How and what to watch for Georgia Tech vs. Florida State

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will head on the road to play the Florida State Seminoles in the season opener between the two teams.

Georgia Tech is heading into its second year under Geoff Collins, still working out the kinks of transitioning out of the triple-option offense. The Yellow Jackets predictably struggled in 2019 to a 3-9 record, but they return nine returning starters on offense and another 10 on the defensive side of the ball. Georgia Tech has not announced a starter publicly, but the two most likely candidates are sophomore James Graham and freshman Jeff Sims.

Florida State has struggled by its standard in recent years and will be led by a new head coach as Mike Norvell makes his Seminoles debut after a successful run at Memphis. Willie Taggart made it just 21 days leading Florida State before being fired last season. The Seminoles will need to shore up their offensive line this season in an area that was a major struggle in 2019.

The two ACC teams haven’t played each other since 2015, which was a 22-16 home win for Georgia Tech.

Game Time/TV Channel/Streaming

Saturday’s game will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. The game will be aired on ABC.

Point Spread, Totals, Odds, Trends

Point spread: Georgia Tech (+13) vs. Florida State
Point Total: O/U 52 (-110)
Money line: Georgia Tech (+420), Florida State (-590)

• Georgia Tech finished 3-9 straight up last season.
• The Yellow Jackets went 3-8-1 against the spread in 2019.
• Florida state finished 6-7 in 2019 with a Sun Bowl loss to Arizona State.
• The Seminoles went 4-8-1 against the spread last season.

The Best Bet

Florida State has more talent than Georgia Tech, and the Seminoles have all the pieces that could come together for a solid season in year 1 under Norvell. We’ve been fooled by the Seminoles for several years now, so who knows what we’ll see in Week 1 especially with an inconsistent quarterback in James Blackman. It was clear Georgia Tech’s changes on offense would take years to fix, so the Yellow Jackets will have plenty of question marks going into the season. With so much unknown, let’s go with a sloppy game with both teams struggling to get much going.

Pick: Under 52

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