Georgia Tech Opens As A Small Underdog vs Duke In Week Eight ACC Clash

When Georgia Tech goes on the road this weekend vs Duke, they will be the higher ranked team in the AP Poll, but they are not going to be the favorite vs the Blue Devils. According to Fanduel Sportsbook, Duke is opening as a 2.5 point favorite against the Yellow Jackets and the over/under is set at 58.5.

While this might be a surprise to some, it does show the quality of a team that Duke has, despite the two losses on their resume, and that Georgia Tech has not always played consistently this year, despite their unbeaten record.

What is at stake on Saturday?

The Blue Devils are 4-2 this season, but have won three straight and are 3-0 in ACC play. With the way the standings are set up right now, Duke has a favorable path to get to the ACC Championship due to who they play. If Duke is able to beat Georgia Tech and Virginia, they would have the tiebreaker over both teams and would have the advantage when it comes to reaching Charlotte.

The same is true about Georgia Tech. If they can go on the road and get a win on Saturday against Duke, they would own the tiebreaker over them and they have Syracuse, NC State, Boston College, and Pittsburgh the rest of the way. NC State and Pitt won't be easy games due to how good they are on offense, but the Yellow Jackets will be favored.

To put it plainly, the winner of this game will be set up nicely to reach the ACC Championship and the loser is going to have an uphill battle to fight the rest of the season.

Good effort vs Virginia Tech

The Yellow Jackets never trailed yesterday and did not have to come back from a deficit like they did against Colorado, Clemson, and Wake Forest. After the game, head coach Brent Key talked about how he wants his team to play with the ability to not look at the scoreboard and just worry about the next play:

"Yeah, I mean, when we really do preach no scoreboard, play every play, regardless of what happened on the last. Every play's got a history in life of its own. We play the next play. So our guys don't really-- and they don't see the scoreboard. They trust in the plan and trust in the other way we're going to play the game to play as long as we possibly can. So now from my standpoint, yes, it's good to start out fast like that. But our goal here is to play a complete 60 minute football game, all right? And I get it, football is an imperfect game that we all want perfection in, all right? But we also got to continue to improve. And if we can take things we didn't do well today and improve on them next week and continue to climb that mountain, I think we'll be in a good position as the season moves along."

Key also made sure to give plenty of credit to the fans. Georgia Tech had its largest attendance since 2018 and Key thanked the fans after the game:

"Yeah, the students are awesome. Students are awesome, huge, huge credit to the administration. And the work they've done and how hard they've worked to make sure we have people in those stands. And I cannot thank those guys enough for what they do every single day to give these kids the backdrop they need to go out and play football games. I mean, it's incredible, and if anybody knew the work they put in to get people in those seats, it is not an easy thing to just say, "Hey, we want it sold out every game." So I can't thank them enough. It helps me tremendously."

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