Colorado Buffaloes at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Thursday, September 3, 2026
8:00 PM ET, Bobby Dodd Stadium
Thursday night in Atlanta is a rematch of last year’s opener that Georgia Tech won 27-20 in Boulder. This time the Yellow Jackets are home, laying 6.5 with a total of 50.5, and the value is on the road team getting the points.
Julian Lewis makes his first career start at quarterback for Colorado. Lewis is from Carrollton, Georgia, about an hour outside Atlanta, and he was originally recruited by Georgia Tech before flipping to Deion Sanders. Back in January when the transfer portal was open, people close to Lewis reportedly reached out to Georgia Tech through backchannels to explore a return home. He never entered the portal. He stayed at Colorado. Now he’s coming back to Atlanta anyway, with the exact team he chose to snub, wanting to prove he made the right decision.
That’s real motivation for a quarterback making his first start.
Georgia Tech also has a brand new quarterback. Haynes King is gone to the NFL, and Brent Key has to break in a new starter of his own. Two new QBs in a season opener typically means slower rhythm, more punts, and closer games than the market prices in.
Last year’s game between these two teams was decided by a touchdown. 27-20. Georgia Tech was a 3.5-point favorite in Boulder and covered by exactly a field goal. Now Colorado is being asked to lose by nearly a touchdown on the road with a completely rebuilt defense that has been the priority of their offseason overhaul. Coach Prime and his staff spent the entire winter and spring rebuilding a unit that gave up too many points in 2025. That’s not going to be perfect in Week 1, but it doesn’t need to be perfect to keep this game inside 6.5.
Deion Sanders isn’t going to let his team come out flat in a game where his highly-touted freshman quarterback is playing his home state opponent. Colorado will be prepared. They’ll be motivated. And they have enough offensive talent to keep pace.
Georgia Tech is the better team overall. Brent Key has built a program that plays hard-nosed, physical football and has produced back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a decade. But asking them to win by a full touchdown at home with a new quarterback against a Sanders team that’s had all offseason to figure out how to beat them is a big ask.
The 6.5 is where the market has landed based on Georgia Tech being the more established program. It doesn’t fully account for how much this game means to Julian Lewis, or how much Colorado’s defensive overhaul has changed the matchup from last year.
The Pick: Colorado Buffaloes +6.5
