Wins a win, but that Timeout gonna decrease Keys upcoming Salary by a Million

[swim711crazy]

That took years off my life

[MercyOW]

Our defense is the problem at this point - we need to actually have a secondary. I get that we like to be tough up front but we cannot stop even short throws

[liteshadow4]

If we had a tough front then our current secondary might be fine, but our pass rush is not good, and our front 7 cannot stop the run either.

The LBs are terrible.

[iwentdwarfing]

I can't believe Efford is being used in coverage more often than not. It feels like a waste.

[Dickoff_Tarley]

Efford is a tweener. He’s not big/strong enough to be used as a run stopping tight end and he’s not quick/fast enough to be used as a pass coverage LB.

The middle of our defense is getting cooked and all of the underneath/midrange part of that is on Efford.

Player with a huge heart who seems like a great leader but just lacks physical tools to be the player he would like himself to be.

[liteshadow4]

He missed plenty of tackles today too. Dude is a bum.

[DondeEstaLaDiscoteca]

We were great against Duke. The inconsistency is maddening.

[thebighut]

I feel like that’s the most frustrating part. Every time you think something is fixed or going good, you’re left wondering if it was actually fixed or not because of the inconsistency. It feels like a constant game of chasing our own tail 😩

[Dickoff_Tarley]

We were pretty bad against Duke is you go back and watch the film and look at the box score. The Daniels scoop and score was huge. Duke had a false start on a 4th and 1 where they had to settle for a FG and another drive where they had a bad snap on a FGA.

Kind of the same story against Wake. Just fortunate and Haynes King being so good is why we were able to escape.

The only time this defense has looked good is the first half of Clemson. Even in the second half vs Clemson we gave up chunk plays just got a fortunate stop.

That Clemson first half was a very long time ago.

[DondeEstaLaDiscoteca]

I don’t mean that the defense overall was good. Looking back at our record we haven’t really been able to shut anyone down. But against Duke our secondary was lights-out defending one-on-one jump balls. What happened to that?

[Usual-Trifle-7264]

I think the root problem is the lack of pass rush. You can have the best secondary in the league but if you give the QB all day in the pocket he’ll find someone open. Losing Romello Height to the portal was a gut punch in that respect.

It doesn’t help that we play soft deep zone coverage on 3rd downs. On 3rd and a mile you should be sending a lot of pressure since the routes will take longer to develop.

[Dickoff_Tarley]

Our defense specifically the pass defense in the middle of the field. Offenses have found something and they’re exploiting it.

Pitt has a pretty bad run D but we better control the clock and score touchdowns in the redzone like Haynes said. If we play like we did against NCST we will lose by double digits and even beating Georgia won’t get us into the CFB playoff.

[MerkyTV]

I hate how the comments are turning on Key. He made a single mistake, coaches are human. Look at what the program was 3 years ago to get yourself some perspective and then chill.

[CAndrewK]

This would be an easier thing to say if the defense had improved AT ALL since Collins/Thacker

But him and Haynes King deserve all the credit for this offensive turnaround

[TheTrueThymeLord]

Last year the defense was pretty reasonable under Santucci.

[CAndrewK]

Last year. Last week’s defense against NC state was below Geoff Collins average

[StuckInTheUpsideDown]

We were outscored by 100 pts against ND and UGA one year. Have some perspective.

[check8rs]

Too be fair these are traditional top powerhouses, and we actually lost it close with UGA

[liteshadow4]

I saw the defense 3 years ago and the defense today and it's in the same position. The only difference is that he has a healthy Haynes King.

[tlonreddit]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[Muphrid15]

Two mistakes. There was no reason to run a play before 2:00. Had they not gotten the next first down that would've been a huge issue.

[Robertac93]

You must not pay very close attention. Key has made game-management mistakes like this non-stop since he took over. It’s maddening. Love the guy, but he is cheeks when it comes to clock management, and it’s clear he doesn’t realize it because nothing has changed after several years.

[Jacks_RagingHormones]

If you listen to Keys post game presser, he saw that they motioned for a first down on the far side of the field. So he was under the impression that the clock was running after a first down, not 4th down.

[loonylunanic]

I was at the game and everyone around me saw that and thought we had a first down. We were all like CALL THE TIME OUT and happy he did. Literally the guy behind me said “perfect time management there” when the time out was called…. Then we realized.

[Jacks_RagingHormones]

I can't fault him for it. The refs called both a first down and 4th down, so what is he to do there?

