It has happened only once during the Brent Key Era: a losing streak.
Georgia Tech’s second-year coach is hoping that continues to be the case when his Yellow Jackets (2-1) face visiting Virginia Military Institute at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium (ACC Network-Extra). He also is not exactly sure why Tech has been able to regularly bounce back following a loss since he took over the program in October 2022.
“I’ve tried to bottle it up and prepare the same way (after) the games that we (won), but I guess the bottle had a hole in the bottom of it or something,” Key quipped Tuesday. “I think that at this point in the program, it’s not because there’s a different type of practice. It’s not because there’s a different level of focus by coaches or players. I don’t have an answer to it of exactly why. But let’s hope it continues that trend.”
Tech is coming off its first loss of 2024, a 31-28 setback at Syracuse that knocked the Jackets out of The Associated Press Top 25. Now Key’s team has to make sure it doesn’t allow one loss to become two — and over the past 24 games of Key’s tenure it has done that. If the Jackets were to come up short to VMI it would mark only the second losing streak of Key’s tenure — Tech is 9-1 after a loss with Key as coach.
As tough to swallow as Saturday’s result was for Key’s players, the former Tech offensive lineman was realistic in understanding that more often than not, every team has to deal with defeat at some point over the course of a regular season.
“I’ve coached a long time and, unfortunately, I’ve never been able to accomplish (a season without a loss),” Key said. “It’s something that you have to understand (that) when that comes, you have to use it the best way for us. We try to level everything out, whether it’s a win or loss. We try to be the same composure 24 hours after the game, but externally, we know that doesn’t happen. So for us, in our bubble we’re in here, try to compress the message.”
It’s also worth noting that Tech has plenty of issues to work on this week in practice. Its defense gave up nearly 400 yards passing to Syracuse and couldn’t get off the field on third downs. The offense was stymied in trying to get its patented ground attack going and was held to 14 points through three quarters.
Losing to Syracuse didn’t sound the panic button for the Jackets, but it did serve notice to the team that there remains a long, long road ahead.
“We always say we have something to improve each week and each day. It wasn’t necessarily a wake-up call, it was just, hey, tough loss. It’s in the past now, we can’t go back and change anything about it,” Tech safety Clayton Powell-Lee said. “Only thing we can focus on is that next week and that next opponent.”
When the Jackets reported to Bobby Dodd Stadium on Sunday for their lifting session and start to the week of practice, Key said he sensed they were curious to see how the staff was going to react the day after the first loss of the season. He credited strength-and-conditioning coach A.J. Artis with setting the back-to-work tone.
The past few days at Rose Bowl Field have been all about creating more consistency in everything the Jackets do. If they show an improved level of consistency this week and Saturday, Key’s record could very well move to 10-1 after a Tech loss.
“It’s play to play, day to day, practice to practice, week to week of continuing to be consistent,” Key added. “It’s consistency in the level that you practice at as well. It takes everybody doing that. The goal of the coach, of the coaches, is to shrink that gap between practice and a game. We didn’t do that well enough last week. What’s our input this week to be able to get the output that we want on Saturday?”
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