Is Syracuse the biggest game of Brent Key's tenure at Georgia Tech?

This game is absolutely massive. We win we go to a bowl game and there is hype and fan interest for next season. We lose, no bowl game, we get smacked by UGA and just lost 3 straight to end the season and we will be thinking about how all we had to do was beat Syracuse and that’s all we will think about all off season. Possible career defining game for Key. Especially with Chadwell & Fritz winning 10 games at Liberty and Tulane. Remember the AD had both Jamey Chadwell and Willie Fritz up but the GT "Good Ole Boy" Boosters went with Key!!

Since this the AD has went all in on "Corporate Dollars" that way he will never be forced into a hire again.... Brent Key goes to a Bowl and win the bowl game and win the bowl game.... WOW Key will have proven the "Good Ole Boys" Boosters correct....

With a loss team goes 5-7 and it will be a miracle if they sell 30K in season tickets and man they will have to win 8 games to get back to 30K in season tickets...
 
I see it as the biggest game of his tenure, though @andrew does have a valid point regarding the UNC win last year.

After 3+ years of a literal ClownShow, 6 wins and a bowl would be an accomplishment. More importantly, it would show that the program is going in the right direction, and increasing expectations would be valid, even if the 2024 schedule includes FSU, ND, and UGA.
 
GTFLETCH said:
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Getting to a bowl is very important for Coach Key in establishing himself as a good head coach. While he played Georgia tough last year and will probably bring it again with next week's COFH, Syracuse is the more realistic target for becoming bowl eligible. Looking forward to the game.
 
GTFLETCH said:
With a loss team goes 5-7 and it will be a miracle if they sell 30K in season tickets and man they will have to win 8 games to get back to 30K in season tickets...
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Do we ever sell 30K season tix? Last number I vaguely remember from sometime in the CPJ era was something like 26K.

JRjr
 
GTFLETCH said:
This game is absolutely massive. We win we go to a bowl game and there is hype and fan interest for next season. We lose, no bowl game, we get smacked by UGA and just lost 3 straight to end the season and we will be thinking about how all we had to do was beat Syracuse and that’s all we will think about all off season. Possible career defining game for Key. Especially with Chadwell & Fritz winning 10 games at Liberty and Tulane. Remember the AD had both Jamey Chadwell and Willie Fritz up but the GT "Good Ole Boy" Boosters went with Key!!

Since this the AD has went all in on "Corporate Dollars" that way he will never be forced into a hire again.... Brent Key goes to a Bowl and win the bowl game and win the bowl game.... WOW Key will have proven the "Good Ole Boys" Boosters correct....

With a loss team goes 5-7 and it will be a miracle if they sell 30K in season tickets and man they will have to win 8 games to get back to 30K in season tickets...
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I think you're really overestimating the impact of this game.

Regarding defining Key's tenure, he will be here for another two years at minimum. There's no way that one game against Syracuse in his first season where the prize is a mediocre bowl will define his career here.

Regarding season ticket sales, I am really skeptical that winning one additional game and going to a mediocre bowl will drive a lot of sales. Sure, maybe it will influence some people, but it's not going to be the difference between 20k season ticket sales and 25k season ticket sales. The biggest benefit will be the extra practice time.

The story of this season has been mostly written already: a mediocre team with a lot of inconsistency and some bright spots. It would be really nice if we could get this win and go to a bowl, and for me it will dictate whether I consider this particular season a success, but it won't have much infuence outside of that.
 
andrew said:
I think you're really overestimating the impact of this game.

Regarding defining Key's tenure, he will be here for another two years at minimum. There's no way that one game against Syracuse in his first season where the prize is a mediocre bowl will define his career here.

Regarding season ticket sales, I am really skeptical that winning one additional game and going to a mediocre bowl will drive a lot of sales. Sure, maybe it will influence some people, but it's not going to be the difference between 20k season ticket sales and 25k season ticket sales.