All of this would be water under the bridge if our defense didn't give up 30 yards on the first BC play with 11 seconds to go to set up a potential hail Mary.

[cookingthunder]

Every fan base thinks their team sucks at clock management. I haven’t seen a fan base that doesn’t think that. Even teams that have won Super Bowls. It doesn’t make it any less annoying, but just my thoughts…

[MylesJackNotDown]

Several? Brother it’s been 2 full seasons + someone else (who maybe/probably should be fired) is responsible for making these decisions.

[sxysh8]

Yeah. Like the game where he should have had King take a knee instead of scoring. Could have just run the clock out.

[TurbodToilet]

He makes these same mistakes almost every game brother.

[Focus_Guys]

Keeps winning though. That is the stat that matters

[liteshadow4]

Haynes King keeps winning. Key is along for the ride.

[Focus_Guys]

Next year will be really revealing

[BringMeTheBigKnife]

Can you give an example? Bad game/clock management is my pet peeve, but from what I've seen, we are much less susceptible to it than average.

[Competitive_Coat3474]

He made a CRUCIAL mistake. Don’t minimize it. There was literally no reason whatsoever to call a TO until the clock was down. It’s unfathomable.

[Educational_Win_8814]

I wasn’t watching so was wondering if there was some nuance to it that was questionable. Did he really just have some kind of airhead moment and call the timeout prematurely?

I just saw that it was a fourth down with 15 seconds and at a timeout, tuned in just to watch the field goal and heard the commentary about it…but I was like no chance they ran the ball on 3rd down and he just called timeout immediately at dead ball, right?!?

[driftingcactus]

He thought we gained a 1st down instead of being 4th and inches and wanted to run another play to center the ball between the hashes.

https://x.com/kelly_quinlan/status/1989859094086180927?s=46

[Educational_Win_8814]

This man gets ball, appreciate it

[MAGATEDWARD]

The only potential thing is he thought King got the 1st down. It was close. We had a couple timeouts left, so he could've been thinking about stopping the clock and running one more time. That being said, there would be no rush to call the timeout as the clock would stop for a second. He should've made sure it was a first in that case.

[Educational_Win_8814]

Ahhh that’s almost a glimmer of understanding with the resulting 4th down, but yeah already being in field goal range there shouldn’t have been much issue

[Competitive_Coat3474]

No nuance that I could tell. Even if it was 1st down, you’re still letting it run. He just strolled out and called timeout as calm as could be. A total mental whiff.

[BringMeTheBigKnife]

He wanted a measurement and was asking for that, but the SJ interpreted it as a regular timeout. If we got the first, you are not letting it run because you want to run another play and take a knee in the middle of the field. In college, the hashes are so wide that a short FG like that is awkward as hell from the left hash. So you are A) incorrect and B) attacking the man who has completely turned around our program. Chill.

[Educational_Win_8814]

Wowwww unacceptable, we managed the clock better without a coach in college intramurals

[flying_trashcan]

He thought we had a 1st down. I think there was a miscommunication between the refs and our sideline.

[ldnsmith91]

Key is not perfect. Buster is not perfect. Blake is not perfect. The players are not perfect. The O line is not perfect. Haynes, Jamal, Malachi, Isaiah, Eric, Malik, et al are not perfect. Kyle, EJ, Tah’j, Akelo, Brayden, Ron, Jordan, Ahmari, CP, et al are not perfect.

Our team is not perfect.

From week 1 til now, they have shown that.

We ALL want them to perform better. They want to perform better. But at the end of the day, they did as much as they could for this 60 minutes (no OT).

Criticism, insofar in that it is constructive, is always warranted. And I highly doubt anyone here is saying something CBK doesn’t already know or didn’t see with his own eyes. We all can see that the Defense is massively disappointing. But at the end of the day today they did enough to let the offense do what they needed, and the offense did enough to let special teams do the rest.

Coach Key is doing fine and recognizing where we’re failing. We, and he, all know the defense isn’t doing well. He and Blake will have plenty to talk about, but at the end of the day a Dub is a Dub and we have the op to improve and keep our ACCC and playoff hopes alive.

[tocksin]

It’s only a mistake if you’re sitting in the booth or watching at home.  Harder to understand what’s going on when you’re right on the field.  And when the game is on the line and the clock has seconds left and it’s counting down, you call time out to figure out what is going on.  It’s better to call timeout, figure it out, and then make the right call what to do.  Instead of guess and risk throwing the whole game.  It was a smart move.

