Obviously we don’t want the team looking ahead, but if I was Key, I would probably take one junior analyst and have them spend time over the next few weeks getting ahead on WF game prep. WF didn’t look great against Elon. We’ll see what they really are when they play Vandy next week. Unfortunately they play Old Dominion the week before our game; whereas we have to play Ole Miss so I am a little worried we will be more banged up. Plus we have to travel 2 weeks in a row. I think if this was a Collins lead team, those two factors would make us crumble. I think Key will have the team much better prepared mentally for the challenge. Regardless, we got a win this game to get that 6+ win season + bowl game.

What games will y'all be watching today?

Just got a three screen setup complete in the living room over here on the farm..

Colorado vs. TCU / UVA vs. Tennessee / Arkansas State vs. Oklahoma over here

Both fan bases are trailer trash but man I will be rooting for fsu to get blown out after the way they have treated the acc recently. I’m hoping for an embarrassment.

Is this the best QB position in recent conference history? Thinking about this with Clemson-Duke on the horizon tonight:

- Drake Maye might go #1 overall
- Riley Leonard is a Top 40 level prospect
- Klubnik might be the next Clemson stud?
- Jordan Travis at minimum is a great "run around and do stuff" college QB
- Tyler Van Dyke has elite talent, though he was bad last year and plays for a coach that figured out how to make Justin Herbert look ordinary.

Happy Labor Day, JOL family! It seems like it’s becoming harder and harder to find hardworking men and women these days, so here’s a cheers to all of you who bust your butt day in and day out to provide for your family and contribute to our society rather than leech from it. High inflation and changing job markets have made times a little tougher lately, but I want you to know that you’re appreciated and to keep grinding! Here’s hoping you get some time today to put your feet up, enjoy your beverage of choice, and be with those you love. Go Jackets!

This is the best rule of thumb after losing a game! It would save some of you from some dumb post! Like the one calling Key a stop gap last night!
We have some positive momentum with recruiting! Give the guy a chance-

Greetings from MBS

Very simple: this team is still very weak mentally. The defense relaxed after being up at halftime. Faulkner had a bad second half calling.

Brent Key is definitely the right choice, as he understands what it takes mentally.

-BK is year 1 of being a HC. Yeah he had an audition last season in which he did very well. However, he’s still a rookie HC.
-Buster is year 1 as a P5 OC.
-Thack Attack is year 1 with autonomy.
-Sherrer is our only truly experienced coach and LB play was not our kryptonite last night.

Our coaching staff is relatively green and we saw that last night. It will get better.

It sucks to lose a winnable game, but hang on and enjoy the ride. The positives outweigh the negatives last night and the switch will flip soon enough.

Things are heating up between Georgia Tech and four-star Ga. OL Elyjah Thurmon.
Login to view embedded media Thurmon has offers from all over the country, including Clemson, LSU, Missouri, and several others.

Thurmon and OL coach Geep Wade have a strong connection, and the idea of playing for the combination of Wade and head coach Brent Key has GT in a good place currently.

Thurmon is likely to visit for a game this month, and where things go from there, no one really knows.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 11 Georgia Tech volleyball earned its second straight top-15 triumph over a Big Ten foe with a 3-1 victory (20-25, 25-19, 25-15, 27-25) over No. 12 Ohio State (3-1) on Friday night in the Covelli Center. The Yellow Jackets (3-0) rallied after dropping the first set to run away with the final three en route to their 12th top-15 win and 30th ranked victory all-time.



The Jacket attack was spearheaded by the three-pronged front of Tamara Otene, Bianca Bertolino and Larissa Mendes. Otene and Bertolino both picked up their second double doubles of the year as Otene led the bunch with 16 kills and 14 digs while Bertolino added 14 kills and 10 digs. Mendes contributed 14 kills and five digs of her own, topping the squad with a .303 hitting percentage.



Sophomore middle blocker Liv Mogridge was a weapon from the service line as she racked up five aces, and senior setter Bella D’Amico orchestrated the attack with 34 assists.



