As a TKP reader, and therefore Virginia Tech Hokies fanatic, EVERY play of every game has you captivated and your emotional state hangs on every pass, every tackle, every penalty, every little detail of every game. But of course not all plays are as big as others and as your memory of the mundane fades you're left with last memories of the truly game-changing plays of every season. Here we use analytics to count down the biggest, most game-changing plays in the past 10 years of Virginia Tech football...
In each installment of this series I'll bring you two plays: one play devastating to the Hokies' chance to win, and one dominating play in Virginia Tech's favor. They will count down in order of how much each play affected the odds of Tech's victory.
For details on the method, see Virginia Tech's Top 10 Plays of the Last Ten Years: No. 10.
The Countdown
Most Devastating:
10. Boise State 9/6/2010 - Kellen Moore pass complete to Austin Pettis for 13 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
9. Miami 11/4/2006 - Tyrone Moss rush for 50 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
8. Boston College 11/2/2013 - Logan Thomas pass intercepted by Kevin Pierre-Louis at the VTech 33, returned for 33 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
7. Lamar Miller rush over right guard for 30 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
Most Dominating:
10. Boston College 12/1/2007 - Sean Glennon pass complete to Eddie Royal for 24 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
9. North Carolina 10/29/2009 - T.J. Yates pass intercepted by Rashad Carmichael at the North Carolina 10, returned for 5 yards to the North Carolina 5
8. Georgia Tech 9/3/2012 - Logan Thomas pass complete to Demitri Knowles for 42 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
7. Rutgers 12/29/2012 - Logan Thomas pass complete to Corey Fuller for 21 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
The 6th-most Devastating Play: Boston College 10/25/2007 - Matt Ryan pass complete to Andre Callender for 24 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
That happened.
The 6th-most Dominating Play: Marshall 9/21/2013 - Logan Thomas pass complete to Willie Byrn for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN
An early first quarter Marshall punt attempt blocked and returned for a Hokies' touchdown was a ruse. Points, yards and Virginia Tech's 700th program win would not come that easy for the Hokies the rest of the game. Marshall's defense clamped down against Virginia Tech's lackluster offense throughout most of the game. A touchdown at the bottom of the first quarter put Tech up 14-7, but that lead soon slipped away. Two second quarter Herd touchdowns gave Marshall a 21-14 lead. Subsequent Hokie drives went: interception, missed field goal, punt, turnover on downs, punt and punt. With 9:25 to go in the game, Tech got the ball back still down 14-21 and desperately needed to put points on the board.
Ten plays into a clock-draining drive, it seemed a tie was inevitable as Logan Thomas had the offense in a first-and-goal from the one-yard-line. Then Trey Edmunds lost two yards on a first down carry. Logan Thomas lost four more and nearly a fumble on second. On third, Thomas moved forward but was unable to get into the end zone. With just over three minutes left on the clock, and little to make anyone in Lane believe they'd have another chance to score, the decision was made to leave the offense on the field on fourth-and-goal from the two-yard-line.
Willie Byrn ran a quick out towards the right flat of the end zone. The Paperboy created plenty of space on the closest defender and Thomas floated the ball in his direction. A Marshall defender deflected the pass on a great defensive effort, but it wasn't enough as Willie turned and grabbed the bobbling ball in an unbelievable catch before falling out of the end zone.
The score and extra point knotted the game up. Virginia Tech was able to pull out the win 29-21 in triple-overtime. Against a name brand opponent would have been remembered as an instant classic instead of a squeaker.
Comments
I learned that game that my raincoat only lasts 3 quarters.
It was a fun day in the stands.
I didn't have a coat, so I had to try to stay dry with the little towel they gave out before the game. It was a whole lot of fun for 58 minutes.
Edit: just realized they were both wet nasty days, I'm referring to the BC game.
You know your day sucked when...
You've stood still in the pouring rain for 3 hours yelling yourself hoarse, and then devastating play #6 happens. You then reach into your rain coat for your car key, which is a chip key, and it's floating in about 9 ounces of water.
Fuck you, Matt Ryan. You still owe me $75 for that key.
My computer at work isnt allowing me to watch the BC clip because its in safety mode. I think it knows that its best for its own safety if i cant watch it...
^
I just couldn't bring myself to click it.