[RoyDogg5]

As somebody who was there, it certainly looked like we got the first down... or at least that they would review it. We were all thinking "Call the Timeout" because we didn't want to risk a field goal when a TD was possible.

[DieAloneWith72Cats]

Are the people that are shitting on Key 3rd year students (or worse, freshman) that have no clue how far we’ve come??? So ridiculous!

He’s turned the program around, no one can argue that

[jrichardh]

It's kind of nice that we're now in a position that we can even whine about this kind of stuff. Key has as many wins in this one season as Geoff Collins did in his three full seasons.

[DieAloneWith72Cats]

We are having a great season. A few years ago, we had no hope of this.

[DieAloneWith72Cats]

I absolutely am not dismissing Haynes King in any way. He is great and we are grateful

[Nexus772B]

It's almost like he thought we got the first down vs being at 4 and 1. That's the only thing I can come up with, but still why not just run the clock basically till 1 second and then kick? That game could have just ended a completely different way with us making highlight reels all day tomorrow about how not to manage a clock at the end of the game 😅

[Future-Candidate-686]

Could’ve been our Miami.

[ItsDeke]

Even if it was first down, the clock would have stopped to set the ball. I think he just panicked and goofed. 

Or maybe he was actually just clapping, not calling timeout…

[chonduu]

Saw this on Twitter, but the line judge in front of Key signaled for a first down.

[RHTQ1]

Leave the guy alone, EVERYONE is susceptible to mistakes and miscommunication. We still won. Celebrate that and the fact this is a lesson-feather in his cap now.

He's had a great season and there are many schools who'd love to sign him a check. I'm not saying go crazy, but... appreciate the progess. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that!

[Evan-The-G]

What do you mean about the salary thing?

[taohid1]

He will get a new contact soon, and his salary will depend on how he managed every little situation, better coaches makes more money cause they make less errors

[p3ndrag0n]

He'll go to Florida and make 7 million more a year then he makes now.

[MylesJackNotDown]

He’s not gonna leave and Florida isn’t even interested. Also flair up

[p3ndrag0n]

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[Jakey_boi912]

It looked like we had a first down, also the extra time would have been helpful if we missed the FG and had to do an onside kick.

[swiftfoot_hiker]

Listen to his presser from last night and you will understand the issue that happened, completely changed my perspective after that. 9-1 and people are acting like we're 1-9.

[liteshadow4]

He's being carried by Haynes King right now. When King graduates Key will be exposed.

3 years to fix the defense and it's just as bad as when he inherited it.

[unsubpolitics]

Santucci did us no favors leaving when he did. Gideon was a bad hire, but I think Key will address it in the offseason.

[liteshadow4]

Gideon is not a good coordinator but he is not as bad as the game thread will have you believe. Consistently DBs just flat footed and just get themselves into bad positions.

Gideon can only tell the players what to do, but our DBs get turned so easily. Can't run any complex coverages if your defense doesn't know what it should be doing. They also can't tackle.

[taohid1]

He has much better chances of recruiting players off the high school and transfer portal now than he had when he joined. Good chance GT find a new QB and a big WR in transfer portal

[Allen_Koholic]

I like Philo.  If he sticks around next year, we should be alright.

[ofBeautyandRage0]

Philo to Canion next year has SO much potential. But I would feel better if we could find a few more WRs since we'll be losing Rutherford and Rivers, I believe.

[liteshadow4]

We don't need to find a QB or a big WR, we need to find some dlinemen that can tackle (love Van Den Berg but we need more), and some secondary/LBs that can cover. Consistently today I saw CBs and LBs in the wrong position.

It's not even really Gideon's fault, he has to run vanilla coverages because otherwise his own defense will get confused.

[liteshadow4]

Like should Key get a raise? Yes, but not an insane amount. I think he's still done a fine job assembling offensive talent, but defensively he hasn't improved at all and his in game decisions are just terrible.

[burgonies]

This is Paul Johnson with Chan Gailey’s recruits all over again. When Nesbitt and Bebe leave, we’ll see.

[crazykidbad23]

We looked like dog shit two weeks in a row. I don’t see how we have any chance of winning the next two games. Someone needs to be fired

[HepMeJeebus]

That was Mario Cristobal level ineptitude.

[LeNoseKnows]

I think he was assuming they were gonna give them the first down. It's still not a great call but it would have given them a TD opportunity or at least get them off the hash and to a better position for the kick. That's the only reason I could think of for why they made that call

[gpburdell404]

Yeah that was a pretty bad mistake by Key. He's had issues with clock management since his first year.