SP+ predicts the final result of the matchup against Georgia Tech

In this week’s version of Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings, the Hokies reached the Top 25 for the first time in 2024.

SP+ thought highly of the Hokies until the upset loss to Vanderbilt, which dropped the Hokies to No. 51. Every week since then, Virginia Tech has moved up the rankings and now the Fighting Gobblers are in the top 25 according to SP+.

Georgia Tech is not rated as highly. The Yellow Jackets may be without quarterback Haynes King and even in his presence, the Jackets are ranked as the 48th best team in Bill Connelly’s SP+.

So how does SP+’s predictive system view Virginia Tech-Georgia Tech’s final score?

The Hokies had a 69% chance of winning and projected a final score of 33-25.

Virginia Tech will take on Georgia Tech on the ACC Network on Saturday in the 20th game between the two schools.

What exactly is SP+? This is how Connelly himself describes it:

“As always, these are based on three main factors: returned production (final rankings you can find at the end of this article), recent recruiting, and recent history. How good have you been recently? Who will you return? How good have you been? Are the players replacing those who don’t return? That’s what we ask when we set expectations for a team and it’s also what these projections objectively try to do.

As always: SP+ is a measure of college football efficiency adjusted for tempo and opponent. It’s a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a resume ranking, and, in the same vein, these projections are not intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year. “These are simply early offseason power rankings based on the information we have been able to gather to date.”

Additional links:

Virginia Tech football: Three keys to Hokies’ victory against Georgia Tech

Virginia Tech Football: Hokies reveal uniform combination for showdown with Georgia Tech

Virginia Tech football: Georgia Tech’s Brent Key compares Hokies QB Kyron Drones to Eagles QB Jalen Hurts