The last time Wake Forest and Georgia Tech played put the Deacons’ program in a precarious position.
It was 2017 and after a 4-0 start to the season, Wake Forest lost consecutive games to Florida State and Clemson. The off week was followed by a third straight loss, 38-24, in Atlanta.
“I remember that game like it was yesterday,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said this week. “We played well but they had this really dynamic quarterback. And they had this reverse counter option that we still haven’t stopped. That guy’s still running in downtown Atlanta.”
The Deacons rallied and beat a Heisman winner in their next game. Georgia Tech wound up with five wins that year.
Things have changed for Wake Forest — and for Georgia Tech.
Geoff Collins came and went after Paul Johnson’s departure a year after that 2017 matchup. GT is in the first official season with Brent Key as its coach, the alum having directed the Yellow Jackets to a 4-4 finish last season that included wins against the top three teams in the ACC’s Coastal Division (UNC, Duke and Pittsburgh).
To get some info on the Yellow Jackets, we’ve turned to a familiar face — Kelly Quinlan is the former publisher of Deacons Illustrated and current publisher of Jackets Online.
Here is our five-part Q&A:
1. I like to start these with a simple vibe check. At 1-2, it doesn’t seem like things are great — but it also seems like opening against Louisville and Ole Miss (with an FCS game in between) didn’t provide much of a runway in Brent Key’s first official season. So how are things for GT?
Answer: So what is interesting about the start is Tech led most of the Louisville game and the game last week against Ole Miss was a 7-point game with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Both losses are closer than the scoreboard shows and both of those teams should end the season in the top 25 so it was not a great opening slate for the Jackets under Key.
The fans seem pretty excited and the Jackets have a functional and fun offense for the first time since Johnson's last season in 2018 and that has been a good surprise.
Defensively injuries have really impacted things on that side of the ball with the top defensive end Sylvain Yondjouen going down with an ACL injury in the Louisville game and All-ACC safety LaMiles Brooks also getting hurt in that game and not playing well in the last two games coming off his injury and clearly not 100 percent.
There is a lot of room for improvement there and that should move them back into the middle of the pack of the ACC if it gets turned around.
2. Am I crazy for thinking Haynes King is the best transfer QB who entered the ACC this season? What’s made him so successful early?
Answer: King has been a true surprise for everyone including all of us that cover the program. He was OK in spring ball but was clearly quarterback two behind redshirt freshman Zach Pyron.
I watched King play at Texas A&M last year and I didn't see it either there, but quarterback coach Chris Weinke and offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner clearly developed him over the offseason, through fall camp and he looks like the player the Aggies thought they signed out of high school in East Texas.
He has been very good with the ball and other than two bad decisions with the ball in the Louisville game he has been very good about throwing catchable balls and putting the ball where it needs to go.
He has been the biggest surprise in the ACC in terms of QB play and that has been a big plus for Georgia Tech.
3. Wake’s defense is coming off a 10-sack performance and while that’s not repeatable, the pass rush has been improved compared to years past. How vulnerable is Georgia Tech in pass protection?
Answer: Tech has allowed only three sacks this season, top 20 in the nation in that stat and the pass protection grades on PFF they are in the top half of the league despite starting a true freshman at left tackle who replaced a guy who had a terrible three series against Louisville and tanked those overall numbers.
They are not great but they are not bad and King is very good about getting the ball out and his pre-snap reads so the Deacons will have to be creative in how they bring pressure. Last week, Ole Miss tried to bring it from the edge and they just threw swing passes to the running backs for huge chunk plays in that void. Faulkner has been pretty good about counterpunching pass rushes with his playcalling.
4. I thought Georgia Tech’s defense was one of the most-underrated units in the ACC last season. Judging a book by its cover, this season hasn’t seen the same level of resistance — has it been as bad as the numbers indicate?
Answer: There are two main issues right now, one is they are missing the two starting linebackers from last year who were the heart of the defense in Charlie Thomas and Ayinde Eley who are both in the NFL now. They two played two full seasons together and had good chemistry and Thomas was the eraser and an X-factor guy.
They have not found the right combination of linebackers yet. They've tried to play two weakside linebackers together with one playing out of position at the MIKE and that hasn't worked.
The other big issue has been tackling in the secondary and on the edges. It is getting better but that was the primary reason they lost to Louisville in game one.
The run defense has been fine other than letting some running quarterbacks get loose at times.
They played two of the better offensive minds in college football in week one and week three in Lane Kiffin and Jeff Brohm and they played an option team in the middle so the numbers are a little thrown off by that as well.
5. It’s so early to judge a coach’s tenure and it seems like something of a mixed bag for Key through 11 games. What does a successful season look like this year and how attainable is that?
Answer: I think Key would like to get the Jackets' bowling again and they'll need to win the next two games to make that more likely. Tech still has a trip to Miami, a trip to Clemson and home games with UNC and UGA left on their schedule coming up as they continue to play the hardest schedule in the ACC every year.
If one of the two starting quarterbacks stays healthy last year they win seven games probably so I think they are going to turn things around and I think they will likely give Wake Forest a big headache on Saturday in a game I expect to be an all-out track meet.
