What Was Said: Brent Key, Georgia Tech on Georgia

Georgia and Georgia Tech square off in the 116th meeting of the Clean Old Fashioned Hate rivalry on Saturday at Sanford Stadium. DawgsHQ has had you covered from the Georgia side of things all week long. Here’s everything that Georgia Tech interim coach Brent Key and company have had to say about the Bulldogs this week before the big game.

Opening Statement

“We had a really good practice today after the win on Saturday night and it was good to see the guys come back out and have good focus and good energy going into the game this week after a really good game on Saturday. These kids played their tails off the entire game truly a 60-minute football game, you know to have the ups and downs within the game, it is really a testament to those kid’s character and how hard they want to play for each other and how much they love playing for Georgia Tech and be able to get the ball their at the end and close the game out, that is the way you are supposed to end a football game. It was a really satisfying win and I am really, really happy for those kids and the success that they are able to have.

It’s onto a new one this week. We have a huge challenge in front of us. We are playing the No. 1 team in the country in their place, you know they have a solid football team all around, he has done a really good job of recruiting and developing talent there. They have a good staff, they are coached well, they are in the right spots, good players and it will be a really good challenge for us. Excited to continue to get ready this week and get ready to go over there Saturday and play a football game.”

On what sticks out about Georgia

“They have a lot of good players. But it is not just a collection of good players, it is a collection of good players playing good football. They play sound, they play together, they do a good job of game planning and scheming week-to-week against a different opponent. Offense and defense, they are really sound on special teams and have a good kicker, able to control the vertical field position with their kicking game. 

Offensively, they have some really good weapons on that side of the ball that are unique to, that are really unique to college football nowadays, rarely do you see a group of tight ends that explosive and able to block and do the things that they are able to do. A good collection of running backs and they have some receivers that can hurt you.”

On Jalen Carter, the Georgia defense

“He is a tremendous player. You can put him in any scheme you want. He can play the block, he can go around the block, he can get caught in run down thinking it is pass or vice versa and still be able to make plays so he just has an uncanny ability to find the football and be around the football. He has a lot of God-given ability, but they do a good job of developing those guys as well within the program. 

Defensively, they are going to line up and they are going to do what they do. They are going to mix up between their mint front and their four down front, they are going to keep you honest by the way they stem the front and move pre-snap so they are going to keep you honest by the schemed four down runs or mint runs. At the end of the day, they are going to play sound football on that side of the ball.”

On the rivalry with Georgia

“Yeah I mean, 20, 30, 40 years, it is a rivalry now. It is two instate schools that have a chance to play on Thanksgiving weekend, that is what rivalry weekend is created for. There is a reason there is so much history behind it, between the legendary coaches that have coached in this game, the legendary players that have played in the game, from Coach (Vince) Dooley on their side to Coach (Bobby) Dodd, moving forward to Coach (Bill) Curry and Coach (Bobby) Ross, there have been legendary games that have come down to the end and just the history involved in it is probably something that people in our age get caught up in because we are old, but anytime you get the chance to play somebody on a Saturday that someone on the team, at some point in their life has grown up playing against each other, whether that be high school or Pop Warner, whether it be the recruiting trips that these kids get to know each other on, there is a huge sense of pride going into this game and compete against each other.

It is a game where… it is easy to say that this is the next game on the schedule, but its Georgia and we are Georgia Tech and that is why you come to school here to play in this football game and to be able to sit here and be able to coach in this football game, its an honor and I am dadgum excited to get these guys out there and playing on Saturday.”

On playing the No. 1 team in the country

“You know, it is just ten spots higher than last week. It is not hard. It is challenging, but it is who we are and what we do. It is the way you are supposed to do it, you can’t look forward. That is our message every single day. One play at a time for 60 minutes and once that play is over, you can’t do anything but learn from it, you can’t sit back and dwell on something that happened in the past, and you are wasting a lot of time where you could be doing something for the future and that is the way we go about everything. 

That is how I try to live my life, that is how the coaches try to live their lives and when you can be the example to these young men, doing what you tell them to do, there is going to be a lot more buy-in and it is an everyday thing now, it is an everyday way of life that we live here and when you can live every aspect that way and preach and ingrained into you core belief system, then you go out on the field and it happens. 

Now, it is not an overnight thing believe me, but that is the only way to play, it is the only way you can play and have any sort of sustained success. Yeah, you might have something here or something there, a good play here, a good play there, a good quarter here, and a bad quarter but inevitably, you are never going to play a perfect quarter every game. You are never going to have everything perfect go your way so you have to be able to put the bad things behind you and put the last play behind you, every play has a life of its own and you have to live it that way and be able to move on to the next.”

On Kirby Smart, their relationship

“Me and Kirby have know each other for 20-25 years. We played against each other, we were in school at the same time, him at Georgia and me here at Tech. We had played against each other and had mutual friends at the time that became friends. On the road recruiting against each other, together over the years and times over the summer where families would be together in the same area, same spots, same places so it goes back a long way. 

He is a good football coach. He has done a heck of a job at his alma mater and looking forward to going out there and going against him on Saturday. I have gone against him a bunch as an offensive line coach so you know… the things I have learned from Coach (Nick) Saban is an endless list. The organization, the accountability, the work ethic, the drive, the ability to put a lot more hours than you think you can into a day.

But to do that, you have to be very organized, you can’t be all over the place. You have to trust people, you have to trust the people on your staff, you have to have structure and then how to build a tough, physical, football team. All of those things are things I have learned from the coaches that I have worked for in the past.”