AP Top 25 Extra Points: Keeping the Ramblin’ Wreck on track is Georgia Tech goal as top-10 newcomer
Original Publication Date: October 20, 2025 4:58AM
Publication Updated: October 20, 2025 6:23AM
Not since program standard bearer and stadium namesake Bobby Dodd was coach has Georgia Tech opened a season like this.
The Yellow Jackets are 7-0, their best start since Dodd’s 1966 team reeled off nine straight wins. The Ramblin’ Wreck crashed into the top 10 in The Associated Press poll on Sunday for the first time since 2014 and, at No. 7, has its highest ranking since spending three weeks in the same spot in November 2009.
On paper, the toughest remaining games are at home against Pittsburgh on Nov. 22 and No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 28.
Tech is 4-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play for the first time since 1998, and fan chatter about making the ACC championship game and the College Football Playoff is growing louder.
“You can’t let the anxiety creep in,” coach Brent Key said. “Yeah, they hear the noise, they hear the stuff. So what do they choose to give their full attention to? That’s what matters. Really, that comes back to trust. And do they trust me and what I say? Do they trust their coaches and what they say versus what they hear on the outside?”
Georgia Tech has been steeled by close games, surviving a run of turnovers to beat Colorado on the road, clipping Clemson on a field goal as time expired and edging Wake Forest in overtime after tying the game with a field goal with 2 seconds left in regulation.
The Yellow Jackets’ 27-18 win at Duke was closer than it looks as well. They were tied 7-7 at half thanks to Omar Daniels’ 95-yard fumble return for a touchdown, trailed 10-7 midway through the third quarter and led 13-10 with 5 minutes left.
Quarterback Haynes King is the centerpiece of an offense that relies on its running game for explosive plays and a passing game predicated on short throws. He’s run for over 100 yards four times, leads the ACC with 10 rushing touchdowns and averages 93.3 yards per game to rank second.
“We have a veteran group of leaders and nobody really panics,” King said. “At times some people rip into each other, but that’s just brotherly love. Toward the end of the game, everybody almost kind of has that same goal, that same mentality of, ‘We’re going to will ourselves to win, whatever it is, and find a way to win.’”
Vandy is not settling
Vanderbilt used to only dare to dream about making bowl games, and for most of its history that was pie in the sky. From 1983-2007, there were no bowls for the Commodores. Before that, there were only three.
Vandy has appeared in seven bowls since 2008, and it became eligibile to appear in another one after knocking off LSU on Saturday. It was just two years ago the Commodores won two games. Now they are 6-1 and No. 10 in the AP poll, their highest ranking since 1947.
To coach Clark Lea and his players, going to a bowl is a minimum expectation.
“And it’s not that I don’t want it to sound like I’m not excited about the fact that we’ve secured a postseason bid,” Lea said, “but we’re really interested in taking this as far as we can.”
The Commodores aren’t afraid to say they are chasing what once would have been unthinkable for the program.
“We’re not hiding it. We’re trying to go win a national championship,” tight end Cole Spence said. “That’s our goal for this year. So you know this was a big win (over LSU). Another step on the road. But if we end the season with six wins, we’ll be pissed. We’re ready. We’re hungry for more.”
From hot seat to just hot
It’s hard to believe BYU’s Kalani Sitake was prominent on some of the coach hot seat lists as recently as last year. The Cougars were 5-7 in 2023, their first season in the Big 12, and there were questions whether Sitake, who took over in 2016, was the man for the job in a power conference.
Sitake is a popular guy right now in Provo, Utah. The No. 11 Cougars are 7-0 in back-to-back years for the first time, they’re coming off a third straight win over rival Utah and they sit atop the Big 12 standings with No. 21 Cincinnati at 4-0. The schedule doesn’t not ease up. They play back-to-back road games against Iowa State and No. 14 Texas Tech, and they have to go to Cincinnati on Nov. 22.
“The leadership and the way Kalani has been able to establish the culture here, we just know that we’re going to win,” receiver Chase Roberts said. “When we rep the ‘Y,’ we have it on our helmet and our heart. We feel like we have the team to go out and win the football game.”
Extra points
No. 2 Indiana did not punt in its win over Michigan State, its first game against a power-conference opponent without a punt since at least 1990 and the first against any opponent since 2024 against Western Illinois in Week 2. … No. 3 Texas A&M is 7-0 for the first time since 1994. … Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, with the win over Tennessee, is 15-2 as a head coach in Top 25 matchups. DeBoer’s .882 winning percentage stands as the best among active coaches who have appeared in at least 10 ranked matchups.
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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker contributed from Nashville, Tenn.
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