Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1527865
34 OCT. 19, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: GEORGIA TECH That was even the case in Notre Dame's only loss of the season through Septem- ber, a 16-14 defeat to Northern Illinois. Fu r t h e r m o re , H ay n e s s t r u g g l e d mightily against the one defense he faced in the first half of the season that most mirrors that of Notre Dame. He carried 12 times for 25 yards against Louisville Sept. 21. That's a Cardinals team that beat Georgia Tech 31-19 then lost 31-24 to Notre Dame one week later. Haynes was hampered by an injury in the first month of the season, however. He used Georgia Tech's Week 5 bye to get right in Week 6, and it showed. Yel- low Jackets head coach Brent Key took Haynes' black non-contact jersey and threw it in the trash can in the middle of a bye week practice. That told everyone that the old Jamal was indeed making his comeback. "It gives me my mojo back," Haynes said. "Being in the black jersey, I felt like I was getting a little soft. Not getting touched at practice as much. Not really finishing on certain drills … I just felt like I needed to get my mojo back. And it's back, baby." "He is a tough dude, and I want him in my foxhole any day of the week," Key added. THE RIGHT GUYS It's difficult to discern what kind of overall mojo Georgia Tech brings to the home of the Atlanta Falcons in the matchup with Notre Dame. This is a Yellow Jackets team that seemed to make a statement in surging by the Seminoles Aug. 24, but all that state- ment really ended up saying is, "We're three points better than a team that's 15 points worse than Boston College. And eight points worse than Memphis. Twenty-six points worse than SMU. Six- teen points worse than Clemson. Heck, just five points better than California." Translation: the statement didn't say much at all. The most logical comparative point between Georgia Tech and Notre Dame is the aforementioned common oppo- nent, Louisville. No two weeks in col- lege football are ever the same, but a 12-point defeat to the same team that lost by a touchdown to the Fighting Irish seven days later feels like a solid jumping off point for what to expect in Atlanta. Notre Dame is the better team, and the Irish should be expected to take care of the Ramblin' Wreck — especially at one of the sport's flashier neutral site venues that will attract plenty of blue- and-gold faithful, from actual alums to those of the subway variety. There's a culture shift underway at Tech that Notre Dame has to be wary of, though. After four straight losing seasons and a 1-3 start to 2022, Key took over for the final eight games that year and posted a respectable 4-4 mark. The Yellow Jack- ets got back on the winning side of things in 2023 with a 7-6 record that included a 30-17 victory over UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl. Losses to Syracuse and Louisville put a damper on the program's first 2-0 start since 2016, but there is a sense of belief in Key that wasn't there with his predecessor, Geoff Collins. Key is a Georgia Tech alum who played along the offensive line for the Yellow Jackets from 1997-2000. He probably couldn't have ever imagined then that he'd be the head coach at his alma mater leading the Wreck into a massive matchup with the Irish at a state-of-the-art stadium that didn't open until 17 years after he departed campus as a student, but here he is with the opportunity of a lifetime. Some coaches crumple in those cir- cumstances. Others rise to it. Watch just a couple minutes of a Key press confer- ence and it's hard not to toss him in the latter category. He'll have his guys ready to go versus the Irish. It still might not be enough against a team as talented as Notre Dame, but a Yellow Jackets loss won't ever be for a lack of trying as long as Key, Alabama's offensive line coach for the 2017 national champion Crimson Tide, is the coach. "When you have guys who can play with discipline and play with toughness and still have fun playing, I think you know you have got the right group of guys," Key said. Haynes is one of those guys. There are so many others on the Georgia Tech ros- ter, one Notre Dame cannot take lightly in Atlanta. ✦ 2024 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 31 at Texas A&M W, 23-13 Sept. 7 Northern Illinois L, 16-14 Sept. 14 at Purdue W, 66-7 Sept. 21 Miami (Ohio) W, 28-3 Sept. 28 Louisville W, 31-24 Oct. 12 Stanford W, 49-7 Oct. 19 vs. Georgia Tech# (ESPN) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 26 vs. Navy^ (ABC/ESPN) 12 p.m. Nov. 9 Florida State (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 Virginia (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Army* (NBC) 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at USC TBA # at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; * Shamrock Series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y. ; Games on NBC are also televised by Peacock 2024 GEORGIA TECH SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time (ET) Aug. 24 vs. Florida State^ W, 24-21 Aug. 31 Georgia State W, 35-12 Sept. 7 at Syracuse L, 31-28 Sept. 14 VMI W, 59-7 Sept. 21 at Louisville L, 31-19 Oct. 5 Duke W, 24-14 Oct. 12 at North Carolina W, 41-34 Oct. 19 vs. Notre Dame* (ESPN) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at Virginia Tech TBA Nov. 9 Miami TBA Nov. 21 NC State (ESPN) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at Georgia (ABC) 7:30 p.m. ^ at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland * at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Head coach Brent Key has a winning record (15-12) in his first three seasons after the Yellow Jackets posted four straight losing seasons (9-25) from 2019-22. PHOTO COURTESY GEORGIA TECH ATHLETICS