Everything From Brent Key After No. 13 Georgia Tech's Win Over Virginia Tech

Georgia Tech raced out to an 18-0 lead today against Virginia Tech and while things did not always go smoothly for the Yellow Jackets, they secured a 35-20 win over the Hokies and reached 6-0. Georgia Tech is now bowl eligible for the third straight season under Brent Key, but they are aiming for bigger goals now. With the win today, Georgia Tech has set themselves up for one of the biggest games in the ACC this season when they travel to Duke next weekend.

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

Opening Statement...

"Always good to get a win, y 'all. I mean, 6 -0 is a good accomplishment at this point. It really is. Proud of the way the guys went out and played. We got some plays when we needed to. Started out fast, had a good plan of attack. You know, a lot of things in there, some plays. We'd play good for two or three plays, and then we have a fourth down or a third down. Give up something or have a penalty. A copy of this and costly penalties. But penalties, Six, but golly, three of them were in crucial times.

Two -third downs, third and longs. We had them at DPI, and then holding call down on the right before half -time, down in the red area to negate the touchdown. And then the one on the screenplay in the fourth quarter, the fourth one where Harrison's out there. I mean, he didn't hear a whistle behind him, but regardless, he'd get a 15 yarder. So had some costly, costly ones there, but excited to come out with a win, and like I say every week, enjoy the win, they're hard to come by, enjoy tonight, but we'll come in tomorrow and be extremely critical and work to continue to improve."

1. On what he said to Haynes after the touchdown run to put them up 35-14...

"No, I don't even remember. Every time he comes off the field, I would say something. I mean, it's becoming pretty common now. It's a little more-- it looks sweeter. Yeah, it was-- what was the play before? It was either negative play or something. I don't remember exactly what it was before. Buster called the play. I laughed and said something I had said, and I was just telling Haynes what I said. But you can't tell us what's-- I said, we're going to score. That was a heck of a run, wasn't it?"

2. On the two-point conversion at the beginning of the game...

"Yeah, something was on film. I was thinking about it during the week. When I met with the coordinators on Thursday, told them that's what I wanted to do as long as we had certain looks. We wanted to be able to score first. A lot of things went into it and some things we saw and we wanted to take advantage of it and make it the rewards a lot bigger than the risk at that point in the game. And now you're chasing possessions on the other side."

3. On Malachi Hosley's performance...

"Yeah, he's a good football player. We knew he was when we brought him in. We were short on numbers at that position last year, especially after some injuries took place. We probably carry more running packs than most teams, because we use them a lot. But it was good to see him continue to be productive, continue to improve. He really is improving. We knew he was a good player when we signed him this year. He was super productive last year. Offensive player of the year, where he was from. He's got great balance. Very rarely do you see somebody take his feet off him underneath him, really good balance, good vision. It's good to see him continue to be productive."

4. On Virginia Tech's QB run game...

"Well, he took off a bunch. I was pleased with some of the pressure we got early. Put a couple of new packages in, defensive front -wise for third, we got some pressure out of it. Got a couple sacks and created some negative plays there. But it was two times in the first half. He had read option plays that were actually very similar to things we'd run, GT counter to the right, arc in the tight end, and put us in conflict on the edge of blitz. He took off two times in the first half, then he had some big runs and scrambles In the second half so we got to be better at that we got to keep him we got to keep him in the pocket, guys getting washed out of their lane the rush lanes and you just just do your job do your job."

5. On the offensive line's performance...

"I'll look at the tape and see how they played ,you know a lot of times you might not rush for as many yards as you want to and it's not all the O -Lines fault and you know you rush for a lot of yards and it's not always because of the O -Line, right? I'm not saying that's the case, but same a quarter by me it's, it's, it's, all of it takes everybody it takes all 11 on offense all 11 on defense all right, and that's the beauty of this game one one out of 11 doesn't do their job and you don't have, you don't have success, so you know, there's things, so there's things we've got to improve on, though, for sure."

6. On not trailing in this game...

"Yeah, I mean, when we really do preach no scoreboard, play every play, regardless of what happened on the last. Every play's got a history in life of its own. We play the next play. So our guys don't really-- and they don't see the scoreboard. They trust in the plan and trust in the other way we're going to play the game to play as long as we possibly can. So now from my standpoint, yes, it's good to start out fast like that. But our goal here is to play a complete 60 minute football game, all right? And I get it, football is an imperfect game that we all want perfection in, all right? But we also got to continue to improve. And if we can take things we didn't do well today and improve on them next week and continue to climb that mountain, I think we'll be in a good position as the season moves along."

