Georgia Tech takeaways: Jackets make pivotal stand with breakthrough victory

Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium felt like a pivotal stand.

The Yellow Jackets entered 1-3, a demoralizing start that included unsettling losses to struggling Colorado and Stanford teams. Coach Brent Key spent two weeks delivering sharp declarations about the Georgia Tech way of doing things and vowing performance would improve, or else.

Or else what?

We won’t find out, because the Jackets improved to 8-1 under Key against ranked ACC teams with a 28-25 victory over previously undefeated Duke.

The Blue Devils entered No. 23 in the AFCA Coaches Poll and had thrashed the same Stanford team that Tech couldn’t beat.

By game’s end Saturday, though, Georgia Tech looked every bit as good as Duke. That might be the most encouraging part for the Jackets. The team that stumbled in September showed it can beat one of the better teams not named Miami in the ACC.

The question is whether Tech can keep playing like it did against the Blue Devils.

“Damn right,” Key said when asked if his team needed a breakthrough performance.

“Look, we’ve got to come to work every day. But when you win it’s a lot easier to come back in and have the energy and enthusiasm.”

Plenty went right for the Jackets. Trelain Maddox, a team captain and somebody everybody pulls for, scored three touchdowns. Alberto Mendoza completed 77% of his passes and masterfully guided the game-winning drive. The defense held Duke running back Nate Sheppard to 99 yards and 3.7 yards per carry, the first time all season he failed to rush for at least 116 yards.

There were plenty of issues, too. Tech blew another double-digit second-half lead, committed 11 penalties, and the offensive and defensive lines didn’t exactly instill confidence.

Still, Tech finished ahead where it mattered, on the scoreboard. After spending two weeks answering for everything that had gone wrong, the Jackets finally have a win that suggests this season might not be headed where it appeared.

“We’ve had a hard two weeks,” Key said. “Everybody in this program, from the top to everybody else. From the top of the hill, the president to administration, the AD, I mean it’s everybody. We all feel this. And we needed that today.”

Captain: Maddox has been a key contributor to Tech’s offense all season.

He blocked and lined up in multiple spots, but the production was slow to follow. Against Colorado, Tennessee and Mercer, the redshirt sophomore had just 38 yards rushing and three catches.

Since then, he’s been one of Tech’s most productive players.

Maddox had the first two-touchdown game of his career at Stanford. Against Duke, he rushed for a team-high 81 yards and three touchdowns. His 60-yard score was Tech’s longest play from scrimmage this season.

“There is no one that epitomizes what it is to be a Georgia Tech football player and be a Tech man more than Tre Maddox,” Key said.

That helps explain why Key named Maddox a permanent team captain in August, a decision that might have surprised those outside the program.

Maddox suffered a knee injury during his senior season of high school, then dealt with more injuries during his first two years at Tech. That made it fitting, Key said, that Maddox played such a prominent role in a victory the Jackets badly needed.

“Talk about back against the wall, having adversity and fighting through the storm and coming out on the other side,” Key said. “It was very, very timely that he was the one that really led us.”

Signature moment: All eyes turned to Mendoza after Duke took the lead with 2:40 to play.

The Indiana transfer played well enough during his first month as a starter, but his mistakes were costly. He threw multiple interceptions against Tennessee, then endured a fourth-quarter meltdown at Stanford that included an interception and an intentional grounding penalty that effectively ended Tech’s chances.

Against Duke, Mendoza got another opportunity with the game on the line.

This time, he delivered.

Mendoza completed three passes on the winning drive, two to Jordan Allen and one to Dalen Penson, for 47 yards. He put Tech in position for the go-ahead touchdown and finished the game completing 23 of 30 passes for 218 yards.

For Mendoza, the moment Saturday was meaningful. But he viewed it as a beginning.

“We’re nowhere near where we need to be, by any means,” Mendoza said. “This is not our final product and we’ll continue to build there. We’ll be better next week and the week after. It has to improve every single week. If you’re not doing that, then you failed.”

Bak is back: Jaylen Mbakwe returned Saturday for the first time since leaving the field against Tennessee on a stretcher.

The junior cornerback finished with four tackles after missing two games with an undisclosed injury.

More important for Tech was simply having Mbakwe back in a secondary depleted by injuries. He and safety Savion Riley returned to the starting lineup, while cornerbacks Daiquan White and Trae Stevenson Jr. remained sidelined.

“Man, it felt great,” said Mbakwe, who missed two games with an undisclosed injury. “I felt good out there being with my guys, smiling, bringing that energy. I was definitely itching to play last game, so I’m glad to be back out there.”

Legit target: Wide receiver was one of the biggest question marks on Tech’s roster entering the season because of a lack of returning production.

Jordan Allen has separated himself as a go-to target.

The sophomore from Lawrenceville had a career-high 10 receptions against Duke, catching all 10 passes thrown his way. No other Tech player was targeted more than five times, an indication of how important Allen has become to the offense.