Kirby Smart Praises the Job Brent Key has Done at Georgia Tech: "They've won games because they're playing good football"

Georgia Tech faces Georgia this Saturday at 7:30 on ABC

It's rivalry week in the state of Georgia. 

Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate is this Saturday and Georgia Tech will play host to the No. 1 team in the country. The Yellow Jackets clinched bowl eligibility last week and Brent Key has his alma mater back in the postseason for the first time since 2018. They are playing well, but they have their biggest challenge of the season ahead of them on Saturday when the Bulldogs make the trip from Athens. 

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart held his weekly press conference today and discussed how Georgia Tech has improved this year and his familiarity with Key and Yellow Jackets offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner: 

"They've won games because they're playing good football. No. 1, they've done a good job upgrading talent. He understands what it takes to win at Tech, what kind of players to go recruit. I think as he gets recruiting classes in there, he's not going to do anything but get better. But when you've got an offensive line coach as a head coach, you're going to have a physical, tough team. That's No. 1. Haynes King is like that. He's fast. He's athletic. We've got several coaches that came from the Texas area that talk about his athleticism in high school, and you see it on tape. Buster's done an unbelievable job with him, and he utilizes his entire skill set. These guys know how to run the football now. They are really good at running the football. They find best runs available, scheme runs, quarterback runs, unbalanced runs. Good backs, really tough O-line. It's a day's work when you go to play these guys with the way they play in terms of toughness and those things. That's what's allowed them to win is they have identity."

Kirby Smart had high praise for Georgia Tech today / Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports

Smart also would not say if he thought that Georgia Tech was the No. 1 rival for the Bulldogs: 

"Well, geographically, they're close, right? They're in our state. You're playing for something every time you play them because you're playing for a state championship. I think that's always important. They do a good job. It's the next opponent. You know, I don't rank them any higher than anybody else because I look at all the games as rivalries, and I let everybody else debate what's the highest. I don't get into those comparisons. A lot of respect for Brent and the job they do."

Georgia Tech has one of the top offenses in the ACC in terms of yards per game and rushing yards and Smart talked about that and what he thinks makes the offense so diverse and tough to stop: 

"I talked about it a little bit earlier. They have a quarterback that can run the ball, which gets you an extra hat in there. He's really fast and really athletic, who happens to throw the ball really well too, and he has speed on the perimeter. They've gone out and gotten some really good, fast receivers, some through the portal, some through the high school ranks that are playing at a really high level. They know what they're doing in the run game. They know how to attack you, where to attack you. They understand it and have good backs. Same questions you have against our offense. When you have people who know what they're doing, and they have good players doing it, they become really hard to stop. They are really good offensively."

Brett Seither transferred from Georgia this past offseason / Nathaniel Caudell

During the offseason, Georgia Tech brought in some transfers (as well as Faulkner) from Athens. Tight end Brett Seither has caught four touchdowns and Dominick Blaylock is the third-leading receiver for the Yellow Jackets this season. Smart talked about Blaylock today and though he plays in Atlanta now, had nothing but good things to say about the former Bulldog: 

"Selflessness. Probably the No. 1 thing that stands out. Toughness. He's such a great competitor. Dom's one of those that never says anything. He doesn't complain. He doesn't moan. He goes to work every day. He made some really, really big critical plays for us over the years, in terms of the stretch run, going back to his freshman year touchdown catches, all the way to last year making plays. He's just very dependable. You're seeing the same things there. They've got him returning punts and doing things offensively. You can see his value as a football player."

Smart also mentioned the fast start that Georgia Tech got off too last year against the Bulldogs in Athens and his familiarity with defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer: 

"I think Kevin, having worked with him before, we all know games turn on explosive plays and turnovers. You've got to find ways to get those. They've been really disruptive doing that. I know how hard Kevin and them work at it, just like we do. They've been able to capitalize on those things. That's big. Turnover margin is one of the biggest stats out there.

They had a good plan, they did a good job. They have good players. I thought they had a good plan. We didn't play exceptionally well early for whatever reason. They did a good job. You've got good coaches and good players. That's what you have to go out and defend. They certainly did a great job starting it off last year."

According to odds released by DraftKings, Georgia Tech will be a 23-point underdog against the Bulldogs this weekend.

The Yellow Jackets have not beaten the Bulldogs since 2016 and have not won against Georgia in Atlanta since 1999. Since 2000, Georgia Tech has only beaten Georgia four times. Georgia is currently 11-0 and just finished SEC play 8-0 with a blowout win over Tennessee yesterday.

The Bulldogs defense gets a lot of the attention (as it should), but the offense for Georgia is as good as you'll find in the country and Carson Beck is playing as well as any quarterback in the country. It is hard to find a weakness on this offense and it will be a big challenge for the Yellow Jackets to stop them on Saturday.

Brent Key and Kirby Smart before last year's game in Athens / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia leads the all-time series 70-41.

In Brent Key's first matchup against the Bulldogs last year, the Yellow Jackets played them much closer than anyone could have anticipated. Georgia Tech led 7-3 at the end of the first quarter and only trailed the eventual national champions 10-7. Halfway through the third quarter, the game was 13-7, but tight end Brock Bowers scored to take a 20-7 lead and the Bulldogs finally pulled away and ended up winning 37-14.

Since the day he was hired as the head coach at Georgia Tech, Key has made it clear that he wants to close the gap with Georgia:

"There is one thing I want everyone in this room to understand and everyone associated with Georgia Tech understands... There is an opponent in this state we will work 365 days a year to defeat. We will work 365 days a year to dominate. When we all wake up in the morning, we want to dominate our opponent. The feeling of dominating your opponent is like no other and whatever team is on our schedule, that will be our goal. That is what we will work towards every single day.

Players in here, understand that. That is our goal and that is our mindset. We have an opponent in this state that is included in that. For 365 days, we will work to dominate that opponent. Understand that."

ESPN's David Hale wrote an intriguing piece during ACC Media Days this summer about how Key wants to change the narrative of the rivalry and Key made some interesting comments:

"Is it annoying? Heck, yeah," Key said Tuesday of the Georgia accolades. "Kirby [Smart] has done a great job -- he has. And I told him, 'We've got to do something about it."

"What pisses me off is to look at lists of the 10 or 20 best rivalries in the country and, not to have [Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate] on there, that's bulls---," Key said. "But at the present time, they're probably right. So we've got to do something about that."

Offensive lineman Jordan Williams also talked about the rivalry:

"It really gets on my nerves," Williams said. "But rivals or not, they're the best. You've got to beat the best, and it's kind of a burn-the-boats mentality, stake everything on it. That's the place we want to be."

Key has pulled off several big upsets in his short time as the Georgia Tech head coach and they will get to measure themselves against arguably the best team in the country next Saturday night. 

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