Coach Speak: Georgia Tech's Brent Key on Georgia

Georgia Tech coach Brent Key met with reporters in Atlanta this week to preview his team’s matchup with Georgia. While DawgsHQ has had you covered with everything UGA coach Kirby Smart has had to say, we now take a look at the Bulldogs’ opponent’s head coach and what he had to say about Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.

Brent Key’s Opening Statement on Georgia…

“Big game coming up this weekend and yeah, it is a big game. It is not just the next game on the schedule, it is our in-state rival, it is a chance to play for a state championship, it is a chance to have bragging rights for a year, these kids grew up playing against each other and that is what makes it special, that is what makes in-state rivalries great so we are going to continue our preparation to play on Saturday night.”

Key on being able to beat Georgia three times in his playing career…

“It was tremendous. The feeling of winning that game and receiving the Governor’s trophy, to be able to… I have one in my office now, I want guys to see that and I want them to know what that is, I want them to understand the importance of this game. It is not just another game. When you come into the season, there is two goals. There is a goal to go to the bowl game and there is a goal to beat Georgia. We don’t come out and openly talk about what our goals are. That is why last week I began to talk about a bowl game because it is time to talk about it and now it is time to talk about another goal and that is to beat Georgia. Is your goal to win every football game? Yeah, it is to win every game, but our true team goals are to go to a bowl game and to beat Georgia. 

I said it in my opening press conference a year ago. We will work every day to beat the team on the other side of the state and that is what we have done.”

Key on if how lopsided the game has been has bothered him as an alum and how he sells the possibility of victory given recent results…

“To answer the first part of your question, you are damn right it does. Yeah it does. Rivalries are not one-sided, rivalries are competitive games between two games, that is what makes rivalries great, this is hands down one of the greatest rivalries in the country. Well, in order for that to be the case, outside of our scope, it needs to be competitive. That is on us, that is on us at Georgia Tech to be able to go out and compete for four quarters in a football game. 

As far as selling it to the team, we have another opportunity to play another game and our rival. If you have to do that, you have to have ice water running through your veins.”

Brent Key on how he convinces his team that Georgia is not invincible…

“Success comes from believing you can have success. Individual success comes from believing you are going to play a good football game, collective team success comes from believing you are going to win that football game. You can say all the politically correct things in the world that you want to say and try not to trip over yourself, but at the end of the day you go out and try to win football games, you play to try and win football games. When you believe you are going to win the football game, yeah, you have more success and you play well. When you don’t believe in that, you don’t play well. That is individually and collectively.”

Key on how much he can lean on Buster Faulkner because of his connection to Kirby and the staff…

“Zero. Zero. We have every game on tape they have played this year and every game they played last year. That is not something that takes place. They have good coaches, they have good players. We have good coaches and we have good players. We are going to put a game plan together and they are going to put a game plan together. You game plan off of film. Everyone thinks those things happen and they really don’t.”

Key on how valuable Dominick Blaylock has been for Tech this season…

“Yeah, we brought in four transfer receivers last year because we knew that offensively, we had to increase our production and become more explosive and become a more explosive offense. The quickest way to do that in college football is to have receivers that can spread the field horizontally and vertically and to have a triggerman that can get the ball to them and then his added value in the punt return game will be a big challenge this week so.

It has been great to have him, but Dom is a great kid. He is a guy that comes in and he does not say anything and just goes to work. To see what he has overcome in his career and to be able to have some success, I am really happy for him.”

Brent Key on how to try and contain Brock Bowers…

“I am usually pretty quick-witted… put three guys on him, I don’t know. Put one person on him and cross your fingers and hope things don’t happen. We will put a game plan together, they have a lot of explosive players on their offense, they have a quarterback that is doing a heck of a job this season, playing as good as anyone in the country right now. They generate explosives with a lot of different players, he is not just the only one. I think they have 40+ explosive plays over 20 yards this year, 48 if I am not mistaken in the passing game.

They have two running backs that are very quick and efficient runners, running backs that can take it the distance at any time, they can condense sets and be able to play bully ball and able to spread you out and go different motions and unbalanced and they have a really good play-action game so if you just focus on one person, you are really going to leave yourself open all over so it will be a big challenge for us this week.”