SB Nation’s From The Rumble Seat is here to chat about this weekend’s big game.
The Syracuse Orange are back in action this weekend for their ACC season-opener, an early test to begin the year versus the No. 23 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
There is plenty of football left to go, but this is a game where the stakes feel pretty strong out of the gate for both teams. To get you all ready for kickoff, we brought in some additional prospective and asked Josh Brundage from SB Nation’s From The Rumble Seat some questions to preview what is a big game this week for both teams.
First off, props to the Yellow Jackets for their 2-0 start. In all honesty: did you think during the thick of the preseason that Georgia Tech would start the year off undefeated heading into its matchup versus the Orange?
We had cautious optimism – the team started getting it together in the second half of the season last year between scaring the hell out of Georgia and then stomping UCF in the bowl game. The 2024 Jackets returned most of that talent and brought in some big transfers, so we knew we would be better.
We have also beat FSU the last 4 times we’ve played them during the regular season, so they also have some bad juju when playing us. Add to that Key’s focus on the trenches, and the Ramblin’ Wreck looks pretty mean and fun this year.
The arrow for Georgia Tech has pretty much pointed nowhere but up since Brent Key took over as coach. What’s changed the most for the program since he became the new guy at the helm?
To preface, Geoff Collins was the worst coach, by record, in the 140 year history of Georgia Tech football… So we unfortunately had nowhere to go but up.
At first, to ease the transition, Key kept some of the holdover defensive staff the first year, but that didn’t work well. He has now completely cleaned out the old staff, revamped the program, and brought in a bunch of talent via the portal and recruiting.
Under Collins, the team visibly gave up on the field whenever they got behind, and we haven’t seen that at all under Key. Collins also couldn’t punt protect to save his life, so Key not having a punt blocked every game has been a revelation as well.
In short, there’s positivity and excitement around the program for the first time since 2018, and we’re all kind of unsure how to handle it.
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Let’s get to this weekend’s game. Broadly speaking, what’s the top storyline you are most intrigued by?
I’m most intrigued by Georgia Tech’s newfound aggression and talent in the trenches. Especially in run blocking, the O-line has looked great this season, and consistently blew the FSU front 7 off the ball. Tech has dynamic players at RB and WR, so if the offensive line can maintain their current level of success, it could make for a very exciting season here on The Flats. Haynes King just needs to improve on his interception ratio from last season.
I’m also curious to see how our DBs hang with the Cuse WRs. The Orange have a lot of speed and talent there, and we haven’t faced a QB yet who could hit an open receiver. Georgia Tech’s secondary against the Cuse receivers is probably what concerns me most in this game.
Syracuse’s run defense was inconsistent during the season-opener. Just how potent is the Georgia Tech offense, specifically running the ball? Or as coach Key would say: “Run the bawlll!”
I think for this reason, it’s going to be a long day for the Orange. Jamal Haynes is a very dynamic and speedy running back who has had loads of room to run behind this offensive line. They’ve gotten really good push against both FSU and Ga State so far this year, and that’s without Buster Faulkner opening up the playbook a ton so far.
However, we have not had a game yet where King was forced to pass and air it out due to the run game being unsuccessful. If the Orange are able to stuff the run and force King to throw, he’s been known to make some bad decisions under pressure.
Key is shown a complete willingness to eschew the pass if the running game is working. He is a former offensive lineman, after all.
Flipping things around, what is Georgia Tech’s plan to stop Syracuse’s offense?
I think out best plan is for a pass rush to suddenly materialize this week. Kyle McCord is a dynamic and capable QB who also has the ability to make plays with his legs. Tech has struggled with scrambling QBs and talented TEs from my entire life, so that doesn’t necessarily bode well for this game.
If McCord is given as much time to throw as he was against Ohio, it’s going to be a long, long day for the Yellow Jackets. I would expect to see regular 5-6 man pressures on Saturday to try and rattle McCord into making some mistakes.
We’re set to have a fun quarterback battle between Syracuse’s Kyle McCord and Georgia Tech’s Haynes King. How fascinated are you by that matchup?
Extremely. The Yellow Jackets have not had to rely on King’s arm much this year, besides passing enough to keep defenses honest. King has really hurt defenses more with his legs this year than with his arm, but I’m sure that will change in the coming weeks. He did complete a couple of gorgeous deep balls last week against Ga State.
I think Syracuse will want to turn this game into a shootout, but the Yellow Jackets will rush 3-6 yards the length of the field until it’s stopped. I think it will be a fun contrast of offensive styles.
Like Georgia Tech, Syracuse has a new coach of its own. Memorably, the Orange let go of former head coach Dino Babers shortly after losing to the Yellow Jackets last year. How does the Yellow Jackets fanbase feel about the Orange now with Fran Brown in command?
Well, Dino Babers is awesome, and I’m sad he’s not at Cuse anymore. I don’t know much about him as a football coach, but he seemed like a super cool dude who loved his players, so we’re sad to see him go.
I know Fran Brown came from UGA, so we already don’t love that Otherwise, I really don’t know much about him as a coach. I’m looking forward to seeing how this Orange team develops over the course of the season, because he seems very capable and talented. I really have no idea what to expect scheme-wise from him this Saturday, so that will be fun to see.
As unbiased as possible, which fanbase will feel worse if their team loses this one?
Oh I think that’s heavily Georgia Tech. We have so, so much hope and optimism right now coming in at 2-0 for the first time in years. This fanbase is starving for something to get excited about. This is also the first week Tech has cracked the Top 25 since 2015, so losing this week would hurt and kill a lot of momentum
Ending on a fun note, what’s more likely – Haynes King wins the Heisman or FSU makes the 12-team playoff?
Oh that’s easy- Haynes King wins the Heisman. Go Jackets.
Huge thanks to Josh for participating in our Q and A! Be sure to hop on over to fromtherumbleseat.com to check out our responses to questions sent over from their site previewing this fun early-season matchup.