It was one of the most highly anticipated games of the first weekend and it delivered in terms of excitement and in ratings. Georgia Tech defeated Colorado on the road 27-20 last Friday and according to ESPN PR, it was one of the most watched games of the weekend, drawing 3.7 million viewers.
Georgia Tech vs Colorado was the No. 6 game across the ESPN/ABC networks on the first weekend of the season. Miami/Notre Dame edged out Florida State vs Alabama, Clemson vs LSU, TCU vs North Carolina, and Virginia Tech vs South Carolina.
@ESPNCFB delivered its BIGGEST Week 1 on record!
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) September 3, 2025
3 games with 10M+ viewers
8.6M avg. viewers across ABC (4 games); 4.0M avg. across all ESPN networks
@CollegeGameDay shatters record for its most-watched episode EVER with 4.0M viewers!
More: https://t.co/5HksMoQ7IV pic.twitter.com/rjT78TFJLl
In the era where viewership numbers matter so much to ACC schools, Miami, Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech are all going to benefit from having so many eyes on their games. In week three, Georgia Tech and Clemson are going to play in a game that should rival the number of viewers that the Yellow Jackets had this past weekend.
Georgia Tech was far from perfect, but they were the better team on the field Friday. The defense stepped up when needed and the rushing attack was dominant.
After the game, head coach Brent Key talked about his team's resiliency and how they fought back from such a rough start:
"No, I mean, it's like I said, I mean, that's why I'm proud of them. Proud of them for fighting back and overcoming those things. There's been a lot of times in the past where that wouldn't have happened at all. And the finger point can start. And to be 18, 20, or in Haynes's case, like 33, 34, years old, it's hard to get those guys to have that mentality and our team does. And look, there are things we got to continue to work on and clean up, a lot of things we have to clean up. But at the end of the day, that's why it's a team game, you know, we had, you know, Aidan has some, you know, big kicks that really kept us in there, and he was, he was as confident and money on it as you could be. Got two hands on a couple of their kicks, which could have been big; they both ended up, you know, floating through there, so yeah, really, really happy about them. And again, you ask things you don't know. What do you find out? Really, in the first game, there are a lot of things you don't know. You think about it, you hope that's the case, you hope that's the way they're gonna play, but it confirms it that way."
This was exactly the kind of game that Key was looking for from the offensive line.
"Yeah, I mean, that's the name of the game. You guys hear me talk all the time about position flexibility and position versatility. You know, when one guy goes down you're not necessarily putting in the next guy behind them. It's putting in the next best offensive lineman, that sixth guy, the seventh guy, the eighth guy. I think we had, you know, seven or eight guys play on the O-line tonight, and I want to do that. I mean, you've got to be able to get guys experience guys out there play, and it's the only way they're going to continue to improve. So proud of those guys. They had a lot of things that they could have folded into the tunnel. And then they didn't, Geep on a great job of getting those guys prepared from a mental standpoint to be able to play the next play and put those things behind and get corrections made. But it was good to see them take over. I thought they played very physically, especially in the run game. They wanted to lean on those guys and impose their will, and that's what we talked about. Body blows are going to add up, and they're going to accumulate."
Georgia Tech is now 1-0 and will look for their second win next Saturday when the host Gardner-Webb (3:30, ACC Network Extra).
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!