Georgia Tech faces Boston College Saturday after bye week

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key didn’t want any illusions out there about how his team handled, or is handling, a loss at North Carolina State on Nov. 1.

“We’re pissed. We were pissed,” Key said Thursday. “Are you gonna let one (loss) turn into two? You’re gonna sit there and walk around with your head up your butt and, ‘Woe is me?’ We got that out of us real quick on Tuesday when we got back out there. That’s not what this team is. I got zero concern with that. But I’m not gonna sit back and just play it by chance either.

“To lack confidence because you lose the game, that’s not acceptable. That’s not something I even think about with this team. I told them, ‘The best thing that could happen to you, happened to you.’”

The Yellow Jackets (8-1, 5-1 ACC) had to let the 48-36 beating at N.C. State fester over the weekend before returning to work Sunday. The team’s first defeat of the season hurt its ACC championship game chances and College Football Playoff hopes, but certainly didn’t kill those dreams quite yet.

And after the smoke cleared over the weekend, Tech found itself in a five-way tie for first in the ACC standings alongside Virginia, Pittsburgh, SMU and Duke. The Jackets beat Duke on Oct. 18, host Pitt on Nov. 22 and do not play Virginia SMU.

Tech also inched up in The Associated Press Top 25 (No. 14) and likely will climb in the CFP rankings (No. 17) when the latest rankings are released Tuesday.

Now if Key’s team can move past a loss and return to its winning ways at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Boston College, it will remain in contention to play for an ACC championship.

“It’s always hard to put losses to bed, losses eat at you. We’ve been very fortunate to get to a point where we have not experienced that, and didn’t play well enough to deserve to win (Nov. 1) and that’s what happens,” Key said. “I told the team last Saturday night, ‘The greatest thing that could have happened to us happened to us.’ That’s the way we have to look at it. We have to look at that as a chance to really talk about speaking the truth and hearing the truth.”

Boston College has had a disastrous season, its second under the leadership of coach Bill O’Brien, a former Tech assistant for eight seasons and former head coach for Penn State and the Houston Texans. The Eagles are 0-6 in the ACC and have lost nine in a row overall, last winning 66-10 on Aug. 30 over Fordham.

Tech is a 16.5-point favorite in the matchup.

“You think this is gonna be a team that lays down and rolls over?” Key said Friday on 92.9 The Game. “I started watching them the last two days, and look, anybody can beat anybody in college football right now. If our players don’t understand it, if our fans don’t understand that, they probably haven’t been paying attention to what college football is now.”

Boston College has lost 21 turnovers (only Nevada has lost more) and is the ACC’s worst team in total defense, tackles for loss, sacks, passing-efficiency defense, tackles for loss allowed, scoring defense and rushing defense.

Brookwood High School graduate and Alabama transfer Dylan Lonergan is one of three quarterbacks to play for the Eagles this season and has thrown for 1,655 yards and 10 touchdowns.

A loss for the Eagles on Saturday would give Boston College its first 10-loss season since 2012.

Help on the way

The undercurrent of Tech’s loss at N.C. State was the absence of several key players because of injury.

Among those out for that matchup were defensive backs Ahmari Harvey, Jy Gilmore and Savion Riley and defensive tackle Matthew Alexander. Wide receivers Malik Rutherford and Bailey Stockton both were available but limited.

Key was asked Thursday specifically about the availability of Harvey, Gilmore and Riley ahead of Saturday’s game at Boston College.