After a 1-2 start, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will look to improve their ranking by winning some conference games in the ACC. Georgia Tech lost an early season heartbreak to Colorado 14-13, and then were outmatched in a 45-24 loss to Tennessee. Head coach Brent Key still has a lot of faith in his players and hopes to even things out by getting back to .500 against the Stanford Cardinal.
Stanford has already had two games in the ACC, and they did not go in the Cardinal’s favor. Stanford lost to Miami and Duke by a combined score of 90-13. With arguably the two toughest teams in the ACC out of the way, Stanford hopes to at least be competitive against Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech’s offense has not been particularly explosive to start the season, only averaging 27 points and 349 yards per game, but the Yellow Jackets roster is filled with difference makers. Running back Justice Haynes may be Georgia Tech’s best player on the offensive end. The senior running back that transferred in from Michigan averages 93.5 yards per game this season. We are all waiting for Haynes’ breakout game after averaging 7.1 yards per carry last season for Michigan, and a game against Stanford’s defense could be the game he gets it.
Stanford ranks near the bottom of the FBS with 448 yards allowed per game this season. Stanford allowed Duke to run for 268 yards and four touchdowns last weekend in the loss. In total, the Cardinal are allowing 145 rushing yards per game. I also like Alberto Mendoza to build off of his success in his last game. Mendoza got his first win as a starting quarterback last weekend against Mercer. Mendoza has not been horrible in any of his first three games, as he threw for over 220 yards in all three contests, but sometimes getting that first win out of the way is all an athlete needs before breaking out. Overall, Mendoza has completed 69% of his passes and has a passer rating of 150.5. If he continues to play well, it could be difficult for a Stanford offense that has only averaged 16.7 points per game to keep up.
Georgia Tech vs Stanford prediction: Georgia Tech -3.5 (-110) is available at the time of publishing. Playable to -120.
