matchup.

Heading into this season, it looked like this conference would be electric. Clemson, Miami and SMU were all ranked in the preseason AP Poll, and teams like Florida State, Georgia Tech and Louisville were all just outside the top 25.

Now, seven weeks into the season, the ACC is both underwhelming and somewhat uninteresting.

Clemson has plummeted out of playoff contention, sitting at a 3-3 record in an unfathomably disappointing season. SMU has slipped from the rankings. Florida State made a brief appearance in the nation’s top 10, but has lost all three of its conference games thus far.

So, who does this leave?

Well, there’s 5-0 Miami. The Hurricanes have a legitimate case of being the number one team in the country, and they have dominated every opponent they’ve played.

With no more ranked teams on their schedule, it would be shocking if Miami did not finish the regular season undefeated with a playoff berth.

Then, atop the rest of the conference rubble, is 6-0 Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets have not had a cakewalk of a season. They have won three games by one score or less, including a walk-off field goal against Clemson (who was ranked No. 12 in the country at the time), and a 30-29 overtime win at Wake Forest.

Georgia Tech is led by quarterback Haynes King, one of the most fascinating players in the country. He leads the team in both passing and rushing, while also being sixth in the nation for rushing yards by a QB.

The offensive scheme? Let King cook. No receiver on the team has more than 22 receptions, and King handily leads in rushing attempts. It is a style of play that is rarely seen at the Power 4 level.

So, can Georgia Tech, which entered the season unranked, make the college football playoff?

It will all come down to rivalry week: A home game versus Georgia.

Remember when I said you could pencil in the conference championship matchup? It feels like a forgone conclusion that Miami and Georgia Tech will face off in that game.

The Yellow Jackets winning this game would give them an automatic playoff berth, with no at-large bid needed.

However, Miami looks like it’s on a different level than the rest of the country, so this is not too likely.

Now we go back to the game against Georgia. The Bulldogs are currently ranked ninth in the nation and will likely be around that range when they face off with Tech at the end of the year.

Winning this game would be a win for Georgia Tech. It would give them a very compelling case for an at-large bid: Only one loss to the potential best team in the nation (Miami), a win over top-ranked Georgia.

Looks pretty good, right?

If they lose this game, however, there is not much of a road to the postseason. The resume would be: Two losses to Georgia and Miami, with wins over… Duke? Clemson? There aren’t a lot of impressive W’s on their schedule.

In a world with teams like Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana out of the Big Ten, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, LSU, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Missouri from the SEC, plus a Big 12 champion and Group of 5 team, it becomes increasingly unlikely that a 2-loss ACC team could sneak its way in.

Can Georgia Tech make the playoff? Absolutely. It’s just gonna take a marquee win, whether it’s against Georgia or inevitably Miami.

Brendan Kern is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him please email him at bwk5372@psu.edu.