Tulane Green Wave at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Preview, Betting Line, TV, Start Time

Tulane Green Wave at No. 15 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Location: Bobby Dodd Stadium (Atlanta, Georgia)

Time: 2:30 p.m. CST

TV: ACC RSN/Watch ESPN

Spread: Georgia Tech -29

Records: Tulane 0-1; Georgia Tech 1-0

All-Time Series: Georgia Tech leads 36-13

Last Meeting: Georgia Tech 38, Tulane 21 (Yulman Stadium/Sept. 6, 2014)

Noteworthy: This is Tulane's first game against a ranked opponent since 2011 when it got drilled by Houston 73-17. ... Tulane is 2-3-1 against opponents ranked No. 15. That tie happened back in 1953 against Army (0-0).

Preview

There are five pure-option teams left in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Can you name them?

If not, here they are in alphabetical order: Air Force Academy, Army West Point, Georgia Southern, Georgia Tech and the United States Naval Academy.

Tulane, as only Tulane could do, scheduled three of them in 2015: Army, Georgia Tech and Navy. The Green Wave's first date with the flexbone is Saturday when it faces the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta. If Tulane is going to start somewhere, it might as well take on No. 15 Georgia Tech first, because the Ramblin' Wreck is just about the best you can get (My mixtape drops next week, by the way).

This is the second consecutive season the Green Wave will play the Yellow Jackets. Last year Tulane hung tough with Georgia Tech for a half before the visitors pulled away en route to a 38-21 win. The Yellow Jackets, who rushed for an average of 342.1 yards per game in 2014, barely eclipsed that mark inside Yulman Stadium by compiling 344 yards on the ground.

Georgia Tech improved over the course of the year and capped its 11-win season by demolishing Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl 49-34.

"I don't know if there is a weakness," Green Wave head coach Curtis Johnson said of the Yellow Jackets during his weekly media press luncheon. "When I watched the Mississippi State game last year, I didn't see any. ... They're a very good football team."

Tulane has to be perfect if it has any chance at beating Georgia Tech. Plus, the Green Wave has to do two things it failed laughably at last Thursday in the season opener — sustain offensive drives and tackle.

Johnson said he ran his defense through a gauntlet of tackling drills this week at practice in order to correct the second problem, but the first issue is more pervasive. Tulane had 13 of its 14 offensive drives against Duke end in a punt (10), interception (1) or turnover on downs (2). If the Green Wave's offense doesn't show up again, it's going to be a long day in Atlanta.

Prediction

Pain. This won't be pretty. Georgia Tech 49, Tulane 3.