Originally published on Friday, 11/21/25, at 9:12 p.m. Eastern.
Updated on Saturday, 11/22/25, at 10:24 a.m. Eastern.
Ga. Tech (9-1 straight up, 6-4 against the spread) can secure its first appearance in the ACC Championship Game since 2014 if it can get past Pittsburgh on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium in midtown Atlanta.
As of Friday night, most books had Ga. Tech listed as a 2.5-point home favorite with a total of 60 or 60.5. The Panthers were +115 on the money line.
Brent Key’s team ripped off eight straight wins to start the season, cashing tickets at a 6-2 ATS clip. The winning streak was snapped in a 48-36 loss at NC St. on Nov. 1 as a 5.5-point favorite.
After an open date, the Yellow Jackets got another scare last week in a 36-34 non-covering win at Boston College as 16.5-point road ‘chalk.’ They were down double digits until kicker Aidan Birr buried a 26-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 28-20 with 13:52 remaining.
Birr’s kick sparked 17 unanswered points for Ga. Tech to take a 33-28 lead with 6:14 left on a 52-yard touchdown run by Jordan Allen. Jamal Haynes had scored on a two-yard TD run beforehand, but the Eagles stopped star quarterback Haynes King’s run on the two-point conversion to retain a 28-26 advantage.
BC responded with a 43-yard TD run by Turbo Richard, but the Eagles’ two-point try failed with 4:09 remaining. Therefore, Birr’s 23-yard field goal with 11 ticks left proved to be the game winner.
Ga. Tech’s defense allowed 537 total yards by BC and even worse, the Wolfpack produced 583 yards of offense on the Jackets. That unit will need to tighten up against the Panthers, who are ranked 15th in the nation in passing yards and 13th in scoring with their 37.2 points-per-game average.
Pitt (7-3 SU, 7-3 ATS) saw its five-game winning streak snapped in last week’s 37-15 home loss vs. Notre Dame, giving up 175 rushing yards to the Fighting Irish last week. Nevertheless, Pat Narduzzi’s run defense is still ranked ninth nationally. The Panthers are #31 in the country in total defense, but they’re #91 versus the pass.
QB Mason Heintschel has been a fantastic revelation for Narduzzi’s squad. He led Pitt to victory in his first five starts, but he struggled against Notre Dame’s defense.
Heintschel connected on just 16-of-33 throws for 126 yards with no TDs and one interception. For the season, the true freshman has completed 61.8 percent of his passes for 1,676 yards with a 12/6 TD-INT ratio.
Pitt has as an elite playmaker in RB Desmond Reid, who was a second-team All-American as an all-purpose player last season when he had 962 rushing yards, five TDs and a 5.3 yards-per-carry average. He added 52 catches for 579 yards and four TDs.
Reid has missed three games and parts of others with injuries this year, but he still has 278 rushing yards, two TDs and a 4.6 YPC average. He has 23 catches for 317 yards and two TDs.
Reid played against the Irish but was limited to 12 rushing yards on five carries. He had six receptions for 63 yards.
Reid is listed as ‘questionable’ on Saturday, but he had that same designation last week, too. UPDATE: Reid has been ruled ‘out.’
Ga. Tech is unbeaten in five home games with a 4-1 ATS record. The Yellow Jackets have won four of their five home games by margins of 47, 21, 15 and 25 points.
King has 1,083 passing yards and six TDs compared to only one pick in the last three games. He has 367 rushing yards and five TDs in the last four contests.
In nine games this season (he was out Week 2), King has completed 72.7 percent of his passes for 2,259 passing yards with a 10/2 TD-INT ratio. He has 807 rushing yards, 14 TDs and a 5.5 yards-per-carry average. King has only taken seven sacks.
I bought a 90/1 ticket on King to win the Heisman Trophy back in June. As of Saturday morning, he had the seventh-shortest odds on the board at 35/1.
Whether he still has a chance or not is debatable, but he should still be in consideration with potentially three big games remaining.
If King puts up big numbers in wins over Pitt, red-hot Georgia and in the ACC Championship Game, he’ll have a strong case.
Ga. Tech is in a look-ahead situation with Georgia on deck, but their most important order of business is clinching a spot in the ACC Championship Game.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
PREDICTION: Give me the home team with the QB advantage in King’s final career game on The Flats. Let’s risk 2.2 units to win two on Ga. Tech -2.5. Let’s also risk 1.1 units to win one on King to go ‘over’ 71.5 rushing yards. King has produced at least 91 rushing yards in six of the Jackets’ nine games, getting 103 or more five times.