Georgia Tech football celebrating success while aware of complacency
Georgia Tech coach Brent Key is embracing the attention, the pats on the back, the cheers far outnumbering the jeers. He wants his players to do so as well.
To a point, anyway.
“It’s awesome for the fans, it’s awesome for the school. It’s so great for these players to be able to experience what it’s like, to be in this situation.” Key said on radio station 680 The Fan on Monday. “And what I’m hoping is that it makes ‘em hungry for more.
“This type of, you can call it pressure if you want, this type of situation that we’re in, it’s gotta make you crave it more.”
Key has been part of great seasons many times before, both as a coach and a player.
Playing offensive line for the Yellow Jackets in 1998 (coincidently the last time the Tech program won its first four ACC games), Key was part of a 10-2 team. As an assistant coach at Central Florida he was a part of four teams that won at least 10 games, including the 2013 squad that went 12-1. Key was an assistant at Alabama from 2016-18 when the Crimson Tide went a combined 41-3 and won a national title in 2017.
The 47-year-old has seen the best ways (and probably even some of the bad ways) to handle success, even if a large chunk of his players haven’t had that opportunity at this level of football.
“I walked into the team meeting Sunday night, and I told ‘em, ‘Hey guys, congrats. Enjoy. Appreciate it.’ Because if you can’t appreciate success, what’s really the motivation to continue to do what you do if there’s no reward?” Key said Tuesday. “We get it, the reward comes at the end of the year. But there’s small rewards within there each week.”
Tech’s latest reward was being voted No. 7 in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 after beating Duke 27-18 on Saturday. The Jackets (7-0, 4-0 ACC) haven’t been that high in the poll since 2009, and a win at noon Saturday over visiting Syracuse would give the program five consecutive wins as a ranked team for the first time since the ‘09 Jackets won six consecutive in that position.
But standing in Tech’s way of that feat is an Orange team (3-4, 1-3 ACC) that Key claimed he and his unit must be wary of despite Syracuse’s recent results.
“This is a good football team. You can’t look at records to say anything about them,” Key added. “They’ve had some misfortune when it came to injuries on both sides of the football to very key players. That’s a tough situation to be in.
“Turn on the tape. I don’t need to say anything, just turn on the film, watch ‘em play. Watch ‘em compete. They play hard. They are making a commitment to doing certain things. Just turn on the tape, that’s all you have to do. They got good players. They’ve been able to overcome some adversity when it comes to injuries and they continue to play. Credit to (Syracuse coach) Fran (Brown) for that, for having his team in that position. And the competition they’ve played has been really good.”
The Jackets, 17.5-point favorites in the matchup, will be going for a 10th consecutive win at home. Tech also has a six-game ACC win streak on the line, and it enters the week as one of only six remaining unbeaten teams in the FBS.
It hasn’t been an easy road to get there, as Key’s team has overcome deficits on the road at Colorado, Duke and Wake Forest, and at home, against Clemson. Yet they’ve emerged victorious each time, and Key said a large reason why is the team’s never-say-die attitude.
“I think we’ve solidified that this year, what our identity is,” the third-year coach added. “I think we’ve become a lot more confident and comfortable in who we are as a football team, players, coaches, staff, everyone. It’s a very comfortable feel. The comfort in chaos that our guys have, whether it’s a two-score game either way, they’re like, ‘Let’s roll. Let’s go guys. This is what we train for. This is what we work for.’”
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