Here is everything I gathered from Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key's comments about the Miami Hurricanes in his interview :
Q: I think we talked about this a little before, but the 3rd down conversation is 59%, what do they do on the third down that makes them so successful?
BRENT KEY: "It's really interesting when you look at them. I think first quarter games this season, I think they're about 80 % efficient on third down, third quarter efficiency. I mean, I think they're 75 % efficient on third down, fourth quarter 71 %. Second quarter down like 30 %, so there's some interesting things in there, probably just you know the stroke of luck or no luck for them, but it's interesting how it's played out every game like that you know they do they do a good job you know I think they have a good you know opening plan coming out yeah They do a good job at halftime, obviously, of adjustments. And it shows within that kind of breakdown I'm talking about. But they can run and throw. They can run it. They can throw it. So in the more manageable, shorter distances, they can run the football. They have all the weapons. They go along with it to get the ball in space. If the box is loaded, if they have success, right does a good job of using the time on the clock. I mean, they're leaping. I mean, they have about 34 minutes of time of possession right now, but they get to the line of scrimmage right away. And then they allow the quarterback to be able to really see what's going on, communicate, freedom to check some things at the line, but then they'll get up to the line at the same time And then snap it right away on a tempo play. So we got to be set, get our call in, be ready to go. And then sometimes it's a little bit of a waiting game until he makes the decision or the final check or whatnot. But it all goes within the flow of how they go. And then you get to a longer down in distances. Like I said, they have dynamic receivers. They have really good receivers. They're good with the ball in their hand. They're sure-handed, but then once the ball's in their hand, they can go."
Q. Their quarterback, Cam Ward, does a really good job extending plays when it breaks down how challenging is it to face a quarterback like that?
BRENT KEY: "Yeah well, it's challenging, it's exciting too. Like I said, he is probably the leading Heisman Trophy candidate right now. I mean, They don't just hand those suckers out, but he does. I mean, I think in the Duke game, he had 11 scrambles. Two of those 11 converted for touchdowns. I think Duke did a nice job on a lot of the other ones, but two out of 11 around, two touchdowns. So that's where you have to be careful. They do a good job of continuing to stay active at receiver to layer the field in front of the quarterback to give him places to go. He does a good job of while he's running around and moving, of looking away. So you can't really follow his eyes and see where he's looking, because he will look over here in the last second and whip it over to the other side. So we have to be disciplined. We have to keep everything in front of us on defense, which is challenging to say because you look at him sometimes with all the free-access throws they have and you want to jump up and press them. At the same time, he gets those crazy scrambles and you've got to keep it in front of you and tackle the ball. You've got to be disciplined with our cadence and we've got to be sure tacklers. We do have to be sure tacklers. He breaks a lot of tackles in those scrambles. He goes left, goes right, pops up the middle, and then by the, you know, some of them, you're talking eight, nine, 10 seconds, some of these are the last."
Q. They have been in their fair share of close games they had a couple of late-game comebacks and everything... What is it that they do that makes them so successful?
BRENT KEY: "I think there's obviously a confidence level there. I think that they're confident in the quarterback, confident in his ability to make plays. They're confident in their team that once you win a couple of those, it becomes contagious and you keep going. So, you know, but they have, they've been some close games and they found a way to win and that's the mark of a good football team because they've, it's not like they've won half of them, they won them all. They scored more points in the fourth quarter than they have any other quarter so It's a four-quarter football team. We got to play four quarters."
Q. So with the underdog mentality, how do you toe the line in expressing your guys to just how good Miami is but also still in believe that they can go out there and still get it done
BRENT KEY: "Yeah, I would not have sit up here and said this about what Miami is. If I was worried about that, I mean, they turned the tape on. They're smart kids. We have smart guys on this team, smart, you know, smart people, graduate from Georgia Tech. They turn the tape on, and they see the same thing we do. I mean, there's no sugarcoating and hiding things. That's when they start seeing through you as a coach when you do that. So it's, I stand up here and talk about the opponent. We watch films on how we're going to attack the opponent in certain ways. But everything from here, it's about us. It's about preparing us to be the best we can be, to develop our team, the best we can develop our team, and be able to play to the opponent that we have that week."
