Notre Dame plays Georgia Tech in two days, so I suppose we should talk about that with someone who knows something about the Yellow Jackets
Well folks, after a lovely 42-point win over the Stanford Cardinal last weekend, our 12th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team (yes, they dropped a spot after winning by 6 touchdowns, but that’s okay) is headin’ down to Georgia looking for some (Yellow Jacket) souls to steal. That’s right, after a few years’ hiatus from playing the team who allowed Rudy to record a sack, the Irish will reconnect with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday afternoon at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of the Atlanta Falcons.
The Yellow Jackets are a surprising 5-2 on the season, having upset then-10th-ranked Florida State in the season opener while also Georgia State, VMI, Duke, and North Carolina so far this year. The Jackets lost a close one to Syracuse and failed to pull out a road win against Louisville, giving them their two losses on the year.
But besides the above — which anyone would know if they just looked at the Georgia Tech schedule/results for the year — what should we as Irish fans know about this Yellow Jacket team heading into this matchup for our 5-1 Fighting Irish?
To answer that question, I reached out to another classic Q&A friend and recurring guest here at One Foot Down, Josh Brundage. Josh is an “Assistant Coach” over at From The Rumble Seat, SB Nation’s one-stop-shop for all things Georgia Tech. Per usual, he handled the strange set of questions I/the ND Twitter Folk put together for him with much aplomb, giving us great insight into the program as a whole, the strengths of the offense and defense, whether Brent Key would consider going by “Donald,” and much more.
So, let’s not waste any more time — here’s what Josh had to say about this Yellow Jackets squad.
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1. Following the Geoff Collins era where the team never finished a full season with more than 3 wins, Brent Key is now 16-12 as the Yellow Jackets head coach and has the team sitting at a really solid 5-2 record this year. What has he been doing differently to turn things around so fast, and what do you think the Georgia Tech program’s ceiling is with him at the helm?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: The laundry list of things Key has fixed / corrected from the Collins tenure is extensive, and it seems like every other press conference, something appalling comes out. Collins refused talented transfers at needed spots so that he didn’t “scare off” his guys, even though he constantly touted “competition is king,” for starters. Collins also had 4 punts blocked in 4 straight games, which Key corrected immediately the week he took over. Collins also had ghastly defensive lapses more than once a game, which has thankfully been largely corrected as well.
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
In a broader sense, Collins’ teams visibly quit when they got down. There was never a sense from players or the fanbase that Collins had a mentally tough team that could weather any sort of deficit, or any plan to attempt a comeback. The team under Key is much, much tougher. They play harder, they don’t quit, and they actually look competent in all 3 phases.
Collins had no sort of offensive identity, changed the scheme dramatically week to week, and basically tried to square-peg-round-hole the offense. In contrast, the offense looks wildly different under Key and OC Buster Faulkner. The 2024 offense runs off of zone reads, RPOs, and some deep shots to our very talented receiving core. They’ve been fun to watch this year.
2. Haynes King is a super fun QB to watch considering his running ability and gunslinger mentality, but he also always seemed like a bit of a wild card when it came to taking care of the ball. This year, though, he’s improved his completion percentage by 10 points vs. 2023 and has only thrown one pick. How has he been able to improve his efficiency this year, and do you foresee him struggling to maintain that against a very good Irish secondary?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: So King’s availability is an unknown for Saturday’s game. He’s been banged up the last couple weeks, and he sustained some sort of shoulder injury that resulted in him missing the end of last week’s win against UNC.
The biggest thing he has improved upon is not making bad decisions. He’s much more level headed when scrambling and isn’t trying to throw across his body or force the ball into traffic. He’s learned to throw the ball away or take short scramble gains instead of going for the big play. He also become much more adept at running our option and RPO game, which has added to his efficiency a lot as well.
Regardless of who is at QB for Tech Saturday, I would expect the Yellow Jackets to run the ball until Notre Dame forces the pass. Key is a former offensive lineman as head coach, and to his credit, he has no issue running the ball a dozen plays in a row until the defense adjusts. Third and long is not automatically a passing down by any means.
3. Who are the names to know on the GT offense besides King? Which guys could potentially give the Irish defense some trouble this week?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: First off, Jamal Haynes is an absolute monster at RB. He’s averaging almost 6 YPC and has 7 TDs to his name. He’s also adept at catching passes out of the backfield.
