Weekend Reflections: Georgia Tech football cracks under pressure

What I think about some things I saw over the weekend …

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said the pressure was off his team after its first loss of the season. It looked to me like the Yellow Jackets were still feeling the pressure when they labored to beat ACC bottom-feeder Boston College, but Key rejected that notion.

Well, the Jackets finally cracked Saturday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The game was essentially over after Pittsburgh buried them in a four-touchdown hole in just 18 minutes. Never mind Tech’s modest rally after halftime from what Key called an insurmountable deficit.

The Jackets weren’t ready for their biggest game since playing for the 2014 ACC championship.

“End of the day, there is no justification for it,” Key said. “You lose the game. A loss is a loss.”

This loss was a gut punch for the Jackets. Win, and they’d be in the ACC championship for the first time since 2014. Win again, and they’d be in the College Football Playoff for the first time ever.

Jackets backers among the electric crowd dreamed of those outcomes. It didn’t take long for Pitt to dash their hopes.

It’s no surprise the Jackets lost. They’d been trending down for the past two games, and Pitt is a good team. The shocking part was Tech not putting up much of a fight until it was too late.

Tech’s defense offered little resistance for the third game in row. Key was asked about fans getting angered by that development.

“They should be mad,” he said. “That’s why you love the fans. When fans are mad about (poor) games … that’s what you want. I hope they are (mad), because I sure as hell am.”

It wasn’t just Tech’s defense that bumbled in the biggest game of the season. Not even quarterback Haynes King was exempt.

King’s first interception set up a Pitt touchdown. When the Jackets threatened to make a game of it after halftime, Pitt returned King’s second pick 100 yards for a touchdown. It was a bad night at the worst time for one of Tech’s all-time greats.

The Jackets weren’t ready for the bright lights. Now they have a minuscule chance of making the ACC title game. An at-large CFP bid is out of the question.

One way for the Jackets to get over the bitter disappointment of Saturday’s loss is to win Clean Old-Fashioned Hate on Friday. Sound the alarm if they somehow aren’t ready for that game.

Porzingis remains part-time player for Hawks

Hawks center Kristaps Porzingis reminded everyone on Saturday night why he’s still one of the NBA’s best big men when healthy. He scored a season-high 30 points to help the Hawks beat the Pelicans. Then he sat out Sunday’s victory against the Hornets because of rest, according to the Hawks.

Porzingis’ availability was a big question when the Hawks acquired him from the Celtics as part of a three-team trade in July. So far, he’s been a part-time player for them, like he was with Boston in 2024-25. Porzingis sat out 42-of-82 games for them last season. He’s missed seven of the first 18 games for the Hawks.

Porzingis’ scoring, efficiency and rebounding numbers are down so far this season. But he looks to be a good fit for the Hawks because of his passing and rim protection. He’s the best player they’ve teamed with Trae Young, but that won’t matter if he’s not on the court when it counts.

The Hawks’ No. 1 priority with Porzingis should be assuring he’s healthy for the postseason. Porzingis wasn’t effective for the Celtics in last year’s playoffs as he dealt with the effects of a mysterious illness. Porzingis sat out two games this season because of illness, then missed a game two weeks later because of what the Hawks said was “illness management.”

The Hawks have had success playing fast with smaller lineups. However, the team’s best defensive alignment features Porzingis in the middle. He’s also valuable as a paint scorer. Those attributes will be key for the Hawks when the pace slows and open looks are harder to generate in the playoffs.

Falcons finally found a kicker

The Falcons may have a reliable kicker now. It took them only three tries. Zane Gonzalez hasn’t tried an easy kick yet for the Falcons, and he’s made them all.

Gonzalez connected from 56, 54 and 41 yards during the Falcons’ victory at New Orleans on Sunday. In three games, he’s 6-for-6 on field goals and 8-for-8 on extra points. None of Gonzalez’s field-goal attempts has been shorter than 40 yards, and he’s 4-for-4 from 50 yards or longer.

The Falcons have been on the treadmill with kickers since they made the error of retaining Younghoe Koo after he slipped last season. They moved on from Koo this season after one game. John Parker Romo lasted seven games before a missed extra point to tie the game late against the Patriots persuaded the Falcons to replace him with Gonzalez.

It seems Gonzalez might have solved his issues with long attempts. He was 3-of-5 on kicks of 50 yards or longer with Carolina in 2021. Gonzalez was out of the league until signing with Washington last season and making 5-of-7 field goals but missing his only attempt from longer than 50 yards. He was 7-of-8 on field goals in the playoffs, with the miss coming from 44 yards.

Even if Gonzalez is good for the rest of the season, the Falcons shouldn’t make the same mistake they made with Koo by assuming they are set at kicker for next season. Better to bring in some real competition for Gonzalez. There’s a reason he was still available for the Falcons to sign in desperation.

Dan Lanning takes shot at SEC

No. 7 Oregon was behind three other one-loss teams in the last week’s CFP rankings. Two of them play in the SEC: No. 4 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss. After his Ducks beat USC on Saturday, coach Dan Lanning took an indirect shot at the SEC in his postgame news conference:

“We didn’t play Chattanooga State today, right? Like some other places. We competed. It’s tough playing nine conference games. It’s tough playing in this league.”

That was an oblique reference to “Cupcake Saturday” in the SEC. The opponents included Charlotte (Georgia), Eastern Illinois (Alabama), Mercer (Auburn), Samford (Texas A&M) and Coastal Carolina (South Carolina). Only Charlotte kept the losing margin under 44 points.