Hokies show terminal lucidity before blowing 10 point lead

Sometimes, in the brief periods before death, a love one might show an unexpected moment of their former body and spirit before passing. For one quarter, Virginia Tech showed the promise and the hype we have all been waiting on for nearly a decade. What followed was a three quarter descent into football hell, worse than almost anything seen during the purgatory that began when we were excited to see a bowl streak continue by inching out six win seasons.

Despite losing the net EPA battle in the second quarter, the Virginia Tech offense was still a net positive against the Vanderbilt defense, mostly buoyed by a stronger rushing attack led by Kyron Drones and Marcellous Hawkins.

That is essentially where the good news ends for the Hokies. There are many factors that could explain the second half collapse: Johnny Garrett going down at the end of the first half, Drones not adjusting to the pressure and losing his confidence, or a coaching staff that was clearly outmatched on both sides of the ball.

While the overall numbers show an offensive improvement over Week 1 against South Carolina, the by quarter results show that it was mostly all in the first half, with the exception of a couple of garbage time runs in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, while the offense faltered, the defense completely fell apart.

Vanderbilt was successful on 58.9% of all their plays (56.8% rushing and 63.1% passing), and got better over time.

Once again, Virginia Tech allowed more explosive plays (runs over 15 yards, and passes over 20) than they were able to create. In this game, Virginia Tech had two explosive passes and three explosive rushes, but allowed five each passing and rushing to Vanderbilt.

Final Takeaways

If this team is going to show anything this season, it is going to have to look a lot like that first quarter. Drones was decisive in the passing game, making quick decisions and smart throws. He was aggressive running the ball, lowering his shoulder into defenders and taking hits to get into the redzone. On defense, we saw that when the defensive line can get pressure, they can force opposing QBs to throw jump balls and allow the safeties to make plays. But for all the good of that quarter, it still ended with the early stages of allowing a two play, 75-yard drive.

Moving forward, I want to see more of that quick passing game and more punishing runs. It's not like this team will be competing for anything special, so Drones might as well not let up. He's at his best when he is aggressive, might as well unleash it as much as possible. And on defense, I think I am ready to see more youth in the back seven. While I feel bad for them personally, some of these transfers in the secondary don't seem to have the ability to hold up in coverage. Similar thoughts at linebacker, though at least some of those transfers have another year of eligibility left.