Not gonna lie, guys, I'm a little scared. If Matt Ryan is only the 6th most devastating play... this could get quite painful.
my thoughts exactly I thought it was for sure #1 or 2 most devistating. I'm scared to see what else is coming, this could really suck
Oddly enough, this is how I feel this morning.
Yeah..it is going to get bad!
I knew this was coming eventually but my day is officially ruined.
Haha squeaker...
The analysis on the Matt Ryan play is spot on.
Haha, yes. A nice touch to truly offer it "without comment"
8 years later I am still mad.
I used to be a Falcon's fan. I even stuck around after Vick left.
Soon as they drafted Matt Ryan they became my least favorite team.
I just wanna punch jagz in his dancing face
I didn't watch it more so for that exact reason then the actual pass and catch. That guy was the epitome of a douche.
this pretty much sums up how I feel about him and that exact moment.....
is there video of his reaction after we beat them in the ACCCG? 'Cause my only consolation is that he was 0-2 against us in the post season
EDIT: This helps (Thank you hokietapes)
Change the video address in the embed code to to:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/sFIAQCpJcKI?start=8990
8090 is the number of seconds in 2:29:50
thanks I had t=8990 instead. Fixed now
That made it better but then there was Glennon in the bowl game. These national broadcasters amaze me. So many wrong names. I wonder if they do that when doing an UA or AU game?
Man Adibi could run. Having him and Hall on the field was an assuring feeling.
Absolutely, one of the best true linebackers in coverage that we've had.
Also, Matt Ryan threw 5 pick sixes that year? Rough stuff.
skipped right on past the matt ryan play
Yep...
Same. I was there. I distinctly remember how it felt. Hey look, the awesome Paperboy touchdown!
I was there too and was standing in the East Stands afterwards just thinking how much it sucked that we lost. Then I realized that I could be "that fan whose team lost" that the TV cameras like to focus on at the end of the broadcast and quickly made my way to the exit.
I remember looking to my right (was in the SEZ) and watching the small BC section that I hadn't noticed beforehand losing their minds. What a horrible night. My wife and I had been fighting in our seats. My truck got stuck in someone's yard I paid to park in near the Bburg library (sorry for tearing it up getting out). I damn near got in a fight with a dude while sitting in said truck waiting for traffic to clear out (he whipped his dick out to pee on my truck on the side my wife was sitting in). Finally, a raging post game hangover sitting gridlock traffic.
Fuck Matt Ryan
Jeeze, that sounds awful
Plus the wind and the cold, cold rain. We do bring changes of clothes and shoes for games if they're calling for weather now so at least we learned something.
It could have been worse. You could have gone home...to Morganton.
Man I thought for sure when this thing started that the Matt Ryan play would be #1 most devastating. Maybe it's not statistically, but it will be forever in my heart.
Spot on. This is a good time to offer the reminder that no form of emotion or "what's on the line" or anything like that was included. If I'm including those things, the Matt Ryan play is my #1 most devastating and the Boise State TD is my #2. Both are just completely crushing.
But statistically, things get interesting near the top...
I really like this series for that reason. Statistic don't have emotions, so it is interesting to see how these plays affected the games objectively.
Oh God, I'm sensing some ECU-in-Charlotte low-lights in our near future.
The most devastating play of that Marshall game:
I made it the entire day at a music festival with my in-laws and wife and never even glanced at a tv for fear that i may ruin the game I recorded at home. We were finally headed home, but my wife wanted to stop in the sports store to buy some VT thing she wanted. Since I never say no to more VT stuff, we went in quickly. As she is checking out, a girl starts talking to me and says out of the blue "my mom just called me a while ago and told me we won in triple overtime!" I remember she continued to talk to me about something and I had tuned it out trying to comprehend what had just happened.
ugh, that is the absolute worst. I remember during the bowl game against Rutgers, we were watching the game a few minutes behind the live feed because I had to drop my parents off at the airport around the start of game-time. Well, every is going fine and dandy and we were far enough behind to where we could fast forward through commercials and still be a couple minutes behind the live game - it was noice. At some point it was decided that recording wasn't necessary, and we could instead continue to watch the delayed feed until game's end. Well, in OT, when Rutgers lined up to attempt their FG (with me naturally on edge), my wife accidentally hit the "LIVE" button on the DVR remote... straight to espn highlights of whatever else important was going on in the sports world that day. I had to look up what happened online. I was not pleased with my wife.
