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Georgia Tech Football: ESPN ranks Georgia Tech 11th in ACC preseason poll

By Dylan Callaghan-Croley

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - NOVEMBER 4: Head coach Paul Johnson of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets watches a replay in the first quarter during a game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Scott Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - NOVEMBER 4: Head coach Paul Johnson of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets watches a replay in the first quarter during a game against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Scott Stadium on November 4, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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The “World Wide Leader in Sports” doesn’t appear to be to high on the Georgia Tech football team entering the 2018 season, at least in terms of their standing in the ACC.

ESPN this week released their ACC preseason power rankings and Georgia Tech football fans are not going to like where sports media mogul’s writers placed the Yellow Jackets. According to ESPN, the Georgia Tech football team is the 11th best team in the ACC entering the season.

Fans shouldn’t have expected the Yellow Jackets to place high in the preseason ranking but 11th even after last season seems pretty drastic. Despite going 5-6 last season, the Yellow Jackets played at a high level throughout the season and were only a few plays away from looking at an 8-3 record rather than a 5-6 record. After all, they took Miami, the ACC Coastal Division champions down to the wire last season and they upset Virginia Tech. Those two programs are ranked second and fifth respectively by ESPN.

Outside of just looking at last year, the ranking is a head scratcher for several reasons. The biggest reason of them all is that, outside of the Jackets secondary, the entire team is returning a boat load of starters. Among those starters is starting quarterback TaQuon Marshall and b-back KirVonte Benson who earned a spot on the Doak Walker Award preseason watch list. Not only is there a great amount of experience returning for the program but for the first time in a while has solid depth at every position on the two-deep depth chart. T

To be fair, ESPN does mention that factor above however, it doesn’t seem to be enough to outweigh their main reason for ranking the Yellow Jackets so low. That reason is their difficult schedule which by ESPN’s ratings is the 21st hardest schedule in the country this season. Their projections also have the Yellow Jackets picking up seven wins this season.

You can check out what ESPN had to say about the Yellow Jackets in the article written by Andrea Adelson and David M. Hale, here as well as where they rank other ACC teams including a team that some may find as a surprise in the four spot.

Next: Georgia Tech Football: KirVonte Benson named to Doak Walker Award watch list

The Yellow Jackets will soon get their chance to prove ESPN and others wrong as they start training camp in the upcoming weeks and are just 43 days away from toe meeting leather against Alcorn State.