WATCH: Georgia Tech Head Coach Brent Key's Post-Game Press Conference After Win Over Virginia
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 >> All right, good team win, to come up here.
00:06 First off, to have a win like we did last week and to come out and prepare.
00:11 Have the right mindset and put the work in this week to put us in a position to
00:16 come out here today and have a good team win.
00:18 I thought it was important that we were able to put one game behind us,
00:24 prepare the way you're supposed to prepare, but also have the mindset,
00:28 the right way to be able to play for the football.
00:30 I thought that's what the guys did.
00:33 I thought we were playing a team that had been playing really good football.
00:37 They've been improving, they've been playing with a lot of confidence.
00:40 They've been doing a good job against the run.
00:42 We're able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides, I thought.
00:45 I thought the defense really came out and played much better today.
00:48 They played faster.
00:49 You can see the culmination of a couple weeks now.
00:54 We started to come together and play in the same cause and
00:58 doing the execution of those things and getting the signals.
01:01 I thought we were much clearer with the substitutions and the sideline today.
01:05 So all in all, I thought it was a good win.
01:08 Really good win for us to come up here to Charlottesville,
01:10 a place that's been historically a tough place for us to play.
01:12 My first career win here, so I thought that was pretty cool too.
01:18 But a lot of years of trying, a lot of years.
01:22 So I thought, like I said, coming into the game,
01:26 they were playing as good football as anybody at the conference.
01:28 And for our guys to come out in that second half after getting a lead and
01:33 continue to put the pedal down.
01:38 So again, credit to the coaching staff for putting together a good plan,
01:42 credit to the players for executing and just all in a good team win.
01:45 So with that, any questions?
01:46 >> How, I guess,
01:50 pleased are you that you're actually running the football effectively now?
01:53 You're very consistent.
01:54 >> Yeah, I'm happy.
01:56 >> [LAUGH] >> No, I mean,
02:00 of course it's gonna make me happy, but I'm happy for those kids.
02:03 I'm happy for the kids that I'm having, for those guys up front that are playing
02:07 together.
02:07 We knew coming into this game, there were gonna be some minus one,
02:11 minus two runs.
02:12 We knew there were gonna be some zero and one yard gains.
02:15 And we had to stay with it.
02:18 With the running game comes the perimeter game, the perimeter screens,
02:23 the passing game, some of the shot plays.
02:26 All in all, it opens up everything.
02:28 And I think it allows the quarterback to sit back and really do what he does best,
02:32 that's be the coach on the field, manage the game, put the ball where it needs to be,
02:35 and run the offense.
02:36 >> Rob.
02:39 >> How important was it for your team to set the tone to start that second half?
02:44 You come out, score, and then I think the defense got a three and out.
02:48 >> Yeah, it was.
02:48 We talked at halftime about our MO has been playing four quarters.
02:55 We're playing four independent quarters in every football game.
02:57 One quarter's over, we play another.
03:01 We play for 15 minutes and see who comes out on top.
03:04 And that's the way we're going about it.
03:06 So really the first half had nothing to do with the second half.
03:09 Challenged the guys at halftime to stay in the moment, to play together,
03:12 to lay it on the line.
03:14 And all that mattered was that moment, and wanting the outcome of the game,
03:17 and wanting the outcome of those plays.
03:19 It was just staying in the moment.
03:20 I thought they did that.
03:22 >> Jackson.
03:23 >> Had 300 yard running games back to back, and the offensive line,
03:27 you're one of the nation's leaders in sacks giving up.
03:31 What can you say about that unit's growth just throughout this whole year, and
03:34 just the improvement they've been making?
03:36 >> Yeah, it's what you wanna see out of a group like that.
03:39 They understand that you're only as good as your last game.
03:42 So hitting that hard reset button every Sunday, and
03:45 getting ready to work again is important.
03:47 Player availability is important.
03:49 To have guys available on a weekend, a week out.
03:54 Obviously getting Jordan back a couple weeks ago was big for us.
03:57 I think Corey being put back in, and him and
04:03 Ethan really sharing the burden there of the left tackle spot has been important too.
04:08 It's taken a little bit of that burden off of Ethan as a true freshman.
04:12 And I think it's been a good comeback story in the season for
04:16 Corey coming back in and playing so many meaningful reps.
04:19 So I think Chief has done a wonderful job with those guys.
04:22 I've said from the beginning, what I thought of him as an offensive line coach.
04:26 We get those guys to believe in the plan, week in and week out.
04:30 To play young guys, to play new guys.
04:32 I think the complimentary part of the run game now is really starting to show.
04:37 >> Was the game plan to run the ball so much today, or
04:42 you just take it when they were giving it to you?
04:43 >> Yeah, I think in offensive football, you wanna be dictating.
04:47 You don't wanna sit back and say, well, they're doing this, so we have to do this.
04:50 You wanna be able to dictate what you do.
04:52 I can't stand the term reactionary.
04:56 I can't stand that on either side of the football.
04:58 We wanna be aggressive.
05:00 We wanna dictate what the other side of the ball is doing.
