ATLANTA — Less than two minutes remained in the game Saturday when Georgia Tech gained a meaningless first down, prompting the traditional sound effect of a steam whistle being played over the public address system at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
On cue, a worker at the stadium supplied his own far more relevant sound effect.
“The train already left the station,” he said.
No kidding.
The train left the station on the Jackets’ season several weeks ago, on head coach Geoff Collins’ future at Tech even before that. It left the station in this game after Miami scored two touchdowns in its first three possessions. It likely left with interim coach Brent Key’s lingering anemic hopes to keep the job on a permanent basis. And, stunningly, it may also have left with former starting quarterback Jeff Sims, who did not play in the game even though he was cleared to play medically but suddenly was “not available.”
The Jackets lost 35-14 to the Hurricanes, their third loss in the past four games after they started 2-0 under Key following Collins’ firing. But the score isn’t nearly as important as the state of things, which descended to a new level of dreadful.
Georgia Tech quarterback Jeff Sims did not play Saturday against Miami. (Brett Davis / USA Today)
Backup quarterbacks Zach Pyron and Zach Gibson each threw two interceptions. Both played because Sims, who suffered a sprained foot against Virginia three weeks ago, did not — and more likely would not, as opposed to could not. Media members were informed before the game that Sims, once a coveted four-star recruit, would suit up and “be available in an emergency situation.”
Most would read that as a player being cleared by Georgia Tech’s medical staff. But Key decided to start Pyron. When Pyron suffered a shoulder injury late in the third quarter, it was Gibson and not Sims who played the rest of the game. After the loss, Key did not come out and say “Sims did not want to play,” but at the very least Key conveyed Sims was not enthusiastic about entering the game.
Question: “Was Jeff cleared to play, and what does emergency basis mean?”
Answer: “He was deemed (available in) an emergency basis in the game, and at the time that Pyron got hurt, he was not available to go in.”
Question: “But he was cleared to go in?”
Answer: “I’ll just leave it at that.”
Question: “Did you say at the time Pyron got hurt, Sims was not available?”
Answer: “Yeah, he wasn’t able to go in.”
Question: “But he was cleared to play?”
Answer: “I’ll leave it at that. Thank you.”
Let’s be clear: If Sims, who has been banged up frequently in his three seasons, doesn’t feel confident playing on the foot or has decided it’s not worth risking further injury this season, it’s not going to crush Georgia Tech’s season. At 4-6, their bowl hopes are shot. They are going to be significant underdogs at North Carolina and at Georgia.
But it was not a good look, on a day of many bad looks: a loss in the team’s final home game of the season, on senior night, against a beatable Miami team, with the stands more than half empty.
Sims has two years of eligibility remaining because of the 2020 COVID-19 season, and he could transfer. Some believed he would leave after the 2021 season, like running back Jahmyr Gibbs, given the low expectations for the Jackets and Collins’ tenuous future. But Sims said in August, “I thought about it a week or two. I wouldn’t say I really did that much exploring. In the end, the biggest thing I wanted to stay for was my teammates. I just told my parents, ‘Look, I’m staying.’ I have a good feeling. I love this school.”
Does he still? It may not matter. This team and this program have bigger issues.
Key’s hopes for keeping the job almost certainly have evaporated, barring a stunning turn of events during the next two weeks. Going 3-3 is respectable with this roster and in this situation after Collins couldn’t win more than three games in any of his seasons. But Key needed to be more than just respectable to excite fans, donors and the administration.
New athletic director J Batt has been working long hours, meeting with employees and donors. He is attempting to get a handle on the athletic department, finances and each of the individual sports, as well as presumably beginning due diligence with potential candidates for the football coaching vacancy.
The list of candidates is expected to include Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell, Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, East Carolina coach Mike Houston and potentially others.
Batt declined an interview request by The Athletic on the coaching search, but he issued a statement through a spokesperson: “I am still in the process of settling in here at Georgia Tech and evaluating our entire athletics program. My focus here on campus is working every day to support our student-athletes and coaches.”
The beauty of that statement is that it reveals nothing, and it’s applicable for almost any subject, from the budget to the coaching search to whether he believes it would be a good idea to start serving fish sandwiches in the campus dining hall.
Key just wants to win games. In the week after an upset win at Pitt, he said, “Success is the enemy of success.” It was a variation of a famous quote from Edgar Degas, the French impressionist, who said, “Success! Success! The enemy of progress.”
And so goes the foreshadowing. The Jackets barely beat Duke at home in overtime the following week. Then they lost at home to a terrible Virginia team, then lost on the road to Florida State. Pyron led a fourth-quarter comeback win at Virginia Tech, but he and the team struggled from the outset against Miami. The Hurricanes drove to two long, time-consuming touchdowns early against Tech, converted seven times on third down and intercepted four passes, the last resulting in a pick-six. The Jackets trailed only 14-7 after a 99-yard touchdown drive late in the first half, but consecutive interceptions by Pyron and Gibson buried them.
Key’s task now is trying to keep things from jumping the rails any more than they already have.
“The true disappointment comes if you don’t come back the next week ready to work, and that starts tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll challenge the guys in our locker room — the character of our team has to prevail. It has to rise up. You only get so many games of football in your life. They ran out at some point. So those guys have to wake up tomorrow and be ready to come in and understand what the mistakes were and what we have to correct.”
No word yet on Pyron’s status or who will start at quarterback. It may hinge on who’s still here and who has left the station.
(Top photo of Brent Key: David J. Griffin / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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