Could Georgia Tech have a turnaround similar to Duke's a season ago?

Duke went from 3-9 to 9-4 in one season after Mike Elko took over

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Aug 20, 2023 12:38 PM EDT

In this story:

Let's turn the clock back to 2021.

Duke Football started the season 3-1 but lost eight straight games to end the season and almost all of them in blowout fashion. Head coach David Cutcliffe had grown Duke into a solid program, which was quite a feat considering how bad Duke was before his arrival, but it seemed like 2021 would be his last season considering how the Blue Devils were playing for the past couple of seasons. Cutcliffe had been at Duke since 2008 but stepped away after the 2021 season after going 3-9. Duke was 102nd in the nation in total offense, averaging 22.8 PPG, and 127th in total defense, allowing nearly 40 PPG.

Duke turned the program over to Mike Elko, who had been one of the most respected defensive coordinators in the country at Texas A&M under Jimbo Fisher and at Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and Bowling Green before that. He hired Kevin Johns to coordinate the offense and Robb Smith to coach the defense and both were huge hires. Elko changed the culture of the program quickly and the results were not far behind.

The Duke offense made a huge jump and averaged 32.8 PPG, which was 32nd in the country and the defense saw an even bigger turnaround, allowing only 22.1 PPG, which was 31st in the nation last year. Duke won 9 games, including a blowout bowl win over UCF and if not for a close loss to North Carolina, this team would have been in the ACC Championship against Clemson. Elko did a phenomenal job and won the ACC Coach of the Year and the Blue Devils return a lot of starters from last year's surprise team and are expected to compete in the ACC this season.

So what does this have to do with Georgia Tech?

Is it possible that the Yellow Jackets could have a similar turnaround as Duke did a season ago? I think the possibility is there, but there are some differences in how they would have to get this done compared to how Duke did.

Duke quarterback Riley Leonard — Duke had a tremendous turnaround season in 2023
Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

I think that new Georgia Tech coach Brent Key could have a similar impact on Georgia Tech's culture as Elko did with Duke. It was apparent that Key had an impact on the locker room as soon as he took over for Geoff Collins after the first four games of the season. Georgia Tech was 1-3 and none of the three losses were close. In the first game as the head coach, Georgia Tech went on the road and beat a ranked Pitt team that would finish with nine wins. The next week, the Yellow Jackets beat Duke and a few weeks later, GT pulled one of the biggest upsets of the season when they went to Chapel Hill and took down 9-1 North Carolina and Heisman contender Drake Maye. The players bought into Key and his message and it showed over the final eight games of the season.

Two of the big reasons that Duke saw such a big turnaround were the impact of Johns as the offensive coordinator and the development of quarterback Riley Leonard. In just one season, Riley transformed into one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC, throwing for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns. He also ran for 699 yards and 13 touchdowns.

This offseason, Key made one of the most important hires of the offseason when he hired Buster Faulkner away from Georgia to be the offensive coordinator for Georgia Tech. Faulkner is going to have to turn around what has been one of the worst offenses in the country and help develop whoever starts at quarterback.

Georgia Tech currently has a quarterback competition going on between Zach Pyron, Haynes King, and Zach Gibson, and both Faulkner and Key have not given away much when it comes to who is going to start. Here is what Key had to say yesterday regarding the competition:

"I tell the coaches all the time and I tell the players as well that everyone in the program needs to know where they stand. That is the number one thing about being a football coach. Whether it be the head coach or the assistant coach. If you're playing, you better know why you are playing and if you are not playing, you need to know why you are not playing. There is no grey area in this program, it is my job to eliminate grey.

Now when it comes down to who is the starter or who is not the starter, that will be determined when we continue to go through our evaluation, just like we have since January 6th about what is best for this football team and once we know what is best for this football team, we will make a decision and you guys will know after that."

It's not just the offense that has to make a jump though.

While the defense did get better compared to where it was in 2021, there were still areas where there needs to be improvement. The run defense will have to be much better, as they ranked 117th in success rate allowed. The pass defense was solid and they should be one of the ACC's best again. The tough thing for the defense will be replacing stars such as Keion White, Charlie Thomas, and Ace Eley.

The thing that could prevent Georgia Tech from making a leap to nine wins though is the schedule.

Duke only beat two teams with winning records in 2022 (Wake Forest and UCF in the bowl game) and they took advantage of their schedule. Georgia Tech faces a much tougher road to winning eight games in the regular season with games against Georgia, Clemson, Ole Miss, North Carolina, and Miami on the schedule. There is a chance that Georgia Tech is a much better team on the field than they were in 2022 and they may not hit nine wins like Duke did a year ago due to the schedule that they play.

There are some parallels as to where both programs were at the start of their head coaches' tenures. Elko was taking over a program that was struggling and had fallen off under Cutcliffe, but because of smart hires on his coaching staff, his culture building, and player development at the quarterback position, Elko won nine games during his first season on the job. Key did well enough when he took over for Collins, who had a terrible tenure as the leader of the Yellow Jackets program

If Key made the right hire with Faulkner as the play caller and the quarterback position develops, Georgia Tech could be the surprise of the ACC just like Duke was last season. While the schedule is tough, there are winnable games on it. Louisville, Wake Forest, Boston College, South Carolina State, Bowling Green, Syracuse, and Virginia will be the games to judge Georgia Tech on, as they should compete and have a chance to win them.

Georgia Tech kicks off the 2023 season against Louisville on Sept. 1st at 7:30 on ESPN.

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