Quickly approaching a return to national relevance with a chance to match the program’s best start in 11 years, No. 16 Georgia Tech will hit the road to face Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Georgia Tech (4-0, 1-0) has won its first four games for the first time since starting 5-0 in 2014. The Yellow Jackets finished with 11 wins that season, marking their most recent appearance in the ACC Championship Game and a New Year’s Six bowl.
With a legitimate chance to contend for a conference title and its first College Football Playoff appearance this season, Georgia Tech is in uncharted territory — a scenario it wanted.
“We’re going to get 100 percent from every team we face. We don’t have margin to let up, at all,” coach Brent Key said. “Every game is going to be a close game; that’s the way we look at it. Every week is a challenge. I love it. To be in this environment at Georgia Tech, this is something that we’ve really craved for a long time.”
Leading an offense that is averaging 38.8 points per game on 492.3 yards per contest, quarterback Haynes King has asserted himself as a potential ACC Player of the Year. In three games, he has thrown for 515 yards and two touchdowns and has 274 yards and five scores on the ground.
Wake Forest (2-1, 0-1) will have had 15 days to prepare for its fourth consecutive home game. The Demon Deacons last played on Sept. 11, when they saw an early 14-0 lead disappear in a 34-24 loss to North Carolina State.
Looking for the first marquee victory in head coach Jake Dickert’s first season at Wake Forest, he is eager to return to action.
“Watching college football one Saturday is OK. Twice gets me really antsy,” Dickert said. “It feels like it’s been awhile since we’ve taken the field. Four straight home games to start a season is unique, but what an opportunity. I’m really excited about getting our guys back out there and showing the work we’ve had against a nationally-ranked opponent.”
Wake Forest hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent since 2022, when it defeated No. 23 Florida State, and the Demon Deacons haven’t topped Georgia Tech since the 2006 ACC Championship Game.
Dickert said he knows a lot has to go right for both of those streaks to end.
“Coach Key obviously has that program rolling in a high capacity,” Dickert said. “One of the biggest things I look for in an opponent is their identity. It screams off the tape; it’s their physicality and toughness. It’s all over film. It’s the way they play.”
Demon Deacons quarterback Robby Ashford, a transfer from Auburn and South Carolina, has thrown for just one touchdown through three games this season. Running back Demond Claiborne is averaging 82.3 rushing yards per game after posting 1,049 in his third-team All-ACC campaign a year ago.