Three Takeaways from Georgia Tech's Win Over Syracuse
Georgia Tech had a big opportunity in front of them last night when they played Syracuse. With a game against No. 1 Georgia looming, the Yellow Jackets needed a win against Syracuse or their hopes of ending their streak of missing a bowl game would be in serious jeopardy.
They got the job done though.
Georgia Tech got out to a 24-3 lead against a very short-handed Syracuse team and it looked like they were going to cruise to an easy win. Syracuse fought back though and even had a two-point conversion attempt to tie it later in the game. They made the plays they had to and Brent Key will take his alma mater to their first bowl game since 2018.
So what are the takeaways from last night's win?
1. Georgia Tech made the winning plays when they had too
Jamal Haynes running the ball vs Syracuse
Nathaniel Caudell
Georgia Tech recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff in the second half and then Jamal Haynes burst through for a 30-yard touchdown. The Yellow Jackets went up 24-3 and it looked like the game was all but over. Syracuse would proceed to cut the lead to 24-22 and you could feel the energy inside Bobby Dodd Stadium get tense.
Then Haynes King led the Yellow Jackets down the field and capped it off with a touchdown run to make it 31-22. Kyle Efford intercepted a pass on the ensuing Syracuse drive and the game was all but over. They had to make winning plays in crucial moments and they did that.
There have been times where they have not done that this season, but in the biggest moment on Saturday night, King made the winning plays, and the defense did as well.
2. The Yellow Jackets are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2018
Kyle Kennard against Syracuse
Nathaniel Caudell
I don't know if anyone has heard but Georgia Tech is going to their first bowl game since 2018.
After the tough years with Geoff Collins as a head coach, Georgia Tech has broken through in Brent Key's first season and gotten back to where Georgia Tech was used to being and that is in the postseason.
It has been a wild up-and-down ride throughout the season and Key would be the first to tell you that while making a bowl game is great, this is far from where he wants the program to be. While that is true, this is a great step for this program in just his first year.
3. Georgia Tech's Biggest Challenge Awaits
Georgia Tech will face Georgia this Saturday
Georgia has won back-to-back national championships and is currently on track to win another. First, though, they will have to make a trip to Atlanta to face a team that plays with a ton of confidence and plays well as an underdog.
Do I think Georgia Tech can win the game on Saturday? No, I don't. The talent gap between these two teams is too wide right now and Georgia appears to be peaking at the right time. But I can say this, with Brent Key as the head coach, they will show no fear of their opponent this Saturday and will give them a fight and Brent Key said as much the day that he got hired:
"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."
Nobody is going to give the Yellow Jackets a chance on Saturday and that is the way that Key prefers it.
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