Georgia Tech Football: A Look at the History Between Georgia Tech and UCF

Georgia Tech has some things in common with their opponent this Saturday

It has not been that long since Georgia Tech has met UCF on the field, but this is only going to be the fifth-ever matchup between the Yellow Jackets and the Knights. 

The big thing that everyone will point to about this matchup is this is a game between the two schools that former head coach George O'Leary used to coach for. O'Leary was the head coach at Georgia Tech starting in 1994 as the interim head coach before being hired as the full-time guy. He would finish his time in Atlanta with a 52-33 record, including two games against UCF in 1996 and 1999. 

George O'Leary was the head coach for both Georgia Tech and UCF / Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

O'Leary would take over the UCF program in 2004 and was 0-11 in his first year. By the end of his tenure in Orlando, he was winning double-digit games and taking them to BCS bowl games and finished his career at UCF with an 81-68 record. His last year as a head coach was in 2015. 

This is going to be the second time in three seasons that these two teams have played each other. Georgia Tech hosted the Knights in 2020, a week after beating Florida State in the home opener, and was hoping for another big win to start the season. The UCF offense racked up nearly 700 yards of offense and current Oklahoma starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for four touchdowns. 

While Geoff Collins is still the head coach at Georgia Tech and coached them in that game in 2020, UCF does not have the same man on the sideline that it did that season. Gus Malzahn is now the head coach of the Knights and has a totally different philosophy than his predecessor, Josh Heupel. UCF is a rushing-heavy team that has speed everywhere and an underrated defense to boot. It is going to be a massive challenge for Georgia Tech on Saturday. 

Georgia Tech holds the all-time series lead against UCF 3-1. Tech won their first-ever matchup against UCF in 1996 by a score of 27-20 in Atlanta and then their next matchup in 1999, which was also in Atlanta, 41-10. In 2000, Georgia Tech won 21-17.

This is going to be the program's first-ever trip to play the Knights in Orlando and we will see what happens on Saturday afternoon. 

Georgia Tech vs UCF is slated for a 4:00 p.m kickoff on Saturday and the game will be televised on ESPNU.

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