On the outside, Eric Singleton Jr is an absolute gamebreaker at WR. He was approached by several of the Top 5 programs surrounding us here in the heart of SEC country, but he decided to remain a Yellow Jacket. He averages a little over 13 yards per catch and is just nasty in the open field.
Also on offense, Malik Rutherford is our seasoned veteran who usually lines up in the slot. He’s one of the fastest players on the team and already has over 500 yards receiving on the season.
4. On the other side of the ball, which position groups on the Yellow Jackets defense are the ones you foresee making the ND offense’s life difficult? And which ones worry you as they face off with an Irish offense starting to figure a few things out?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: For the first time I can remember as a GT fan, the Yellow Jackets have a formidable front 7 against the run. They’re one of the top teams in the conference in EPA against the rush, and they’ve also largely been successful containing scrambling QBs. The Irish are a run-first team, so that will certainly be an interesting strength-on-strength to watch for this weekend. I think the Irish will have to spread the ball out more than they want to on Saturday.
For the things that make me nervous, as good as our LBs are in run stuffing, they’re both liabilities in pass coverage. If I know that, then I’m sure the Irish coaches know that from film review and will be quick to utilize seam and crossing routes to attack them. The Yellow Jackets have a veteran and talented secondary, but they can be picked apart by those midrange passes, like we saw in our loss to Syracuse.
5. FAN QUESTION: But seriously, was Rudy *actually* offsides?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: Yes, and he’s also a terrible person.
6. FAN QUESTION: I noticed that the Yellowjackets play on Hyundai Field. My Hyundai, like many others’, was stolen in the last couple years by the “Kia Boys” (they also target Hyundais). Is Georgia Tech afraid that their Hyundai Field could be a future target of the Kia Boys?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: I would just like Georgia Tech to continue to play on Hyundai Field?
I know we have this deal with Mercedes Benz to play one game per season there through next year, and it does make the athletic department a bunch of money… but between the Ireland game to open the season, a Thursday night home game, and this game at MBS, we only have 4 Saturday games at Bobby Dodd this year. One home game in October is rough.
7. FAN QUESTION: Many people are saying that 3000 pounds of sugar exceeds the solubility limit of a barrel of rum. This apparent oversight has left others wondering how a helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer could make a high school chemistry mistake.
Care to comment?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: Well if you read the lyrics to our fight song, we’re definitely not sober when using a bell clapper to stir together our barrel of rum and sugar… so I think we left some steps out of that recipe?
Fun American history note: the Liberty Bell is cracked because Tech fans tried to do this back in the day when we played at Temple.
8. Brent Key and Brent Pry — why can I not keep the two of them straight in terms of which is the coach of Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech? Would Georgia Tech’s Brent 3-Letter-Last-Name consider going by Donald instead, since that’s his actual first name? “Donnie Key” could be a fun nickname for him as well. Thoughts?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: He just doesn’t look like a Donnie or Donald. I feel like most people look like their names, and that man definitely looks like a Brent.
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
9. Alright, let’s get down to it — who wins, what’s the final score, and how do we get to that result?
Josh Brundage, From The Rumble Seat: With or without Haynes King starting, I think The Irish are a bad matchup for Tech. This series is historically very lopsided towards the Irish, and I think that continues. I think the Irish will be able to slow down the offense without King being at full strength and a running threat. The Yellow Jackets just don’t yet have the depth to keep up. I think this is a close game at the half, but Notre Dame pulls away in the 4th.
The Yellow Jackets still have both Miami and Georgia still on the calendar for this year. Between ND, Miami, and UGA, I think Tech gets a big upset in one of the 3… but I don’t think it’s this one. Notre Dame covers.
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Alrighty y’all, that’s gonna be it for this week. I want to give Josh a major shout-out for YET AGAIN agreeing to answer my ridiculous questions and always being a great, funny, and insightful sport about it.
I highly encourage you all to go over to the From The Rumble Seat site for all sorts of excellent pregame, mid-game, and post-game coverage of this battle between the Irish and Yellow Jackets — you may even find a Q&A with yours truly while you’re over there.
Furthermore, definitely give both FTRS and Josh some follows on Twitter — they do great work over on Elon’s hellsite and I don’t think you’ll regret tuning into their rapid-fire thoughts, feelings, analysis, and jokes for not only this game week but also the rest of the college football season.
Okay, that’s it for this week — as always, GO IRISH, BEAT YELLOW JACKETS!!!