10 Takeaways: Week Zero

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1. Brent Key and Georgia Tech get a signature win

With due respect to their miraculous win over Miami last year, Georgia Tech's 24-21 upset over No. 10 Florida State in Ireland is the victory that defines just how far the Yellow Jackets have come in Head Coach Brent Key's 22 games. Tech was 10-28 in their last three seasons and some change before Key took over for Geoff Collins in late-September 2022. They're 12-10 since.

Outside of FSU's opening touchdown drive, Tech bullied the Noles on both lines of scrimmage. They ran for 190 yards on over five yards per carry, chewing up large chunks of time on three of their four scoring drives - including almost 13 combined minutes on their final two. Defensively, they held FSU to just 98 yards rushing – 28 of which came on a single carry– and wreaked havoc on QB DJ Uiagalelei by dialing up creative pressures seemingly every time he dropped back. Outside of a couple of clutch fourth down conversions, the plan worked to perfection. Georgia Tech played a near-flawless game, while Florida State struggled to generate splash plays on either side of the ball.

Key put it best after kicker Aidan Birr's 44-yard game-winning field goal:

It's wild how sticking to your script works when it's time to pull an upset, huh?

2. Where does Florida State go from here?

Predictably, the postgame conversation surrounding the Noles has mostly centered around Uiagalelei and Head Coach Mike Norvell's decision to bring him in as the starting quarterback. Uiagalelei is who he is at this point, and I won't pretend like he had a great game –19/27, 193 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions– but I also don't think he was the problem, or is FSU's biggest concern going forward.

The Noles got smacked up front on both lines of scrimmage, couldn't run the ball, and an already thin receiver room was even more depleted with receiver Hykeem Williams' absence due to injury. More concerningly, the 24 points they allowed look uglier when you consider the context of the game. Tech only had seven possessions - They scored on four of them and drove inside the FSU 35 before missing a 51-yard field goal on another. (The other two were three-and-outs.) The Yellow Jackets averaged 6.5 yards per play, and did a phenomenal job controlling the pace and tenor of the game. In fact, the 14 total possessions were the fewest in any game since 2020:

We'll see how Florida State is ultimately built to win games as the season progresses. It's obvious that playing a service academy-style time of possession battle doesn't suit them, though. Getting a rebuilding Boston College at home next Monday is an ideal bounceback opponent, but their September 14 game vs Memphis –my G5 pick to make the playoff– just got even spicier. The Noles aren't cooked after one loss, but what Georgia Tech did to them wasn't a fluke, and they better figure some things out quickly.

3. Speaking of disappointments in the ACC: What was that, SMU?

SMU needed 16 fourth-quarter points –capped by a 35-yard touchdown with just over a minute left– to beat a Nevada team they were four-touchdown favorites over. A win is a win, but it's tough not to be a little concerned about the Mustangs with how they played through the first three quarters. If it feels like I'm being a bit dramatic, here's what SMU coach Rhett Lashlee had to say:

I'm less bullish on SMU compared to some of the people who have them as a sleeper pick to win the ACC, but it was still a ugly performance against a bad –but noticeably improved– Nevada.

On that note - shoutout to Nevada QB Brendon Lewis, who had a hell of a game. Lewis got thrown into the fire as Colorado's starting QB in 2021, and was benched during their season-opening loss to TCU in 2022. He transferred to Nevada, and didn't play particularly well last year, either. Yesterday was by far the most confident I've seen him. He threw two touchdowns –including this dime– and added 77 yards rushing on 18 carries. He didn't deserve the situation he was put in by Karl Dorrell back at CU, and it was nice seeing him ball out a bit. Nevada's got a long way to go, but Lewis emerging as a solid QB would do wonders for their climb back up the Mountain West.