In the Brent Key Era, the Yellow Jackets have been perfect against nationally ranked ACC teams. Five wins in five tries for Georgia Tech since Key took over the program on an interim basis early in the 2022 season.
Does that trend continue at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at No. 19 Louisville? It would behoove the Jackets to answer yes to that question if their ACC title hopes are to remain alive.
“This is a championship week. Every game moving forward — we talk about having goals in front of you and not behind, and that’s where we’re at,” Key said Tuesday. “We’re not leaving anything at home, I’ll tell you that.”
Tech (3-1, 1-1 ACC), having already played a third of its season, will leave Atlanta on Friday in advance of facing its second ranked opponent of the season. Tech was successful in its first matchup against one such foe in defeating then-No. 10 Florida State in Dublin.
The Seminoles were the fifth victim to be upset by the Jackets since Key took over as interim in September 2022, joining Pittsburgh and North Carolina in 2022 and Miami and UNC in 2023, as teams who have succumbed to Tech’s upset-minded ways. Of course, past results mean little to nothing when it comes to the present, a point that Key and his staff constantly stress.
That includes the past result of a 39-34 loss to Louisville in 2023 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a game in which Tech was scoreless in the first quarter, scored 28 in the second and then allowed 26 points in the second half.
“That was epitome of non-consistent,” Key said. “(Consistency is) what we’re working toward, and a lot of that’s the mindset of the team, staying one place the whole time.
Louisville should be well-rested Saturday, having not played since Sept. 7, defeating Jacksonville State 49-14 that day. The Cardinals (2-0) opened the season with a 62-0 rout of Austin Peay.
Playing for coach Jeff Brohm, a former Louisville quarterback who led Western Kentucky to a pair of Conference USA championships, and then coached Purdue to a nine-win season in 2021, the Cardinals went 10-4 last season and were 10-1 in late November before losing to rival Kentucky, in the ACC title game to Florida State and in the Holiday Bowl to Southern California.
This year’s squad is led by quarterback Tyler Shough, a former four-star recruit who signed with Oregon in 2018 and then went on to play three seasons at Texas Tech from 2021-23. Shough has thrown for 581 yards and six touchdowns already this season.
“They’re a good football team. I think Brohm does a really good job of managing the game, doing a good job of situational football.
Enjoy going against him as a coach,” Key said Monday on radio station 680 The Fan. “They got good players, offense and defense.
We’ve got to be able to neutralize some of the guys that they have. They got a really good defensive end (Ashton Gillotte) who moves inside, plays three technique, plays on the edge.
“They got offensive skill (and a) receiver transfer from Alabama (Ja’Corey Brooks). The quarterback knows where to go with the ball. They have a plan, they have a plan of who they are and what they do and they go and execute.”
In games you wanna be at a high level, but you just don’t wanna peak and then go back down in those valleys. I think we’ve done a better job of maintaining that, regardless of opponent, to be able to sustain for 60 minutes. We’ve made progress, we’re still nowhere near where I think this football team has the ability to go, though.”
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