The story of this season has been mostly written already: a mediocre team with a lot of inconsistency and some bright spots. It would be really nice if we could get this win and go to a bowl, and for me it will dictate whether I consider this particular season a success, but it won't have much infuence outside of that.
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I think the importance of ticket sales is as simple as giving home fans an enjoyable experience that makes them want to come back to another game in the future. The UNC game, I felt, did that for the first time in a very long time.

Every time Collins lost 42-0, 45-0, 77-7, 52-7, we probably had a thousand fans leave the stadium and vow to never come back. That shows in our attendance today. A nice home win under the lights can have the opposite effect.
 
We should win this game on paper. I think in the first two years he needs to work on getting us more consistent against the teams we should beat. This is one of them. Bowl game was one of the goals for this year. I'm expecting a Clemson-esque game against UGAY unfortunately but everyone will be looking to see how fired up he'll have the team for that game. I just want us to be competitive and not have a blowout. As for Cuse', we need and should win that one.
 
The Champ said:
I think the importance of ticket sales is as simple as giving home fans an enjoyable experience that makes them want to come back to another game in the future. The UNC game, I felt, did that for the first time in a very long time.

Every time Collins lost 42-0, 45-0, 77-7, 52-7, we probably had a thousand fans leave the stadium and vow to never come back. That shows in our attendance today. A nice home win under the lights can have the opposite effect.
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This is a good analysis. There were quite a few games in the Collins era that felt like a literal chore to attend. There were times I left BDS thinking, "Why am I paying money to do this to myself?" People without such strong ties to the institution likely wouldn't have kept coming back.
 
Key would say all of the games this year were important. If they had beaten Louisville, Bowling Green, or BC then this thread wouldn’t even exist.
 
gt9589 said:
We should win this game on paper. I think in the first two years he needs to work on getting us more consistent against the teams we should beat. This is one of them. Bowl game was one of the goals for this year. I'm expecting a Clemson-esque game against UGAY unfortunately but everyone will be looking to see how fired up he'll have the team for that game. I just want us to be competitive and not have a blowout. As for Cuse', we need and should win that one.
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We should always win this game on paper

pen-and-paper-games-3475018494.jpg
 
The Champ said:
I think the importance of ticket sales is as simple as giving home fans an enjoyable experience that makes them want to come back to another game in the future. The UNC game, I felt, did that for the first time in a very long time.

Every time Collins lost 42-0, 45-0, 77-7, 52-7, we probably had a thousand fans leave the stadium and vow to never come back. That shows in our attendance today. A nice home win under the lights can have the opposite effect.
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GTROY said:
This is a good analysis. There were quite a few games in the Collins era that felt like a literal chore to attend. There were times I left BDS thinking, "Why am I paying money to do this to myself?" People without such strong ties to the institution likely wouldn't have kept coming back.
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I believe this was the case starting year 2, and especially in year 3. At that point people have basically no faith in Collins or the team, and everyone was nearing their breaking points. As you pointed out Roy, everyone has a different breaking point, but no doubt every loss sent more fans packing.

With this team, in Key's first season, where we've had some really exciting wins and everyone feels much better about the team than they did under CGC, I don't think many people are near their breaking points. Therefore I don't think the result of this game will have a big impact.

Now, if the team is still wildly inconsistent next year and it comes down to one game to make a bowl again, at that point I'd agree it's a huge game for Key's tenure and for fan interest. But in these circumstances I don't see too many fans abandoning hope for next season if we lose on Saturday.
 
gt9589 said:
We should win this game on paper. I think in the first two years he needs to work on getting us more consistent against the teams we should beat. This is one of them. Bowl game was one of the goals for this year. I'm expecting a Clemson-esque game against UGAY unfortunately but everyone will be looking to see how fired up he'll have the team for that game. I just want us to be competitive and not have a blowout. As for Cuse', we need and should win that one.
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Well said!
 
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