Too early prediction: here’s what to expect from Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech

The third game of the Ole Miss football season will be against Georgia Tech or more fancily named the Georgia Institute of Technology.

A couple weeks ago the Cup looked at a preview of what to expect from the first game against Troy, and then I skipped a week when I would have plausibly written against Central Arkansas because lets be honest it shouldn’t be a game.

So I think for most Ole Miss fans in six weeks or so, the expectation will be 2-0 going into this ballgame in Atlanta. These two teams last played in the 2013 Music City Bowl with the Rebels coming away with a 25-17 win, which at the time seemed like a very solid win for a rebuilding program. Overall, these two programs have played each other four times and split the series thus far.

Since the Music City Bowl, these two programs have gone in very different directions with Ole Miss nabbing two Sugar Bowl appearances and some time in the top 10 nationally. Georgia Tech had an Orange Bowl victory against Mississippi State in 2014 but have only made two bowl games since that big bowl win. The Yellow Jackets lost head coach Paul Johnson to retirement though the long-time coach had soured with fans in his triple option attack that amassed an 82-61 record, which honestly ain’t too shabby.

From there, coach Geoff Collins has been tasked with rebuilding and rebranding the program. There is actually a ton of history in the Georgia Tech program, so here’s some quick facts about the Yellow Jackets.

• Head coach: Geoff Collins, third season (9-25 overall)
• First season: 1892
• All-time program record: 740-518-43
• Once coached by John Heisman, namesake of the Heisman trophy, who once led the team to a 222-0 win in the most lopsided game in college football history
• Home facility: Bobby Dodd Stadium, capacity 55,000
• Member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since 1983, but it was previously independent for the twenty years prior and was a former member of the SEC from 1933-1963
• Championships: Four national championships (1917, 1928, 1952, 1990), three ACC championships (1990, 1998, 2009) and five SEC championships (1939, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1952)
• Last bowl game appearance: 2018 Quick Lane Bowl, loss to Minnesota 34-10

Now, Collins is clearly in a hot seat situation here. Added to that equation, Georgia Tech opens with Clemson, Western Carolina, Ole Miss and Central Florida before diving into its ACC schedule and finishing with a game against Georgia. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against this squad finishing near .500 with Vegas putting the team’s win total over/under at 3.5.

What makes this game very interesting for Ole Miss though is it is a true road game with a lot of new impact players coming onto the roster against a Power Five program. It’s also an opponent who will already have been tested by Clemson at this point, so it could be an eye-opener early on for the Rebels if they come out flat.

I don’t want to overstate how good Georgia Tech could be, they are trying to build off a 3-9 season last year. The question will be how well has Ole Miss gelled early in the season to go on the road and come away with a decent win?

From all I have heard if you want to travel to this game, it should not be difficult to get a ticket and sit pretty much wherever you want to sit. We’ll have a more in-depth road trip preview coming up prior to the game, but this is one of those trips I think would be well worth it for an Ole Miss fan to experience and get some positive vibes going into the meat of the SEC schedule.