Below is the full transcript from Brent Key’s postgame news conference after Georgia Tech defeated No. 12 Clemson, 24-21.
Opening statement …
“What a day. Look, excited for a win, happy for the kids. The boys played hard. Boys played hard. Played out the way we wanted it to play out. We wanted it to be a one-score game at the end, at worst, and we were able to. It was tied up. I’m not sure exactly the time on the clock when we got the ball back on that last drive. I want to say it was around five minutes or something, four minutes. I don’t even know. Somewhere in there. Yeah. You know, early in that drive, I think after the first play, came over the sideline. Haynes said, ‘Put the ball in my hand. We’re going to win this thing.’ And we did. Our kids believe. I believe in them. They believe in each other. Three years of work to get to a very … I’m so happy right now. The beauty of this game is that means next week’s even bigger."
On Aidan Birr’s game-winning goal …
“Well, look, it was, you know, shoot it from 55 or try to try it from 58. You know, it’s kind of the way it worked out. And obviously we could have, you know, flipped it and used it the other way with the timeout. And toro field goal (a kicking drill) is something we practice every single day. We practice it all the time. There was way plenty of time on the clock. So we had no issues with that. I mean, we knew that was going to work out fine. So by gaining that extra two or three yards on the last play and make sure we had a secure play to do that and get the ball in the right spot, we knew we’d have plenty of time for Aidan to be able to go execute it and gave him a couple of yards and that thing sailed through. Somebody told me it would have been good for way more than that extra two or three. But win the surest way and the kids played hard, they’re resilient. You know that they’ve earned. They’ve earned this today.”
On reaction to fan response to the win …
“Yeah, well, the fans, Georgia Tech’s a special place. It’s a special place. To see the student body the way they’ve come out and supported us now for this being the third year and to be behind this team. That’s part of what all is wrapped up inside of me right now.”
On his team’s toughness …
“Yeah, Haynes does that. So he’s better? Yeah, he does better when he starts limping. You guys ever see him start walking like this? I mean, that’s like his gangster limp now. He gets stronger and stronger. We got tough kids. When you start building a program, and you build your foundation in toughness, that’s not an easy thing to do. It’s one thing to say it. It’s another thing to live it every single day. Toughness isn’t about fighting people. I mean, toughness is a mental aspect to the way you approach every day. But our kids do that. They believe in it. I told you I’ve had more fun coaching in the last eight months, nine months now, than I’ve had in 25 years coaching. This group, they’re special. And it’s because of that. It’s the toughness. It’s the way they rebound. It’s to play the next play. I mean, you talk about model people to be successful in life later on.”
On record against ranked ACC opponents …
“I don’t know. We’re not (ranked). We’re not, so it don’t matter. Luck of the draw. I don’t know. If I knew I’d bottle it up, I’d sell it and we’d all retire.”
On Tech’s defense …
“Yeah, I thought they played hard. They did, BG (defensive coordinator Blake Gideon) put together a really good plan. Defensive staff had a couple of wrinkles in there to make the quarterback think a little bit more — double clutch it, pull the ball down, and the way the structure was built to be able to converge on that. We had some contain issues into the boundary in the second half, but we made good adjustments. So, really proud of the defense. I mean, when you see, when you have a feeling going into a game, how your defense is prepared all week and practiced all week versus the opponent, it gives you the confidence now when you’ve driven the ball in the first drive in the fourth-and-2 to go for it on the fourth-and-2. And that was part of the game plan. We wanted these guys to have to go the length of the field consistently the entire day. It was a big field position game, huge field position game. And by doing that and forcing them to have to drive the length of the field, I mean, it just puts more of the odds in our favor defensively than we felt like today.”
Oh his relationship with Haynes King …
“It’s weird to say, it probably won’t make sense to many people, but it’s like an extension of me. I feel like I’m playing through on the field. He’s been like that his whole life. And it’s funny, you know, talking to Jimbo (former Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher) last night, he was talking about his time, you know, the last place he (King) was. It was the same. It was the same way he was in high school. I mean, that’s his character, it’s his DNA. When people play the game like that, there’s bigger reasons. There’s bigger reasons than just the game that day. He’s got bigger reasons behind him, and I don’t know if I’ve ever met a tougher guy in my life.”
On fighting back from adversity …
“Wins are wins. They’re all sweet. They really are. There’s not a game played that you’re not going to have some adversity. We’re the poster child for that this year so far. But look, that’s a dang good football team. I mean, Dabo’s (Clemson coach Dabo Sweeney) been there 17 years now, nine conference championships, two national championships. That’s the premier team in the league for the last 12 years. It wasn’t going to be an easy feat. They never are. They’ve got really good players, really good players. We got pretty good players too.”
On team’s confidence in game-winning situations …
“I’m 100% confident in it. I believe in the team. I believe in many of these situations. Confidence doesn’t come from anything other than an expected belief. Expected beliefs come from a lot of preparation. A lot of adversity we’ve overcome. There’s a look in their eye, though, on the sideline. You can see. We’ve been three games, and there might be ups and downs, but there’s never been finger-pointing. It’s next play, next play, next play. It’s pretty cool.”
On the “ground and pound” game …
“Yeah, that’s a big part of it. It was pretty balanced today in what we had to do. We went into the game and said, Hey, look, there’s gonna be 1-yard gains, 2-yard gains, 3-yard gains. I mean, that’s gonna happen. They’re a very good front seven. We knew that was going to be the game, but we figured that, like we always say, the body blows would add up and to break a few arm tackles and get 8-yard gains and 12-yard gains on our kind of intermediate passing game. The receivers did a nice job of that. I thought Isiah (Canion) showed up and made some extra yards. We talked last night and said every single yard in this game is going to matter. Every single yard. And then you come down to a field goal of that length, and they did. That’s what we’re used to around here now, right?”
Correction
This story was updated to correct the name of Tech wide receiver Isiah Canion.
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