Kirk Herbstreit breaks down Florida State-Georgia Tech in Week 0 from Dublin

No. 10 Florida State and Georgia Tech will play the biggest game of Week 0 on Saturday from Dublin, Ireland. Now, with College GameDay set to start the season there this weekend, Kirk Herbstreit has given his analysis for the conference matchup across the pond.

Herbstreit broke down the matchup between the Seminoles and Yellow Jackets during an appearance on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Thursday. He sees it as game that’ll come down to the smaller aspects. He also views it as a very quality game this early in the ACC.

“I think it’s just going to come down to overall speed. Special teams, field position. Who handles all the travel well?” said Herbstreit. “I think it’s a hell of a matchup to start the season. Have to travel all the way over there and play a conference game? It’s going to be a lot of fun.

“Do not just assume. You look at the two brands – ‘Ah, it’s Georgia Tech.’ Brent Key is doing a good job of getting these guys to buy in to his system,” Herbstreit added. “I think it’s a competitive game. I think Georgia Tech can hang around.”

Herbstreit also thinks it comes down to which quarterback better handles their offense between DJ Uiagalelei and Haynes King.

For the ‘Noles, they have an offense that they believe in with what they have overall. It’s now just about how Uiagalelei plays in his debut there after transferring back to the east coast this offseason.

“I talked with Mike Norvell just a day or two ago about the matchup and about his team. With the portal and with all those losses, I think he’s incredibly fired up – not just about what DJ can do within this offense but I think the skill that they have around him,” said Herbstreit. “They lost great players at receiver, (Trey) Benson in the backfield. But the way he recruits? You go back to his days at Memphis. The way he’s able to put skill in? He knows how to coach offense as well as anybody.

“With DJU? Of course, we’re excited to see what he can do coming into this offense,” Herbstreit continued. “The mystery? DJ Uiagalelei last year in Oregon State’s offense – he did a really good job of running an offense that was really more about 12 and 13 personnel. It wasn’t like Caleb Williams at USC. Like, this was an offense that was based on physicality and then they complimented that physicality with him throwing the football. Now I feel like he’s going back into kind of like what he did at Clemson where they’re going to have to be able to be a team that relies on him to spread people out and make plays with all the skill that they have. I just can’t wait to see how he plays.”

Then, for Georgia Tech, King is coming off the best season of his collegiate career in his first year in Atlanta. If he’s more of the same to start off this Fall, the Yellow Jackets and their offense will have a chance at starting the year with a win.

“I think Haynes King is, to me, the wildcard in this game,” said Herbstreit. “I think Haynes King, his ability to run and throw. Remember, he left A&M, went to Georgia Tech. We saw what he could do last year. When this kid is healthy, he is fantastic. I think that they’ve got a good running game around him.”

“Your intuition about Georgia Tech, I think I’m feeling that,” Herbstreit said.

Only one of these two league opponents and quarterbacks are coming back with an opening win from across the Atlantic. We’ll know who within 48 hours with kickoff coming closer for Florida State and Georgia Tech.