I had a DVR foul up for that very play in the Marshall game. Totally my fault though. The game was about to run over the time slot and my DVR at the time didn't have the overtime option or whatever you want to call it. So I was trying to record the next time slot and my DVR was temperamental. It decided to crash when I set the next slot to record so we had to reboot. While waiting to reboot I became impatient and checked my espn app. I just remember seeing the tie score and screaming SOMETHING HAPPENED! SOMETHING HAPPENED! Finally got the game back on during overtime and got to see a replay of that catch. Can't believe I missed it live.
I can never record games for this reason. That, and I feel like I lose part of the excitement of sporting event when I don't watch it live. I feel like me rooting for my team is actually helping them win.
Everyone knows that if the Hokies win they did it on there own and you were happy to see it live. If they lose in dramatic fashion you jinxed it by watching!
It's crazy how superstitious sports makes a lot of us. I'd consider myself a pretty sane and rational man. But come game day I literally think things like... "They're losing because I wore these shorts last week when we lost." Or...."we were winning when I couldn't watch the game in the first half, now I'm watching and we're losing, I should stop watching."
"TAHCAUGHT!"
I wanted to comment on that but didn't know how. I believe you accomplished it the only way possible
Never watched footage of The Play That Must Not Be Named. And I never will.
I don't think billdozervt gets enough credit...while I voluntarily had to look these things up and find a clip and get the beginning and ending time stamps - a painful process for a play like this that I had not watched since it happened - poor Bill had to make the cut clips for me. So whether he wanted to or not, he had to watch it.
So ^ this comment or add your own to show your appreciation to Bill for all he does making clips for the site!
Absolutely. Bill...I have no words, man.
I'm thinking the Nat'l Championship, fake punt, leading to first play, Weinke pass 43 yrds to Warrick with Whitaker draped on his arms to put the game away....even at 10 down, I felt we had a chance...
These only cover the past 10 years so no national championship game included.
That was a tough one.
But remember, we're only going back 10 years.
I was at a conference in Las Vegas when this game happened and had caught the flu so I wasn't in the greatest mood. We were taking a red eye home that night, so we went to watch the game in the sports bar of the casino we were in. I know I'd be a wreck if we lost, so right before the game I went and placed a bet on Boston College hoping some free money would make me feel better if the unthinkable happened.
When that play happened I ripped up the ticket and threw it away. That money was dirty.
I was in Las Vegas for that BC game too. My company was hosting a workshop and after the day's classes there was a cocktail party/social event that I was supposed to be at, but I skipped it to watch the game in my giant suite (hotel messed up my room arrangement, so they gave me the largest suite I have ever seen). I still cannot believe the Hokies totally shut the Eagles down for 58 minutes only to have an onside kick and desperation plays defeat us. I was super depressed, but thankfully I am not a gambling man...because I had the opportunity being in Vegas. And a big thank you to the team for winning the rematch in the ACC Championship Game!
Oh the dislike for "Matty Ice"
So typically with these, I watch the bad play...just to relive the bad vibe for a bit, but then I follow it up by watching the good play to put me back on top. I got about half way through the bad play today, youtube started buffering...and I thought to myself, "you know what, you're right YouTube, I don't need this"
Where's SevenLayersofPlayers? This is his destiny.
When you wear an orange-camo helmet, you deserve to lose.
I've never seen Blacksburg so dead after any game. The town burrowed itself into a state of deep sorrow and depression the entire weekend I visited. That alone should've made it the most devastating play.
I still to this day blame my mom for that game. I used to think she was some kind of horrible luck charm. They had just come home from my grandfathers and I'd been home with the flu watching the game. They ask what was happening and I said oh were up 10-0 she proceeds to sit down and watch the end....and we blow it.
Flash forward to the Nebraska game. She watches the entire Nebraska game at home and proceeds to turn it off right before the final touchdown drive....I love my mother dearly but I'm just saying....oh she was also at the Boise state game with me! I mean talk about evidence!
Send her on a nice vacation, preferably out of the country, for the entire Labor Day weekend.
Well the trend is over now she watched the Ohio state game, uva, and duke games last year...maybe she just has to watch the full game?
OK, send her on a vacation, but make sure she has a TV, and call her to remind her of kickoff time and make sure someone stays with her to keep her in front of the TV. That should cover all bases.
wait, like....Belize??
