Brent Key's 3-word message after Georgia Tech smashes Florida State

Florida State was ranked 10th and favored by 10-plus points Saturday afternoon as it battled unranked, upstart Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.

But it was Brent Key's Yellow Jackets who kicked a last-play field goal, 44 yards off the foot of Aidan Birr, to claim an season-opening 24-21 win.

Key, a well-chronicled former offensive lineman who ascended to the Tech job full-time after the 2022 season, had a simple message to the ESPN broadcast crew post-game.

After all, the Yellow Jackets had gashed the vaunted Florida State defense for 190 rushing yards -- a whopping 5.3-yard-per-carry average.

"Run the ball," Key gushed on-field after the win.

He isn't wrong. Tech needed just 16 pass attempts from ballyhooed transfer quarterback Haynes King, who threw for 176 yards and rushed for an additional 75 on 11 official totes.

"We've got 100 guys who play as one," Key added.

Tech engineered three possessions of 70 or more yards; as it marched for the winning score, Tech possessed the ball for the game's final 6 minutes, 33 seconds.

Florida State couldn't get off the field late and withered defensively as Georgia Tech converted two separate third downs and then set up the game-winning field goal with a 12-yard gain on third-and-17.

Key helped the Yellow Jackets notch their fifth win as a double-digit underdog just since he took over the program on an interim basis before he earned the full-time nod in 2022.