Everything From Brent Key Ahead of Georgia Tech's Week Nine Matchup With Syracuse

It is Syracuse week for No. 7 Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets are preparing for a week nine clash with the Orange this Saturday and after practice on Tuesday, head coach Brent Key spoke with the media. Here is everything that he had to say:

Opening Statement...

"Good to be back home this week. We have talked a lot every week about the excitement and the crowds, playing at home. I think the coolest thing last week was that you start to see that on the road, to have the band there, the cheerleaders, the amount of fans we had at the game last week again really special for the team, for the players, to be able to see the support and know people are supporting them and are behind them and to be back home this week, homecoming this week, which you know as alum is a special thing I guess I'm always at home you'd say don't need to come back but you know that's homecoming and all that stuff that's for the fans it has nothing to do with the football game has nothing to do with the you know the team we play or the game.

Another opportunity for us to go out there and compete against a really good opponent and we are really excited to go. We have a lot of work to do between now and then."

1. On if bringing more pressure gave the defense more confidence...

" I don't think it had anything to do with that. It just has to do with execution. We talk about the four things we believe in, the toughness, the discipline, commitment, and execution. And three of them, I think we are doing a great job of and just execution comes with confidence. I think we did a much better job against the run last week, which was a huge factor in the game. I think Blake did a really good job of making some adjustments.

And look, I don't believe in waiting until half time to make adjustments. Halftimes when you see if they worked or not, and if you're going to continue on and start tweaking those things. But adjustments have to happen right away when you see the plan they've come out with. I thought the D -line did a really good job of resetting in the line of scrimmage. And that's what we've been challenging those guys to do for several weeks now, to play with pad level, you know, to get to extend, to be able to play the blocks, get off blocks. And it really showed in helping the ability to stop the run and made some plays we needed to."

2. On embracing success but not letting the noise get to them...

"You know, I walked into the team meeting Sunday night and I told him, hey guys, congrats, enjoy, appreciate it. Because if you can't appreciate success what's really the motivation to continue to do what you do you know if there's no reward we get it the reward comes at the end of the year okay but there's there's small rewards within there each week and if you don't sit back and appreciate that right and if I don't address that and tell them to like then might it might happen later on or there's three things I told the team.

I said Look, and they had to walk in and said Hey, appreciate it, guys appreciate what you've done you've worked your butts off for this, but understand that teams die from the inside out not the outside in. Number two, we can get beat, and number three, this time of year, teams either improve or they get worse. One day you don't stay the same, I mean, it's hard to improve, it's hard to get better it's a choice and decision everybody has to make so that was a challenge to the team but yeah I mean, you're going to hear it. They're going to, I mean, I am not oblivious to that. But still, the same thing we have said before, it is their decision, it is their choice what to give their full attention to."

3. On if the big stops on defense will give them momentum for the rest of the season...

"You want to lean on that side of the ball in the season to get stops. And look, some of the stops happened as far back as you possibly go. I mean, they just did a great job down in the tight red area on the goal line. That, you know, you've heard me say I don't believe in momentum, you know, last week, moving to this week, last year, this year. But I do believe when your defense goes out and puts together a game like that where you know was dominant in the ability to stop the run some situational football did a really good job in right but knowing there's still a lot of improvement you can carry that all right because it shows progress it shows improvement throughout the season right and it shows the ability and the capability."

4. On what stands out about Syracuse...

"That's a very broad question to ask as far as what stands out about them. I mean, look, this is a good football team. You can't look at a record to say anything by the team. They've had some misfortune when it came to injuries on both sides of the football, very key players. And that's a tough situation to be they, you can turn on the tape. I mean, I don't need to say anything.

Just turn on the film. Watch them play, right? Watch them compete. They play hard. You know, they are making a commitment to doing certain things. And again, I'm not going to see them get into game plan or trade secrets or whatnot. But just turn on the tape. That's all you have to do. They've got good players. They've been able to overcome some adversity when it comes to injuries, and they continue to play. Credit to Fran for that, for having his team in that position. And the competition they play has been really good."

