It may be easy, at first glance, to conclude Georgia Tech had its lunch money taken by No. 12 Notre Dame on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium because star quarterback Haynes King didn’t play. But that wasn’t exactly the full story.
There was plenty of blame to go around in the Tech locker room after a 31-13 loss. And while Zach Pyron, King’s backup and Tech’s starter Saturday, made his fair share of mistakes, the onus wasn’t squarely on his shoulders for Tech’s brief two-game winning streak coming to an abrupt halt.
“I feel like he handled it well,” Tech right tackle Jordan Williams said of Pyron being thrown into the fire. “Everybody has to be clicking or else him playing this game right off the rip is gonna make him look like the bad guy. But Zach wasn’t the bad guy. Zach did his job. I feel like Zach did everything he needed to do to put us in a place to win. It’s 11 players on the field.”
Pyron finished his day 20 of 36 for 269 yards with a touchdown and two costly second-half interceptions. He also finished as the team’s top rusher with 13 carries and 45 yards. He led Tech on two touchdown drives, the second one coming with less than a minute to go that included the sophomore taking a nasty hit to his shoulder.
The Pinson, Alabama, native, who had mostly served as a short-yardage option in the red zone in Tech’s ground game for much of the season, hadn’t started a game since 2022. It was a tough task this week to ask him to try to lead the Jackets (5-3) to an upset over the 12th-ranked Fighting Irish who came to town with one of the nation’s top defenses.
Pyron, however, didn’t back down from that challenge.
“He’s tough as nails,” Tech coach Brent Key said. “We gotta step up around him and complement him and help.”
Key was asked about the bigger issue for Tech’s offense: the possible long-term absence of King. The second-year Tech coach said King will remain “day-to-day” this week and that King’s injury is not season-ending.
Pyron, meanwhile, started Saturday’s game 9-for-9 passing and orchestrated a 13-play, 71-yard drive that melted away 7:06 of the first quarter clock and ended with a touchdown that gave the Jackets a 7-0 lead. Tech’s next eight drives, though, ended with a punt, a turnover on downs, two more punts, a botched field goal attempt and two interceptions sandwiched around another turnover on downs.
One of those Pyron picks led to a Notre Dame field goal. Another was returned 36 yards for a touchdown.
Pyron and running back Jamal Haynes, according to Pro Football Focus, were Tech’s lowest-graded players in the loss.
Special teams woes
Tech’s special teams were a nonissue, mostly, in 2023. Through eight games this season that area of the game has become a frightening liability. Saturday’s contest with Notre Dame included more sloppy play for the Jackets in that part of the game.
Just before halftime, when Tech had a chance to cut its 14-7 deficit to four, kicker Aidan Birr lined up for a 39-yard field goal — but a high snap caused holder David Shanahan to pull the ball and scramble. He was dunked for a 16-yard loss.
In the third quarter, Birr had a 35-yard field goal try blocked. Early in the fourth quarter Notre Dame executed a fake punt. Later in the period the Irish lined up for a 43-yard field goal and holder Tyler Buchner instead popped up and ran for a first down.
In the previous Saturday at North Carolina, Tech gave up a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown and missed a field goal.
“Not to the expectation that I have, that (Tech associated head coach for special teams) Ricky (Brumfield) has, that any one on the staff has and that our team has,” Key said Tuesday. “And it’s been very much so addressed, and a lot of work has already gone into making sure that does not happen again.”
Tech now ranks 103rd nationally in punt return defense, 109th in punting and 122nd in kick return defense.
Bounce-back streak on the line
Tech’s next immediate challenge is to hit the road and try to win a game at the always-tough Lane Stadium. It’s there that the Jackets will face Virginia Tech (4-3, 2-1 ACC) at noon Saturday.
Key’s team will be putting a unique streak on the line in Blacksburg, Virginia: It has won nine straight games under Key following a loss and is 11-1 in such contests. The Jackets are 2-0 this season following a loss, went 6-0 after a defeat in 2023 and 3-1 in those opportunities in 2022.
Tech is a 9 1/2-point underdog ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
