Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Bowl Game Hopes Still Alive… Conference? Probably Not.

Oct 19, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets head coach Paul Johnson talks to offensive linesman Trey Braun (78) in the second half against Syracuse at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Georgia Tech won 56-0. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are currently 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the ACC. According to Paul Newberry, the team needs to get seven wins if they are going to become bowl eligible.

"Georgia Tech snapped a run of three straight losses last week with a 56-0 rout of Syracuse, but there’s still work to do. While a .500 record is normally good enough to become bowl eligible, the Yellow Jackets will likely need seven victories to qualify since they’ve got two non-FBS schools on their schedule, Elon and Alabama A&M."

That’s certainly possible, given the rest of the schedule for the Jackets:

• at Virginia (2-5)
• vs. Pittsburgh (4-2)
• at Clemson (6-1)
• vs. Alabama A&M (2-5)
• vs. Georgia (4-3)

If the universe decides to act accordingly, the Jackets should be able to take down Virginia, Pittsburgh and Alabama A&M. That puts Georgia Tech right at seven wins for the season, and if they do lose to Clemson and Georgia (likely), that puts the Jackets’ final record at a respectable 7-5. That’s probably not what the team was expecting after the first three games of the season, but it’s hardly a “North Carolina” year.

However, Paul Johnson isn’t going to stop with going to a bowl game. Apparently, he thinks winning the Coastal Division is still a possibility.

"“There’s a big difference between being 5-3 and 4-4,” Johnson said. “And nobody knows what’s going to happen. We didn’t know we were going to be in the conference championship game a year ago, but lo and behold we were. We’ve just got to keep plugging and let that other stuff take care of itself.”"

So… he doesn’t really say the team has a great shot to win the ACC, he just says “nobody knows what’s going to happen.” I guess that’s true. But if you are a Georgia Tech fan out there, you should probably peg your hopes and dreams on some realistic expectations, and that’s not winning the ACC Coastal division, that’s going to a bowl game.

It’s going to be extremely hard to overtake both Virginia Tech and Miami, given their records in conference and their remaining conference schedules:

Virginia Tech

• Duke
• Miami
• Virginia

Miami

• Virginia Tech
• Duke
• Virginia
• Pittsburgh

The only game that prevents a challenge for either team is the game against each other. It will take an extreme collapse for either of these teams to blow multiple games against the likes of Duke and Virginia, so don’t get your hopes up, Jackets fans.