5. On how the secondary played without Ahmari...

"Yeah, I mean, next man up. I mean, it's that time of year. The most important, the most valuable commodity you can have right now is player availability. And that's why we work to increase our depth through acquisition in the off season. And we'll continue to do that. That's a continuous thing that has to be done. We had guys step up. We've still got a lot of work to do there and a lot of improvement."

6. On Syracuse QB Rickie Collins...

"Yeah, well, I mean, he got thrust into a situation that you always talk about the next man up, right? Talk about the guys being ready to go. You're only an ankle away, a helmet away. And sometimes you're a season. It's for the season, you know, and you have to be prepared. And he's a talent. He's a tremendous talent. The thing that's got a big o-line in front of him, he's got really good wide receivers. I like their running backs. I do.

They've always had good backs there. I think they do. They do a nice job of what they're trying to do as far as establishing the run. Throwing the football is through one of the top teams in the country as far as passing the football. Very pro -style in the route concepts and the passing attack. But they're also doing a nice job of not trying to put it all on That's the thing that stands out, is I had to sit back there and put it all on the quarterback who's getting his first start or third start or fifth start, you know, and that it happens, you know, halfway through the season. That's a tough position to be in for him. I think he's done a really nice job, and the coach and the staff has done a nice job with it."

7. On Freshman WR Jordan Allen...

"Yeah, that's why we play guys early in the season. That's why we try to play a lot of guys. You never know when those guys are going to be needed to play. And whether it's three plays in the game, eight plays in the game, 15, 20 plays in the game, they're playing in a game, right? They've been on the field at the collegiate level. And that's why you want to get those young guys out there. And, you know, it doesn't have to be 350 snaps on the season, right? You know, collective 80 to 100 snaps on the year by the end of the season. Yeah, they're in a better position. And it helps for next year. And that's why you see us play so many guys. So he was able to step in and, you know, really didn't miss a beat. And that's what we expect with him. He can run. He's got great speed. Got really good hands. Sure, we're outrunners. So we're excited about it."

8. On Tana being back at center...

"He played more than the second. It was both the full game. Again, back to playing players. I mean, look, players don't, when you have a group that's played together, it's not like we just go into a game and throw those guys in a position. I mean, we practice the way we play. We prepare that way. I mean, that's something that's planned out on Sunday, how we're going to play guys, how they're going to practice. I mean, you know, you don't know who's in front of you. If you're a running back or a quarterback or a wide receiver to the point where if you're doing it the right way you don't know that a different guy's next to you right they should be seamless and it is good to have him back and it's good to be able to continue to have depth depth on the offensive line."

9. On Haynes King looking back on the final touchdown to see if he should score...

"I can say you're not the first person to ask me that. I've had a lot of really, really good football coaches, retired football coaches that have texted and called and asked the same thing. So no, I haven't, and none of them had either. People have been alive a lot longer than me. just to know that that is of that situation.

Now, that's the second time this year that we've had a play pop in a four-minute situation. And you don't anticipate it, but you practice those things. And now that's right on the fringe of scoring and not scoring. You could look up, whoever you want to look up, whatever you want to say. All right, you know, you still have the two-minute timeout in front of you. They still had one timeout. There's no guarantee you're going to score or that you can run the clock all the way down to zero.

In that situation, you're not able to run the clock to zero, all right kicking a field goal, what does that do? It's still a two-score game, right so this has happened in about one third of the time I've been talking to you right now about it, so you're talking to a guy that runs what 4.5, that's on the 35 yard line going in I mean three two one but for him to know that that it's a either or to look over and to ask what that's a moment right there now that is a there is no greater feat that I've seen in a this year but in probably a long time of football that shows putting the team over me and if I'm not mistaken I think that when he scored that touchdown it put him in some you know some elite company of some things you know records or whatnot because that matter to Haynes. Haynes is about the team and went in the surest way possible, and it was a, I thought that was a really cool moment that to me personally is going to live in my head a long time that a player or put the team over himself like that."