FILE - Georgia Tech defensive lineman Akelo Stone, left, celebrates with a fan after an NCAA college football game against Clemson, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard, file)

ATLANTA (AP) — Long-time Georgia Tech fan Luke Cowart can’t remember the last time the football program entered an ACC matchup as a two-touchdown favorite. Need proof? His name on X is Georgia Tech pain account. He’s been let down by this team a time or two.

But this week, BetMGM Sportsbook listed Georgia Tech as 14-point favorites over Wake Forest — a reflection of a program off to its first 4-0 start since 2014, now ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25.

It’s more than just buzz. No. 16 is the Yellow Jackets’ highest ranking since 2015. The ceiling appears high for a Georgia Tech team likely favored in all but one of its remaining regular-season games. The stands at Bobby Dodd Stadium are filling up on Saturdays as the Yellow Jackets have entered national chatter and quarterback Haynes King creeps into the Heisman conversation.

Cowart would know best that it hasn’t always been like this. His family has been season ticket holders for 32 years. He didn’t miss more than 10 home games from age 2 to 18.

“Opposing fan bases would completely take over our stadium,” he said. “The lowest point of that was when I went to watch us play Ole Miss in 2022 and we lost 42-0, and it was the first time I had heard us boo our own team and coach.”

The Key to success

Coach Brent Key should be credited for fostering this new era of Georgia Tech football. Key took over as interim head coach midway through the 2022 season, succeeding former coach Geoff Collins. He was promoted to head coach the next fall, and in 2024 he was given a five-year extension, keeping him with the Yellow Jackets through 2029.

For eager fans, it’s felt like a somewhat slow build. But what Key and his supporting crew have accomplished in recent years is admirable. The Yellow Jackets have gone 22-16 under Key. The team has steadily brought in new talent through recruits and the transfer portal. And in an era where retaining players is just as challenging as recruiting them, the core group has continued to lead the charge.

“This season is different simply due to the talent on the roster,” Cowart said. “Coach Key building talent over the last few years has culminated to this season, where we have guys on the field who will play on Sundays, and that, combined with great coaching and an extreme lunch-pail tough mentality, really makes this season feel so much different.”

Kenneth Shannon, 36, has been a fan since he was 8 years old. He says that ticket sales have reached unheard of numbers in recent years. Bobby Dodd Stadium may not be filled completely, but for a program once an afterthought in its community, 45,123 fans in attendance against Temple is an impressive feat.

The team can feel the energy radiating from the stands. Those numbers translate directly to noise, momentum and confidence on Saturdays.

“It’s always an amazing feeling to see the stands filled up to max potential because that gets us juiced up,” senior defensive back Clayton Powell-Lee said. “For us on defense, us hearing third downs being called and you just hear the stadium rocking, it’s like ‘OK, we’re here to play some ball.’”

It’s a striking contrast to the days when boos echoed through Bobby Dodd Stadium, a visible marker of how far the program has come.

“Our home-field events now," King said, "we essentially really have a home-field advantage with how they come out and support and stay the whole game.”

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