The best season of the year has arrived.
March Madness begins this week, and the rest of the week is filled with non-stop basketball. The NCAA Tournament is unique in that 64 teams compete for the national championship, all of which cause upsets each season. The College Football Playoff is scheduled to expand to 14 teams starting in 2026, but it will be interesting to see what the 64-team College Football Playoff will look like in 2024.
Where will Georgia Tech land within the projected 64-team field? ESPN's Chris Roe recently slotted the 2024 college football season, pegging the Yellow Jackets as the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region. It was predicted that they would be the 13th seed to play against LSU.
“(4) LSU 20, (13) Georgia Tech 14: This first round SEC vs. ACC match was played during a heavy rainstorm. Both teams turned the ball over a total of six times, with both defenses stopping the ball with their backs to the goal line. The Tigers continued to advance after a fourth-down pass into the end zone by Georgia Tech's Haynes King. ”
Here's how Low came up with the seeds.
“Here’s the format: We seeded the teams from 1 to 64, with the seeds primarily based on ESPN’s latest SP+ projections for the 2024 season.
The top four seeds are Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon and Texas (Texas was the only one to actually make the four-team playoff field a year ago). The Longhorns are the fourth No. 1 seed, forcing a trip to the East.
A seed is just a seed and all that matters is what happens on the field, so be prepared for an upset. While the Basketball Committee claims we don't take such contrived methods when putting together brackets, we do our best to create a compelling story.
We did our homework and looked over the roster, especially since there are a lot of new faces at the new school — not to mention Nick Saban and Jim Harbaugh are no longer coaching in college — but I We always try to have a little fun. ”
Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King vs. UCF
Nathaniel Cordell
Georgia Tech just completed a 2023 campaign that ended with a winning streak and a bowl championship. With the majority of the starters returning from one of the ACC's best offenses and an improved defensive staff, there are expectations that the Yellow Jackets could be the ACC's dark horse going into the 2024 season. .
The Yellow Jackets finished with the best rushing attack in the ACC and had a solid passing game, but Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner thinks they can be more explosive than they were a year ago:
“Well, I think the next step for me revolves around winning and what we need to do to continue winning games so we can take the next step and compete for the ACC Championship. And the most exciting thing is we have a lot of players coming back, right? And we also had a lot of early enrollees who signed in January, so we have 43 players on scholarship. I think we're going to have about 38 of us enrolling. Fall is already there. So we just keep building continuity. Obviously, it's a new season, but it was the same last year. That doesn't matter, right? So we're just trying to get better every day.Obviously we've got to be more explosive, be more explosive in the passing game and continue to run the football. ? It will be us.”
Faulkner also believes the Yellow Jackets have the pieces in place to make that happen.
“Yeah, and there were times last year when I really thought we were explosive in the passing game, but it all goes hand in hand with the 11, it’s not just the quarterback, it’s not just the receivers. , That's how tough the line is.'' So are the ends, the protections, the running backs, so we have to be more explosive, the pieces are there, yes, I believe there are pieces, but it's the pieces on the perimeter. It's not just the pieces up front, it's the pieces in the backfield, and it's tight ends, so we need all 11 to get everything done.”
