Georgia Tech’s narrow 14-13 loss to Colorado turned on a second-half shift that put the Yellow Jackets’ defensive front under steady pressure.
After trailing 10-7 at halftime, the Buffaloes came out committed to the run and made the ground game the center of their offense. They kept hammering the middle of Georgia Tech’s defensive line, leaning on modest gains that piled up as the game wore on.
Colorado wasn’t flashy about it. It just kept working the interior and forcing the Yellow Jackets to absorb hit after hit.
Damian Henderson, Micah Welch, and Jaquail Smith helped Colorado establish control at the line of scrimmage. The Buffaloes moved the ball without turning that movement into many points for most of the afternoon, and Georgia Tech’s defense did enough at times to slow things down. But the pressure eventually wore the Jackets down, and the running game set up the drive that ended up deciding it.
Colorado finished with 183 rushing yards as a team, and Henderson led the way with 5.4 yards per carry. The passing game never really got going, but the run game gave Colorado the answer it needed when it mattered most. The Buffaloes’ ability to stay on schedule also exposed a few breakdowns for Georgia Tech, especially in the middle of the defense.
A lot of those issues came down to gaps being missed and the line losing leverage. That was a major part of the story in the second half, when Colorado’s physical approach started to show up in the result.
Georgia Tech coach Key was direct about what he saw after the game:
"I wouldn't say concerning is the right word. Concerning to me is, concerning means you can't fix it.
It can't be fixed. There were a couple of drives in the second quarter where I thought a couple of the guys on the D-line got knocked off the ball.
The amount of times that we tried to make a play instead of doing our job, busted a gap. How many times did you guys see, and I'm sure the same as me, the time that we weren't down in our stance on the defensive line waiting for the call?
Concerning means probably to me that it can't be fixed. I don't have a crystal ball, but I'm still bullish on this team.
I'm very confident in this football team."
That leaves Georgia Tech with a clear point of emphasis: the interior defensive line has to get better. The Jackets need to be more disciplined, stay gap sound, and stop chasing hero plays. If they don’t clean that up, the path ahead gets a lot harder.
And it doesn’t get easier next week, with Tennessee coming to town. Adjustments will have to come quickly.
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As Sanders left the field with his son, a Georgia Tech fan shouted an expletive in his direction, and Sanders briefly turned back and appeared to respond before heading toward the locker room. It was a small flash in the aftermath of an upset, the sort of scene that fit the edge of a tight road win, and now Colorado turns to its home opener against Weber State. [Read more 🡒]