Georgia Tech’s loss to Pittsburgh was a rough night at Bobby Dodd Stadium. In front of 52,413 fans, the Jackets dug a deep hole early, falling behind 21-0 after a brutal first quarter. During the post-game presser, head coach Brent Key did not mince words and held his team accountable. Including his frustration with Haynes King and how he left all hopes of a comeback after the second quarter.

“What cut two scores before halftime and after being down 28, which is an insurmountable deficit there,” Brent Key said during the post-game presser. “Then the second half, we really kind of continued. We got down 28 to nothing. You know, called them together at the end of the first quarter. I mean, there’s no justification for it. You lose a game, loss is the loss, so they did have the next play mentality, and we’re able to keep playing and try to cut it close. But like I said, an insurmountable deficit we put ourselves in.”

The script flipped fast when Jy Gilmore went down. The leg injury took Tech’s most versatile defender off the field, ripping a hole in the back end of the defense. Pitt attacked it immediately. Mason Heintschel looked way too comfortable, ripping two first-quarter touchdown passes. One was to Kenny Johnson and one to Justin Holmes. Up front, Pitt’s offensive line set the tone.

The Panthers piled up 176 yards in that disastrous first quarter alone, averaging 8.8 yards per snap while Julez Goff finished off a march with a one-yard score to make it 21-0. Georgia Tech’s defense looked a step slow fitting the run and late closing throwing windows. Meanwhile, Tech’s offense did nothing for its secondary. Coming in, Georgia Tech had the best offense in the country, but it was not on display against Pitt.

Georgia Tech went 3-14 on third down and only averaged five yards per play. They also struggled on fourth down, going 1-4 on the night and failing to convert their chances. However, Panthers running back Ja’Kyrian Turner went off, dropping 201 yards and a touchdown, plus a 56-yard run that basically iced the game late in the fourth. The ground attack was phenomenal. Pitt Georgia Tech’s secondary just wasn’t physical and whiffed on a ton of tackles; it was a straight-up bloodbath.

Things got even worse when Yellow Jackets’ star QB Haynes King made the biggest mistake of the night.

How one play sealed Georgia Tech’s fate

Haynes King’s dual-threat quality has been a key factor for the Tech’s offense. He is the team’s leading rusher, with 15 rushing touchdowns, which leads the ACC and ties him for fourth nationally. His 88.3 rushing yards per game is 26th in the nation. But against the Panthers, it was a different QB the Georgia Tech fans saw. And guess what? Brent Key is not at all happy with the pick-six that occurred.

“You had the call, a man coverage deal, figuring they were in, they were in zero blitz. Everybody up the line of scrimmage, zero blitz. That’s what we’re expecting, and right at the last second, they popped the guy out, cupped him out from underneath, and guess he didn’t see him, I guess,” Key said during the presser. The moment happened when the Yellow Jackets were creeping back into the game, down 28-14.

That’s when Braylan Lovelace, Pitt’s middle linebacker, made his mark in a big way. With King under heavy pressure and clearly uncomfortable in the pocket, Lovelace intercepted a pass near the goal line and took it all the way back 100 yards for a touchdown. That pick-six was Lovelace’s first career touchdown and tied Pitt’s second-longest interception return record. That play legit added seven points to Pitt’s lead and crushed Georgia Tech’s momentum.