Defensively, senior libero Paola Pimentel came one dig shy of her career high with 22 digs while junior middle blocker DeAndra Pierce added three blocks (one solo, two assisted).



In a tooth-and-nail match on paper, the White and Gold’s key advantage in the stat column was besting the Buckeyes in hitting percentage (.240-.199).



How it Happened

In a tightly contested first set, Georgia Tech created slight separation with six points in a seven-chance stretch to take an 11-8 lead. The Yellow Jackets charged on, using another three-point run to move further in front, 16-12. Ohio State bounced back soon after, rallying to take 11 of the final 14 points and turn the tables to steal set one, 25-20.



The second set was back-and-forth once again as the White and Gold used a four-point burst to take a 12-10 lead. Tech didn’t surrender the lead from that point on, maintaining distance with a pair of three-point runs to roll on to a 25-19 set-two win and tie the match.



The Jackets controlled the third set from start to finish, beginning with a six-point burst to move ahead, 7-1. Another six straight expanded the gap to 15-6 before Tech took set three by double digits, 25-15, for a 2-1 match lead.



The fourth set mirrored the third in the beginning as the White and Gold once again jumped out to a 7-1 advantage. Potentially down to their final set, the Buckeyes retaliated by steadily climbing back until moving in front, 13-11. Ohio State built up its lead to five at a 21-16 score line, but the Yellow Jackets ped back. Using a five-point rally soon after to knot the match at 23 all, Georgia Tech took four of the next six points to clinch set four in extra points, 27-25, and secure the match victory, 3-1.



Up Next

Georgia Tech will line back up against Ohio State for a rematch with the Buckeyes on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the Covelli Center. The match will be broadcast on B1G+.

Good Morning my fellow Ramblin Wreckers'. I thought it might be fun to do a top 10 list of Embracing the Suck from last nights game. Pretty much have to laugh to keep from crying at this point.

But first I thought I would share a couple of my awesome dad jokes from the game:

What do you call a GT team that scores 28 points in one quarter of football?!!

- Fools Gold

What One word would you use to describe seeing Megatron on the sidelines last night repping in a GT shirt and talking about community service on TV?

-Dope!

What's the one thing you are guaranteed to see at every GT football game?

-An empty upper deck

So cool to see GT's entire OL convert to Christianity last night in the 4th quarter. Wait,,,, Wut????

-Yeah, they were extremely Holey



Moving on..... Top 10 List of WTF happened last night.....

1) 28 points in one quarter of football, holy FU*K!!
-I felt like I was watching the glory days of Fridge being our OC. UGA fan's were kicking themselves for letting Buster leave Athens, we were well on our way to making the playoff's and playing for the Natty!! That was the greatest offensive outburst I have seen in like.....forever!! Move over Clemson, there's a new sheriff in town!

2) Brent Key's Version of "TUFF"
- Coach has been preaching toughness all damn spring, all damn summer, for over a year now. George O'Leary this, Nick Saban that, tough as nails..... mental toughness, physical toughness, we will practice in 1000 degree heat and melt like butter to mold our men into the toughest SOB's in football so when the 4th quarter rolls around the game will be EASY. Yada yada yada....coach. 4th quarter rolled around and we were softer than a baby's bottom. Good grief, that was sad. We crumpled like a lawn chair and looked like a sweet little fawn staring in the headlights as a coyote is about to gobble it up. Opposite of "TUFF" coach......talk is cheap- this was a page from Scooter Collins, not GOL or Saban. The offense folded when we had a chance to take the lead back late in the 4th and gave up a bone crushing sack that I'm sure Haynes will still be feeling this morning. The Defense folded like a lawn chair the very next play and gave up a 75 yard run, untouched up the gut.....SMH.. Same ol Crap, different players, different year

3) The Corner Backs......Yikes!!!
- Kelly alluded to this being a potential weak spot of the defense. Turrible,,,,,absolute trash. I'm guessing Spider is still hurt. One CB got juked two plays in a row in the 3rd quarter and gave up a TD. This swung all the momentum back to the Cards. I think his jersey # is the same as the # of plays he got torched on that drive. We in trouble at this position, like Big Trouble in little Atlanta.

