Rebuilding Georgia Tech projects to have toughest overall schedule among ACC teams

The Georgia Tech football team is in the midst of a rebuild. Long-time coach Paul Johnson retired after a 7-6 2018 season and took his antiquated triple-option offense with him. Not counting the service academies, the Jackets were the lone major program still running that. Former Temple coach Geoff Collins took over last season and installed a pro-style offense. The Jackets struggled to a 3-9 record. It might be tough for Collins to beat that mark in 2020 as Tech has the toughest strength of schedule for any ACC team via rankings by CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli.

While we may disagree with some of these schedule rankings, Fornelli appears dead on with this projection. Most Power 5 programs these days play one other Power 5 school out of conference and then two cupcakes. Not Georgia Tech in 2020.

The very young Yellow Jackets host an excellent Central Florida program on Sept. 18, host Notre Dame on Nov. 14 (the Irish are pseudo-ACC members) and close the season per usual against Georgia – this year in Athens. The Bulldogs are +800 fourth-favorites on the William Hill sportsbook moneyline odds to win the national title and have blown out Georgia Tech in the past three meetings (3-0 ATS).

Per usual, the Jackets play every other team in the ACC Coastal Division but have the misfortune of also playing conference superpower and national championship favorite Clemson from the Atlantic. That's Week 1 in Atlanta. It's quite possible that Georgia Tech will be favored only twice this season, both at home: Sept. 12 vs. Gardner-Webb and Nov. 7 vs. Duke.

William Hill will release college football win totals soon, but the Jackets are projected to be set at a scant Over-Under 2.5, although the Over will be a big favorite. They do bring back 19 starters, most in the conference.

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