With the 2024-2025 college football season finished, all eyes immediately turned to the next season. Following a 7-6 campaign that ended with a disappointing Birmingham Bowl loss against Vanderbilt, Jackets fans are already excited for the upcoming season. This past week, the ACC solidified the Jackets’ schedule which features trips to Boulder, Boston and the Research Triangle.
This upcoming season will open with Tech traveling to the University of Colorado Boulder to take on head coach Deion Sanders in the mountains. The Buffaloes exceeded expectations last season with wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter taking home the Heisman Trophy and quarterback Shedeur Sanders locking up a first-round draft projection. The Buffs finished 9-3 in the regular season and will be ready for head coach Brent Key’s Jackets to fly into Folsom Field in August. Colorado’s notable offseason pickups so far include Liberty University transfer quarterback Kaidon Salter and incoming freshman Julian ‘Juju’ Lewis. Whether Lewis or Salter gets the start in the season opener, the environment in Boulder will be lively and this will be a difficult opening test for the Jackets. The game also gives Tech redshirt senior quarterback Haynes King a chance to exorcise demons after injuring his ankle the last time he played the Buffalo.
After a trip out west, the Jackets return home for a three-game homestand. The first of the three is a matchup with the Gardner Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs from the Big South-OVC Association in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
Then, the Jackets will kick off ACC play with a matchup against the 2024 ACC Champion Clemson Tigers. While the Tigers return key offensive pieces such as quarterback Cade Klubnik and wide receiver Antonio Williams, arguably the most shocking news from the offseason came when head coach Dabo Swinney took multiple players from the transfer portal. Swinney spoke heavily against the portal throughout much of the past couple of years, but seeing the growing change in environment permeating throughout college sports, Swinney recruited Purdue transfer defensive end Will Heldt, among others. This matchup against Clemson will likely dictate the Jackets’ path to an ACC Championship berth and foreshadow the rest of the 2025 campaign.
To close out the three straight home games, the Jackets host the Temple Owls from the American Athletic Conference. The Owls went 3-9 on the season but hired K.C. Keeler from Sam Houston State over the offseason. This Owls team will look drastically different from the team that only won three games a year ago.
If the Jackets get out of the opening stretch dropping just one game, they will use that as momentum heading into the rest of ACC play.
The Jackets continue their ACC schedule with a matchup in Winston Salem, N.C. against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, then host the Virginia Tech Hokies at Bobby Dodd. Similarly to Temple, the Demon Deacons are coming off one of their worst seasons in recent memory going 4-8 overall and 2-6 in conference play. Following the season, head coach Dave Clawson resigned and Wake Forest hired Washington State head coach Jake Dickert to take his place.
For the Hokies, the team will look to defeat the Jackets for the second straight season with quarterback Kyron Drones and head coach Brent Pry returning. However, the Jackets will be playing on the Flats rather than in Lane Stadium where 60,000 plus fans cheered against them jumping to Enter Sandman.
The Jackets then make their way to the North Carolina Research Triangle on their first of two trips to take on the Duke Blue Devils. After an impressive 9-3 regular season, head coach Manny Diaz has shown what he can do to revitalize a program that lost their starting quarterback and much of their coaching staff a year before. This upcoming season, the Blue Devils will start Tulane transfer quarterback Darian Mensah, one of the top transfer portal recruits, presenting a steep challenge for the Jackets. Other than hosting Clemson, this square-off against Duke will be Tech’s toughest ACC test.
The Jackets will close out their ACC conference play with the Syracuse Orange at home, the North Carolina State Wolfpack,Boston College Eagles away and then the Pittsburgh Panthers at home to round it out. While Syracuse loses standout quarterback Kyle McCord to the NFL draft, head coach Fran Brown has dedicated his offseason to ensuring the Orange are still relevant in 2025. For the second trip up to the Research Triangle, the Jackets take on the Wolfpack where they hope to continue the magic from last season and turn it into a dominating win in Raleigh.
Boston College will look different from when Tech lost to them in 2023 on Parents Weekend. Quarterback Thomas Castellanos transferred to ACC foe Florida State, and the Eagles hired Boston native and former Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien to run the program. O’Brien led Boston College to a 7-5 regular season record last year.
To cap out conference play the Jackets finish with the Pittsburgh Panthers at home. The Panthers had an up-and-down season featuring highs such as crushing Syracuse and beating rival West Virginia while experiencing lows such as losing to Toledo in six overtimes in the GameAbove Sports Bowl. The Panthers loom to be a sneaky opponent for the Jackets as they sit one week before Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.
This year’s Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate will look a lot different than last year’s. This rivalry game will be hosted in Mercedes-Benz Stadium and will not feature u[sic]GA’s same quarterback from last year. Over the offseason, Carson Beck transferred to the University of Miami, meaning that Gunner Stockton will be at the helm of the u[sic]GA offense for years to come. The deal for the game to move from Bobby Dodd Stadium included 10 million dollars in guaranteed money for the athletic program. Early rankings on ESPN suggest u[sic]GA to be a top-five program next year and will likely be Tech’s toughest test next season.
Notably, the schedule release Florida State or Miami. The Jackets will also not take on newly hired North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels or any new ACC opponents (Cal, Stanford, or SMU). This schedule, especially compared to the one from 2024, sets up favorably for the Jackets, especially throughout ACC competition. While there are still many days, weeks and months until toe will first meet leather, it is exciting to look forward to what next year could have in store.