4) The OL
- Damn, just damn! Same ol same ol bunch of Christians with this crew, Holey as Sh*t!!! I guess, I had my gold colored glasses on thinking we would be serviceable this year, which would be a huge jump over last the 5 years. Geep must be serving that Swiss *****ng cheese to all his fat boys for lunch everyday..... what do you expect with a true freshman playing OT 75% of the game and a walk-on still being one of our best OLs? Very disappointing, Hayne's going to be getting he clock cleaned all year. I will have nightmare's of that 4th quarter sack that led to our demise for years to come.

5) The DL
-Marco.....polo. Marco......polo. Marco......where in the hell did the D Line go go? I thought this would be a strength for us this year. Talent and depth is what I was hearing all fall camp. Back to the drawing board, this group did NUTCHING last night. Jack Plummer is an avg. QB at best, we couldn't get any pressure on him.

6) Special teams are still VERY Special
- 32 yard FG, thirty two freaking yards.... that's High School junk. 90% of high school kickers make that FG. It's shorter than an extra point kick in the NFL! That was our chance to take the lead back up to 8 points. I hate to say it, but I 100% expected him to miss that FG. Scar tissue, bad mojo, whatever--- I had zero confidence we would make a kick that matters. Sad, sad, sad.......new Special Teams coach- same f*cking result. UNACCEPTABLE. He's a great kid, but please tell me the other Scholarship Kicker that we recruited is better than this and can make a 32 yard chip shot.
Punt Return game....I get it, ball control is #1, but at least have someone back their that can try to make something happen. We are no threat to any team of ever returning a punt for a TD. We don't even try....frustrating.

7) Buster's Second Half Play Calling
WTF Buster.....it's a tale old as time.! You can't just call plays to control the ball and protect the lead in the second half!!! We got nothing to lose, keep letting it rip! That second quarter, HOLY F*CK......I was having flashbacks of Ralph calling plays on our run to the Natty in 1990. Ugag fans were weeping and gnashing their teeth at letting Buster slip through their hands and out of their program, this is the stuff dreams are made of and then.........you Crapped the Bed Brah'. I hope he learns from this. I wanted to chunk my drink at the TV every time we ran the ball up the middle in the second half on first down for 1 yard, putting us in 2nd and long for most of the half. We went from Sugar to Sh*t in heartbreaking fashion.... keep calling the same damn game plan that you called in the 2nd quarter. Holy crap, that was a thing of beauty.....I kept telling myself at half time....please don't go conservative , please don't go conservative . Damn, just damn.....tale as old as time.....same ol crap, different coach, different year, but same ol GT stuff.

8) Big Game to Start the Season- NO GRACIAS !!
I am probably in the minority here, but I am sick of playing these hard ass opponents in our first game most years. If we actually won one every now and then, I would be ok with it. But this heart breaking crap in the Benz against the VOLs and Cards....no thanks, I'm good on this schtick. Blow outs to Clemson to open the season, no thanks- I have seen enough of that. Next year in Ireland against the Noles..... nah brah,..... no mas, uncle, please make it stop. I am sick and tired starting off in the hole 0-1 every year. We aren't at a level to win these games just yet. It's not being a puss to pass on these games. We need to build our program back up. J Batt needs to change our scheduling agenda and throw us a bone. We need to start scheduling like Wake, NC State, Syracuse for the time being....give us some cupcakes the first two games of the year.....get to 2-0, build some momentum, get your mojo going, then unleash hell, not right out of the gate......we lose those games every F'ing time. Been there, done that,,,, just stop.
Schedule someone like the Citadel or NIU

9) First Pass of the Year
WTF, I know it was a batted ball, but that was a bad omen from the start. Second year in a row our first pass of the season is picked off in the Benz. Ugh, barf, sickening,.....we are Georgia Tech..... WE CAN DO THAT! I just shook my head, and almost expected it. Different player, different year, but same odd start in the Benz. That's all I have to say about that. Maybe next year in Ireland we can just throw one out of bounds on purpose for our first pass to get rid of some of that bad mojo.

