Georgia Tech opens the final month of the regular season and closes a two-game road stint when it visits longtime Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division rival Virginia Tech on Saturday.

The Yellow Jackets (3-5, 2-3 ACC) have lost consecutive ACC games for the first time this season, but remain in fourth place in the Coastal Division, only a half-game behind second-place Duke (2-2 ACC) and Miami (2-2).

Virginia Tech (2-6, 1-4 ACC) is riding a four-game skid under first-year head coach Brent Pry. However, three of the Hokies’ six defeats have come by one score or less, including last Thursday’s heartbreaking 22-21 loss at No. 24 NC State. In that contest, VT led the Wolfpack, 21-3, late in the third quarter before NC State rallied for the one-point win.

Georgia Tech is making its first trip to Virginia Tech since 2018, thanks to the team’s regularly scheduled even-year matchup in Blacksburg in 2020 being nixed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Jackets have won three-straight at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium (2014, 2016 and 2018). When Georgia Tech drubbed VT, 49-28, in Blacksburg in 2018, the Yellow Jackets became the first team to win three in a row at Lane Stadium since Clemson won five-straight at Virginia Tech from 1977-89 (the feat has since been matched by Clemson and Miami, who have both equaled GT’s current three-game winning streak at VT).

Georgia Tech remains home to perhaps the best linebacker duo in all of college football in r-Sr. Ayinde Eley and Sr. Charlie Thomas, who have combined for a whopping 152 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, seven passes defended and seven quarterback hurries this season.