Jackets closing in on ACC title game

All season long, the ACC’s football prowess has been laughed at and mocked.

And with good reason.

The conference simply isn’t on par with the SEC, Big 12 or Big Ten. It hasn’t been for some time, and it probably will be a while before it is again.

But there has been one solid, constantly strong team for the conference this season: Georgia Tech.

While other teams have stumbled to out-of-conference powers (Virginia Tech), been up and down in big games (Miami), not lived up to their talent (Clemson and Florida State) and simply embarrassed the conference (Maryland, N.C. State, Virginia and North Carolina), Georgia Tech has been right where it wants to be throughout the season.

Sure, there was a bad performance at Miami, but Georgia Tech shook off that game and has been strong since. The Yellow Jackets have won six straight since that loss and started that string with a workmanlike performance against North Carolina.

Then came high-flying road wins over Mississippi State and Florida State, a statement win over Virginia Tech and road routs of Virginia and Vanderbilt. Georgia Tech hosts Wake Forest today and travels to Duke a week from today to close out its ACC schedule before finishing the regular season against rival Georgia.

Wake Forest? Duke? That’s all that stands in the Yellow Jackets’ way of reaching the ACC championship game Dec. 5 in Tampa, Fla.? Well, Tech fans, book that trip. Georgia Tech is not going to lose either game, and it probably won’t lose to Georgia either, meaning an 11-1 regular season for the Yellow Jackets (and there could be even bigger things on the horizon if that happens).

But first things first.

Georgia Tech opens its stretch run today against Wake Forest, a team that has stumbled through a 4-5 season. While the Demon Deacons have had their share of bad luck with close games, they haven’t won those games, and that’s all that really matters. Wake Forest’s star quarterback, Riley Skinner, was injured in last week’s game, and if he doesn’t play today, the Deacons have no shot to beat Georgia Tech.

Even if he does play, Wake doesn’t have much of a chance. Georgia Tech is simply playing too well to stumble against a team that hasn’t shown it can stand up to a good team this season.

That leaves Duke standing in Georgia Tech’s way. Duke? Really? Is this basketball season? Nope, it’s not, and yes, Duke has a solid team this season (when’s the last time anyone could say that?).

If Duke can beat North Carolina today and Georgia Tech beats Wake Forest, both teams would enter next week’s game with just one conference loss. That would add a lot of meaning to a game that before the season looked like a sure Georgia Tech win.

But no matter what Duke has been able to do this season, it still can’t match up with Georgia Tech and won’t be able to slow down the Yellow Jackets’ dynamic offensive attack. That would mean another ACC win, a 7-1 record in the conference and a trip to Tampa for Georgia Tech.

Contact Daniel Shirley at 744-4227 or dshirley@macon.com