The football team is traditionally the most popular at the Institute, and the games are played at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field or simply called The Flats, which is the oldest on-campus stadium in division I-A football, which was expanded in recent years, increasing the maximum capacity to 55,000. The football team is in the top 20 winningest Division I-A programs and was the first team to win all four of the historical big four bowls, the Orange in 1940, Sugar in 1944, Cotton in 1955 and Rose in 1929.

. They won four national titles in the years 1917 going 9-0 under John Heisman outscoring opponents 419-17, 1928 going 10-0 under William Alexander outscoring opponents 221-47, 1952 going 12-0 under Bobby Dodd outscoring opponents 325-59, and 1990 going 11-0-1 under Bobby Ross outscoring opponents 379-186. They have won a total of 15 conference titles, 5 SIAA titles in '16, '17, '18, '20, and '21, 3 Southern Conference titles in '22, '27, and '28; 5 SEC titles in '39, '43, '44, '51, '52, and the 1990 and 1998 ACC championships along with the 2006 ACC Coastal Division Championship. The team has played in 35 bowl games, posting a record of 22-13. The resulting win percentage of 0.629 is currently the second-highest among teams with over 20 bowl appearances.