⚡ CFB Dashboard

Not good enough​ -Brent Key’s decision-making in the final minutes. It’s been a frequent topic of discussion over the past couple seasons, and it didn’t seem to be much better on Thursday. The getting conservative and kicking a field goal to go up 13-7 with 1:40 remaining, the calling a timeout before a Colorado spike to save them a down and cost his own team a second timeout on its final drive and the getting conservate again on the final drive after the long Penson reception and setting up a 45-yard field goal instead of trying to get more yards or a touchdown…all pretty baffling decisions. Media and Tech fans are absolutely free to criticize those decisions. That comes with being a head football coach, whether it’s a good or bad thing. -Offensive line. A group that has been talked about as improved as a unit in the spring, summer and preseason by many (including me, hand up), was simply inconsistent and bad at times in the opener. For a team and coaching staff that preached toughness and getting back to a physical, bruising run game, that was not the case as Tech only rushed for 51 yards on 35 carries with a lot of that coming on the first drive of the game and the second-to-last one. The pre-snap penalties were really bad and untimely, and the pass pro wasn’t much better with returning starting left tackle Ethan Mackenny having an especially rough night. That unit has to be better or it could get ugly quickly with what’s on the schedule ahead for Mendoza and the running backs. -Special teams. I questioned putting this on the list because there were some very bright spots, including the 100-yard kickoff return TD by Rahkeem Smith, a blocked field goal by Kevin Roche Jr., and some decent punting by Alex Bacchetta, but the missed field goal in the first quarter and the blocked field goal on the potential game-winning attempt overshadowed all that unfortunately. There was also some questionable long snaps that were able to be handled on PATs and punts. That’s got to get cleaned up quickly, no doubt about it. -Defensive line. Another group that has received tons of praise in the offseason as much-improved and reinforced with talent and depth simply wasn’t consistent enough over the course of Thursday’s game. Colorado flat-out leaned on them and whipped them in the trenches at times to produce 183 yards rushing on 41 carries and the pass rush only produced one sack as well. Now I will say they stiffened when they needed to several times to help turn away Colorado drives or force field goals, but you can’t have opponents pounding the running game and taking huge chunks off the clock like they did on Thursday. Al's Angle: Looking back and looking ahead JOL staff writer Alex Farrer gives his thoughts on where Georgia Tech stands after a disappointing Week 1 loss, before huge matchup vs. Vols. www.on3.com