Georgia Tech has had a daunting run through its schedule to this point. But perhaps no test has been as great as what’s ahead this week.
“I tell you what now, this is a good football team. A really good football team. Hands down the biggest challenge we’ve had this year up to this point,” Tech coach Brent Key said Tuesday about facing the No. 4-ranked team in the country.
At noon Saturday, Key’s Yellow Jackets square off with Miami, an undefeated team on a crash course toward the ACC title game, a possible College Football Playoff spot, and maybe even a national championship. The Hurricanes (9-0, 5-0 ACC), the fourth ranked opponent for Tech this season (the Jackets are 1-2 in the previous three), are off to their best start since 2017 and bring to Atlanta one of the best squads in the nation in an array of statistical categories on both sides of the ball.
As 11-point underdogs, Tech will have to play its best game of the season by far in front of a homecoming crowd.
“Hey look, this isn’t a big secret, we know we’re the underdog in the game. We’ve gotta prepare our best this week and play our best to be able to go out on Saturday and go out and compete the way we wanna compete,” Key said. “We’re prepared to do that. We’ve started that already, we started last week. Had a good practice on Sunday again and a good one (Tuesday). Keeping that focus and that determination that we have to have to be able to go out and compete.”
The Jackets returned to practice Tuesday morning after starting Miami preparations Sunday afternoon. They’ve had a full week to recover from nagging injuries and to reconsider how best to operate after back-to-back loss at Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, respectively.
Tech was outscored 52-19 in those two losses and ran for just 160 yards combined. A loss Saturday would give Key’s team its first three-game skid since 2021.
“Schemes are personnel-driven. You don’t just run a scheme to run a scheme,” Key said about searching for renewed success. “But at the same time you can’t just change an entire scheme in the course of three days when someone gets hurt. It takes time. We used some of the bye week for that, what’s the best schematically for us to be able to do to be able to have success?”
Haynes King (shoulder injury) possibly returning to play quarterback could help Tech’s cause (Key said the QB is still day-to-day and will be a game-time decision Saturday), as would the possible availability of linebacker Kyle Efford (undisclosed injury) — both of those keys players have missed the past two games but both practiced Tuesday.
Key will need all hands on deck in this one, the start of a three-game stretch in November that will dictate whether the Jackets (5-4, 3-3 ACC) can return to the postseason for a second straight year. And he said his players know exactly what they’re up against Saturday for the start of the final fourth of the season.
“They turn the tape on. They’re smart kids. We have smart guys on this team, smart people that graduated from Georgia Tech. They turn the tape on, they see the same thing we do,” Key added. “There’s no sugarcoating, hiding things. That’s when they start seeing through you as a coach when you do that.
“Everything moving from here, it’s about us. It’s about preparing us to be the best we can be, to develop our team the best we can develop our team to be able to play the opponent we have that week.”
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