As No. 7 Georgia Tech continues to rack up victories, coach Brent Key acknowledges there can be gratification from two different perspectives.
Key certainly is focused on his team’s long-term success this season, but he also wants his players to enjoy each win — a run he hopes will continue Saturday afternoon when the Yellow Jackets face Syracuse in Atlanta.
“The reward comes at the end of the year,” Key said earlier this week, “but there are small rewards within there each week.”
The Yellow Jackets (7-0, 4-0 ACC) have experienced plenty of those one-week rewards thus far, having rolled to an undefeated start that has included wins over Clemson, Wake Forest and Duke. Most recently, Georgia Tech topped the Blue Devils 27-18 as Haynes King accumulated 325 total yards and a touchdown and Omar Daniels returned a fumble 95 yards for a score.
Georgia Tech has won its first seven games for the first time since 1966. The team has four contests against unranked opponents remaining before a showdown with No. 5 Georgia on Nov. 28.
King has not thrown an interception since Week 1 and, while he only has four passing touchdowns this season, he has 10 rushing scores — at least one in every game — with four 100-yard rushing performances for the season.
In addition to King, who has a team-high 560 rushing yards, the Yellow Jackets have a solid running back tandem in Jamal Haynes and Malachi Hosley. The duo has combined for 816 yards and nine scores on the ground.
“Nobody (on our team) really panics,” King said. “Toward the end of the game, everybody almost kind of has that same goal, that same mentality that we’re going to will ourselves to win.”
While King continues to stand out for the Yellow Jackets, the Orange (3-4, 1-3) are searching for answers at the quarterback position. Steve Angeli is out for the year with a torn Achilles, leaving sophomore Rickie Collins under center — and it has not gone well.
Collins was briefly benched in last weekend’s 30-13 defeat vs. Pitt in a game in which he went 15 of 31 for 126 yards with three interceptions and two touchdowns.
“At the moment, Rickie’s our quarterback,” Syracuse coach Fran Brown said this week. “I just hope that it continues to get better. I hope that he learns more from this weekend and watching himself play.”
Syracuse has lost three games in a row, by a combined margin of 99-34. The team still has three more road games against ranked teams on its schedule, including Saturday’s contest.
“We’re gonna fight to the end,” Brown said. “This is when you find out who’s a real football coach and who isn’t and how the team responds, how the team continues to play.”
In addition to Collins’ struggles last week, Yasin Willis was limited to 16 yards on 13 carries. As a team, Syracuse managed only 212 total yards against the Panthers.
“We just gotta figure out and get ourselves out of this hole and finish the season strong for the guys that’s draft eligible and the seniors,” said Collins.
Syracuse and Georgia Tech have only met five times. Most recently, the Orange won 31-28 last season as Kyle McCord threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns.
