SP+ Predicts Georgia Tech-Gardner Webb Final Score

To no surprise, Georgia Tech is a big favorite this week. According to Bill Connelly's SP+, Georgia Tech is projected to win 53-15 (unique score) and SP+ gives Georgia Tech a 99% chance to win the game.

What is SP+? Here is how Connelly describes it:

"In a single sentence, it's a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. I created the system at Football Outsiders in 2008, and as my experience with both college football and its stats has grown, I have made quite a few tweaks to the system.

SP+ is indeed intended to be predictive and forward-facing. It is not a résumé ranking that gives credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling -- no good predictive system is. It is simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you're lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you're strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise."

Georgia Tech is not overlooking Gardner-Webb

Gardner-Webb pulled off a big comeback last weekend, beating a top-20 FCS opponent in Western Carolina and Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key has a lot of respect for the team he will face this upcoming Saturday:

"Explosive football team and led by two players that offensively their quarterback transfer from Liberty. really second week in a row now that we have a Liberty transfer and he's a big kid, he's 6'6, two hundred forty pounds had you know he can run the football he can throw the football stat -wise and he had four hundred yards total offense himself so you know the dual -threat guy 260 throwing 130 on the ground and they're committed to using him and and making making the game go with him.

Defensively, Jamari Young, you know, second year guy there, he came from East Carolina, but you know, you're looking now, he was a conference player of the week last week, the quarterback was national player of the week last week, so you got some good football players, come in here they're gonna, they're gonna be prepared they're gonna be ready and they're not gonna back down by any means and it's gonna be a, it's gonna be a big challenge for us and what we do this week so like we always talk about it It's about what we put into this week. It's about, they're all right, they're all right. They're just, they're kids.

So, but it'll be about us and the focus we have. And when we have to focus on the things that are the most important to the game of football and our focus is on the ball, protecting the ball, getting the ball. And then, you know, eliminating mistakes or you know penalties that they can become big for you. So those are what our focus is. We got to maintain the things you do well and you got to correct the things that you didn't do well there that you made mistakes on. So that's what practice is about. Their head coach you know Cris, Cris Reisert, I'm saying that right.

You know second season at Gardner-Webb has been head coach now for seven years, and had a really successful run at Tiffin, where he was the head coach, he's an offensive guy. And I think 32 and 4 was his record at his previous stop. And now taking over Gardner-Webb, I expect them to continue to rise and be a really good program. So it's a big challenge for us as it is every week. And it's what we do between now and then in the game time that determines what the outcome of that football game is."

Georgia Tech vs Gardner-Webb kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday (ACC Network Extra).