That Marshall game turned out to be a great bonding moment for my sons and I. We stood in the stands getting soaking wet. We started to get very miserable, and they almost convinced me to leave. I made them stay until that last drive where paperboy scored. We were so miserable in the rain it became funny, and now we felt we had to see it all the way through. An awful game to witness in person, but it will always be special!
That game was c o l d coooold but man was it exciting.
I remember at half time when about 20,000 people left, and then it was the diehards. I was in the East yelling 'HOKIES' back at the shirtless bros yelling 'LETS GO' from the North. I really think the team fed off the energy of the remaining crowd late in the game and on into overtime.
It was so fantastically miserable.
THANKS OBAMA
Me, Re: Matty Ice
I would have bet the farm that the BC game would have been at least top 3, but now I'm really curious. I think my definition for "devastating" is really different from others on here. The previous 4 are no where near as devastating as the BC one. I'll wait and see what the top 5 will be
Emotionally, I think just about everyone on here would agree that this particular play was the most devastating play in the last decade.
But, Joel is not factoring emotions into this series. These are strictly statistically significant (alliteration anyone?) plays. So even if the rest of the plays aren't as emotionally devastating they may technically have been moreso just by analyzing the delta between the statistical likelyhood of a VT victory prior to and immediately following said play.
Yes. Emotionally this is #1. I'd put Boise State #2 personally but it's a pretty big gap.
Gotcha, I can see where you are coming from statistically then.
Part of me is saying with BSU and BC scratched off the list already, how can it possibly get worse? ....I'm sure you'll figure something Joel, ...I'm sure you will.
Fuck Matt Ryan
surprised it took you so long. We were all like :
This needs to be bumped up so it can be the first comment.
If I ever volunteer for a lobotomy, the part of my brain that houses this play will be the first to go.
It deserves to be said again, FUCK MATT RYAN!!!!
Ah, Willie Byrn. He's just the perfect antidote for He Who Shall Not Be Named.
Willie Byrn, the boy who delivered
If this series was a ranking of plays that had the most effect on a season as a whole, then I think the BC play would have a good shot at #1. (Or a close #2 to Vick's run in Morgantown)
I can still remember vividly where I was sitting, what I was drinking, and how I felt after that play watching the game alone as I had just relocated to AZ.
I think I just gave myself the sads again over it...
DC and Michigan #1. Ruined the season at the very end and I still think it was a TD!
I cannot watch the Matt Ryan clip. Until Tech beats a #2 team at home on a Thursday night in the pouring rain, I will never even consider watching that clip.
I was in Monaco for a trade show and decided that I would stay up to hear the 1st quarter of the BC game on my laptop. Of course, I ended up listening to the whole thing. That meant starting at 2 am and suffering through until 5:30 am. Somehow, I sensed that the game wasn't over until.....it was over. Worst night of my life. I didn't need to see the game to have it seared in my brain. Ugh!
That Marshall game was some of the most fun I've had in Lane, even though all the Corps dorms stunk like wet dog for like 3 weeks straight afterward.
We were on the terrace for that game, and yeah, don't wanna go back to that place. I'm probably not going to check #5-1.
2 things about that Marshall game I will never forget.
The first is directed at HDubya. Remember that $5 pregame bet I made saying that we WILL block a punt? That was fun and the best drinks I've ever had at Hokie House.
The 2nd is the fact that I never saw the Byrn catch live. I turned around for the play because I couldn't handle watching it. Once I heard the screams from the crowd I turned around and started celebrating.
Ugh. I want to like this series and appreciate the work put in but the bad plays seem to be overpowering the good so far. The devastating play was far worse on 10 and 6 and the dominating was only clearly better on 7, but even that was the lousy Rutgers game.
If it's any consolation, Virginia Tech has spent way more time at high odds of winning in the past 10 years that not. Games where you spend virtually the entire time at 90+% chance of winning don't really provide many opportunities for dominating plays because you've already dominated. So basically it's been a lot easier to devastate Virginia Tech than for them to dominate in the past decade and that's a good thing.
your perspective.
I like it.
I think that might be the biggest takeaway from this whole series.
We dominate our games as a team over the course of the game, therefore we don't have many big game changing single plays, but we do open ourselves up to big downswings. That amounts to a lot of "what ifs".