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For 11th-ranked Georgia Tech, this football season is a story about what could be.
For Wake Forest, it's a story of what could have been.
Those storylines converge today at 3:30 p.m. in Bobby Dodd Stadium where the Deacons are expected to have senior quarterback Riley Skinner back in action after suffering a slight concussion in the loss to Miami last Saturday.
Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1) has won six straight and with a victory against the Deacons, would need only to win at Duke next Saturday to lock down the Atlantic Division crown and a spot in the ACC championship game next month.
The Yellow Jackets aren't doing it with sleight of hand. They run their option offense and dare teams to stop them. Only Miami has done it.
With quarterback Josh Nesbitt and running back Jonathan Dwyer, the Yellow Jackets have been able to impose their will on opponents, gaining more than 400 yards in seven of nine games this season.
The message from second-year coach Paul Johnson remains the same - keep going.
"We still have to finish out," Johnson said in his weekly press conference. "I tell the guys every day, we haven't accomplished anything yet. You have to finish, just like a drill in practice. Our main goal this week has to be to beat Wake Forest and if we do that, then we'll be closer to finishing."
While the Yellow Jackets are closing in on a possible BCS bowl berth, Wake Forest (4-5, 2-3) has been forced to recalibrate its goals. Aside from a blowout loss at Clemson, the Deacons have been close in every game.
They lost by three at Boston College in September when they fumbled at the 2-yard line going in for the winning touchdown in overtime and wasted a 13-point fourth-quarter lead against Miami last week. That's two ACC losses by four points.
"We're capable of winning, that's the thing we know," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said at his weekly press conference. "We've got to have things go right and not much has gone right for this football team.
"We've had some plays we could have made that would have made the difference without needing a break. But this is just about the most unlucky team I've ever coached."
Grobe said he feels confident the Deacons won't fight a carryover effect from their narrow losses when they face Georgia Tech.
On the other side, Johnson has a team that appears to be getting better each week. Even after struggling in the first half against Vanderbilt last week, the Yellow Jackets kicked it in gear in the second half for another lopsided win.
"There's no question that winning breeds winning," Johnson said. "When you have some success, your expectation level should rise and you should expect to do things...I think these kids expect to win every time they go out there. If you don't think you're going to win, you're probably not going to."
