A defining moment in Brent Key’s Georgia Tech tenure is upon us
A moment of truth has arrived for Georgia Tech and coach Brent Key.
On Saturday, the Yellow Jackets will arrive at their ACC opener against No. 12 Clemson at Bobby Dodd Stadium at 2-0, the makings of a breakthrough season intact.
There is the matter of the opponent. They’ve not beaten the powerhouse Tigers since 2014, and at nine games, it’s Tech’s longest string of defeats in the teams’ 88-game rivalry. They’ve lost by an average of 26.9 points per game, only once by single digits. They lost, 42-21, in Key’s only matchup with Tigers coach Dabo Swinney, in 2023.
And, somewhat tellingly of the recent state of the program, the Jackets have not started a season 3-0 since 2016. Merely every other team in the ACC (including second-year members Cal, SMU and Stanford) has had at least one 3-0 start since then, and most of them more than one. In fact, every other power-conference school but three has started 3-0 at least once in that span. (Arizona, Purdue and South Carolina.)
A 3-0 start doesn’t guarantee anything more than a three-win season, and, really, the bigger challenge for the Jackets might be building on a win. Improbably, Key is 6-1 against ranked ACC opponents and 8-8 against the rest.
It should be noted that Tech, going back to Key’s interim season of 2022, has yet to win three consecutive games in any season of his tenure.
And so a defining game awaits Key and his program — can they take down their nemesis, breathe the air of a 3-0 team and provide further documentation of the program’s progress under his leadership?
“I think it’s a proving point, even though it’s only the third game,” someone who knows Tech, rebuilding jobs and Key quite well — Tech Sports Hall of Famer George O’Leary — told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week.
The two men know each other well and speak regularly. Key was a four-year starting guard for O’Leary at Tech and a captain before serving on his staffs at Tech and UCF. Key calls O’Leary a mentor and is quick to credit him for his development as a coach. The similarities between the two are obvious to those who know both.
They spoke Saturday evening after the Gardner-Webb game. I asked O’Leary what his sense of Key was in anticipation of playing the Tigers.
O’Leary: “He goes by what I’ve always told him. You’ve got 12 one-game seasons, and Clemson is a season. But he understands the implications of the game.”
On Tuesday, Key was asked if he was putting extra weight on Saturday’s game given.
Key: “No. Every game’s a challenge. This is the next challenge, and it’s a big one.”
To be clear, the fate of the galaxy is not at stake. Tech can lose and still accomplish program rarities — just its fifth appearance in an ACC title game, its fourth ACC championship, its first spot in the College Football Playoff. Likewise, the Jackets could win but fail to build upon it.
But moments like this don’t visit any team that often. Arguably, Tech hasn’t played a game this meaningful since 2016, when it began the season 3-0 under College Football Hall of Fame coach Paul Johnson and faced the same Tigers at Bobby Dodd. On a Thursday night, No. 5 Clemson eviscerated Tech 26-7 on its way to the national championship. The Jackets rallied to finish 9-4.
Saturday is probably the closest Tech has come to legitimately challenging Clemson since, and that isn’t only because of any regression on the Tigers’ part. (Coincidentally, in 2016, Tech fans took hope from a lackluster Clemson win over Troy in Week 2, the same as they might be doing now.)
O’Leary, who has watched Tech closely, said that this version probably has the most depth of any of Key’s three teams.
“I used to always say — I think I told Brent this — that you’re only as good as your second team,” O’Leary said. “When my second team could go out and sustain and win, I thought we had a pretty good football team. … I think Brent has a second team.”
A Football Bowl Subdivision coach familiar with Tech and Clemson told me the Tigers remain solid and that Tech has closed the gap. He said it will be that growth, not necessarily a Clemson fall-off, that will make Saturday a competitive game.
Fans saw it Saturday when backup quarterback Aaron Philo, subbing for the injured Haynes King, overcame a rocky start to throw for 373 yards on 21-for-28 passing against overmatched Gardner-Webb, setting a school record for most passing yards in a game by a freshman. While less obvious, the Jackets also flexed their depth late in the season-opening win at Colorado. When King ran 45 yards for the game-winning score against the Buffaloes, the Jackets’ offensive line was without its best player (right guard Keylan Rutledge, who was out with a cramp). A key block was thrown by a lineman playing out of position — Harrison Moore, shifted from center to left guard to adjust for Rutledge’s absence.
“They’ve got young guys that can go in and help out (and) sustain a win,” O’Leary said.
There’s another trait O’Leary likes, one communicated to him by Key himself.
“He’s told me, the character of the team and the integrity of the team is what jumps out at him when I talk to him,” O’Leary said. “Just the grit they have. There’s a confidence level now that they have.”
The game intrigues O’Leary enough that he may be there in person. Earlier this week, he was contemplating making the drive from his home in Palm Coast, Florida, to watch his grandson Cullen O’Leary play for the Marist School on Friday and then Tech on Saturday.
“I try to sneak in and be inconspicuous,” O’Leary said.
His mentee can enjoy no such favor. On Saturday afternoon at Bobby Dodd Stadium, we’re all going to learn a lot more about Brent Key and his team.
About the Author
Ken Sugiura is a sports columnist at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Formerly the Georgia Tech beat reporter, Sugiura started at the AJC in 1998 and has covered a variety of beats, mostly within sports.