10) INJURY BUG
Fudge,,,, that damn injury bug was ALL over us last night....like a mig all over Iceman. I'm terrified to find out who all is banged up after last night. All that talk about having this amazing new strength coach and bodies being transformed in the off season, we TUFF now. Yikes, please leave us alone injury bug, leave us I pray to the football gods. We had key people missing all over the field on both sides of the ball last night. I think we came into the game banged up and then it just got worse and worse as the game went on,


All this to say, last night was a TUFF pill to swallow. I am not giving up on this team, it is what it is, new year, new staff, new players, and unfortunately a very familiar result. It's all good though, since we aren't a result oriented team....see y'all next week!
GO JACKETS!!!

Fire away

Let's do this.

You've got questions. I've got (some) answers.

Ask away

I'm up in Bowling Green, KY helping out my USF site today and scratching off another CFB stadium from my list #41 today.

Anyway, I'm standing on the field watching warmups and Rodney Howard is standing in the end zone. Great to see him. He took 22 hours this summer to finish up so he could grad transfer out. He also said what every else thought they hated the Princeton offense.

I hope he does well at WKU. He watched the football game last night and is still a huge GT fan even though it wasn't a fit to stay with Damon here.

Q. How much of a monkey wrench did it throw in the plans when LaMiles goes out? And obviously you and Clayton have played together in practice, but both of you guys have chemistry with LaMiles. I'm curious what it was like playing with him kind of for the first time for most of the game?

JAYLON KING: I think me and Clayton were able to build a lot of chemistry last camp, spring and this past camp. It's just the first time we were able to step on the field and actually show that.

But LaMiles going down kind of changed a couple of our game-plan things in certain down-and-distance areas of the field. So we had to adjust to that.

Q. With some of the changes you had to make in the second there, what was the communication like out there?

JAYLON KING: Some of us were in different positions that we haven't got as many reps at. So we had to overcommunicate to make sure that we got the right rotations, right cover downs, things of that nature.

Q. I'm sure the defense -- you guys were feeling pretty confident as you left the field at halftime. Was there a point in the second half where you just felt like things were kind of spinning out of control a little bit? Or when did you kind of start to feel things were slipping?

JAYLON KING: I felt like we kind of got sloppy in the second half. I wouldn't say it was scheme. It was more tackling and containing the quarterback in the pocket. There was times where he got out of the pocket and was able to pick up a little more yards than we wanted him to make, a couple of throws that we should have had bottled up.

Open-field tackling, that wasn't our best performance in the second half. So I wouldn't say it was anything that we couldn't control. We have to come back this week in practice and do more practice and do contain drills.

Q. Jaylon, you guys did hold Louisville to 1-of-11 on third down. Is that something you guys can build on moving forward into the season? Or if not, what's something you can build on?

JAYLON KING: I would say yes, that's something we could build on. That most definitely exceeds our goal for third-down conversions. It's just getting them into that third-down range now, knowing that we were able to be successful on third down, not letting them get first downs on first or second down, and making them have to go for it on third.

Q. Obviously this puts you guys in a hole to start the season with an ACC game, and starting off 0-1. What was the mood like as a team? And as an older guy how do you get everyone refocused quickly after this game?

JAYLON KING: Mood as a team, disappointed. Yeah, disappointed. I feel like we made the mistake of thinking we had the game at half. So once that outcome changed, we were really disappointed. That's really the biggest thing.

And our biggest takeaway from that is going into the games now we get to a hot start, the game isn't over until it hits all zeros at the end of the fourth quarter. Can't be satisfied at halftime what the score is; just gotta stick to the plan, execute.

