Syracuse has a chance at bowl eligibility when they face off against Georgia Tech on Saturday evening.
To get ready for the game, with spoke with Kelly Quinlan from Jackets Online to get a preview of the game.
What’s been the biggest storyline of this season for Georgia Tech?
For Georgia Tech it has been the rollercoaster of a season the Jackets have been on with a very hard schedule. Tech has losses to three teams in the top 25 at some point this season and two wins over top 25 teams as well. But they also have losses to Bowling Green and Boston College.
It has been a strange season and the team has been learning how to win in actual year one under head coach Brent Key. Getting to a bowl after a four-year drought would be big for Key and the program and they need to beat Syracuse to do that with #1 Georgia on the horizon next week.
Who are the Yellow Jackets' offensive and defensive MVPs to date?
The offensive MVP is quarterback Haynes King. As King goes so goes the fortunes of the Jackets offense. When he is bad like last week they lose and when he is good they can play with just about anyone in the country. He is closing in on some significant records for Tech quarterback play and has posted the best passing season since the George O'Leary era.
On the defensive side, it is probably super senior Jaylon King who has a knack for making big plays and has been one of the more consistent performers on a defense that often struggles.
Are Georgia Tech fans happy with the direction of the Key era in "season 2?"
So this is really season one for Key. He was the interim coach and there was a very public coaching search that ended with Key actually getting to keep the job and the job may have been offered to another coach Willie Fritz of Tulane but no formal contract was ever signed or sent. That is how close Key was to not being the head coach so most consider it year one.
I think some folks are happy and some are in a wait-and-see mode after two bad losses to Bowling Green and Boston College at home where the team looked very flat and disengaged. The inconsistent play week-to-week and game-to-game is something he has to fix and they could easily have 7 wins right now had they played a little bit better in those games and the outlook would be very different.
What’s your prediction for the game?
I think this is an interesting clash of styles. GT sucks at defending the run and that is how Syracuse won last week. The Jackets have a pretty solid offense and really other than Miami and Clemson, they've moved the ball and scored points pretty easily this season with turnovers being the main cause of their lack of success.
I think they'll get over the hump this week with a 34-24 win over the Orange and Cuse will have to go into the Wake Forest game still aiming to get their bowl bid.
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