It has been 10 long years since Georgia Tech has been to bowl games in consecutive seasons. The Yellow Jackets can take one long step toward changing that with an upset of No. 12 Notre Dame at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We got a big game this weekend on Saturday. I’m not gonna sit here and say it’s not a big game,” Tech coach Brent Key said Tuesday. “I’m not gonna give you coach speak and say that it’s just the next game on the schedule and all games are big games. This is a really big game, this is a really big opportunity for this program. But with all opportunities come challenges, and the opportunity is Saturday, but the challenge is right now.”
Tech sits at 5-2 going into Saturday’s showdown. It needs one victory over its next five games to become eligible to play in the postseason again — Tech went 7-6 last season and won the Gasparilla Bowl over Central Florida.
Not since the Jackets played in a bowl game every season from 1997-2014 has Tech been to a bowl game in back-to-back years.
“The biggest thing is to get to bowl eligible at this point in the season,” Key told 680 The Fan on Monday. “That’s obviously a huge goal of ours to have this program be a consistent bowl team. That’s, really, kind of the first step in the building of the foundation.”
Getting to that sixth win with a victory Saturday, however, will be more difficult than any ol’ game.
Tech, as of Tuesday, is a 12-point underdog against the 12th-ranked Fighting Irish, a team on a four-game win streak looking to stay in the conversation as a possible at-large selection to the College Football Playoff. Notre Dame has one of the nation’s top pass defenses and one of the country’s better rushing offenses.
The Irish (5-1) also are allowing only 11.7 points per game and have outscored their past four opponents by an average margin of 33 points.
Tech has beaten Notre Dame only six times in 37 tries and only twice in 16 games played in Atlanta.
“Talented football team we’re getting ready to play,” Key said. “(Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman) has done a really good job there and has been there for three years now, and his tenacity as a player, when he was a player, and as a defensive coach, you see that in the team.”
To make matters possibly more difficult for the Jackets, quarterback Haynes King left Saturday’s game against North Carolina, a 41-34 victory, with an injury. Tech’s junior star exited during the fourth quarter and didn’t return while backup Zach Pyron played the final three offensive series.
Key said Monday on 680 The Fan that King will be day-to-day the rest of this week at practice leading to the game. If he’s not able to go, Pyron, who has been with the Jackets since 2022 and who has played in 16 career games, would get the nod under center.
Key reiterated Tuesday that King’s status is day-to-day.
“Both quarterbacks can run the ball,” Freeman said Monday. “I know King went out during the game last week, but their offense really didn’t change much. They’re both threats with the ball in their hands. (King) also does a good job in the passing game, doesn’t make many mistakes. They don’t turn the ball over. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
Thanks to the win at UNC, and a victory over Duke the week before, Tech will be going for a third consecutive win, something the program hasn’t done since it won four straight toward the end of the 2018 season. The Jackets have secured those wins this season with an offense that continues to evolve while remaining true to its ground-game roots and a defense that, while not perfect, is playing better than any Tech defense has in a long time.
Key’s team begins the week leading the nation in sacks allowed (1), is second in turnovers (2) and seventh in red-zone offense. But it has continued to struggle with forcing turnovers (5), generating sacks (9) and shutting down the pass (223.7 yards per game allowed).
Improving the latter categories while maintaining the former will be crucial if Tech is to win one of its bigger games of the season.
“I firmly believe the identity of this football team, it’s a four-quarter team. They’re gonna play regardless of the scoreboard. They don’t let those things affect them,” Key added. “Now, there’s other things that have affected us that we’ve gotta continue to work on, but to play physical, play tough, enjoy playing that way, play through adversity and play for an entire football game, that’s a trait on this team that I don’t wanna change. And we gotta continue to elevate it.”
