Everything From Brent Key Ahead of Saturday's Game vs NC State

No. 8 Georgia Tech is 8-0 heading into Saturday's matchup against NC State (4-4, 1-3) and the Yellow Jackets are going to look to continue their unbeaten season in Raleigh.

Ahead of this weekend's game, head coach Brent Key spoke to the media and here is everything that he had to say.

Opening Statement...

"All right. Exciting time right now, and usually this is part of the season. We play on Saturday. It'll be the first day, obviously, in November. So you want to be in a position to be able to play games in November that means something and challenging games and gets good competition. And that's what we have in front of us. We're very fortunate to be in the position that we're in right now to play these games. And excuse me, we're going into an environment that's going to be an extremely challenging environment versus a challenging team.

You know, they hadn't gotten the outcome that they've wanted the last few weeks that you turn the tape on, you watch them play, and you watch where the games are. And if you don't look at the scoreboard, I mean, it's like I say all the time. I mean, you make your judgment based on the team, how they play, and obviously knowing their head coach, you know, Dave (Doeren) is one of the guys in not just in the league, but in the country that I really, really respect, look up to as a head coach. He's been great to me, you know, being new in the league and new as a head coach, the different events and things we've had a chance to be around each other. He's a heck of a ball coach and, you know, really good staff of coaches around him. And they got a lot of really talented players. So It's going to be a big challenge for us.

We're excited. We had a good day of preparation today, and we'll have three more of those leading up to it. So we can control how we prepare during the week. We can control how we play on Saturdays. We know we can't control the outcome, and if we do things the right way leading up to that, we'll be pleased with what the outcome ends up being. And we don't look at the scoreboard and say, hey, we win and we got to do this we got to keep from those and out it's how we prepare it's how we play and we got to continue to do that week in and week out and whatever outcome happens we'll live with right, that's the way we look that's the way we take it and go about every single day."

1. On Buster drawing up different variations of plays that work well and how that helps the offense...

"That's the name of the game you want to put you mean if you go sit there and run the same play over and over and over right you're probably not going to have success with it there's good coaches on other teams That's what complimentary football is. I mean, every run we have as a play action, a movement, and naked, you know, formationally, motion -wise, you know, whatever it is, you know, the run. So, yeah, we've got to be able to compliment things and continue to do that."

2. On NC State's Offense...

"They run and throw. No, they've got really good players doing it. Their quarterback is a freak athlete, but not just an athlete. He's a super, super talented young man at quarterback. And I think you might remember his last year in the game here and how he was able to make plays with his feet, make plays with his arm. You know, they got a group of guys in front of them They, you know, they've had some injuries and whatnot across the board on both sides, but they play physical. They play tough. They're going to play for four quarters.

And then, you know, Hollywood (Smothers) is a heck of a running back. He really is. They've got good guys on the outside. The tight end is probably one of the most dangerous tight ends in the entire country. So when you have a good quarterback, good skill guys and a tough physical offensive line. I think it's a recipe to be a pretty dangerous offense. And they have all those. So it would be a big challenge for us."

3. On NC State running back Hollywood Smothers...

"He is elusive. he's fast. He can play with power. He can break away. He can make you miss. I mean, he's an ideal running back. He really is."

4. On Josh Beetham's two touchdowns on Saturday...

"The way you guys see the game is so different than the way we see the game. I mean, it's like, oh, he dropped a ball, let's go back to him, make sure he doesn't. I mean, that's not the way it happens. I mean, you have formations that are set up and play actions, you know, certain guys to do certain things. And he dropped the ball early in the game. Came to the sideline. He's kind of beat himself up. I looked him. I said, look, dude, you're going to catch one today. And he did. And like I said, then he caught another one. And then karma hit. He was supposed to catch one to balance out the one he dropped. So he caught two.

So then he had to drop the other one at the end to balance it all out. So that was the football gods, having fun. It was the same play. And it's a, you know, look, it's not a super easy catch, just the angle and whatnot, but we got to make those plays. He knows that. Really, really happy for him to be able to get those other ones that were drawn up plays and plays that were designed to be be huge chunk plays when I'm being on fourth and one, which was a big play, big momentum in the game."

5. On being proactive instead of reactive...

"Yeah, I don't believe in anything being reactive. We're a proactive group. I mean, to be successful football, you have to be proactive. You can't wait and see what other people are going to do. I mean, that's why we say all the time. It's about what we do. It's not what they do. We watch film to see, you know, how to practice against what they're doing. I mean, we're always going to look to make, and it's not changes and tweaks. It's an evolution of an offense or a defense during the season. I mean, complementary football is important. Complementary football is important through offense, special teams defense. Complementary football is plays off of plays, all right, calls off the calls, looking like you're going to run one coverage and run another one.