Q. How similar is his approach to Mario Cristobal's, who is also an offensive line coach
BRENT KEY: "Yeah, there's a lot to it. Obviously I'm not inside the walls every day, knowing Mario, you know, his mentality, knowing his personality as a coach, having had the opportunity and the pleasure to work with him. Good man, you know, believes in a lot of the same core values in a football program that we do here. So, you know, those are the guys you cheer for, you know, when it's not your week playing them. You know, you really do, you know, It's the guys out there that you think are building the programs the right way. And went through some adversity and he's continued to push forward and believe in his process and in his plan and it shows on tape."
Q. Your quarterbacks have done a pretty good job at decision-making and cutting down on interceptions... You're facing a secondary that has 13 interceptions. How important is the decision making going to be in this game?
BRENT KEY: "Yeah, and that is something I thought, you know, Haynes has done a tremendous job of really improving on some of those things from a year ago. And, you know, the quarterbacks that they've done, they have, they've done a good job of that. They understand that, you know, to reserve the right to kick, to kick. You don't have to always force the ball in there and make the play because it's one thing in practice, but then week to week, you can watch the table all you want, but the team's speed changes every seven days of who you're going against. So where you might have fitted in one week and then also now a guy's a tenth of a second faster, it's not going to fit in there as easy. So we've got to be smart with football. They are a very good football team on sudden change. When they get a turnover, their production offensively is through the roof. It really is, so we've got to be really smart. But that really goes every game. Take care of the football. Don't do things to beat yourself. Limit explosives, gain explosives. Those are things that are really the huge factors in when you lose a college football game."
Q. On if last year's ending to the Miami game affects this game at all?
BRENT KEY: "Man, way unrelated. Way unrelated. I mean like... It has zero, absolutely zero bearing on this game, on this football game. None. You know, teams were built, rebuilt each year, you know, for better or for worse, and you know, you look at them and there's so many new faces on their team, so many new faces on our team, so no there's no effect one year to the next."
Quotes from Jackson Caudell of All Yellow Jackets on SI, you can find him on X HERE:
Q: I think we talked about this a little before, but the 3rd down conversation is 59%, what do they do on the third down that makes them so successful?
BRENT KEY: "It's really interesting when you look at them. I think first quarter games this season, I think they're about 80 % efficient on third down, third quarter efficiency. I mean, I think they're 75 % efficient on third down, fourth quarter 71 %. Second quarter down like 30 %, so there's some interesting things in there, probably just you know the stroke of luck or no luck for them, but it's interesting how it's played out every game like that you know they do they do a good job you know I think they have a good you know opening plan coming out yeah They do a good job at halftime, obviously, of adjustments. And it shows within that kind of breakdown I'm talking about. But they can run and throw. They can run it. They can throw it. So in the more manageable, shorter distances, they can run the football. They have all the weapons. They go along with it to get the ball in space. If the box is loaded, if they have success, right does a good job of using the time on the clock. I mean, they're leaping. I mean, they have about 34 minutes of time of possession right now, but they get to the line of scrimmage right away. And then they allow the quarterback to be able to really see what's going on, communicate, freedom to check some things at the line, but then they'll get up to the line at the same time And then snap it right away on a tempo play. So we got to be set, get our call in, be ready to go. And then sometimes it's a little bit of a waiting game until he makes the decision or the final check or whatnot. But it all goes within the flow of how they go. And then you get to a longer down in distances. Like I said, they have dynamic receivers. They have really good receivers. They're good with the ball in their hand. They're sure-handed, but then once the ball's in their hand, they can go."
Q. Their quarterback, Cam Ward, does a really good job extending plays when it breaks down how challenging is it to face a quarterback like that?
