SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Given the many air miles Georgia Tech’s football program has accumulated on its way to the No. 23 Yellow Jackets being ranked for the first time since 2015, their early travels haven’t slowed their ground game so far.
Having crossed the Atlantic Ocean to beat Florida State in an Atlantic Coast Conference game in Ireland two weeks ago — the opening game of college football’s 2024 season — before a brief stop at home to beat Georgia State last weekend, the Jackets head north to Syracuse for a chance to test their legs in another ACC matchup Saturday.
It could turn into another good outing for a team that has rushed for 415 yards, which ranks ninth in the country, with the Jackets facing an Orange defense that yielded 255 yards on the ground while winning its opener against nonconference foe Ohio last weekend.
Even more good news for Georgia Tech, which has an opportunity to go 3-0 for the first time since 2016: After playing Syracuse, the Jackets will have completed 79% of their travel schedule already, 9,764 of 12,302 miles.
Syracuse got off to a winning start under Fran Brown but suddenly finds itself facing a tough challenge in the midst of a stretch of opening the season with four straight home games.
Making things even more challenging is that the Orange will be without star linebacker Marlowe Wax, the heart and soul of the defense who is expected to miss the next six weeks with a right leg injury from the opener.
“You’re going to need two or three guys to fill Marlowe’s shoes,” Brown said. “We just have to be more physical, have to demand physicality.”
The Jackets, in their second season with Brent Key as head coach — the former Georgia Tech offensive lineman and assistant took over on an interim basis for the final eight games of 2022 — won’t make that challenge any easier.
“We better stop the run, because that’s what Coach Key does,” Brown said. “He’s an offensive line coach at heart, so he’s going to keep on running the ball until we stop it.”
Key has no intention of going away from his team’s strength.
“We run the ball,” he said after the Georgia State win.
Jamal Haynes leads the ground attack with 159 yards, an average of nearly 6 yards a carry.
Perhaps as a way to take the pressure off his ranked team, Key downplayed the significance of the Syracuse matchup.
“If you want to play 15 games, you better not be peaking in September,” he said. “No one really cares what you do in September.”
Brown, Georgia’s defensive backs coach the past two seasons, compared Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King to a College Football Hall of Famer and Heisman Trophy runner-up from Texas.
“He reminds me of Vince Young, just watching him run around and play. He’s a strong, powerful guy,” Brown said. “A dual threat who can throw the deep ball.”
King is 35-of-45 passing for 421 yards and 91 yards on the ground.
Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord is an equal opportunity passer. In his Orange debut, the Ohio State transfer delivered the ball to eight receivers. Oronde Gadsden II and Trebor Pena led the way as McCord and the offense overcame a sluggish start in the win over Ohio.
“Everything played itself out quite nicely to shape this game up,” said McCord, who was 27-of-39 for 354 yards and four touchdowns. “Two teams undefeated up to this point, looking for something to prove and to make an early statement in the conference.”
Texas A&M transfer Fadil Diggs made a great first impression for Syracuse on defense. The edge rusher recorded four tackles for loss, which is tied for the highest single-game total in the Football Bowl Subdivision in the early season.
Meanwhile, Georgia Tech linebacker Kyle Efford had 10 tackles against Florida State. He followed that up with 13 more Saturday, making him the nation’s leader in that category.
“Really, the tackles just come from pure effort,” Efford said Saturday. “Just flying around.”
In addition to being on opposite sides of the Georgia-Georgia Tech rivalry the past two years, Brown and Key go back 20 years. Key was the running backs and tight ends coach at Western Carolina when Brown was a defensive back there in 2004, but there will be no renewing of old acquaintances during game week.
“I’ll see him on Saturday,” Brown said. “We’re competing. I’m not giving him a call.”