In an interview on SiriusXM on Monday morning, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key said that during Sunday’s team meeting he asked running back Jamal Haynes, linebacker Kyle Efford and safety Omar Daniels to relive some of their favorite football memories from high school, college and Saturday’s thrilling 24-21 win over Clemson.
Key then reminded that trio, and the rest of his Yellow Jackets, that all those moments had one thing in common: They are in the past.
“You don’t let a play you made in high school dictate how you’re gonna practice this week.” Key said. “They’re moments in the past. We live for what’s in the future. Our goal this season was not to win Game 3. It was not to win Game 4, Game 5. Those are just obstacles in the way of what our goal is.”
Tech, now ranked No. 18 in The Associated Press Top 25 and 3-0 for the first time since 2016, no longer can consider themselves the hunters, but rather will become the hunted. The Jackets likely will be favored in at least eight of the next nine games left on their schedule, starting at 4:30 p.m. Saturday when they’re considered 23.5-point favorites against Temple (2-1) at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Key’s team is ranked for only the second time during his coaching tenure (it immediately lost a national ranking in 2024 after a 2-0 start followed by a loss at Syracuse) and is ranked inside the top 20 for the first time since September 2015. How the 2025 team handles the pats on the back will be crucial.
“The mindset part of it is so important now,” Key said. “Coach (Nick) Saban used to tell us all the time, ‘More people die on the way down from Mount Everest than on the way up.’ It’s true. You can’t relax. They’ve earned the right to have big games here at Georgia Tech, and they’ve earned that right because of what they did Saturday to have this week be even bigger than last.”
Tech will go up against a Temple team that had started the season with wins at Massachusetts and at home against Howard, respectively. The Owls then ran into an Oklahoma team, ranked No. 11, that put up 515 yards of offense, scored on their first four drives and built a 28-3 lead at halftime in Philadelphia on Saturday. Temple managed only 104 yards in the loss.
Led by first-year coach K.C. Keeler, a former head coach at Sam Houston State for the past decade, Delaware and Rowan, the Owls have gotten 239 rushing yards from senior running back Jay Ducker, 497 passing yards and nine touchdowns (with no interceptions) from quarterback Evan Simon and have seven players with at least one TD reception.
If the Jackets are able to beat Temple, avenging a 24-2 loss in Philadelphia in 2019 in the process, they would give the program its first 4-0 mark since the 2014 team started that season 5-0. Tech has not been 6-0 since 2011.
“We got a long season ahead, and this is just the beginning of it, I feel like,” Tech wide receiver Eric Rivers said after Saturday’s victory over Clemson. “We just gotta get ready each and every week like it’s a championship week because that’s where we wanna be at the end of the year and what we gotta keep working toward.
“I think we definitely have something special here. If we just continue to work every day, we can reach our goals and everybody can be happy at the end of the year.”
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