Georgia Tech’s Brent Key earns moment of redemption with victory at Clemson
CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson has fallen far from its peak during the Dabo Swinney era. The Tigers lose regularly at home nowadays. Quarterback Tait Reynolds left the game early against Georgia Tech with an injury and backup Christopher Vizzina played with a sore ankle.
None of those circumstances diminish Tech’s 20-6 victory on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets ended an eight-game losing streak at Memorial Stadium after a four-game skid that led to coach Brent Key firing four assistants on Monday.
Tech was left for dead. The Jackets showed they still have life by winning as 13 ½-point underdogs in Death Valley. They’ll finish the season with a losing record after it began with aspirations of winning the ACC, but the Jackets (3-7, 2-5 ACC) aren’t done fighting.
“The biggest thing to say is, we finally played Georgia Tech football,” Key said. “We finally played the football that we’ve built the program on. We had a good plan. We executed the plan, and no one hesitated.”
Tech’s performance caught me by surprise. Clemson (6-4, 4-3) is down, but Tech’s losing streak included three noncompetitive efforts in a row. Key fired three assistants that he hired only months ago.
The Jackets hadn’t shown much of the toughness that Key covets. They lost all the momentum they’d built from last year’s nine-win season. Key kept saying he was searching for answers as the results stayed the same week after week.
Finally, the Jackets played the way that Key expected at Clemson. It was a moment of redemption for him in a trying season.
“It’s not about that,” Key said. “It’s about the players. They are the ones who have gone through a lot. The coaching staff has gone through a lot. Our fanbase, look, I’ve been right there with them all year.
“There is nobody more pissed than me. (It’s good) to be able to share a little bit of joy with the fans, to see Georgia Tech football: physical, tough (on the) line of scrimmage, stop the run, run the ball.”
This was Swinney’s 250th game as Clemson coach. The Tigers lost to Tech at Memorial Stadium in his seventh game. Clemson then ran off eight straight home wins against Tech, and only one was close.
The Jackets dominated the Tigers this time. They led 13-3 at halftime, then broke the game open with a 53-yard touchdown by Justice Haynes in the third quarter.
That score sent some Clemson fans to the exits.
“This has been the premier program in the league, one of the premier programs in the country, for 12, 13, 14 years now,” Key said. “To finally look up and see the stadium emptying out, that was good to see.”
Key was 4-0 against Clemson as a player for Tech from 1997-2000. Now Key has beaten Clemson as a coach in back-to-back years.
It seemed like it would be more of the same for the Jackets early Saturday. Reynolds ran around the right side for a 24-yard gain on the game’s second play. No Tech defender was in the area, which has been a persistent problem this season.
But the Jackets went on to hold Clemson to 114 yards on 30 carries (sack yardage excluded).
“When I saw that (Reynolds run) happen, we immediately made an adjustment, immediately made a correction, and we (hemmed) them in the rest of the time,” Key said.
Reynolds suffered what appeared to be a left leg injury on the third play of the game. He was replaced by Vizzina, who began the season as the starter but lost his position after sitting out with an arm injury.
Clemson’s six first-half drives produced three points. The Jackets had allowed an average of 249.3 yards in the first half of their previous six games. The Tigers finished with 228 total yards (3.4 yards per play).
Key’s staff shake-up included dismissing defensive coordinator Jason Semore and replacing him with defensive backs coach Vinnie Sunseri. The Jackets played what Key said was a simplified defensive scheme.
“We came out firing with the right mentality,” Tech defensive end Taje McCoy said. “Vinnie gave us the opportunity to just release what we had. Not too much thinking, just filling our gaps and doing our (job) one to 11.”
Tech’s offense kept Clemson off balance with the one-two QB punch of Fernando Mendoza and Grady Adamson. Mendoza’s 138 yards passing included three completions of 24-plus yards. Adamson ran for 87 yards and a touchdown on 19 attempts.
Key fired offensive line coach Allen Mogridge and promoted his assistant, Brandon Torrey. The Jackets rushed for a season-high 269 yards with two touchdowns and allowed no sacks.
“I think the (offensive) line did a phenomenal job, even in pass (protection),” Mendoza said. “In the run game, even when we didn’t have (the quarterback) in the run game, we still gashed some runs in the run game with running backs. Our O-line took a huge step and I’m so proud of those guys.”
It was shocking to see Tech dominate the Tigers on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Clemson’s advantage in the trenches was a big reason it won eight of 10 ACC championships from 2015-2024.
Clemson fans have witnessed the program’s gradual decline, but few could have imagined losing to this Tech team. They expressed their displeasure with boos throughout the game.
The Tigers are now 13-10 since the start of the 2025 season. They once won 40 straight games at Memorial Stadium. The Tigers have now lost seven times here in the past two seasons, including five defeats to unranked opponents.
The Jackets might be the unlikeliest winner of them all. They were left for dead after a four-game losing streak and a staff purge by Key. But his Jackets showed they still have some fight left.
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