Georgia Tech passed its first exam of October. Its next test will be no less challenging in a month full of crucial contests.
The Yellow Jackets (4-2, 2-2 ACC) prepare to travel this week to Chapel Hill to face rival North Carolina at noon Saturday. They aim to win back-to-back games for just the third time under second-year coach Brent Key and to keep their faint hopes of an ACC title game berth alive with a victory in the first of two league road games over the next three weeks.
Tech is fresh off a 24-14 win over Duke, a triumph that handed the Blue Devils their first loss of the year and improved the Jackets to 11-1 under Key following a loss — Tech had fallen 31-19 at Louisville on Sept. 21 ahead of a bye week.
But the issue for the Jackets under Key has been stringing wins together. The program is 3-10 under the former Tech offensive lineman after victories, winning back-to-back games in October 2022 and just once last season (Oct. 28 and Nov. 4).
Tech will see a familiar face on the sidelines Saturday in Geoff Collins (along with former Jackets wide receiver Nate McCollum and offensive lineman Jakiah Leftwich). Now in his first season as defensive coordinator for North Carolina, Collins went 10-28 as Tech’s coach from 2019 until September 2022 when he was fired.
Collins’ defense has not fared well as of late, giving up a whopping 70 points to James Madison, 21 points in the second half (and 14 in the fourth quarter) to rival Duke in a 21-20 loss and 34 to Pittsburgh last week in a 10-point defeat. The Tar Heels rank 112th nationally in pass defense, 102nd in red zone defense, 93rd in total defense and 10th in the ACC in rush defense.
That could be good news for a Tech team which found its footing somewhat in the Duke win by rushing for 245 yards and scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
“We got a little too constricted the last few weeks, playing in a phone booth a little bit,” Key said Saturday about the adjustments of this season’s offensive attack. “So, we wanted to make sure we spread it out, worked the field, not just north and south but east and west as well. We’ve got guys that are explosive with the ball in their hand. And, really, the biggest challenge of that was (quarterback) Haynes (King) negotiating the throw past those defensive ends. They’re in race charges up the field almost the whole game. We didn’t have a lot of long, big passes, but had some really crucial catches in some crucial situations.”
Carolina had gotten off to a 3-0 start before its current three-game skid. Two of those defeats have been in conference thus dropping the Heels into last place in the ACC with two other teams.
Tech is 33-22-3 all-time against North Carolina, has won three in a row and five of the past six. Many Jackets point to last year’s 46-42, come-from-behind triumph at Bobby Dodd Stadium as one of their best performances of the Key Era.
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