Georgia Tech wide receiver Malachi Carter invoked the name of a school that brings shudders to Yellow Jackets fans everywhere. But he did so to explain his certainty that his team will give Northern Illinois, Tech’s opponent in Saturday’s season opener, its full effort.
“I’m sure you guys saw the Citadel game two years ago when we lost that one,” Carter said, referring to Tech’s 27-24 overtime loss to the FCS team in 2019. “That was just a lack of focus and a lack of attention to detail and understanding that, just because they’re The Citadel doesn’t mean that they can’t come in here and beat us, and they showed us that on our home field.”
Northern Illinois finished last season 0-6 and is an 18-point underdog to the Jackets.
“I think after that (Citadel) game, I don’t think we’ll ever take a team lightly again just because it was embarrassing,” Carter said. “That’s not something we want to have on our reputation here at Georgia Tech.”
To that end, Carter vowed that his team would try to take control of Saturday’s game early and dominate, playing disciplined and clean football. Considering the season as a whole, Carter, who is expected to be a big part of the offense, expressed the team’s single-minded focus on winning. Tech is seeking its first winning season in coach Geoff Collins’ tenure, now going into its third year.
“We’ve gotten past the trying to get bigger and stronger and learn the playbook and gel with the coaches,” he said. “We’ve gotten past all that. By now, we’ve just got to go out there and play our brand of football and that will definitely result in wins.”
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