Cheers and Jeers: Pittsburgh

The Hokies weren't going to go undefeated this season, but for it to end in this fashion is brutal. It was an extremely winnable game with an amazing home atmosphere and the Hokies had every opportunity to pull it off, including at the last possible moment. It's a real downer to fight back from all the mistakes just to—as far as we know—miss a last-second field goal with one of the best kicker’s in the college game.

A John Love Surrender Cobra is not what you expect to see at the end of a game.

Losses can be a great teacher and we’ll all soon learn what this team is really made of. But what did we learn in this Friday night fright?

One could ask, "Where's the beef?" with respect to the Hokies' offense at times. There's a lot of sizzle from their own goal line up to the other 20, but not always a lot of result when things get congested in the red zone. The Hokies moved the ball extraordinarily well and yet left a lot of points out on the field which has become a running concern.

I'll never be super mad about a Hokie quarterback throwing for over 400 yards in a game but obviously three turnovers from Grunk is not going to cut it. We saw him force throws at times and hold on to the ball a little too long in some key moments too.

I can see how the defense is frustrating to a lot of folks. They do give up some big plays and they missed some key tackles against Pitt, which is never a good thing. They're very aggressive, which is fun, and they manage to pressure the quarterback a lot which is how they're leading the nation in tackles for loss. It's a lot like an old Bud Foster defense in that it puts a lot of pressure on the corners and secondary on the plays when the line can't get to the QB. While I think all of the Tech players in the secondary are talented, they’re still getting to know each other and may struggle with communication at times. That’s to be expected as they continue to weave in new players throughout the year and deal with injuries and whatever else pops up.

The officiating was notably off on the field and the review booth was, I guess, incapable or powerless to do anything about it. The simultaneous catch play was brutal, as was the seemingly phantom double penalty on Tech’s receivers. None of that was critical but it was a decided factor.

This is still a very good season to this point and frankly I don't think this will look like a bad loss long term. I don't know about Pittsburgh's quarterback situation with the injury to Mason Heintschel, but even if it's some guy named Holden leading the charge off the bench, their defense is pretty capable and it seems likely they'll win a lot of ACC games.

I’m bummed about the result against Pitt but still super excited about the season. The Hokies remain ahead of schedule in my view and will continue to be viable contenders in a wide-open ACC. The only team that might go undefeated is Miami and that’s no sure thing. Hopefully, this loss serves as a painful but valuable series of teachable moments. I probably don’t have to remind anyone but in case you’ve forgotten, we only won three games last year. This team is still a massive improvement even if there are still some rough areas yet to be sanded away. If Tech avoids a single turnover or one or two backbreaking penalties they win against Pitt.

This group is still really good, don't let a close home loss fool you into believing otherwise.