Georgia Tech vs Georgia: Storylines to Watch on Saturday

We are one day away from the latest addition of Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Georgia Tech comes into the game against No. 1 Georgia as a 24.5 point underdog and the Yellow Jackets are hoping to pull off the biggest upset of this college football season. They are entering this game with a winning record for the first time since 2018 and Brent Key and his team would love nothing more than to spoil the Bulldogs perfect season and 28-game winning streak.

So what are the top storylines to follow this Saturday when Georgia Tech takes on Georgia under the lights of Bobby Dodd?

1. Can Georgia Tech make this a respectable game and possibly end the losing streak?

2016 was the last time that Georgia Tech was able to beat the Bulldogs and since then, none of the games have been close, although, Key played the Bulldogs tough for about 2 1/2 quarters last season before the eventual national champions pulled away.

In Brent Key's first matchup against the Bulldogs last year, the Yellow Jackets played them much closer than anyone could have anticipated. Georgia Tech led 7-3 at the end of the first quarter and only trailed the eventual national champions 10-7. Halfway through the third quarter, the game was 13-7, but tight end Brock Bowers scored to take a 20-7 lead and the Bulldogs finally pulled away and ended up winning 37-14.

Since the day he was hired as the head coach at Georgia Tech, Key has made it clear that he wants to close the gap with Georgia:

"There is one thing I want everyone in this room to understand and everyone associated with Georgia Tech understands... There is an opponent in this state we will work 365 days a year to defeat. We will work 365 days a year to dominate. When we all wake up in the morning, we want to dominate our opponent. The feeling of dominating your opponent is like no other and whatever team is on our schedule, that will be our goal. That is what we will work towards every single day.

Players in here, understand that. That is our goal and that is our mindset. We have an opponent in this state that is included in that. For 365 days, we will work to dominate that opponent. Understand that."

ESPN's David Hale wrote an intriguing piece during ACC Media Days this summer about how Key wants to change the narrative of the rivalry and Key made some interesting comments:

"Is it annoying? Heck, yeah," Key said Tuesday of the Georgia accolades. "Kirby [Smart] has done a great job -- he has. And I told him, 'We've got to do something about it."

"What pisses me off is to look at lists of the 10 or 20 best rivalries in the country and, not to have [Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate] on there, that's bulls---," Key said. "But at the present time, they're probably right. So we've got to do something about that."

Offensive lineman Jordan Williams also talked about the rivalry:

"It really gets on my nerves," Williams said. "But rivals or not, they're the best. You've got to beat the best, and it's kind of a burn-the-boats mentality, stake everything on it. That's the place we want to be."

Key has pulled off several big upsets in his short time as the Georgia Tech head coach and they will get to measure themselves against arguably the best team in the country next Saturday night.

Nobody in the country thinks this will be a close game, but Key is hoping to show everyone that this team can compete.

2. Will the offense be able to move the ball against the Bulldogs defense?

Georgia Tech has one of the best offenses in the ACC. They are 4th in the conference in yards per game, 6th in passing yards per game, 3rd in rushing yards per game, and 4th in points per game. Haynes King has played fantastic this season as a dual-threat quarterback , but he is going to have to play his best game of the year on Saturday.

King has thrown for close to 2,600 yards and rushed for over 600 and something tells me his legs might be a useful weapon in this game.

Against the two best defenses they faced this season (Miami and Clemson), Georgia Tech could not move the ball consistently. Aside from the miraculous final drive against the Hurricanes that night, Georgia Tech had to rely on turnovers to get into scoring position. Clemson tried a fake punt early against Georgia Tech and it gave the Yellow Jackets great field position and they scored. The problem is, they did not do much for the rest of the game.

Georgia has a better defense than either Clemson or Miami and it is going to take the best game of the season from Georgia Tech on offense to score some points.

Georgia Tech has been using their running game effectively over the past few weeks and in their close win over Missouri, the Tigers were effective at running the ball on Georgia, especially on the edges. Does that mean Georgia Tech will be able to? No, but it could be their best option so Georgia does not sell out to stop Haynes King and the offense.