Are you, you know, defensively you're trying to take things away? Offensively, you're trying to make things happen. So we're always proactive in what we do. I mean, each week, you know, the core of what we do is always going to be the same, right? You know, the 90 % of it, then 10 % each week is going to be plays off plays, calls off calls, and complimentary things we do."

6. On Dean Patterson...

"Well, I mean, we saw it in the stat book also. I mean, that was a pretty big yards per catch. pretty efficient catching the ball for, you know, I think it was 37 -yard average and in one touchdown. So that was a pretty big style on with him. Dean's a great kid. I mean, unbelievable kid. I would take Dean Patterson's football team year in and year out and take 10 of them. You know, his, you know, play on special teams and how he's helping the team. And ability to get in and do the dirty work in there. It was really good to see him, you know, reap the fruits of fruits and rewards of his labors."

7. On what a complete game looks like to him...

"It's kind of like the rankings and stuff, too. It's what we see inside, is what we do. A complete game. I mean, we have a couple of things we do at the end of each game, and there's a percentage of, it's, penalties accepted and turnovers, fumbles and interceptions. And defensively, it's pass breakups, interceptions, fumble recoveries, forced fumbles, TFL, sacks. And we have a certain percentage that we look at each week that we try to hit that is set.

And it's something that I've used for a long, long time, and that was back from when I was a player here to, you know, the whole time as coach at UCF and then into the time at Alabama. It's one of those things that really shows how clean a game you're playing. And, you know, I think, you know, I think when Coach Friedgen started that out, you know, 30 years ago with now, I'm sure they were doing it before, I think. Prior, I mean, it was about 12 % is what we looked at our margin of air to be. I think at Alabama in 2017, I think, or 18, whatever it was. I think we averaged around 7 % margin of error per game. UCF on our really good teams. We were in the, you know, anywhere from 7 to 9. So it's self -defeating errors.

That's what a complete game is. A complete game could be a three to nothing game, right? A complete game could be 10 to 7. It could be 54 to 49, right? It's how you play and are you limiting the things that beat you. That's what I look at. I don't look at necessarily, you know, completion percentage or rushing yards or, you know, red zone defense. I mean, it's all that combined, but when we look at playing a clean game and then an efficient game offensively, and we look to play a game on defense, we're making things happen not allowing him to happen. That's really what we look at."

8. On Jameson Riggs...

"Jameson is a super, super talented, offensive linemen. You're not able to play the three positions he's playing right now and not be talented. He's got a bright, bright future. I totally believe that offensive linemen, their ability to play multiple positions and have versatility makes you stronger as a team, but also makes them more valuable as an individual. He's got the talent to play all five. We bumped him into center at the, you know, during training camp, you started to start developing him there. I mean, I'll like you're talking to guys, 6'5, you know, 315, is athletic, is anybody out there can run, can bend, super strong. But every offensive lineman develops at a different rate. His confidence level is continuing to rise and really I mean you can practice all the practice reps you won't, but you won't want to be able to get really to become a confident football players playing in games that's why he's played some of the snaps this Fall."

9. On the focus for this latter part of the season...

"Well I view it like this, to go where we want to go, where everybody wants to go, we are only at the halfway point. We can't predict the future that's what, it's not just us that's what everybody's that's everybody's goal right that's what everyone wants to be so to sit there and put a self you know a self-imposed limitation on you saying hey this is going to be the final third of the season coming and then it hits and now you keep playing uh oh I mean come on, what are we going to do now, you know every, every part of the season has its ebbs and flows.

A lot of that's internal. A lot of that, the internal motivation, the, the, the mental approach that we take, but also with the physical part, the physical part of practice, you know, how we adapt and change and really lean into the sports science part of our program, which I've spoken numerous times about that, of the science, the sports science, the technology, the research, analytics, all those things that, you know, That's why I've got people in staff that are a lot smarter than me, right? To be able to help do those things. I mean, you start looking at all those numbers and all that data. I mean, like I said, I can't handle all of it. So I've got really smart people around me.

So, but we lean into it, and I believe in it. I trust it. And I trust the people that are working in those areas to be able to help us and I trust the people that are working in those areas to be able to help us become a good team each week."

