Three Things That Have To Happen For Georgia Tech To Win Out

Georgia Tech is on their bye week and looking to finish the final three games of their regular season strong. Let's take a look at three things that have to hapen for Georgia Tech to win out and get where they want to go which is the ACC Championship and the College Football Playoff.

1. Improved Rush Defense

Latest — Sep 13, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets linebacker Kyle Efford (44) reacts after a missed field goal by Clemson Tigers place kicker Nolan Hauser (81) in the first quarter at Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Georgia Tech currently ranks as the No. 97 rush defense in the country giving up 165 rushing yards per game. To improve this number, the Yellow Jackets need to improve their havoc rate. The production from the defensive line has been good in some games and not so good in others. In a win against Gardner-Webb earlier this season, Georgia Tech had 14 tackles for loss and six sacks. In their recent outing against NC State, Georgia Tech had just three tackles for loss and a sack.

“We're still kind of hot and cold with the TFLs. The TFLs are what really increase or decrease that number because you can look there and say, "Okay, well, you know, on offense, we didn't give up a sack this game, but we had, you know, five or six TFLs." Well, that category is the same. It's sacks and TFLs combined. It's plays made behind the line of scrimmage. You might have two or three sacks in a game, but you don't get any TFLs, right? It's about getting those guys to go the other way and us not going that way on offense. So, you know, they've improved over the year. I think you probably guessed I'm never going to be satisfied with it until it's consistently zero.”

“Yeah, there are a lot of things you can do. We've got to play full defense, right? There are things we'll change, things we're working on, we spent the last four days addressing.”

I think it starts with playing more impactful players on the defensive line who can step up for you, like an Amontrae Bradford, who is excellent at tackling and creating pressure. I think a heavier rotation of some of the young guys mixed with the veterans should be able to help this area moving forward.

2. Controlling the game more

Now, Georgia Tech has one of the better rushing attacks in college football this season, and teams have been gearing up to slow it down because when the Yellow Jackets run the ball at a high level, they are practically unbeatable. They want to be a physical team and punch you in the mouth. They have had to rely on more quick-strike plays in the passing game down the field, which isn’t a bad thing, but they need more elongated drives where they can chew the clock and wear out a defense. You've seen glimpses of it against NC State with a 12-play 70-yard drive that took up 6:50 of the clock. That has to be more consistent. They need to get Jamal Haynes back on track and Malachi Hosley, who have both shown they can explode for big plays in the running game. They each have 400+ rushing yards this season for the Yellow Jackets. The better the run game is, the more you can control the game and give your defense a break to catch their breath. I think if the Yellow Jackets can control games more in the final stretch of the season, then they will be where they want to be at the end of the season.

3. No more slow starts on offense or defense

Early in the season, we saw Georgia Tech get off to slow starts offensively and the defense be able to carry the day against Colorado and Clemson. They continued to keep the Yellow Jackets in the game and get the ball back to them. Duke was an excellent game that showcased this when the defense came up with the lone touchdown score in the first half of that game and held Duke to 18 points. Last week was the first time the defense struggled with a slow start and allowed 14 points in the first quarter, and couldn’t get off the field. NC State hung 24 points on the Yellow Jackets in the first half, which was the first time they gave up that amount of points all season. Now, maybe that was an anomaly with all the injuries Georgia Tech has endured on defense, but it is certainly something that can’t happen again if they want to win out. Head coach Brent Key put it best when talking about the slow starts.

“Battery charger. And if that didn't work, it was going to go to a what? Cattle prod. Cattle prods have been used. Cattle prods have been used. It's by no means do you go into a game and say, "Hey guys, let's play it safe. Let's conserve our energy. Let's go out there and just make sure we can last and make it to the fourth. Don't give too much early. We'll come in at halftime and give you some gummy bears and some PowerAid and get you some energy, and then we'll go. Not at all. I want to start fast. Yeah, I want to play fast in the second quarter,” said Key. “Yeah, let's come out in the second half and play fast. It’s very interesting, though, when you look at the season as a whole, which quarters we actually have played the best in. If you start out fast or not if when you start out fast, inevitably, the next week the question is going to be how do we continue to keep it going in the second half? All right, how do we finish better? So, but look, from my standpoint, every quarter, every half, every drive we have should be better than the last. I want to start out fast in that second drive. I want to be faster than that, right? I want to be better than that.”

“Same on defense. I mean, I think in first quarter, we've given up 16 points in the first quarter this year. All right. So, we've started fast on defense. So, what's the reason for that? We've given up 16 points. Within the second quarter, we got to play better in second quarter. So, as a whole, as a football team, there are ebbs and flows. That's always going to be the case. Even though, as a coach, you don't want it. You coach to not have those. But at the same time, it's complementary football. I keep saying that, right? There's going to be times, and I hate to say that the offense might come out and the defense has good players, too, or the defense has good coaches. You know, maybe it's not mistakes. You know, the first game of the year was on us. Second game of the year, that was on us, right? Can we execute better at times? Yes.
“Other times, they have good coaches and schemes they've put together. A couple of those games, you know, the opponent we were playing had a bye week the week before. That's been a very big thing when you look at it. You look at the bye weeks that come in front and then the execution. You've got to ask him. He's about to break the door when he went out. It was red. So that's a big part of it. So, how do we go and say, "Okay, well, the team we're about to play had a bye week the week before. They had a little more time to uh for their players to get repetition on what we're doing." Well, how do we combat that? That's something we've looked at and say, "Okay, it happened twice now. So, we got to have an answer for the next time." Uh, long answer probably didn't answer what your question actually was, but how do we combat it? Battery chargers, cattle prods.”

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