Georgia Tech opens its 131st season of football on Friday when it hosts Atlantic Coast Conference foe Louisville in the 2023 Aflac Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

In addition to being the first game of the 2023 season, Friday’s contest marks several additional “firsts” for Georgia Tech.

Most notably, it is the first game since Brent Key was named the Yellow Jackets’ permanent head coach on Nov. 29, 2022. Key served as Georgia Tech’s interim head coach for the final eight games of the 2022 season and led the Jackets to a 4-4 record (4-3 in ACC play), which included notable road wins at No. 24 Pitt (26-21 on Oct. 1) and No. 13 North Carolina (21-17 on Nov. 19). Key is the 21st head coach in Georgia Tech history  and the fifth Tech alumnus to hold the role.

While Georgia Tech returns 15 starters from last season, one new starter for the Yellow Jackets that will garner a lot of attention is r-So. QB Haynes King, who will make his first start for the White and Gold. A graduate transfer from Texas A&M, King threw for 1,579 yards and 10 touchdowns over 10 games (seven starts) for the Aggies from 2020-22.

This is also the first game of the ACC’s new 3-5-5 scheduling model, which eliminated football divisions from conference play and sees Georgia Tech and Louisville paired as annual opponents. In addition to Louisville, the Yellow Jackets will play Clemson and Wake Forest annually, while playing their other 10 ACC opponents on a rotating basis, with each team appearing on the Jackets’ schedule both home and away over a four-year span.

Friday’s game is Georgia Tech’s third in a six-year agreement to play one home game each season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta, which is located less than a mile from Tech’s midtown Atlanta campus. The Yellow Jackets are 1-2 all-time at MBS, with a 45-22 win over No. 20 North Carolina in 2021 and defeats to No. 24 Tennessee (42-41 in 2OT) and No. 6 Clemson in the 2017 and 2022 Aflac Kickoff Games.