DUBLIN — At a school that churns out astronauts and engineers with astonishing efficiency, spontaneous moments of joy are easily attributed to meticulous preparation.
And that's why the bruising hugs, violent fist pumps and relentless emotion Georgia Tech unleashed on Aviva Stadium after beating No. 10 Florida State 24-21 on Saturday night in Ireland felt as much like a celebration as it did a culmination.
By beating a top-10 team for the first time since 2015, Georgia Tech kicked off the 2024 season with a huge upset, capped by Aidan Birr’s 44-yard field goal. It also provided the empirical tipping point for Tech’s growing ambitions.
For Yellow Jackets coach Brent Key, a proud alumnus and defiant believer in Tech’s forceful identity, all those dizzying moments of spontaneity were byproducts of a demanding plan — for both a game and a program — concisely executed.
“More than anything, seeing or knowing that so many people now see Georgia Tech and the style of football that we play, and it's not a gimmicky style of football,” Key told ESPN in a quiet moment after the game. “It's real. It's tough. We're going to build from the line of scrimmage. That's where you win games.”
Key's signature win in his second year as Tech's full-time coach was a former offensive lineman's fever dream. It was crafted with a determination that would make George O'Leary smile, featured enough quarterback runs to make Paul Johnson wink and conjured the familiar elements of big games reminiscent of Bobby Ross' glory days.
Victory on a foggy Saturday at the Aer Lingus Classic came thanks to the skillful execution of a game plan that produced 190 rushing yards, a play clock that ran like a podcast at 1.5x speed and a pressure cooker that demanded every possession be treated like a Fabergé egg.
There was star quarterback Haynes King, ducking his shoulder to gain yards so often that he ran the ball (15 times) almost as often as he threw it (16).
There was brash running back Jamal Haynes, lunging for a pair of touchdowns, rushing for 75 yards and finishing as the competition leader in turf stains and end-zone paint accumulated on his uniform, fitting badges of honor for a game of this nature.
And there was leading tackler Kyle Efford (10 tackles and a half tackle for loss), filling holes and pushing back the stacks.
“It means a lot,” Key said of the moment. “I love this place and I give everything I have to this program to try to make sure these kids have everything they need to be successful on and off the field. To see them have the success they had tonight is great.”
Tech came into the game with a classic underdog plan: run the ball, run out the clock and shorten the game. The quarterback running game has long been the sport's great equalizer, and the more things change in the sport, the more that will resonate as an eternal truth.
Tech basically made the second quarter disappear with a 14-play masterpiece that lasted just under eight minutes. If Key could find a way to capture it on a fresco, it would be framed and hung on a wall at Georgia Tech.
Yellow Jackets offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner delivered a masterful performance with a delightful array of moves and switches before and after the snap. Florida State's talented defense was caught flat-footed and confused for much of the night. But that innovative facade shouldn't take away from Tech's offensive line, which completely manhandled a Seminoles defensive line that stood with its hands on its hips for long stretches of the game.
Tech's determination and power neutralized FSU's individual defensive talent, which included two 2023 All-ACC linemen. FSU's starting D-line did not record a sack or TFL and had just one hurry.
On defense, Tech introduced seven new starters and a new play-caller, Tyler Santucci. He wanted to change the landscape frequently before the snap to fluster FSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, constantly force him into long passes and limit big plays. The Seminoles finished with seven possessions, 291 total yards and just 3.2 yards per carry.
“We're building this program very intentionally,” Key said. “We're building it with a solid foundation so it will last a long time.”
That’s a drastic difference from the Tech team that finished 128th in rushing defense last season. Those who followed Tech closely last year saw King’s potential, Haynes’ determination and the ways Faulkner could bamboozle a defense. But without a defense that played complementary football, it led to a team that was a bit of a tease, beating North Carolina, playing top-ranked Georgia to a one-score game in a loss and exploiting Mario Cristobal’s epic clock management error to get past Miami.
But it also lost to Bowling Green and allowed 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter in a loss to Boston College as consistency was unavailable without answers on defense.
“In the beginning, we learned how to not lose. Then we talked about learning how to win,” Key said. “The next step on this path is learning how to win consistently.”
The long postgame hug Saturday between Key and Santucci showed what's possible when you combine Faulkner's innovative offense and Key's tough-guy spirit with a solid defense. (Key has 16 former linemen on his team, great reminders of the program's commitment to the line of scrimmage.)
“That hug was just confirmation of what I already knew about Tyler,” Key said. “He said, 'Thanks for bringing me here.' And I said, 'Thanks for saying yes.' It's going to be a really good game.”
As for FSU, limited possessions and an influx of new faces make it difficult to draw any grand conclusions after its loss.
“The importance of every play in that game was monumental,” said Seminoles coach Mike Norvell, clearly frustrated by the limited possessions and short game.
The biggest scare in the long run was FSU's lack of explosion at the skill positions, something that will have to change. Perhaps the slick turf, Tech's superior schemes and the Seminoles' adaptation to a new identity have taken their toll and are issues they can overcome.
But as Georgia Tech moved the chains and stayed clear-headed about its identity, it was obvious which team had the better quarterback. That was King, who ran the game with his legs but also executed with his arm when he had to. On Tech’s other sensational drive of the night — an 11-play, 89-yard march to take a 21-14 lead early in the fourth quarter — King completed all five of his passes (including a 15-yard pass on third-and-12 to leading receiver Malik Rutherford to move Tech from a likely punt to a touchdown drive).
“Haynes is, without a doubt, the best quarterback in this league and I think he has a chance to be the best quarterback in the country this year,” Key told ESPN. “The great thing about him is he doesn't have to throw the ball or run the ball. He can do both and he's such an unselfish kid, and an unselfish player who puts the team first and does whatever it takes to win.”
King did just that, rescuing Tech from a disastrous fumble on a motion play gone wrong with a minute left. The 10-yard loss pushed Tech out of field goal range and looked like the kind of self-defeating play that could derail a near-perfect game plan from the first 59 minutes. But King kept his cool and found star receiver Eric Singleton for 12 yards on third-and-17 on the next play.
“You can't just say you have confidence in [your players] all week and then they fear they won't be able to do their job when the game is on the line,” Key said.
And that’s what Tech did, providing a painful reminder of how raucous college football can be in 2024. It also gives a glimpse of what Tech has been planning to become under Key.
“It's a big step forward for our program,” Tech athletic director J Batt said after the game, “but it's really where we belong.”
