College football fans certainly have been tuning in to watch Georgia Tech play football. Now fans are starting to show up to Bobby Dodd Stadium to watch, too.
Tech beat Virginia Tech 35-20 on Saturday in front of a crowd of 50,878. That marked the highest turnout of the season at Bobby Dodd Stadium and the largest crowd at the venue to see the Jackets play an ACC opponent since Oct. 1, 2016, when 53,047 fans attended Tech’s matchup with No. 14 Miami (in the 2020 season, attendance was limited because of the COVID-19 pandemic).
“They did a really good job today showing up, showing out, being really loud, making it a true home-field advantage like they’ve done this whole season,” Tech quarterback Haynes King said of Saturday’s turnout. “So I really love the way that they come out and support and try to help us to victory.”
Saturday’s attendance figure was only the sixth time since that 2016 game against the Hurricanes that at least 50,000 fans have been to Bobby Dodd Stadium, where capacity is now 51,913 because of the construction of the Fanning Center, and in four of those occurrences, Tech’s opponent was rival Georgia. The Jackets had lost five consecutive such instances (they beat Jacksonville State in 2018).
For the season, Tech has averaged 45,459 fans over four home games, which would be the program’s highest since 46,885 in 2017 and the first time averaging more than 40,000 since 2019.
Winning certainly has helped the cause.
Tech has won nine consecutive games at Bobby Dodd Stadium dating to a 31-23 loss to Georgia on Nov. 26, 2023. The Jackets went 5-0 there in 2024 and are off to a 4-0 start there this season with games remaining against Syracuse (Oct. 25) and Pittsburgh (Nov. 22). Tech faces Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Nov. 28.
Between the start of the 2018 season and end of the 2022 season, the Jackets won only eight times at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The Jackets (6-0, 3-0, ACC) also have risen to No. 12 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. They are one of 11 unbeaten teams in the FBS ahead of a showdown at Duke (4-2, 3-0 ACC) at noon Saturday in Durham, North Carolina.
Win or lose, Tech may be playing in front of another large contingent Oct. 25, when it goes for a 10th consecutive home victory, its longest since winning 17 consecutive from 1989-91.
“The diehards are going to be there regardless, right? It’s the people that might not have been a Tech fan prior. It’s the people that might not have had an allegiance to any school,” said Tech coach Brent Key, a former Jackets offensive lineman who now has a 14-4 record in home games. “Somebody that might have gone to school a thousand miles away from here, and this is where they live now, and, adopted this team as their hometown team. That’s what’s really cool.
“And if you don’t think it impacts our players and affects them when they run out on that field and the stands are packed and people are on their feet? It brought back a lot of good memories.”
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