Clemson travels to play Georgia Tech in Bobby Dodd Stadium this Saturday for the first time since 2020. The last time these two faced off in Bobby Dodd is a time that many Yellow Jacket fans would love to forget.
In their now-infamous 2020 matchup, Clemson beat Georgia Tech by a score of 73-7, the largest margin of defeat the Yellow Jackets have ever suffered on their home field. Clemson’s 2020 roster, led by Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and a plethora of future NFL talent, was just too much for head coach Geoff Collins’ mediocre Georgia Tech squad.
The game was so lopsided that Clemson put their punter, Will Spiers, on the field as quarterback in the fourth quarter. It’s an understatement to describe the dominance the Tigers had.
However, a lot has changed since that 2020 clash, including personnel both on and off the field.
Collins was soon fired from Georgia Tech during the 2022 season, after winning just 10 games in four years with the program. Later that year, Georgia Tech hired Brent Key, a former offensive lineman and alumnus of Georgia Tech, to take over the reins as head coach. Ever since this coaching change was made, the outlook on Georgia Tech’s program has dramatically shifted in a positive direction.
After going 4-4 as interim head coach in 2022, Key led the Yellow Jackets to back-to-back winning seasons in 2023 and 2024, going 7-6 in both, including a bowl victory in 2023.
For Yellow Jackets fans, Key has been a breath of fresh air for a program of mediocrity in the late 2010s and into the early 2020s. The head coach has brought swagger back to the Georgia Tech brand, and many seem to be buying into the hype.
Led by gritty sixth-year senior quarterback Haynes King, the Yellow Jackets embody a tough-nosed style of football, which is synonymous with Key’s background as an offensive lineman.
Ahead of the two’s matchup at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday, the perspective surrounding both programs since 2020 has changed dramatically. Clemson, a team that was once an unstoppable force in college football in the late 2010s, has regressed according to their standards in recent years, showing cracks in its previously impenetrable armor.
ACC championships that were once routine for Clemson now come as no guarantee due to their program’s hardships in the early 2020s. Those struggles have carried into 2025, with a season-opening loss to LSU and a below-average performance against Troy last weekend — when only a second-half resurgence gave the Tigers a win.
On the other hand, Georgia Tech — a program that once struggled to win three games just a couple years ago — is now considered a legitimate ACC contender, thanks to Key’s excellent coaching job.
Georgia Tech has not defeated Clemson since 2014, but many consider 2025 to be the year the Yellow Jackets end their losing streak. According to ESPN’s FPI, Georgia Tech has a 56% chance to beat Clemson on Saturday, a number that would have looked like a typo just five years ago.
With Georgia Tech’s recent resurgence, Saturday should make for a classic between two longtime ACC rivals.
