Georgia Tech heads into Week 3 still hunting its first win, and Saturday’s matchup with Mercer offers a familiar name from the program’s past. Mercer was Georgia Tech’s first official opponent back in 1892, and now the Yellow Jackets will try to use this home game to turn around a season that has opened 0-2.
Mercer arrives at 2-1 after a 20-13 loss to Furman last week. Georgia Tech, meanwhile, is trying to solve an offense that has been uneven and light on production. Through eight quarters, the Yellow Jackets have managed only two offensive touchdowns, and that lack of consistency has become one of the biggest issues facing the team.
If the numbers play out the way ESPN’s Football Power Index expects, Georgia Tech should leave Saturday with its first victory. FPI gives the Yellow Jackets a 92.8% chance to beat Mercer, which would put them at 1-2 entering next week’s game against Stanford.
The idea behind FPI is simple enough: it is built to forecast what teams will do next, not just to reward what their records already say. As the explanation puts it, “FPI is a predictive rating system designed to measure team strength and project performance going forward.
The ultimate goal of FPI is not to rank teams 1 through [136]; rather, it is to correctly predict games and season outcomes. If Vegas ever published the power rankings it uses to set its lines, they would likely look quite a lot like FPI.
Correctly predicting game outcomes can’t be done by evaluating teams’ records because some teams are stronger than their records indicate (lots of close losses), and others have favorable schedules.”
For Brent Key, the path back on track comes down to a handful of areas that tend to decide college football games. Georgia Tech has been short in several of them, but there is still room to clean things up against Mercer. Explosive plays are one place where the Yellow Jackets could start to tilt things their way, and they showed a little more of that in the running game against Tennessee.
Key was direct about the checklist his team needs to improve. “They are explosive differentials.
Us to them, pretty simple. Points per possession, red zone touchdowns.
So when you get in the red zone- not touchdowns, but when you get in the red zone- scoring touchdowns, third-down percentages, turnovers and takeaways, and then pressuring the quarterback. Not sacks, but pressure.
Are you able to get pressure on the opposing quarterback, and are you able to protect the quarterback in those situations? So those are the six things.
And when you look at those, those are... And, you know, why have you not had the success you wanted?
Okay, well, when you look at the situational aspect of it, those are the things we have to improve on. Those are the things we have to get better at.
Those are the things we have to be able to do. Okay?
So that's pretty black and white with where the game was,” said Key.
If Georgia Tech is going to find more juice on offense, Dalen Penson and Jordan Allen are two names to watch. Allen leads the Yellow Jackets in catches and receiving yards this season, while Penson has been the most efficient downfield option, leading the team in average yards per catch and owning the longest reception of the year at 42 yards. Both bring different traits, and both could factor into whether Georgia Tech can finally create the kind of explosive plays it has been missing.
In Other News...
Georgia Tech Needs More Than A Win To Quiet Early Concerns
Georgia Tech heads into its meeting with Mercer trying to do more than simply get into the win column. After opening the season with two losses against strong opponents, the Yellow Jackets are looking at this week as a chance to clean up a list of issues that have already shown up on both sides of the ball, even if the opponent on paper gives them some room to breathe.
Brent Key has already laid out the areas that matter most, from points per possession and red-zone touchdowns to third-down efficiency, turnovers and pressure on the quarterback. The bigger goal is to leave the game with a more convincing offensive rhythm and a better answer against the run defensively, because for Georgia Tech, beating Mercer would help only if it also starts to ease the early concerns hanging over the rest of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Tech Needs More Than A Win Against Mercer This Week
Georgia Tech heads into this weeks matchup with Mercer still searching for its first win after opening the season with two losses, and there is more at stake than just the record. The Yellow Jackets have revealed their uniform combination for the game, but the bigger focus remains on getting cleaner play up front and tightening things defensively before the schedule starts to get tougher.
Injuries along the offensive line have added another layer of concern, with no confirmed updates yet on the availability of key linemen. For a team trying to build momentum before conference play and a trip to Stanford later on, this game is about more than simply avoiding another setback. It is a chance to show the offensive line can stabilize and the run defense can hold up against what is ahead. [Read more 🡒]