Kicking off the college football season in Dublin, Ireland we get a pretty exciting look at Florida State and Georgia Tech. Mike Norvell and the Seminoles have a chip on their shoulder and will be looking to make a statement. FSU has a different look this year with Jordan Travis and many other starters not in the program anymore. They did land DJ Uiagaleli whose game I’m a big fan of. It didn’t work out in Clemson for Uiagaleli (it wasn’t the right system for him and they are still trying to figure things out with Klubnik over there). DJ had a great year at Oregon State last year. While he only finished middle of the pack in passing yards in the most loaded QB conference of CFB, he did lead the Beavers to their highest ranking in program history, number eleven in the nation. FSU pulled in a large number of transfers, including Alabama transfer WR Malik Benson. The Seminoles should also have a solid running game with good backs and what could be one of the top offensive lines in the country.
Sophomore Shyheim Brown is looking to lead the team in tackles this year, the safety is looking to make a big impact early on. Patrick Payton will also be returning for the Seminoles as the 2023 sack leader. FSU did lose a lot of talent and will have to develop chemistry early on. The stealthy Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets could make a big impact on the favorites to win the conference (not my favorite, my ACC pick is Miami).
Georgia Tech had great success last year and their offense was a big part of that. Unlike FSU Georgia Tech has kept a large percentage of their offense. Brant Key’s Yellow Jackets finished tied for fourth in conference play. Haynes King finished fourth in passing yards in the conference, and I could see him making even more noise this year with more eyes around his squad now. In addition to his arm, King can also cause a problem for opposing defenses with his legs. King finished with over 700 rushing yards last year and 10 rushing TDs. Jamal Haynes will be back and with the help of himself paired with Haynes King, the Yellow Jackets led the ACC in rushing yards per game in 2023. Eric Singleton Jr. the leading receiver of the Yellow Jackets is now just a sophomore and will be one of the many returning starters. Unlike DJ, Haynes has an established connection with a lot of these guys.
The defense is where this squad struggled last year, which is why Georgia Tech brought in Tyler Santucci who spent 2023 as the Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach at Duke, leading them to finish the season as the conference-leading scoring defense. Santucci will be implementing a new look for the Georgia Tech defense, but fans will see some familiar faces. Leading tackler Kyle Efford will be looking to have that same title for his Sophomore season. Efford along with other defensive members will try to lead this defense to more wins in 2024. The question will be, can this squad pair up well against a very talented, but new to each other, FSU team?
This matchup is a great way to start the 2024 CFB season. We have two talented quarterbacks going head-to-head with two great head coaches as well. The Georgia Tech defense will need to take advantage of the lack of experience that the FSU offense has together. DJ Uiagalei will need to use his “new kid on the block” experience and make those established connections immediately. Haynes King just needs to keep up with what he did last year and lead that Georgia Tech offense to the same production. I think that the success the offense had for the Yellow Jackets in 2023, will continue in this first game against the Seminole defense that could be underestimating this Georgia Tech team. When it comes to the Florida State offense, we could see some growing pains early in the season. It wouldn’t surprise me if Georgia Tech caught Florida State off guard at this neutral site in Dublin, giving us an incredible week zero match-up to hold us over to week one.
Great prediction vaughn!