No. 16 Georgia Tech turns attention to showdown with No. 22 Pitt

There may have been some weird vibes around Bobby Dodd Stadium on Sunday, when the Yellow Jackets met as a team to look forward to a massive showdown against visiting Pittsburgh.

Fresh off a ninth win — courtesy of a game-winning Aidan Birr field goal at Boston College on Saturday — Georgia Tech has a chance to clinch a berth in the ACC championship game by beating the Panthers at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

But the lingering effects of a nearly losing to a one-win BC team in Massachusetts were present Sunday on The Flats. And Tech coach Brent Key could tell.

“As a leader, you got a decision to make,” Key said Monday on 680 The Fan. “Are you gonna go in there and berate somebody and yell at ‘em about something they already know? Or go in there and make ‘em understand that it’s not acceptable, but at the same time, we’re not having a reincarnation of new people. We got the same people and we have to get people to play at the highest level possible. That means right now. That means today. That means (Tuesday), that means Wednesday.

“I walked in there and said, ‘Everybody get your heads out of your butts, get your heads up and start having some dang confidence in this room.’”

In its last two outings, a loss at North Carolina State and the win at BC, Tech (9-1, 6-1 ACC) has allowed an average of 560 yards of offense and 41 points. There was a bye week in between those two performances, too, making the statistical results even more tough to swallow for a team that vowed to fix the issues that led to its first loss of the season Nov. 1.

Thus, there is an undercurrent of thinking that if Tech’s poor defensive play continues, a quick unraveling of everything Tech has at stake in the last two weeks of the regular season will be soon to follow.

Key said it is his responsibility to make things right.

“Defensively, we gotta pull it all together now, man,” Key said Monday on SiriusXM. “We gotta play as one. We can’t have nine guys doing their job and two not, (or) 10 doing their job and one not. We gotta pull it together. I addressed the entire defense (Sunday) and I told ‘em exactly that. We gotta crank it up and take some accountability and responsibility here for what we gotta get done.”

Pitt comes to town after quite a week on campus, a week that started with coach Pat Narduzzi telling the media that a matchup with Notre Dame was not a must-win: “Absolutely not. I’m glad you brought that up. It’s not an ACC game. I’d gladly get beat 103 or 110 to 10 in that game. They could put up 100 on us, as long as we win the next two after that.”

Well, the Panthers didn’t lose by 100, but they did get beat 37-15 in a game that was 28-3 at one point and 37-9 at another. Pitt had just 219 yards of offense, was 0-for-13 on third downs and managed just 70 rushing yards.

Narduzzi’s comments created plenty of public backlash. His team was No. 22 in the College Football Playoff rankings ahead of the Notre Dame matchup and a visit from ESPN’s “College GameDay” show. (This week’s CFP rankings will be released Tuesday night.)

Now, his squad really does face a must-win scenario Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium if it wants to keep ACC title game hopes intact.

“I’m not a pressure guy, I’m not a stress guy. Our guys are gonna approach it just like they did last week,” Narduzzi said Monday. “I don’t think there’s pressure the week before when they went to Syracuse, when they went to Stanford. It’s just the same way. You just take it one game at a time and treat everything the same. The word ‘pressure’ is bad. Our guys know what they gotta do. They gotta go out and win the football game.”

Led by freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel (1,673 yards, 12 touchdowns, six interceptions), the Panthers (7-3, 5-1 ACC) are among the ACC leaders in first downs allowed, passing offense, rushing defense and takeaways. They also lead the ACC at 37.2 points per game and with 7.7 tackles for loss per game.

Pitt, however, is one of the worst teams in the conference in turnovers, tackles for loss allowed, sacks allowed, rushing offense, red zone defense, penalties and third-down conversions.

“We gotta keep the ball in front of us. We can’t let the ball get behind us. We’ve gotta eliminate the explosives. Gotta affect the quarterback somehow. We gotta be able to get a pass rush on ‘em, affect the quarterback,” Key said Monday on 680 The Fan about the matchup. “When they run the football, which they’re about 45% run, we gotta be able to down the ball and keep them from making people miss. Two or three people around them, topping ‘em off so we rally to the ball.”