ATLANTA — This is what Virginia Tech football can become. Again.
A superbly coached program with a talented, experienced roster capable of beating darn near anyone. A team coming off an open date clever enough to confuse an opponent with new schemes on both sides of the ball.
That team/program was on full display Saturday as No. 13 Georgia Tech defeated Virginia Tech 35-20 at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
The Hokies (2-5, 1-2 ACC) had their moments, and as interim coach Philip Montgomery said, never stopped straining, never showed an ounce of quit.
Kyron Drones accounted for all three of Virginia Tech’s touchdowns with a 32-yard run and two scoring passes to tight end Ja’Ricous Hairston. Marcellous Hawkins rushed for 82 yards on a mere nine carries, and defensive back Joseph Reddish logged two tackles for loss.
But even when the Hokies drew within 21-14 early in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets (6-0, 3-0) never were in peril. Indeed, on the very next possession, quarterback Haynes King marched Georgia Tech 75 yards for a touchdown and another double-digit lead.
“Georgia Tech’s got a good program, got a lot of veteran players on it,” Montgomery said. “Thought Haynes played extremely well. Gave us some different looks, both offensively and defensively.”
That’s what contenders do, and make no mistake, fourth-year coach Brent Key has a legitimate contender on his hands, one that Saturday showed new defensive blitzes and a willingness to attack the perimeter on offense.
King completed 20 of 24 passes (83.3%) for 213 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 60 yards and a score, complementing Penn transfer Malachi Hosley’s 129 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.
“Man, their offensive line was good,” Virginia Tech defensive end Elhadj Fall said. “They’re probably one of best in the nation.”
Georgia Tech’s defense isn’t elite, witness the Hokies’ 6.7 yards per play, but the Jackets did not yield a third-down conversion (0 for 8), the first time in 15 years the Hokies failed to convert a third down.
Georgia Tech’s superiority was evident from the start. The Hokies could neither block nor tackle early, and they compounded their issues with a spate of penalties.
Virginia Tech even fell for a first-half, punt-return ruse. As Nick Veltsistas’ punt sailed to his right, Georgia Tech’s blockers shaded to the opposite side, suckering the Hokies into following them.
Nary a teammate or defender in the vicinity, Eric Rivers caught the punt near the Virginia Tech sideline and raced 42 yards to the Hokies’ 38-yard line. Six plays later, King’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Malik Rutherford extended the Jackets’ lead to 15-0.
Georgia Tech is not only undefeated but also beaucoup fun to watch. King’s deft ballhandling accentuates the eye-candy motions inherent in coordinator Buster Faulkner’s offense, and the Jackets have two top-shelf backs in Jamal Haynes and Hosley.
The entire operation offers a template for Virginia Tech.
Three years ago last month, the Yellow Jackets simultaneously dismissed athletic director Todd Stansbury and football coach Geoff Collins. Like Pry with the Hokies, Collins was early in his fourth season, and the program was a mess, loser of nine consecutive Bowl Subdivision games and 10-28 on Collins’ watch, far worse than Pry’s 16-24 in Blacksburg.
Stansbury, a former Georgia Tech tight end, was collateral damage. He hired Collins to replace College Football Hall of Famer Paul Johnson and, after a third consecutive three-win season in 2021, decided to retain him.
Stansbury’s football chops notwithstanding, Georgia Tech power brokers didn’t trust him to select the next coach, and rather than neuter him during the search, they ripped off the Band-Aid and pivoted quickly to a new athletic director in J Batt.
Virginia Tech is similarly unwilling to delegate its search to AD Whit Babcock, but instead of divorce has elected a clumsy and perhaps temporary co-existence in which Babcock is advising a bloated, eight-member search committee.
#Hokies AD Whit Babcock on his future, how Virginia Tech will raise $30M new dollars annually for athletics, and the search for a new football coach. https://t.co/wclGC8VVmV
— David Teel (@ByDavidTeel) October 3, 2025
Post-Collins, the 2022 Jackets split eight games under interim coach Brent Key, a former Georgia Tech offensive lineman with four years’ experience on the staff. That convinced Batt and the administration to remove the interim tag.
The Jackets finished a modest 7-6 in each of Key’s first two full seasons, but that span included nonconference setbacks to Georgia (twice, the second an epic, eight-overtime affair), Notre Dame and Ole Miss. More illuminating is Key’s record versus the ACC.
Georgia Tech went 5-3 against the league in 2023 and ’24 and, after Saturday’s conquest, is fast-tracking toward a third straight winning conference mark.
Care to guess the last time Virginia Tech produced three consecutive winning ACC seasons?
That would be 2009-11.
Now all is not perfect at Georgia Tech. Batt exited after less than three years to Michigan State in June, and attendance remains a challenge. But the Jackets underscore what can be accomplished with the right coaching staff, modest resources notwithstanding.
In fact, according to their most recent NCAA financial filings, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech spent similarly on football in fiscal year 2024. The Hokies reported $41 million in total operating expenses, the Jackets $41.9 million.
After seven games in as many weeks, Virginia Tech finally enters its first open date of the season. The only other ACC team that has waited as long for an off week is NC State.
The time off gives the Hokies time to heal their bodies and minds from what has been a grueling, turbulent stretch. Meanwhile, the committee charged with identifying the program’s next coach should be kicking into gear, armed with a Board of Visitors plan to infuse the athletic department with an additional $229.2 million in funding over the next four years that will broaden the candidate pool.
Georgia Tech showed them Saturday the dividends of hiring wisely.
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
