Taje McCoy came off the edge and knocked the ball loose, true freshman Christian Speakman fell on it, and later true freshman linebacker C.J. Gamble picked off Mercer quarterback JP Pickles at the Mercer 41 to open the fourth quarter. Those were Georgia Tech's first takeaways of 2026, and per AP the Yellow Jackets turned both into touchdowns in a 44-11 win. Tawfiq Thomas, McCoy and Noah Carter each had a sack, and Tech finished with 10 tackles for loss. That is the defense Jason Semore was hired to build. Georgia Tech brought him in with a stated vision of aggression, negative plays and creating turnovers, one of two coordinator changes this offseason alongside former Tech quarterback George Godsey taking over the offense, so both sides of the ball are learning new systems under a head coach who is not.
The other half of the defense did not move. Mercer ran 46 times for 188 yards with six carries of 11 or more, the third straight game Tech has allowed 180-plus, and Brent Key said his team was "misfitting things" and that "you can't play good run defense if you don't set edges and you play downhill." That is the same complaint he made after Tennessee, when he said interior defenders made plays but support vanished once runners bounced outside. Through three games, Georgia Tech's run defense ranks 134th nationally at 241 rushing yards allowed per game, 181 to Colorado, 299 to Tennessee, 188 to Mercer.
Tech is winning possessions instead of stopping drives. The sack-fumble and the interception wiped out 188 rushing yards against an FCS team, and takeaways that arrive on schedule against Mercer arrive less often against ACC offenses.
Georgia Tech at Stanford, Saturday, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Bill Connelly's SP+ projects a 30-20 Georgia Tech win and gives the Jackets a 72% chance; our simulations are a touch cooler at 64%. Either way, this is a game Tech should win, which is what makes the personnel questions worth watching rather than just enduring.
Start at cornerback and on the edge. Zachary Tobe started for Jaylen Mbakwe, while A.J. Hoffler started for Jordan Walker. As of Sept. 13 reporting, Mbakwe had called his injury a "minor setback" and said he was "fine and feeling well," with no return timeline reported, and nothing had surfaced on Walker. If Mbakwe and Walker are in uniform Saturday, a lot of this week's worry gets smaller.
The offense's answer to a defense that cannot stop the run is to keep the other offense off the field. Justice Haynes gave the clearest version of that against Mercer with 22 carries for 141 yards and a 31-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, his first play longer than 20 yards all season, plus a short touchdown catch for three scores and 167 scrimmage yards. Alberto Mendoza went 15 of 21 for 249 yards and three touchdowns without an interception, a week after throwing two against Tennessee. The cushion is thinner than the scoreboard suggested, though. Tech converted 2 of 11 third downs, and Key said flatly, "We definitely need to improve red zone touchdowns." The offensive line played Mercer down three starters and has struggled at full strength. Long drives require third downs.
The stakes are simple and near-term. Tech's bye follows this game, so Stanford is the last chance to reach 2-2 before the break, with Duke, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Pittsburgh waiting in October.
Watch the first Stanford drive that gets outside the tackle box. If Tech's edges hold and the pursuit arrives, this becomes a comfortable night. If the Cardinal start bouncing runs for 11 and 12 yards, Tech needs McCoy and company to take the ball away again, and needing that every week is not a plan, it's a bet.
Full projections are in the interactive guide, and the model is explained in the methodology.