Georgia Tech vs Florida State...Over the Years Georgia Tech and Florida State launch the 2024-5 college football season with an awkwardly labeled "Week O" matchup on Saturday in Dublin, Ireland

The 2024-5 college football season begins this weekend with an ACC game as the featured matchup . FSU and Georgia Tech face off in Dublin , Ireland on Saturday.

The Seminoles were a 10.5 point favorite two days before kickoff. They finished last year with immeasurable frustration, getting a last minute nudge from a top four spot that would have gained entry into the championship tournament– despite a 13-0 record. They then lost big to Georgia in a game that many of the Seminole players chose to sit out.

Tech, by contrast, finished its season on a high note, beating UCF to finish at 7-6, their first winning record since 2018 under Paul Johnson.

A look back at the series history adds some interest to the big picture. Florida State holds a 15-11-1 edge all time. Inside those totals, there are two long streaks. Tech won the first eight games– save a tie in 1962. The inaugural match was in 1952.

FSU won in 1992, beginning a streak of 12 wins in a row. This timing aligned witha still- hard-to- believe 14 consecutive years in which the Seminoles finished on the Top Five nationally. Those rankings of course, were based largely on votes by the Associated ​Press, even as the Bowl Championship Series began to take shape. The deire to " settle it on the field" has slowly morphed into the present College Football Playoff. That fact made things all the more galling for FSU last year when– despite that 13-0 record and winning the ACC Championship-they were passed over .

This year, Mike Norvell's team thus has much to prove. Any chances for a playoff spot this year would almost certainly have to include a win over Tech in Game One.

Brent Key's squad has other ideas. They wish to improve on that 7-6 from last year and a win over FSU would be a giant leap for a program clearly on the rise.

The Seminoles have won six of the last ten. Tech has captured two of the last three, dropping the 2022 game with Brent Key then as the Jackets' interim head coach.

The game features Techs productive offense against the stout defense of FSU.

Kickoff is a day away.

Patrick Conarro

RamblinSports.com