Georgia Tech looks to regroup, hosts South Carolina State next

“At the same time you want to continue to build on the things that were done well, the speed we were able to play at, the spurts we were able to have on each side of the football, some of the situational football that was good. You have to continue to build on those things, otherwise you’ll lose sight of those.”

The Jackets and Bulldogs meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium, and the game will be streamed online on ACC Network Extra.

Key and his staff had plenty of positive moments to highlight when reviewing the tape of Friday’s 39-34 setback to Louisville. There was the 488 yards of total offense (its most since putting up 570 in 2021 loss to Virginia). There was the seven yards per play, there were only two penalties and there were five touchdowns scored by four different newcomers.

Tech’s 28-point second quarter was a brilliant 15 minutes of offense.

But there were plenty of issues to sort out from the loss as well. Tech gave up 7.3 yards per play, missed two field-goal attempts, allowed Louisville to go 6-of-6 in the red zone, failed to record a tackle for loss or a sack and turned the ball over twice.

All that made a five-point defeat even tougher to stomach.

“You have to be able to come in on the day after and make the corrections and be level-headed about it. Five years ago, if someone told me that’s the way I’d be after games, they would have said I was crazy,” Key said. “You’re the rock of the team, of the organization, for the coaching staff. Yeah, we’re all (angry). The team was (angry) that they let one slip away. The coaching staff was.

“As the head of the program you’ve got to make sure that one game doesn’t lead to two, doesn’t lead to three, doesn’t lead to four. We do take the positives. It’s all about playing hard, playing fast. I think we look like a much faster football team. I think the way that we’ve prepared, the way we’ve trained, really, the entire offseason and then through preseason camp with the same physicality, it shows. That’s something we’ve got to continue to do.”

Now Tech turns its focus to a South Carolina State (0-2) team that has its own issues to worry about before coming to Atlanta.

Just one season removed from the Celebration Bowl, the postseason game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, that pits the champions of the MEAC against the champions of SWAC, the Bulldogs are 3-10 in their past 13 games. This season has started with a 37-7 loss to Jackson State at Center Parc Stadium and a 24-3 loss at Charlotte, respectively.

S.C. State, coached by veteran Buddy Pough, the coach with the most wins in the program’s history, is averaging only 184.5 yards of total offense and has turned the ball over four times. Quarterbacks Andre Washington and Corey Fields each are 7-of-20 passing for a combined 123 yards. Jawarn Howell is the team’s leading rusher, with 81 yards in two games.

Tech and South Carolina State have played once, a 41-10 Jackets victory Sept. 4, 2010, at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Bulldogs will receive $400,000 from Tech for playing Saturday’s game, according to the signed contract obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Offensively, they’re going to run the football. They got a couple quarterbacks that can make plays with their feet. They’re going to try get the ball on the edge with the quarterback,” Key said of the Bulldogs. “On the defensive side of the football, I think they were fourth in the country last year in the FCS in havoc plays, disruption plays.

“Schematically with their defense they’re a penetrating-up-the-field defense, they’re going to try to get in the backfield, they’re going to try to cause havoc, they’re not going to play on their side of the line.”