3. Can Georgia Tech get any stops against the Georgia offense?

Georgia has been known as a defensive team under Kirby Smart, but their offense might be the most lethal part of their team this season and that makes them a scary team.

Georgia is No. 4 in the nation in yards per game (501.8) and has the nation's No. 6 passing attack. Georgia Tech has the worst defense in the ACC when it comes to yards given up per game and it is going to be a huge task for the Yellow Jackets on Saturday night.

It is not easy to take over for a quarterback who won two national championships and is a legend. Stetson Bennett set the bar pretty high for quarterbacks at Georgia, but it is hard to not look at what Carson Beck is doing right now and not be impressed.

Beck is 7th nationally with 3, 320 yards and has a 72.9% completion percentage to go along with 21 touchdowns and only five interceptions. He had to deal with his top target (Brock Bowers) missing time, but that did not stop Beck and this offense.

Key acknowledged that Georgia has playmakers all over their offense and made sure to mention how well Beck is playing:

"I am usually pretty quick-witted... put three guys on him, I don't know. Put one person on him and cross your fingers and hope things don't happen. We will put a game plan together, they have a lot of explosive players on their offense, they have a quarterback that is doing a heck of a job this season, playing as good as anyone in the country right now. They generate explosives with a lot of different players, he is not just the only one. I think they have 40+ explosive plays over 20 yards this year, 48 if I am not mistaken in the passing game.

They have two running backs that are very quick and efficient runners, running backs that can take it the distance at any time, they can condense sets and be able to play bully ball and able to spread you out and go different motions and unbalanced and they have a really good play-action game so if you just focus on one person, you are really going to leave yourself open all over so it will be a big challenge for us this week.

I am sure everyone reading this has heard of Brock Bowers and how good he is. I think he will be a future top ten pick in the NFL Draft and is the unquestioned top target for Beck and this passing offense.

Even though he missed games due to an ankle issue, Bowers has 51 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns. He is a mismatch problem and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo does a great job of utilizing him in the offense.

I think the Georgia passing attack is more dangerous than their running attack, but Daijun Edwards is still a very good running back. He currently has 726 yards on 134 carries and he is the leader in the backfield for Georgia.

Georgia Tech has one of the worst defenses in the country and their only chance this Saturday night is to creat turnovers and get a short field on the Bulldogs. If not, Georgia could hang 50 on this defense.

4. Former Bulldogs face their old team

During the offseason, Georgia Tech brought in some transfers (as well as offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner) from Athens. Tight end Brett Seither has caught four touchdowns and Dominick Blaylock is the third-leading receiver for the Yellow Jackets this season. Smart talked about Blaylock today and though he plays in Atlanta now, had nothing but good things to say about the former Bulldog:

"Selflessness. Probably the No. 1 thing that stands out. Toughness. He's such a great competitor. Dom's one of those that never says anything. He doesn't complain. He doesn't moan. He goes to work every day. He made some really, really big critical plays for us over the years, in terms of the stretch run, going back to his freshman year touchdown catches, all the way to last year making plays. He's just very dependable. You're seeing the same things there. They've got him returning punts and doing things offensively. You can see his value as a football player."

Key also praised Blaylock's ability on offenses as a player and a leader:

"Yeah, we brought in four transfer receivers last year because we knew that offensively, we had to increase our production and become more explosive and become a more explosive offense. The quickest way to do that in college football is to have receivers that can spread the field horizontally and vertically and to have a triggerman that can get the ball to them and then his added value in the punt return game will be a big challenge this week so.

It has been great to have him, but Dom is a great kid. He is a guy that comes in and he does not say anything and just goes to work. To see what he has overcome in his career and to be able to have some success, I am really happy for him."

2024 Offensive Lineman Harrison Moore Commits to Georgia Tech

Facebook: All Yellow Jacket

Twitter: @AllYellowJacket