Q. On that last play where Jordan broke the long run, do you feel that specifically, do you recall what happened with that particular play?

JAYLON KING: Yeah. Strong rotation. CP made contact with the running back. As I was working downhill, I thought he made the tackle. I made the assumption that another player made the tackle instead of continuing with the play. And once I saw he got loose, it was too late.

COACH KEY: Disappointing loss. Always disappointing when you don't come out on top, when you work to -- only get 12 chances a year to get these opportunities. So credit to Louisville and their staff. They did a good job of really making a couple of adjustments and sustaining us in that third quarter.

Did a good job with the field position in that quarter and we were really behind the 8-ball on the field position battle by the third. Ended up being a big factor in what we did.

A lot to build off of in the game and a lot to learn from. We will learn from it. And that's our job. Margin of error is small. It's very small and gotta be able to sustain for the entire game and get into the third quarter and be able to continue.

And, hey, look, you come out and they go down the field. We've got to be able to answer. We've got to be able to go three-and-out, come back the next drive and rebound from it.

I thought that's what happened in the second half. We got kind of spotty in some of the area of play -- all phases. It wasn't one phase. So it was all phases. We've got to continue to improve on.

Like I said, we'll learn from this. We had a lot of new guys out there. They played a lot of meaningful downs tonight, a lot of downs. A lot of them had some big plays made by some new guys out on the field.

It's encouraging when those guys can go out and do that. But at the same time we've got to be able to do it for the entirety of the football game.

Really those middle downs, you look at things and say, third quarter -- I'm sorry, the third downs or this or this, but it's the first and second downs that you've got to be able to make the plays on.

They got ball on the perimeter some and broke us down. We'll improve on that. We'll work on that and be ready to come back the next week.

As I said, we'll learn from the things that we've got to learn from and build off of things we can build off of.

Q. Offensively it seemed when Haynes had time back there, he threw the ball well. But the second half, their defensive line really put a lot of pressure on him and that really hurt the offense.

COACH KEY: Yeah, it usually does. Early on, we had a couple of breakdowns in things. I thought Buster did a really good job of adapting with some of the play calls and what we were doing.

You get in some of those situations we're looking at dialing up some shots and get the ball pushed down field. And obviously those take longer.

Like I said, some young guys got out there and got some meaningful downs, and we'll learn a lot from it. That's my job is to make sure we make the biggest gains from that first game to the second game.

Q. Secondary got banged up a little bit there in the second half. Any update on guys like LaMiles Brooks and those guys?

COACH KEY: Not until tomorrow. Tomorrow we'll find out, get the injury report.

Q. Take us through that fourth quarter with a little bit less than four, you went for it on fourth-and-6. What was the decision on going for it instead of letting the defense have a chance at it?

COACH KEY: Just the flow of the game at that point. They had broken off some big plays. They were racking up explosives at that time. When you look at the momentum of the game, flow of the game, we had to be able to get something done there.

The way the clock runs now it's 3 minutes, 46 seconds on the clock, when that time was, and that's not something that you decide at the spur of the moment. It's something you decide early on in the downs.

It's not a drop of the hat and say, let's go for it. That's something you decide early in the downs by the flow of the game. There's 3 minutes, 46 seconds on the clock. The way the clock runs, that 3:46 isn't like 3:46 used to be. It goes a lot faster.

We need to make our hay. We knew what type of coverage they'd be in. We had it called up, and unfortunately weren't able to execute on the play.

Q. I was curious, missed tackles seemed to really to bite you guys at times especially in the hole on some of those big running plays and in space. They took advantage of opportunities. Was that something that you saw leading into the game, there was a concern or just jitters or anything in particular you can put your finger on with missed tackles?

COACH KEY: No. Anytime you get guys in space, that's what college football is now. It's the battle of explosives. I think they won the first quarter. We won the second quarter. They won the third. That's how it went back and forth.

That's how explosives occur. Either somebody gets beat on one-on-one on a route, some sort of a route or somebody gets broken down one-on-one in a tackling situation. And they were able to execute in those situations.