7. On not committing any turnovers...

"Yeah, that's what it should be. That's the expectation. That's the expectation. It really is. So, keep it up."

8. On having the largest crowd since 2018...

"Yeah, the students are awesome. Students are awesome, huge, huge credit to the administration. And the work they've done and how hard they've worked to make sure we have people in those stands. And I cannot thank those guys enough for what they do every single day to give these kids the backdrop they need to go out and play football games. I mean, it's incredible, and if anybody knew the work they put in to get people in those seats, it is not an easy thing to just say, "Hey, we want it sold out every game." So I can't thank them enough. It helps me tremendously."

9. On the tight ends performances today...

"You guys all see the catches and the cool stuff, right? But it's the dirty work that really makes and breaks that position. Tight end is not an easy position now. You got to run the same as the receiver does, block like an O lineman. All the formation's adjustments, so much of it is on the tight end, the mental part of it before the ball is even snapped. But no, we wanted to make sure that, they had a good defensive line, and we wanted to make sure we got the ball out and got the ball to the sure handed guys. And there's a couple of really good play designs there. We have one ball that you know Seither's running up the seam, you know that that would have been another really big play in one of them. So it was good to see those guys get involved. We need to help. We need those guys continue to do that."

10. On being 6-0 for the first time since 2011....

"No, sir. No, sir. Time is 10 after 7. I'll reflect on the game when I put it on here in about an hour when I get to the house. All right, then it's on to the next one."

11. On Kyle Efford...

" Yeah, well, I mean, he's a catalyst because of his-- the way he plays the game. How much he loves the game. You talk about no scoreboard and faceless opponent. I promise you if you were to walk up to Kyle in the middle of the game and ask him who would play, he'd have no clue. And he's the epitome of what we want out of a player from the mentality standpoint. He plays every play like it's the last one he's ever gonna play. So he's played a lot of football here. He's been in a lot of big games. I think what he's done this year though is he really understands him, he understands himself and how he plays and what he's really good at and what he's not as good at and he plays to those strengths and he's done a good job and he's all over the place f you ask him he'd probably tell you, "Wish you had that pick back or that, the one throw back."

12. On the injury to Ahmari Harvey...

"He was pissed. He was pissed he should have picked that. That's all he kept screaming and saying on the ground. But he was in pain, but he off the field. He's a competitor. I was really-- I grabbed him right before that drive, after the last drive, where they scored on him. I just told him I was proud of him. There was a lot of talking going on out there. And the old Ahmari would have gone back and he didn't. One of the officials even came over to the side and said, man, what a great job I have. Not saying anything back. I can't tell you how far he's come from that standpoint, how proud I am of him."

13. On being perfect in the redzone...

" I wanted to be 5 -5 with touchdowns, if that helps, obviously can't control all that, Now, I mean, that's the name of the game. Score points, right? So the closer you get, and those safety start coming in there tighter, and there's not as much area to defend, you've got to be able to run the ball efficiently down there. You've got to be able to throw the ball in tight windows. And we've done a good job with that. We've been really good with our kick, and when we have to kick field golas, we get the field goals in."

14. On protecting what the team has accomplished so far...

"You know, I talked to the team last night about external noise. And I said, I could sit up here and be very naive and say, don't listen, don't pay attention to it. But everybody in this room hears everything that's said. I don't give you-- you can't say it's this day and age. 50 years ago, it was the same way. People are going to pick up a newspaper. They're going to read it now. It's going to-- whether it's Twitter or TV, people walking around, they're going to hear it. They're going to see it. But what I told them was not one point before we started this season in our journey, do we say our goal is to be 5 -0 this year? Our goal isn't to be the number 13 ranked. Those aren't our goals, so it's all about what they put their attention to, right? And their full attention, they're gonna hear things, right? But it's what's internal that they need to put their full attention to. And I think they've done a good job of that, of listening. And it comes down to trust. They trust what I say to that they trust what their coaches say to them. And I think these guys do. They're really good."