Georgia Tech takeaways: What do the Yellow Jackets do well?
PITTSBURGH — Allowing 281 rushing yards usually isn’t a sign of progress. But for Georgia Tech’s defense, Saturday’s performance at Pitt somehow qualified.
That says plenty about how far the Yellow Jackets’ defense has fallen this season. It also says something about how thoroughly the offense failed in the 34-11 loss.
How bad was it?
The unit didn’t cross midfield until the final two minutes of the first half. It didn’t reach the red zone until the fourth quarter. And when it finally got there, the Jackets lost a fumble on the next play.
When quarterback Alberto Mendoza was benched a few minutes into the final period, Tech (2-6, 1-4 ACC) had averaged just 2.2 yards per play.
The offense couldn’t sustain drives, special teams struggled to flip the field and the defense continued to give up yards.
Eight games into Brent Key’s fourth full season, it’s fair to ask: What do these Jackets do well?
Hard to find an answer.
Tech has four games remaining: Louisville, at Clemson, Wake Forest and at Georgia. At 2-6, Tech has no margin for another loss to avoid its first losing season since 2022.
Key has been digging into the program’s problems for weeks, and the scale of the issues points toward a significant overhaul in the coming months.
“You’re looking at the roster, you’re looking at staffing, you’re looking at recruiting, transfers,” Key said after Saturday’s loss. “I’ll be looking at all those things. That from a structural, nuts-and-bolts, people-type standpoint. Then you look at organization, structures, schedules, how you do things. You can blink your eyes and the offseason program will be here. Looking at all of it.”
About that defense
Yes, Tech entered Saturday with one of the nation’s worst run defenses, allowing 210 yards per game. That average was made worse after the Panthers piled up nearly 300 yards on the ground, including 185 and two touchdowns from Damon Ferguson Jr. on 31 carries.
Tech’s defense, however, forced three turnovers, the unit’s first takeaways since the Mercer win more than a month ago. Trae Stevenson had an interception and Jonas Duclona and Zachary Tobe each recovered a fumble.
From late in the second quarter through early in the fourth, Pitt’s drives ended with a punt, fumble, punt, punt, field goal, turnover on downs.
That should have been good enough to keep the game competitive (again, the bar for giving the defense a compliment has been set low).
But the offense didn’t show up.
Steps back
For all the games lost this season, at least Mendoza appeared to make progress in his first season as a starter.
He entered Saturday ranked in the top 25 in the country in completion percentage (71.2%), completions per game (21.9) and passing yards per game this season (244.9).
But Saturday marked a step backward for the redshirt sophomore. He finished 16-of-25 for 81 yards, was sacked five times and fumbled four times. Tech recovered three of those fumbles.
Key didn’t single out Mendoza when asked about his quarterbacks’ performance.
“We have to protect the football at all costs,” he said. “We don’t have enough margin to do that. I’m not going to talk about any single one player. It’s a team game. We’ve got to fully execute. There was times the protection was good and the route wasn’t good. Or everyone is blocked right and we’re wrong somewhere else. It’s an overall problem. I don’t feel any cohesiveness (or) flow.”
Here’s how Tech’s drives ended with Mendoza in the game: punt, punt, punt, punt, turnover on downs, punt, turnover on downs, field goal, punt, punt, fumble.
Woof.
Backup Grady Adamson entered with 11:28 remaining in the game. He rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown and passed for 62 yards.
The offense finished with just 238 total yards. The unit went just 3-of-18 on third-down conversions and failed on four of five fourth-down attempts.
“It’s definitely frustrating not being able to pull out games and win and ultimately come here and do what we came here for, to win games,” Tech running back Trelain Maddox said. “It’s real frustrating, but you can’t do anything but move forward and keep working every day.”
Gone
Noah Carter was supposed to be a star for Georgia Tech after transferring from Alabama this season.
The defensive end had a team-high three sacks entering Saturday despite playing only four games.
But Carter is no longer with the team, Key confirmed after the game.
“Just like any disciplinary action, that’s going to stay in house,” Key said. “Wish him the best of luck in everything he does.”
Key did not elaborate on why Carter is no longer with the program.
“Yeah, any time you have to do something like that, it’s not something you want to do,” Key said. “Not something I ever want to do.”