Bacchetta Among Ray Guy Award Ray’s 8 for Week 3

THE FLATS – After averaging 51.2 yards per punt – including a career-long 65-yarder – in last Saturday’s win over Mercer, Georgia Tech punter Alex Bacchetta (Atlanta, Ga./Westminster School) has been named to the Ray Guy Award Ray’s 8 for Week 3. Ray’s 8 recognizes the nation’s eight best punting performances for each week of the college football season.

Bacchetta earned the honor on the strength of his 51.2-yard average over four punts in the Yellow Jackets’ 44-11 win over Mercer. It marked just the 31^st time in Georgia Tech history that a punter averaged at least 50 yards per punt in a game (min. two punts), while his 65-yard bomb in the fourth quarter is tied for the 26^th-longest punt in school history and the longest David Shanahan’s 71-yarder at Duke on Oct. 9, 2021.

Bacchetta’s four punts included one that was downed inside the 20, while the 65-yard beauty was originally ruled down at the 1 yard line before replay determined that it had crossed the plane of the goal line.

For the season, Bacchetta’s 44.1-yard average would rank in the top 20 nationally if he had enough attempts to qualify for the official NCAA rankings (his 10 punts fall just shy of the 3.6 punts-per-game average needed for inclusion in the rankings). Four of his 10 kicks have traveled 50-plus yards, three have been downed inside the 20 and only four have been returned for a total of 8 yards (2.0 avg.).

Bacchetta and the Yellow Jackets open Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday with their first-ever regular-season game at Stanford. Kickoff is set for 10:30 p.m. ET and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

After the conference opener at Stanford and an open week, Georgia Tech returns home on Saturday, Oct. 10 to face longtime ACC rival Duke for Reck Day (celebrating the 65^th anniversary of the Ramblin’ Reck) and Hall of Fame Weekend at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Kickoff time will be announced on Monday, Sept. 28. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by clicking HERE.

2026 GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL TICKETS

2026 Georgia Tech football mini-plan and single-game tickets remain on sale.

Mini-Plan

The ACC Pick-3 Mini Plan offers a 15% savings over purchasing tickets on a single-game basis, allowing fans to choose three of the Yellow Jackets’ four ACC home games this season – versus Duke (Saturday, Oct. 10), Boston College (Saturday, Oct. 24), Louisville (Saturday, Nov. 7) and Wake Forest (Saturday, Nov. 21) – starting at just $96.

Single-Game Tickets

Single-game tickets start as low as $30. Tickets for the all-new Wreck Deck premium experience in the Fanning Center, available for purchase on a single-game basis only, start at $150.

For more information and to purchase 2026 Georgia Tech football tickets today, click HERE.

Full Steam Ahead

Full Steam Ahead is a $500 million fundraising initiative to achieve Georgia Tech athletics’ goal of competing for championships at the highest level in the next era of intercollegiate athletics. The initiative will fund transformative projects for Tech athletics, including renovations of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field (the historic home of Georgia Tech football), the Zelnak Basketball Center (the practice and training facility for Tech basketball) and O’Keefe Gymnasium (the venerable home of Yellow Jackets volleyball), as well as additional projects and initiatives to further advance Georgia Tech athletics through program wide-operational support. All members of the Georgia Tech community are invited to visit atfund.org/FullSteamAhead for full details and renderings of the renovation projects, as well as to learn about opportunities to contribute online. 

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