Why the 2020 Season Will Be Different for Georgia Tech: The Schedule is More Manageable

Before the ACC decided to change to a 10-1 format, Tech had one of the more difficult schedules in the country. A few of those tough opponents remain in Clemson and Notre Dame, but UGA is gone. Also gone are Coastal foes UNC, VT, and UVA. Their replacements are Louisville, FSU, NC State, and Boston College. It’s nice to see teams that they only play every five years.

This schedule should allow for more wins than the previous one if Tech improves their play from last year. A lot of experts called for another 3-4 win season with the old schedule despite having an improved team. However, NC State, Duke, Boston College, and Syracuse were all ranked 11-14 by the ACC Media, which gives Tech a chance to prove the last place pick is incorrect.

Having no divisions this season is a nice change of pace as well. It takes far too long for Atlantic teams to rotate on the schedule with nearly a decade going by before a full home-and-home rotation with another team occurs. We finally see Syracuse again after playing them only once in their first season in the ACC. The only downside to this is most of the teams may be out of the ACC race by midseason.

The reduction of non-conference games is also a plus and should be something that sticks around in the future. College football thrives on games that matter and having several match-ups with lower-tier teams every year feels anticlimactic at the start of the seasons. UCF is a respectable opponent and UGA will be back but it’s nice not to have an FCS team to start the season.