Georgia Tech Football at Virginia Tech
Saturday, Nov. 5 · 12:30 pm ET · Blacksburg, Va. · Lane Stadium
LB Charlie Thomas (1 – above) is the only NCAA Division I FBS player this season and one of only three FBS players since 2000 with as many as 70 tackles, eight tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble through his team’s first eight games of the season.
Top Storylines
• 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 has 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.
Competitive Drive Initiative
In a unified endeavor, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Tech athletics and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund have come together to accelerate funding for student-athlete scholarships with the launch of the Competitive Drive Initiative. The initiative kicks off with the Accelerate GT Match Program, where any new gift to the AT Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund made through Dec. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Georgia Tech Foundation, up to $2.5 million. Should Accelerate GT reach its $2.5 million fundraising goal, the matching gift would result in a $5 million impact for Georgia Tech athletics. To learn more and to contribute online, visit atfund.org/accelerate.
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