10. On similiarities between Haynes King and Joe Hamilton...

"I don't. I've been, they're both great players, both great college players. I mean, comparatively, I think both of them are, I mean, they, probably both of them were a little bit under the, the radar from a external view. And both of them are tremendous players or tremendous competitors. The belief when the ball is in their hand that you can have an opportunity to win the uh, look, you know, Haynes, you know, Joe, Joe was special. I mean, I'm just, sorry because I'm just, now, now I'm thinking back to times being in the huddle with him or being on the field and things he would say, he was one of a kind now with that.

But when the game's on the line, both of them walk up and say, hey, they're on with the ball in my hand, but it's the way they do it, probably not as much, um, different in that aspect. But, I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of people out there in this country that, you know, they're watching football because of Haynes King, right? They're watching Georgia Tech football because of Haynes King. He's captivated a lot of people this season across the country. And he represents everything that there is about college football.

And I think at that time, Joe Hamilton captivated people as well. That's why I was able to, you know, gain some of the awards that he, that he gained that year and be in that position at the end of the season, as well as us, you know, have a, you know, a tremendous year that year. So, you know, Haynes is special in his own right. I don't ever want to compare two great players to each other. And that's why I said no, because when you do what Haynes King does, when you do what Joe Hamilton did 30 years ago, when you did what any of the great players in the history of our sport have done, I don't think it's fair to them to compare them to anybody because they're setting their own path in their own way. And that's what Haynes is doing right now."

11. On managing his time with the extra attention on the program...

"It's great for the school. It's great for the fans. It's outstanding for this place. I mean, look, Georgia Tech deserves every bit of recognition that it's getting, right? It deserves every bit of, you know, positive, you know, talk that's going on about it because it's a way to have Georgia Tech as a school in the front of people's minds for people to see. So just as, you know, we're talking about Georgia Tech football, people are also, all right, well, hey, that's, they have a cool, a cool team, you know, they're fun to watch.

Maybe they want to be, you know, a certain, maybe it's a kid in high school that says maybe I'll, they want to have a top business degree or, you know, a top engineering degree or a top, communicate, whatever it is. Maybe I'll look into that school. so now just it's like a do um but look i talk all the time about when you know i'm not going to do things that or not do do things that i don't ask players to do or ask players to do players have these requests as well you don't think Haynes is getting a bunch of requests on things I mean yeah and deservingly so so it's great for the school outstanding for the fans you know all the people that work so hard every day to make this thing go i mean people that nobody have heard of not even people in our building, you know, organization.

That they deserve but that number next year, next year's name that, that has nothing for us right it's great to have it it doesn't block, it doesn't tackle, right, it doesn't really do anything to help us win a football game on a Saturday so yeah I'm excited about it yeah that I think it's important to have the positive energy and press being talked about Georgia Tech. But on a day -to -day basis, it doesn't change what I do, it doesn't change what the players do, and it doesn't do anything to help us really perform the way we have to perform each Saturday."

12. On Haynes King being able to gradually cut down on interceptions year over year...

"That's why I believe he's the best player in college football. Look at his stats. Look at his stats compared to other people. Other players. watch Haynes King with the ball in his hand with the game on the line. I just said it a minute ago, he represents all that is great in college football. He is the best representative of any one individual for this entire sport that we play and we all love. And you can look at stats, you can look at game on the line, you can look at, you know, drop in, you know, and it's not just interceptions, I mean he is he has an innate ability to avoid negative plays he doesn't take sacks he doesn't turn the ball over.

Put all those things together and look yeah you're exactly right and he's a tremendous football player tremendous competitor he He raises people around him, but he avoids the negative plays, the disaster plays, right? He just, I mean, he's going to pull a ball down and check it down for a two or three -yard gain before he's going to try to force one, force one end that could be an interception. That's not saying that's not going to happen. There's really good players on other teams too now. But just, you know, the the first drive, or that second drop of the game on Saturday, we were able to run out down on the goal line. He was about to rip it, and that corner was sitting there playing, you know, playing kind of in between, and he saw it. And he didn't mean, that would have been an interception by a lot of people. And he didn't, he pulled it back and tried to layer it over the top and threw it. We're only one person, either it would either be out of bounds or get it to make sure that we can serve we reserve the right to kick. We end up getting three out of it."

13. On Brian Kelly being fired at LSU...

"We all sign up for this. We all know what we're getting into. And when things like that happen, I'm not, I become, I feel for the people that, like I said, I say, know that people don't really know in the program or in the organization, that's the people that become disrupted. You know, That's whose families become, you know, sit on a fence then. But as coaches, we sign up for this, we know what we're getting into."