Georgia Tech plays its final home game of September when it hosts Virginia Military Institute at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The Yellow Jackets (2-1), favored by more than six touchdowns, will be trying to avoid their first losing streak since October of 2022. A victory would also make Tech 6-5 at home under coach Brent Key and 3-1 for the first time since 2017.
Key hinted Thursday there could be some new numbers rotating in and out of the lineup Saturday.
“We have a lot of decisions to make and the next three days give us the time to make those decisions and those decisions come down to really who’s going to compete, right? Who’s going to compete for 60 minutes? Who’s all in? Who loves playing football and who just love being a football player?” Key said. “We’re all in, and we’re all in it together, every one of us. So we’re talking about the decisions and we’ve got to make those decisions.”
The Keydets of VMI (0-2) are coming off a 5-6 season in 2023 and have dropped games to William & Mary and Bucknell, respectively, to start 2024.
Here’s what you need to know:
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Bobby Dodd Stadium (51,913)
TV: N/A
Streaming: ACC Network Extra
Weather: 74 degrees, 66 percent chance of rain at kickoff
Tickets: Plenty of tickets are still available for as low as $35 via Tech’s official ticket site. Tickets are going for as low as $5 on StubHub.
Georgia Tech football social media: X | Instagram | Facebook
VMI football social media: X | Instagram | Facebook
Top storylines ahead of No. 23 Georgia Tech-Syracuse
Joe Hamilton no longer part of Tech radio broadcast: David Dickey, president of the Dickey Broadcasting Company, confirmed Monday with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that former Georgia Tech quarterback Joe Hamilton will no longer be part of Tech football’s live radio broadcasts this season.
“Joe Hamilton is no longer an employee of Dickey Broadcasting Company, and as such, will no longer be heard on (680) The Fan, and/or Georgia Tech radio broadcasts,” Dickey wrote in an email to the AJC. “Our company made the decision to move in a different direction. We all love and respect Joe and wish him nothing but the best in the future.”
Jackets 9-1 under Key after a loss: 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.
Safety LaMiles Brooks continues to be a leader for the Jackets: There are only a handful of players on Georgia Tech’s roster remaining from the program’s 2020 signing class, a class that included running back Jahmyr Gibbs, now in the NFL, embattled quarterback Jeff Sims, and the late Bryce Gowdy.
LaMiles Brooks was part of that group of 2020 prospects. He came to Atlanta to prepare for a unique season brought forth by the COVID-19 pandemic, a season that tested his resolve, but one that helped shape his future.
Turning the page: Georgia Tech hopes it can use Saturday’s matchup with Virginia Military Institute as an opportunity to get right and get back to winning. After all, coach Brent Key’s team is a humbled and hobbled bunch after a physically tough setback at Syracuse on Saturday.
“When you lose a game, things become magnified with it, but we try to make sure, whether we win or lose, you’re addressing the things you have to get better at,” Key said Tuesday. “That’s always the challenge is ignoring the external, focusing on the process on what you have to do to improve as a football team. That really starts individually, it starts with myself, the coaches, the players and no different.
Yellow Jackets blame inconsistency for loss at Syracuse: Saturday’s setback for No. 23 Georgia Tech could turn out to be an early turning point for the Yellow Jackets.
Coach Brent Key’s team came up short in its attempt to win a game as a national ranked team for the first time since 2015, losing 31-28 at Syracuse. It was a disheartening result for a team looking to go 3-0 for the first time since 2016 and 2-0 in ACC play for the first time since 2017.
How Tech responds to the loss in the coming weeks will be telling.
“With it being so early in the season, you can still win out, you never know what happens,” Tech quarterback Haynes King said. “Heck, might be in the ACC championship game. There’s no divisions anymore. But the main deal is let’s learn from it, let’s move on and we got a game to win this week. That’s the main focus right now. We have to learn how to get better as a team and, offensively, being more consistent. That’s gonna be our main focus this week.”
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