A look back on a good season
Since Brent Key has taken over the football program we’ve had a few magical seasons to enjoy. 2024 had its fair share of blemishes but it still had that sparkle of fun that Brent Key has delivered since he arrived. As most of our writers are GT grads we usually focus on the numbers but I thought it might be a good exercise to recap last season based on fan emotions.
Pre-Season: Don’t Let Hope Fool You
The Pre-season for 2024 was a mixed bag of expectations. We were coming off of our best season in what felt like forever with a 7-6 record in 2023, so as a Georgia Tech fan I was feeling pretty good. Unfortunately, 2024 held a new host of challenges. We had a daunting schedule with FSU, Notre Dame, Miami, and uga; not to mention pre-season ranked teams like NC State and Virginia Tech who would not be easy opponents. I wanted to be hopeful, but I also knew there was a good chance we might not even make a bowl game. In short I was trying to not to fall into the great folly of all sports fans by believing we could actually be a good team.
Season Start: We’re Never Going to Lose Again!!!
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The season kicked off in Ireland and I was nervously watching the game from a hotel room in Seattle. To my shock we actually looked good, despite everyone except WWE champion Sheamus picking FSU. Defense had struggles but managed to contain FSU for the most part and our offense was running the ball effectively against what was supposed to be one of the best D-lines in the country. I was elated when we won, after all FSU was one of the best teams in the country so I felt we could put up a fight against any team.
Next week we played Georgia State at home and Sheamus actually followed us to Atlanta. The game was less lopsided than I had hoped. We needed some goal line stands and made some risky 4th down decisions, but things went our way when it mattered, and we won comfortably. The fans seemed ecstatic, Brent Key was a media darling, and we were ranked for the first time since the Paul Johnson era. I was willing to let my guard down and ride high for once.
Early Season: Reality Sets In
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The next road game against Syracuse brought me back to earth very quickly. Our defense could not stop Kyle McCord, and the offense couldn’t quite get the job done against Syracuse. At the same time became clear that FSU was not as good as the pre-season hype. It almost felt like 2 losses in the same week.
We did bounce back against VMI back on campus. We trounced a less talented VMI team, which was to be expected. It was nice to see us show our talent in a game we were supposed to dominate. It felt like a good win but didn’t do much to improve my mood.
Next week we lost on the road to Louisville in a game that had a few miscues which really hurt us. Unfortunately, it looked like Aidan Birr wasn’t nailing his kicks and the defense continued to struggle containing talented QBs. The Louisville defense also seemed to have a read on some of our screen passes which led to one big turnover that turned into a touchdown.
We came back home the following week and had a pretty good win against Duke. It was nothing crazy just a decent back and forth battle that Georgia Tech was eventually able to win. We were not where I had hoped we would be after the first 2 games but we were 4-2 going into the toughest part of our schedule so I was still feeling ok knowing we only had to win 2 games to make a bowl. Still, winning 2 games was not a guarantee considering the teams we had left to play.
Meat of the Schedule: Injuries Galore
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The UNC game on the road was the one matchup I really wanted us to win. As many frequent readers may know I hate Geoff Collins for what he did to our program. I was overjoyed to watch Jamal Haynes get that 68-yard run at the end of the game to win it for us against Geoff’s defense. The win did come at a cost as we suffered a few big injuries, including a shoulder injury for Haynes King which took him out of most of the game.
When it became clear that Haynes King was not healthy enough to play the games against Notre Dame and Virginia Tech, I basically wrote them off as losses. I knew Zach Pyron wasn’t a bad Quarterback, but I just didn’t have confidence in him the same way I did with Haynes King. The big frustration was that we were still suffering injuries which made me question if we would even be able to win 1 more game. NC State was pretty beat up too, so there was a chance we could beat them; but I had serious doubts about our chances against Miami and uga. There was a lot riding on the NC State game because if we didn’t win that one it would likely cost us a bowl game.
End of the Season: Brent Key Works his Magic
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I didn’t want to watch homecoming because I wasn’t confident that we could beat Miami. I was actually at an outdoor go kart course with friends in the early afternoon and when we finished up I checked the scores to find Georgia Tech ahead of Miami at halftime. I may have made my friends feel bad for being glued to my phone the rest of the game but I couldn’t help myself. Miami couldn’t stop our run game and we finally found a way to contain a talented QB. It was a trifecta, a ranked win to get us to a bowl game that we won on homecoming. It was all the sweeter that it happened against Miami because of all the jawing their fans did going into the game. That one felt good.
