Florida State Seminoles vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Preview

They may call it Week 0, but the first week of the college football season is anything but a zero. It's nearly always a memorable event, and that's especially true for ACC fans this year as Florida State and Georgia Tech open the season in Ireland.

The Yellow Jackets may be designated the home team for this opening tilt, but they probably won't hear many Southern accents across the pond other than the legion of fans from both teams who have already been present in Dublin this week.

For Florida State, though, this game is just one of an ongoing series of grudge matches. In their eyes, the NCAA did them dirty by bouncing the 'Noles from the college football playoffs despite the fact that they had an undefeated season.

Photo byCarol Highsmith's AmericaonUnsplash

Game Details

Fixture: Florida State Seminoles @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Date and Time: August 24, 2024 @ 12:00PM EST

Location: EverBank Stadium, Dublin, Ireland

Florida State Seminoles Team Preview

Florida State will be heavily favored, but that doesn't necessarily mean this will be an easy game. They'll have a new quarterback, DJ Uiagalelei, an Oregon State transfer who will be making his first start as a Seminole. He'll be throwing to two new receivers, Malik Benson and Jalen Brown, who will also be making their first start for FSU.

In addition to the scheduling and travel hoopla, the game is also

significant because Florida State is jumping right into the ACC schedule, so they can't afford to mail this one in, especially after last year. After this they come home to play BC following an eight-day pause, so it's not the easiest way to start the season.

Like several other conferences, the ACC will look totally different this year, and the Seminoles will have in-conference tilts against the likes of California and SMU before their pivotal showdown with #14 Clemson at home. It's a brave new cross-country ACC world this year, and FSU will need to adapt to keep its conference crown.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Team Preview

The Yellow Jackets have a completely different set of issues to tackle. Despite posting a winning record and winning something called the Gasparilla Bowl against UCF last year, they scuffled on both offense and defense when it comes to team ratings.

The guy Georgia Tech who's supposed to fix things on the offensive side is OC Buster Faulkner, who's going into his second season. He boosted the Yellow Jackets, averaging over 30 points a game after being one of the worst offensive teams in the country, so he definitely made his mark.

The bad news is that they'll have to score big to keep up with a defense that was 13th in the country in yards allowed per game.

Who to Watch

Florida State Seminoles

Florida State has all kinds of talent on both sides of the ball, but for an undefeated team that still didn't make the college football playoffs, a new quarterback is always the lead story. So we'll go with DJ Uiagalelei to have a big game here, especially if this one turns into an up-and-down track meet.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

The Yellow Jackets have their own stud at quarterback, and his name is Haynes King. He's a junior, and he's on the official watch list for both the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Manning Award. If he catches fire, he could carry Georgia Tech to another bowl game appearance, although it will probably be a second or third-tier bowl.

This game is one of several marquee appearances for the Yellow Jackets, the other being their annual grudge match with Georgia, so they'll be looking for a good showing in a new setting.

Article originally written by Bob McCullough