Duke–Georgia Tech football rivalry

The Duke–Georgia Tech football rivalry is an American college football rivalry game between the Duke Blue Devils and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.^[1][2][3]

The Duke Blue Devils and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, located in bordering states in the southern United States, have played 92 times in a series that dates back to 1933 and every year uninterrupted until 2023.^[4] In addition to geographic proximity, prestigious academic standards throughout the universities' respective histories as well as football successes in the early 20th century contributed to the beginning of the football series with the competitiveness of the early football games between the schools helping shape the rivalry as a whole between Duke and Georgia Tech.^[5] Duke had its best years against Georgia Tech in the 1930s and 1940s, holding a 10–3 series lead over Georgia Tech after their 1945 meeting.^[6][7] From the start of the 1950s through the mid-1980s, the series was back and forth.^[6] In fact, heading into the 1984 season, the series record was deadlocked at 25–25–1.^[8] But since then it has been controlled by Georgia Tech, in part due to the decline in the overall performance of Duke football in the 1990s and 2000s.^[9][10] In the next 36 matchups after 1984, the Jackets earned 26 victories while the Blue Devils won just ten.^[11] The series was played annually as a non-conference matchup for the first fifty years of the rivalry until Georgia Tech joined the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 1983.^[12]

When the ACC split into non-geographical divisions in 2005,^[13] the Blue Devils and Yellow Jackets were both placed in the league's "Coastal" division which guaranteed an annual meeting on the football field.^[14][15] Duke is Georgia Tech's third-most common opponent all-time (behind only Georgia and Auburn).^[16] Georgia Tech leads the series 56–35–1.^[17] This game decided the ACC Coastal Division champion in 2014. Although Duke won the game 31–25,^[18] they had a loss to Miami beforehand followed by losses to Virginia Tech and rival North Carolina, which allowed the Yellow Jackets to claim the division title and a trip to Charlotte for the ACC Championship as they just had 2 conference losses whereas Duke had 3.^[19][20] Georgia Tech won the last matchup 27–18 in Durham in 2025.^[21] When the ACC eliminated divisions in favor of a 3–5 scheduling format following the 2022 season,^[22] Duke–Georgia Tech were not designated as a protected annual football matchup and consequently became intermittent for the first time in its history; the 2023 season being the first season the teams didn't meet since 1932.^[23] The series continued in 2024 in Atlanta, 2025 in Durham and will next be played in 2026 in Atlanta.^[22] Beginning in 2023, the rivalry is occasionally missed due to the ACC's new scheduling format, not being played in 2023 and 2027 (barring a meeting in the ACC Championship Game).^[24][25]

Game results sources:^[26][27]

• List of NCAA college football rivalry games