Last year at this time, Virginia Tech was pegged as a dark horse to break into the newly expanded 12-team College Football Playoff out of the ACC. Instead, while the Hokies stumbled to a 6–6 regular season, it was SMU that seized the moment, finishing 12–1 before falling to Clemson on a last-second play in the ACC Championship Game.
Fast forward a year, and the vibes around Virginia Tech feel different. Other programs now find themselves in the same position the Hokies were in a season ago: on the outside looking in, hoping to emerge as the ACC’s second CFP contender behind Clemson. The Tigers remain the clear favorite to dominate the league and claim the automatic bid, but if the ACC sneaks in another team, who might it be?
FOX Sports’ Joel Klatt tabs Georgia Tech as a surprise CFP candidate
At first glance, the easy picks would be Miami or Louisville. SMU could also be argued as a repeat threat. But FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt took a different route on The Joel Klatt Show, pointing to Georgia Tech as his dark horse.
“I thought deeply and for a long time about putting them in my top 25, and I just couldn’t,” Klatt explained. “I liked the other teams there more. It’s not that I didn’t like Georgia Tech. Haynes King and Jamal Haynes, the running back, that’s a really good combination. I love the fact that they can play with the best teams in the country.
“They get Clemson at home and Georgia on a neutral field. That’s a team that could easily go 10–2. And a 10–2 Georgia Tech team, especially with how they played Georgia last year and the chance to face them again, is going to draw attention.”
Virginia Tech will see the Yellow Jackets firsthand this October in Atlanta, a year after beating them 21–6 in Blacksburg despite losing running back Bhayshul Tuten late to injury. Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King didn’t play in that matchup, but he’s back this fall and eager to prove himself.
While the SEC and Big Ten would prefer to keep the ACC to a single CFP berth, Klatt’s belief in Georgia Tech makes them one of the league’s most intriguing wild cards. For Virginia Tech, that October road trip is shaping up to be one of the toughest challenges on its 2025 ACC slate.
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