In a hard-fought season opener at Folsom Field, Georgia Tech edged out Colorado 27-20 despite a rocky start. Head coach Brent Key candidly addressed the game, admitting the Yellow Jackets “couldn’t have played worse in the first half” with “self-inflicted errors” including three turnovers on the first three drives and multiple penalties.
  To make To make things worse, they lost their top receiver, Malik Rutherford, in the game’s first series.

   Yet, Key praised his team’s resilience, emphasizing, “we talk about playing the next play, next play, next play, and the resiliency of these guys really showed.”

   Key acknowledged the defensive challenges, noting the difficult adjustments with a new defensive scheme and the fast pace of Colorado’s offense early on. “There were communication breakdowns early on,” he said, but he admired how his defense “bowed their necks back and played good football down” late in the game. On the physical style of play, Key said, “I thought they played very physical, especially in the run game… Body blows are going to add up, and they’re going to accumulate.”

   Regarding the offensive line rotation, Key highlighted the importance of versatility: “That’s why I’m proud of them… I think we had, you know, seven or eight guys play on the O-line tonight… you got to be able to get guys experience.” He also credited the special teams for key moments, “Aidan has some big kicks that really kept us in there.”

   Reflecting on the winning touchdown, Haynes King’s late 45-yard scramble was a result of exploiting the opposition’s man coverage. Key explained, “When teams are playing man coverage… it really opens up a huge seam inside for that quarterback run, and that’s what happened.”

  Let’s be honest, though. Buffaloes Head Coach Deion Sanders has caught quite a bit of criticism for having the ball with a chance to tie and letting the clock run out with two timeouts in his pocket.

  “It was a good football game,” said Key. “We were able to come out on top. We got a lot of work to do. We want to get back and get ready for our next game.”

  That will be Saturday for the home opener against Gardner-Webb’s Runnin’ Bulldogs. Kickoff is 3:30 p.m.