It's one of these things that we'll learn from and we'll continue to address and work on and get better this week.

Q. What stands out? Second quarter remarkable turnabout and the productivity was off the charts. Was that better execution? Was that adjustments? Was that a personnel change for Georgia Tech? 28 points in the quarter.

COACH KEY: Yeah, no, it goes with the tempo of the game, the flow of the game. When you're playing with tempo and when you get those explosives and you're able to really kind of put your foot on them, momentum starts rolling.

And when you're playing with tempo, it's a double-edged sword because it affects both sides of the football. And our whole thing with tempo is being able to play tempo that complements the entire football team, not just one side of the ball.

We were able to get in the rhythm there. Come out in the second half, and unfortunately that first series we weren't able to get into the rhythm to get the tempo going. And later on we were able to get some tempo moving. It's all how it's set up. But the efficiency on first down really allows you to be able to get into that rhythm.

Q. This week you were talking about you wanted your team to play with poise and be physical and situational football. There were some things in the fourth quarter, I'm sure you feel better about, but overall how did you feel just about the play of the team in that quarter?

COACH KEY: It's hard to say you feel good about anything when you come off of a loss like that. It really is. That's our job is to find the things that we did well and continue to do them well, and find the things that we did not do as well and improve on those.

I don't have the sheet in front of me but I think it was one or two penalties. We challenged them constantly to play with discipline, continue to make improvements in that and situational things. Some were good and some weren't.

It's both sides of the football, all around. Toughness, I think to the last play, I think guys were playing hard. But there's no trophies for playing hard; it's just part of the equation of being a good football team.

Q. You've spoken often about the process of establishing your identity. I know you were able to do that in the offseason and into camp. But after one game, what's the identity that you feel you guys showed tonight?

COACH KEY: I mean, our identity was in spurts. We had flashes of an identity. We had flashes of the team we want to be.

And that is part of the process. When you put things on tape and you show who you can be, you need to be that. You can't part-time do it and that would be a big part of the lessons learned from the game.

For improvements, the biggest improvements, they're supposed to occur between the first and second games because now you have a good feel for how your team competes against another opponent, not just themselves. So we'll take those things and move forward with them and continue to improve into the next football game.

Q. During the week you also said you wanted to see how your team would respond in an adverse situation. When things seemed like things started getting out of control a bit in the second half, I was wondering from your viewpoint on the sideline what you saw?

COACH KEY: It's something you watch closely. You watch the feel of your team, how your team's responding to things. Are they getting down? Are they moaning at each other?

And there was none of that. It was okay, hey, we've got to fix this, we gotta get out of the rut. How do you get out of the rut? We help them with some play calls and do some things. Which I thought we did.

Offensively after the first two drives in the second half, then we started to get back into the rhythm. You saw the ebbs and flows of the game. You saw the positives of what can be there with those guys.

It would be real easy when all of a sudden, when there's a quick run of points like that, just to give up and throw the towel in. But I didn't see that at all. That's an encouraging thing that we'll have to continue to build off of.

Loser programs find ways to blow 15 point halftime leads. All of this talk about being tough - eff that. I believe it when I see it. We have a soft as eff OL that he coached for the last 4 years. They didn’t tackle well and didn’t block.

Stop anointing people before they’ve proven anything. 4-4 as interim coach doesn’t mean shit.

It’s so frustrating to see a kicker presumably win a competition over the summer, and then contribute to a loss in week 1.

Both of those FG were makeable. Either 1 would have further tipped the scales in our favor.

Then we almost got a punt blocked. Other aspects of special teams looked average, but nothing’s going to scare opponents right now.

I wish ESPN would have shown a replay of the missed FG to end the 1H. I swear it looked good. Especially important with Louisville getting the ball to start the 2nd half.

New thread to share ideas with J Batt to help the football program grow. This is NOT a complaining thread. This is a constructive brain storming idea thread. Positive, not negative.

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