BRENT KEY: "Yeah well, it's challenging, it's exciting too. Like I said, he is probably the leading Heisman Trophy candidate right now. I mean, They don't just hand those suckers out, but he does. I mean, I think in the Duke game, he had 11 scrambles. Two of those 11 converted for touchdowns. I think Duke did a nice job on a lot of the other ones, but two out of 11 around, two touchdowns. So that's where you have to be careful. They do a good job of continuing to stay active at receiver to layer the field in front of the quarterback to give him places to go. He does a good job of while he's running around and moving, of looking away. So you can't really follow his eyes and see where he's looking, because he will look over here in the last second and whip it over to the other side. So we have to be disciplined. We have to keep everything in front of us on defense, which is challenging to say because you look at him sometimes with all the free-access throws they have and you want to jump up and press them. At the same time, he gets those crazy scrambles and you've got to keep it in front of you and tackle the ball. You've got to be disciplined with our cadence and we've got to be sure tacklers. We do have to be sure tacklers. He breaks a lot of tackles in those scrambles. He goes left, goes right, pops up the middle, and then by the, you know, some of them, you're talking eight, nine, 10 seconds, some of these are the last."
Q. They have been in their fair share of close games they had a couple of late-game comebacks and everything... What is it that they do that makes them so successful?
BRENT KEY: "I think there's obviously a confidence level there. I think that they're confident in the quarterback, confident in his ability to make plays. They're confident in their team that once you win a couple of those, it becomes contagious and you keep going. So, you know, but they have, they've been some close games and they found a way to win and that's the mark of a good football team because they've, it's not like they've won half of them, they won them all. They scored more points in the fourth quarter than they have any other quarter so It's a four-quarter football team. We got to play four quarters."
Q. So with the underdog mentality, how do you toe the line in expressing your guys to just how good Miami is but also still in believe that they can go out there and still get it done
BRENT KEY: "Yeah, I would not have sit up here and said this about what Miami is. If I was worried about that, I mean, they turned the tape on. They're smart kids. We have smart guys on this team, smart, you know, smart people, graduate from Georgia Tech. They turn the tape on, and they see the same thing we do. I mean, there's no sugarcoating and hiding things. That's when they start seeing through you as a coach when you do that. So it's, I stand up here and talk about the opponent. We watch films on how we're going to attack the opponent in certain ways. But everything from here, it's about us. It's about preparing us to be the best we can be, to develop our team, the best we can develop our team, and be able to play to the opponent that we have that week."
Q. How similar is his approach to Mario Cristobal's, who is also an offensive line coach
BRENT KEY: "Yeah, there's a lot to it. Obviously I'm not inside the walls every day, knowing Mario, you know, his mentality, knowing his personality as a coach, having had the opportunity and the pleasure to work with him. Good man, you know, believes in a lot of the same core values in a football program that we do here. So, you know, those are the guys you cheer for, you know, when it's not your week playing them. You know, you really do, you know, It's the guys out there that you think are building the programs the right way. And went through some adversity and he's continued to push forward and believe in his process and in his plan and it shows on tape."
Q. Your quarterbacks have done a pretty good job at decision-making and cutting down on interceptions... You're facing a secondary that has 13 interceptions. How important is the decision making going to be in this game?
BRENT KEY: "Yeah, and that is something I thought, you know, Haynes has done a tremendous job of really improving on some of those things from a year ago. And, you know, the quarterbacks that they've done, they have, they've done a good job of that. They understand that, you know, to reserve the right to kick, to kick. You don't have to always force the ball in there and make the play because it's one thing in practice, but then week to week, you can watch the table all you want, but the team's speed changes every seven days of who you're going against. So where you might have fitted in one week and then also now a guy's a tenth of a second faster, it's not going to fit in there as easy. So we've got to be smart with football. They are a very good football team on sudden change. When they get a turnover, their production offensively is through the roof. It really is, so we've got to be really smart. But that really goes every game. Take care of the football. Don't do things to beat yourself. Limit explosives, gain explosives. Those are things that are really the huge factors in when you lose a college football game."
Q. On if last year's ending to the Miami game affects this game at all?
BRENT KEY: "Man, way unrelated. Way unrelated. I mean like... It has zero, absolutely zero bearing on this game, on this football game. None. You know, teams were built, rebuilt each year, you know, for better or for worse, and you know, you look at them and there's so many new faces on their team, so many new faces on our team, so no there's no effect one year to the next."
Quotes from Jackson Caudell of All Yellow Jackets on SI, you can find him on X HERE:
