Countdown to kickoff – best-case scenarios for Georgia Tech

Benjamin Tankersley

The best case scenario for Georgia Tech would be for the defense to experience as dramatic an improvement as Georgia Tech's offense did last year. That would not only catapult Georgia Tech into the ACC Championship Game, but potentially even further. Georgia Tech's offense wasn't perfect, but it was certainly very good. A very good defense would also make Georgia Tech a very, very dangerous team. I think you could see the Yellow Jackets playing 10-2, if not better. They would definitely be in the ACC Championship Game and would also appear in the New Year's Six Bowl (if those aren't included in the newfangled 12-team playoff).

Jack Purdy

We win all coin toss games and a big surprise (some FSU/ug[sic]a/ND), which puts us 10-2 and puts us squarely in the ACC title/CFP discussion. Haynes & Haynes are an unstoppable force in the run game. Our defensive changes actually work so well that they can keep us in the game. Our underdog/fly under the radar status completely disappears and the UGA game is the most anticipated Friday night college football game in decades. Best case scenario, this game would be the upset and not FSU or ND.

Logan Sandor

Win the ACC with a 10-2 record and make the football playoffs. I can honestly say we can win every game we play, depending on a few factors. Every team (except maybe the Dwags) has exploitable weaknesses. NC State and FSU are probably the biggest worries in the ACC. There is a scenario where all the chips fall in our favor, the defense shows up, and Haynes King is in the running for the Heisman Trophy. As our readers have heard a million times, it comes down to defense and avoiding turnovers. It's unlikely, but it's possible.

Jeff Cramer

The Yellow Jackets march into Dublin and score a convincing victory over an FSU team still trying to build a new offense that did as well as its legal team in district court in another jurisdiction.

Little Five Points State, Upper New York and Virginia's Local Militia all won without too much drama, helping the Jackets to a 4-0 start to the season.

The momentum continues to run through Louisville like a racehorse pumped full of Mint Julep. Duke was really good on defense last year and that started with their line up front, but that DC and DL coach are at Tech now, so Tech will steal the win too.

Tech travels to Chapel Hill to face UNC, who will lose their fourth straight game to the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech not only wins, but wins by a wide margin by over 50 points. Geoff Collins is pressed by the media after the game about what went wrong with his former team. He claims the defense is getting better every day and says, “If you don't see the progress, then you haven't been looking properly.”

Now begins the difficult part of the schedule, which turns out to be much ado about nothing. Notre Dame still hasn't found receivers, the O-line can't block, and we're reminded that Riley Leonard never looked good throwing the ball against Duke. Virginia Tech is heating up with Enter Sandman, but it's the Hokies who get the bell while the Jackets are on course for Graham Knowles, because nothing scares the Hokies more than a Yellow Jacket backup QB.

Now it's time for Miami to go back to Atlanta and get revenge on themselves! And they lead late in the game and victory is within reach! But they misjudge the clock and the downs! They go down on fourth down at their own 15-yard line with 4 seconds left in a 2-point play! Aiden Birr whips the ball through the goal posts for the win, and Mario Cristobal is sent back to Miami as checked baggage, mistakenly lost in the bowels of the Hartsfield-Jackson baggage system.

NC State is in a good position coming into the game with 9 wins this year, but hits its annual glass ceiling due to weekday traffic on the way to the game, setting up an 11-0 showdown with the Dwags.

Gameday is in Athens for Clean-Old Fashioned Hate, and everyone is picking Georgia to win because Tech simply had a weak ACC schedule. And they do, giving Georgia a 7-game winning streak and just one win away from matching Tech's longest winning streak in the series.

Except Georgia Tech wins the ACC championship and earns a bye to the first round of the new 12-team playoffs. They face Texas and Ohio State in the quarterfinals and semifinals and win both, setting them up for a College Football Playoff rematch with Georgia.

Georgia looked set to win its third title under Kirby, but a late kickoff return pulled off the Jackets' upset. The streak was again broken just shy of the 8-win record. The ACC disbands in the offseason, but the SEC wants title contenders, leaving FSU out and inviting GT back into the fold, much to uga's resistance.