This was not the homecoming that Georgia Tech and Brent Key had planned today.
The Yellow Jackets came into the game vs. Boston College as a solid favorite at home, but a combination of injuries and poor play led to a blowout loss at the hands of the Eagles, who came into this game with a 3-3 record and were considered one of the worst teams in the conference.
After today's performance, Key spoke with the media and talked about his team and the performance on the field today.
1. Key takes full responsibility
This was an embarrassing performance for Georgia Tech and at the end of the day, no matter the injuries or anything else, the buck stops with the head coach. To Key's credit, he took full responsibility for the performance today and did not deflect blame:
"It's on coaching, so that's on me. I'll take full responsibility. That is, I'm talking about consistency. The only thing consistent is poor football, right? I'll wait to say a whole lot until I can really say watching the tape, but, you know, when you turn the ball over that many times and you can't stop the same play, that keeps coming 14 times, I believe. Poorly prepared, poorly adjusted. That's all me."
2. On second half adjustments
In five of the seven games that Georgia Tech has played, they have been ahead at halftime. Today, they raced out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, led 13-12 at halftime, but lost by 22 points to a team most thought was one of the worst in the ACC coming into the year. Key talked about the poor adjustments and coaching that is allowing that to happen:
"Yeah, I mean, that's five out of... Five out of seven games, we've been ahead at halftime. Five out of seven, we've been ahead at halftime. And lose the second half. So out -adjusted, out-coached at halftime, out-coached in the second half, out-played in the second half."
3. On what Boston College was able to do on offense
It was an offensive clinic today for Boston College, especially when it came to running the football. The Eagles piled up 500 yards of offense, including 399 yards on the ground, averaging 85 yards per rush and 7.8 yards per play. Georgia Tech was missing a number of different players because of injuries, especially along the defensive line, but that is no excuse for the type of performance that occurred today. Key broke down the defensive effort after the game:
"No, look, the kid's (BC quarterback Mason McKenzie) a good football player. I'm not taking anything away from him and the job he did and the job they did on offense by any means. They did a good job, right? It was the same play consistently over and over. I evaluated, like I said earlier, based on guys in position to make a play and do they win the job or win the rep or not win the rep. But when guys are not consistently in place, To make the play, that's 100% on myself who's coaching."
4. On Jason Semore
Jason Semore is Georgia Tech's fourth defensive coordinator in four seasons under Brent Key, and things have not improved on that side of the ball. Today was one of the worst performances of the Brent Key era, but when asked about changing play-callers on defense, Key declined to comment:
"Yeah, I won't talk about changes. Again, we'll talk about all that in-house. But right now, with that performance on the field, obviously what we've been doing is not working. And I'm not talking about just that position. I'm talking about across the board. So I told the team in the locker room, I'm going to play with you guys. I want to play. I want to compete. Same with everybody in the organization."
5. On how the team has played since the end of last season
Last season started like a dream for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were 8-0 and in prime position to make the ACC Championship game and compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff. The Yellow Jackets lost 3 of 4 games last season and have begun this year 2-5, with one of the wins being against FCS opponent Mercer. Key was asked about what has gone wrong since:
"Yeah, it does. I mean, it's, you know, it's most bewildering is the word. But, no, it is. I mean, just everything. Everything from the point of going out and being able to execute. And, look, it doesn't matter if you have a good week of practice. I thought we had a good week of practice. I thought we had a really good end to the week of practice. And you go out there and you don't execute. And when I say execute, I'm talking about everyone. Everyone. All of our jobs are to go out there to coach, to adjust, to correct and put players to play, all those things.
And that's where I'm really holding off of saying exactly where it's at because what I don't want to do is get up here and talk about the execution of it and you've got guys playing and they were in the position they were supposed to be in but they weren't the right call. Does that make sense? And vice versa. So I'm going to be very – I'm going to stay very generic with that part because I know what I saw on the field. But when you're looking at something like this, guys, it's that embarrassing of a loss. I want to be very careful with the words I choose and how I address this."
Georgia Tech will travel to Pittsburgh next Saturday to face the Panthers, who have lost three straight games.
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