Everything From Brent Key After No. 12 Georgia Tech's 27-18 Win Over Duke

It was by no means easy, but Georgia Tech went on the road and got a massive ACC victory today against the Duke Blue Devils. The Yellow Jackets are now 7-0 for the first time since 1966 and have as clear as path as any team in the ACC to reach the conference championship game.

The offense took some time to get going today, but Georgia Tech's defense held one of the ACC's top offenses to just 18 points and was excellent in the red zone. A 95-yard scoop and score and multiple special teams mistakes by the Blue Devils ended up being a big difference in the game.

After the game, Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key met with the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"All right. Great to come up here and get a win. You know, first, a very good football team. You know, we came out and really a tale of two halves. And, you know, the first half had three possessions. And the fourth was 27 seconds to go. Three possessions, 64 yards. You know, those three possessions had three punts. And then the second half, four possessions, 95 yards, and four scores in the four. So tale of two halves from an offensive standpoint.

You know, we set out defensively really to accomplish a couple things. Number one was to stop the run. And I thought we did a great job of that. I thought the D-Line made a major step forward today. Then we said we had to affect the quarterback. And affecting the quarterback's not always just getting pressure. It's also changing up things in the back end. And he's a, he's a dagum good quarterback. And the, there's always things to clean up. I know you guys are going to ask me, well, what about coming on the road in noon games in the first half versus the second half? Well, I was going to tell you, I don't have an answer for that right now. I guess I'll have to go back to what I said on Thursday and stick that cattle prod or whatever with the sun doesn't shine. But I thought they were in a good place as far as coming out to ready to play.

It was a weird flow to the first half you know we end up punting pinning them back they drive the field we get the fumble recovery so they get the ball right back so then we went basically the entire first quarter I think it was yeah I mean the second time we got the football was 1-3-2-4 in the second quarter so but when you see that's happened a game's happening like that every drive is critical right every drive is critical and came at halftime and made some adjustments on some things, made some adjustments offensively. And it was able to help us out, really more looking really to throw to run, as opposed to the other way around. Isaiah had a big play down the side of the one."

1. On this team being able to handle anything in front of them...

"It's a special group of kids, men, special group of men they are I mean they got to stop doing this to me though that's our MO right I mean what one -score games or something but at least this was actually, it finished a two -score game so we're making progress but you know the belief this team has it has a lot to do with how close they are this is a close, close, close, close -knit team. And you don't see that a lot anymore. I think that's something that's lost in college football now. Everyone talks about, you know, NIL and everybody wants their own and this and that. You can't have a team like you. Well, I believe this team is rooted in its core like the teams. We've all probably grown up being around and being a part of. I mean, they're close. They believe in each other. They trust each other. And I trust them."

2. On the big stops in the redzone...

" I mean, I mean, goodness gracious it was a, what ten points, ten points off the board for them and you know seven for us so that's a it's a massive swing you know the flow of the game's going like that we got seven out of it but defense right back on the field No, it was really big. It was really big. This game was a big situational football game. You know, when you get this part of the year, and games are close, they're going to be situational ball. I thought the defense did a really nice job down on the goal line. You know, we got the fumble on the one. You know, later on, we had a really big stop held him with a field goal down there, even after a delay game penalty. We're trying to move the linebacker trying to move the D-Lineman, over and slaps them on the hind end and you know now a sudden it's mimicking the clap, so not intentional, but yet it was a penalty, and that could a hurt but I believe they bowed their necks back right there. I thought JJ played well inside and then I thought the pass rush was, it was, you know much continued being much improved last two weeks we're making major steps and progress throughout."

3. On how the secondary played without Ahmari Harvey...

"Yeah, you know, it's like anything. You watch the film and see, you know, how they played, but they, we kept things in front of us, you know, for the most part, kept things in front of us, and that was part of the plan too. They, you're not scoring points in the middle of the field, you're not scoring points in the middle of the field, right, but when you get down in that tight red area, you got to be able to bow it But we've got to tighten up some coverage on some things, especially some of the outside routes, comebacks, and those things. But they also made some really good plays in football, and got guys down. But we'll look at it and see and be able to evaluate it tomorrow. And we'll go in and work to correct the things we've got to even better at."

4. On the second half adjustments...

"They're a real physical football team and and they did they got you know probably you know charted out probably got better, better of us in the first half. The one thing this team believes, and we preach all the time, is can you go four quarters playing that way? Right? Because the body blows do eventually add up over the course of time. To play that way, every single play of every single, of every quarter, every possession, that's hard to do. And I think by the fourth quarter, our guys had worn them down and we were able to get some good things going. But they've got a really good defensive line. We knew that coming in. It was like they're playing with 12 sometimes. And it was how we get sustained blocks. So it's all things we've got to continue to get better at. But at the end of the day, we'll talk about those with the team tomorrow and correct them. I'm super excited for this team to be 7 -0 for the first time in a long time."

5. On the defensive line near the goal line...

"I thought BG did a really good job in preparation with some of the packages too. We had some different packages. They were running guys on the field every play, making us do the same, because we're matching personnel with them. We had no issues between guys on the field. We tried to match personnel. It ended up catching them one time down there. Having too many guys on the field when they were trying to match them in out and it was a good job by him putting the packages together to have the right people in the game with the right time."

6. On this team not listening to the noise...

"They hear the noise yeah they hear the stuff what do you what do they choose to give their full attention to that's what matters, what do they give their full attention to and really that comes back to trust do they trust me and what I say they trust their coaches and what they say versus what they hear on the outside."

7. On the tight ends...

"I know, but I'm not saying anything about the clock. That doesn't matter. It makes no difference right now and the tight ends oh, yeah. That was good. No, the last two weeks, we've got them more involved in the passing game. We've needed them, I think. It's a safety net, you know, with the way we've been running the ball. Look, we came out of the bye -week too. I mean, we do work during the bye week also now, right? And see what we've got to help ourselves and how we can help out the quarterback and give them some easy outlets there. You know guys want to drop back and take away deeper routes and things underneath they're going to be open and we'll hit them and what would they have today it was what you know you know it's a good amount of yards I know that they ended up having it and I don't even about the yards was there were big plays at big times you know we ran a compliment the play of of the play we ran last week and we on two point we ran the playoff up with a little pop pass down the scene to JT got down tight and then same to Beetham and then we had that real there was a big play to Harpring there that we had towards the end."