05:03 And whether that's throwing the ball, whether that's running off the ball,
05:06 it's having balance, being able to play with tempo, all the varied types of tempo.
05:11 But again, we're coming with a game plan, and
05:13 there's certain things we wanna be able to accomplish.
05:16 And I thought we were gonna accomplish those today.
05:19 >> These last two weeks, what area of your team are you most proud of?
05:23 >> All of them.
05:24 All of them, the scout team guys that are getting these guys ready each week.
05:28 They don't necessarily always get to make the trip.
05:30 The guys that no one knows their name.
05:33 The guys behind the scenes, everybody knows who the coaches are.
05:36 The support staff, the analysts, the GAs, the ops people.
05:43 People that everyone that you don't know who they are.
05:46 That's who you do 'em really, really happy for.
05:50 Those are the people that make the thing go.
05:52 If it's not for the scout team players during the week,
05:54 if it's not for the administration, if it's not for the ops,
05:59 if it's not for recruiting, everyone within the entire football department,
06:04 the organization, that's the people I'm most happy for.
06:08 >> And the way you guys spread the ball around, you had ten different receivers,
06:11 two really good tap backs.
06:12 It almost seems like there's an element of surprise when King takes off.
06:16 I don't think he was touched on either touchdown.
06:18 >> Really?
06:19 I'll have to watch and see.
06:20 >> Didn't look like it.
06:21 >> That's pretty cool.
06:21 >> [LAUGH] >> Hopefully they did their jobs up front.
06:25 No, when you're able to put the ball in so many different people's hands,
06:30 whether they're spread out, you're having to guard them on the defensive side.
06:36 There's a lot of option elements built into the offense that
06:40 aren't necessarily under center of your dive option.
06:46 But shout out to Coach Johnson and the things that he was able to do here for
06:51 so long, and to be able to borrow a page from his book and
06:55 just do it in a little bit different way.
06:58 >> Two things, one, were you playing with the field goal,
07:00 about next quarter after the quarter and a half?
07:03 Second one, this is the first time you guys have been over a couple of runs
07:05 since December, Paul's last game.
07:08 >> Last question, on to the next.
07:10 That's what we're worried about.
07:12 As far as the first question, we're playing for points.
07:15 We wanna be able to get points to play that middle eight of the game,
07:19 to know when we're getting the ball in the second half, to finish with points.
07:24 Yeah, that's what we're playing for.
07:26 We got right there, I think we were about the 40, 35 yard line, I don't remember
07:29 exactly, so we started getting right at that fringe field goal,
07:32 we might have been 32, I can't remember exactly where we were.
07:34 >> It was 33.
07:35 >> Okay, and so right at that fringe area of the field goal,
07:40 I think our end to half field goal line was at 34 today.
07:44 So we're right there at it, and we have one timeout left.
07:47 So we wanted to be able to run the play,
07:51 clock those down, bang the timeout, kick the field goal going to half.
07:56 He ends up breaking it and we end up scoring, so.
08:00 >> Rob, when you're talking about King and his ability to take it all the way,
08:05 you have two guys, Jamal Haynes and Singleton, I imagine,
08:09 whenever you hear their number 12, you have to feel back in your mind, hey,
08:13 this play has a chance to go all the way, how elusive they are.
08:17 And their vision, cutting ability, that type of thing.
08:21 >> Yeah, it's really any play, when Buster calls the play,
08:27 you don't necessarily always know who it's going to unless it's a definite run.
08:31 There's option elements involved, and there's RPOs involved.
08:34 There's a lot of people that have touched the football.
08:35 And so that's what we've gotta stay with,
08:38 we've gotta stay with our foot on the gas and continue to get better every week.
08:42 And we've got a tough stretch of the season, we really do.
08:45 And these guys, I think they're galling on us right now as a team.
08:50 You're next door, you're the excitement, but you work like you do six days a week.
08:56 And you only get 12 opportunities guaranteed in a season to come play and
09:00 do what you love.
09:01 I want these guys to have fun, I want them to celebrate and enjoy the moment.
09:06 >> Time for a couple more, Chad.
09:08 >> Did you see Coach Curry here today?
09:10 Did you use your insta-watch?
09:10 >> I didn't, I did not.
09:12 I looked up when we were getting ready to go out, and
09:14 I saw on the Jumbotron, I think, and I looked over at him, and
09:17 I imagined the game was rolling, so.
09:19 >> Okay, kind of wrap this up.
09:22 >> I guess just how you feel, you told us a little bit personally,
09:25 like after the game on Thursday, just tough games you played and
09:29 coached up here, but just how good does it feel to finally kind of get that
09:32 marking off your back and get to be here?
09:34 >> Yeah, it does.
09:35 It's pretty cool to come up to a place that you struggle with, but
09:38 it's more exciting for these guys.
09:39 It's more exciting for the players.
09:41 It's about the players, it's about the coaching staff.
09:43 Look, they didn't play here 25 years ago.
09:45 Me and Till and Winky are the only ones that have been up here 20 years ago, so
09:51 I'm more happy for the guys that are freshmen.
09:53 We can start something different in the legacy of Columbia.