NC State at home was a little more stressful than it needed to be. The run game got stifled against the NC State 3-3-5 defense and our defense seemed so focused on stopping the long pass that they couldn’t stop NC State’s QB from running up and down the field. Regardless Philo led us to a win and Georgia Tech continued to own all teams from the Raleigh-Durham area. I felt good, this was all I could’ve hoped for out of the season, so I was a peace regardless of what happened the rest of the way.
COFH: 8 Overtimes
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This game sits in my craw. Based on past experience I never have high hopes going into COFH, but you always have that voice in your head that tells you maybe this will be the year. If you are any kind of Tech fan you know what happened, we dominated early but uga came back and eventually they had the talent to win the game. I have had multiple uga fans tell me since that game was played that they are taking the rivalry seriously now and that we should’ve won that game. Doesn’t matter what they think though, the box score doesn’t lie; we didn’t win that game and it sucked that our season ended like it did. It sucked because we were so close, but a combination of some bad penalty calls, a myriad of injuries/exhausted players, and some questionable offensive play calling at the very end held us back. It kind of cast a shadow on the season as a whole, which is disappointing because it was a great season.
Bowl Game: Meh
The bowl game had some of the same issues that the uga game had with strange penalties and injuries at the linebacker position hurting us against a QB who loves to scramble. I watched the game but turned it off around half time. I just couldn’t muster up enthusiasm for the bowl game after watching how COFH ended. We lost but we were already down on talent going into Birmingham so I was largely apathetic. Did I want to win? Of course. Was it going to bother me if we lost? Maybe a little, but I couldn’t get COFH off my mind so this loss just didn’t get the same focus. The fact that we just scored a top 25 recruiting class just before the game did help soften the blow.
Season Takeaways
As I said in the intro, 2024 had plenty of blemishes but it still felt like a good season overall. There were a few obvious take aways from the season that we can see without looking at the numbers.
- Injuries played a big factor. With how the schedule looked in the pre-season it’s crazy to think we had the opportunity to win more than 7 games. Obviously losing King mid-season had a big impact, but we also had injuries at the tight-end position, running back, linebacker, the defensive secondary, on the O-line… pretty much everywhere. You have to feel good that we still won 7 games with all of those injuries. I don’t know for certain that we would’ve beat Notre Dame, VT, or uga if we hadn’t had all those injuries, but it wouldn’t have hurt. While I can’t speak to their talent, Key has done his best to bring in extra depth at the positions where injuries were prominent last year. Hopefully those extra players will help as the season goes on.
- Home field has been an advantage for us. I don’t have exact stats on the farthest teams traveled for games last year, but we had to be in the running in our first 5 games with trips every other week to Dublin, Syracuse, and Louisville. Our team seemed to struggle with being on the road early but finally got their groove back when playing closer to home later in the season. We won all our home games last year which is a trend I would like to see continue. This season we play the majority of our games either in Georgia or in North Carolina so travel fatigue shouldn’t be as much of an issue.
- We can hang with any team. Despite the struggles the only games we were ever out of was the Notre Dame and Virginia Tech game. Even with injuries we found a way to hang around and make teams sweat. If we can’t win the game we’re still going to fight hard. Brent Key has got this team believing in itself and that is a big part of staying in games.
- Key has brought back the fans. People are excited again about our prospects and showing up to games. The media loves talking to Key and eyes are on our matchups even if it is just to see the opposing team. As noted above, we won every home game we played and I believe the fans showing up helped that significantly.
- When we win it’s because we control the clock and run the ball. While our defense improved, I still don’t think we can rely on them to win games for us consistently. If we are going to win we have to find a way to own the clock and run the ball for touchdowns so our defense spends as much time off the field as possible. As many people have noted, we may not have Paul Johnson as a coach anymore but we are still running a similar offense to what he would want.
Those are just some general thoughts. I’m not a stat guru so I’ll leave the numbers to some of our more analytical writers. Big take away from me is that it was a good season and it sets up well for this season. But those are just my thoughts, feel free to share how you feel in the comments below. Go Jackets!!!