‘Soft’ Georgia Tech will reveal a lot about itself against No. 18 Tennessee

Five days after his team embarrassed itself in front of a sellout crowd at Bobby Dodd Stadium and a national audience on ESPN, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key hit all the right notes.

Speaking with media Tuesday, Key was unsparing in his evaluation of his team’s performance in the Yellow Jackets’ season-opening 14-13 loss to Colorado on Thursday, saying Tech looked like a “poorly prepared, poorly coached, poor-discipline, soft football team, and that was extremely black and white.”

He took full accountability. He refused to make excuses. He apologized to Tech and its supporters and thanked those in attendance for staying until the end of the game. He said that, in trying to understand how this had happened, he had a list of 65 explanations for how his team could have played so poorly.

Key’s tone was genuine and communicated his personal frustration with the loss. You could sense his determination to get things right for Saturday’s home game against No. 18 Tennessee.

It was a textbook demonstration of humble leadership and accountability. Practically any leader of any organization could learn something from it. You couldn’t experience it and a) not appreciate Key; b) not think that the Jackets will be a very different team Saturday night against the Volunteers.

He took responsibility, he said, “because if you don’t wear it and you’re not out front and vocal and honest about it, you ain’t got a prayer to be able to fix something or change something or get a better version or improve the next week.”

Listening to Key, though, recalled a similar news conference that he held before Tech’s game against Pitt in November.

The Jackets were 9-1, but the defense had come off the tracks. In the previous two games, Tech had allowed 583 yards to N.C. State for the team’s first loss of the year and then — despite having an open date to address the problems — had given up 537 yards and nearly lost to a Boston College team that was on a nine-game losing streak.

As he did Tuesday, Key acknowledged the problems at hand. He said he was speechless over how the defense played against Boston College. Key took accountability and gave assurances that Tech would do “whatever it takes to get the job done” against Pitt.

There was no doubting the stakes. With a win over Pitt, Tech would have gotten into the ACC title game. By winning the conference championship, the Jackets would have had their first berth in the College Football Playoff.

“We’ve got to improve in certain areas — that starts with me — and be ready to play Saturday night when the ball’s kicked off. And we will be,” Key said then.

With anguish, Tech fans remember what happened. The Jackets fell behind 28-0 and lost 42-28. It was a mystifying night.

Said Key after the game, “They came out and gave it to us, for sure.”

Deep breath.

This doesn’t mean that the Jackets are fated to play the Volunteers the way they did the Panthers.

So much about the two circumstances is different, many of them instituted by Key because of losses like the one to Pitt (though that makes getting bullied by Colorado only more perplexing).

It wouldn’t be surprising if Tech were to give a much better account of itself against Tennessee than it did against Colorado and dismiss the opener as an inexplicable outlier.

Key has a 48-game track record. He has made a habit of beating Top 25 teams (at least those in the ACC). His teams have been a reflection of their coach — tough and unflinching. It’s why the Colorado game was so jarring.

On the other hand, particularly given how Key was unable to pull the Jackets out of their rut against Pitt, it also wouldn’t be a shocker if Tennessee were the tougher, more disciplined team Saturday.

Maybe Tech showed everyone what it will be this season.

After all, why would a team play as poorly, as undisciplined and as soft as it did in its season opener before a sold-out home crowd for a coach who stresses execution, discipline and toughness?

We will learn a lot about this team Saturday. The 2026 Jackets may be another team in Key’s image, one that pulls together and gives the Volunteers all they can handle — and maybe even pulls the upset, boding well for its chances in ACC play.

Or they may be a team that, with a number of new pieces and a coaching staff with many new faces, just can’t put it together, even after the sour taste of an embarrassing home loss. Or one that simply just isn’t nearly as capable as advertised.