No. 8 Georgia Tech not playing ACC's other T25 teams, part of unbalanced schedules in expanded P4s

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Georgia Tech is the only undefeated team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the eighth-ranked Yellow Jackets have a path through the regular season without having to face any of the league's other three Top 25 teams.

In fact, the 17-team ACC has no head-to-head matchups in November between Georgia Tech (8-0, 5-0 ACC), No. 10 Miami (6-1, 2-1), No. 15 Virginia (7-1, 4-0) and No. 16 Louisville (6-1, 3-1). There have been only two among that quartet all season, with the Cardinals losing at home to the Cavaliers before going to South Florida and beating the then-No. 2 Hurricanes.

The growth of Power Four conferences — all now have at least 16 teams — has created even more unbalanced schedules and fewer opportunities for potential annual matchups of some of their top-ranked teams. There is still the possibility of meeting in a conference championship game, and maybe even in the 12-team College Football Playoff since there are no restrictions there on matchups of teams from the same league.

Top-ranked Ohio State (7-0) and No. 2 Indiana (8-0) don't play each other in the Big Ten regular season, and the Buckeyes also avoid No. 6 Oregon, whose only loss was to the Hoosiers. Third-ranked Texas A&M (8-0), the Southeastern Conference's only undefeated team, will get through the regular season without having to play No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Georgia or No. 7 Mississippi.

BYU (8-0) is tied with Miami at No. 10 in the AP poll, but the Big 12's only undefeated team still has road games at No. 13 Texas Tech and No. 17 Cincinnati, after already winning at No. 24 Utah. The Cougars joined the expanding Big 12 in 2023, a year after being the last power league with 10 teams able to play a round-robin conference schedule.

Along with the ACC's four ranked teams, Pittsburgh, SMU and Duke also go into the final month of the regular season with no more than one conference loss.

Dual-threat quarterback Haynes King and Georgia Tech, the only team already with five ACC wins, have to go to North Carolina State and Boston College before back-to-back home games for their conference finale against Pitt and then rivalry rematch against Georgia a year after the Bulldogs' 44-42 win in eight overtimes. The Yellow Jackets then hope to be in their first ACC championship game since 2014 and make the 12-team playoff.

“I view it like this, to go where we want to go, and where everyone wants to go, we're only at the halfway point,” Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key said when asked this week about his approach to the final one-third of the regular season. “We can't predict the future, and it's not just us. That's everybody's goal."

That Georgia Tech-Pitt game on Nov. 22 is one of five matchups remaining between the league's top seven teams. The Panthers a week later end the regular-season at home against Miami. The Hurricanes play Saturday at SMU, which also hosts Louisville on Nov. 22. Virginia plays at Duke on Nov. 15.