Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Truth be told, I've always been kind of envious of fanbases that have a fixed out of Conference rival. 

Having a fixed crossover with Nebraska sort of scratched that itch, so of course that's going away soon. 

Eh, if MSU is only going to play one OOC P5 every year, I'd rather play Notre Dame every year than mix it up.  I'd also rather see Georgia-GT, Clemson-SC and Florida-FSU, but maybe that's quickly becoming unreasonable.  I love the non-conference protected rivalries.

Tech is not in the same class as Clemson and FSU.
I am fairly confident UGA would drop Tech if the SEC went to nine.  They are a boring opponent.

I think it's curious, and mildly amusing, watching various outsiders try to convince a long-time Georgia fan he should care more about GaTech.

Athens is all of 70 miles distant, less for many in the metro area.  The Tech stadium is a dump (IMHO).  The campus is not very, um, inviting?
I think every Dawg fan in existence would rather be in Athens for a game.  Or South Bend for that matter.
Add to that the fact that Tech is a 2nd or 3rd tier program with a funky offense likely to injure players and you get little credit for beating them and look really bad if you lose.

I wonder if Tech would ever allow the game to move Mercedes-Benz Stadium?

gee, that could work anywhere with any type of offense

Precisely.

I think it's curious, and mildly amusing, watching various outsiders try to convince a long-time Georgia fan he should care more about GaTech.

I think we're just chatting about the pros and cons.  Tech has not always been this option team they are today of course.
Tradition is a fine thing, to me, until it ceases to be relevant.  Playing tech has more downside than upside these days.  
I can walk to the Tech "stadium" (if it hasn't fallen down this morning).  Georgia State is playing in Turner Field, now configured for football.  I guess tickets are easy to come by, wonder if anyone does any tailgating, might wonder down and check it out some day.
It was pretty neat seeing all that red at Notre Dame last year when UGA played there.  I was aiming to go, but the $700 talked me out of it.  That is some pretty good bottles of wine.  I often think about a price for a thing in terms of bottles of wine equivalents.

My recollection is there is usually a controversy only about slot 4, with 2-3 teams plausible for that slot.  We could do a 6 team playoff when "play in games where 6 plays 3 and 5 plays 4.  I doubt that is in the offing, but is the largest playoff I would personally like to see.