ATLANTA � Georgia Tech is probably a little too far back to become a factor in the national championship race.

That doesn�t diminish what the program has accomplished in less than two years under coach Paul Johnson.
The No. 10 Yellow Jackets (8-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) are on a six-game winning streak and haven�t been ranked this high since 2001. They are two victories away from clinching a spot in the league championship game, where they likely would be playing for a spot in the Orange Bowl.
�I haven�t mentioned it to the players,� Johnson said Tuesday. �I�m sure they�re aware of it, but we�ve still got to finish out. We haven�t done anything yet. We�re getting close, but we�ve got to finish.�
Georgia Tech is also No. 10 in the BCS standings and would need a major shake-up to climb into contention for a spot in the national championship game. None of its last three regular-season opponents � Wake Forest on Saturday, followed by Duke and Georgia � is ranked, so even winning out isn�t likely to provide much of a ratings boost.
Johnson isn�t totally giving up on the idea of making a run for the top two spots in the BCS, though he knows the odds are against his team. There are some chances to make up ground, such as No. 3 Alabama hosting No. 9 LSU this weekend.
�If we can beat Wake Forest, that will keep us in the mix one more week,� the coach said. �If you�re in the mix, you�ve got a chance, because there are going to be people who fall out of the mix every week.�
Johnson, a former Hawaii assistant who made his first big splash as a coach leading Georgia Southern to what was then known as the Division I-AA championship, said he has no idea if his team is good enough to be considered among the best teams in the country. He doesn�t put much stock in the poll voters, either.
The only fair way to decide the national champion is a playoff, he said, just like the one they have in every other division of the NCAA.
�Whoever is picked first to start with, unless they lose, they�re going to play in the (BCS championship) game. They pick that before we ever play a game,� Johnson said, adding that a playoff �is the best way I know to do it. You find out who�s the champion.�
Assuming Georgia Tech doesn�t make a dramatic leap in the last month of the regular season, the Orange Bowl would be quite a consolation prize. The Yellow Jackets haven�t played in a major postseason game � not even 1990, when they claimed a share of the national title � since traveling to Miami at the end of the 1966 season, the last for coach Bobby Dodd.
Forty-three years and nine coaches later, Georgia Tech has again positioned itself to play in one of college football�s biggest postseason games.
�There�s no question that winning breads winning,� Johnson said. �When you have some success, the expectation level should rise.