2025 Hokie Football Notebook: Wake Forest Capitalizes on Hokie Hiccups

Games like Homecoming and Senior Day are special moments for players, coaches, fans. They are usually your most attended games of the season, and come with a lot of pomp and circumstance. They also come with numerous distractions. The pregame and halftime procedures are different. The gameday rhythm you had built all season has now been thrown off. Former players are coming back, reminding players of the expectations they face. Performing in front of old friends and mentors jacks up the pressure on you to an 11. Hokies' WR Tayke Heath confirmed that the team was feeling that pressure and excitement when they took the field Saturday. He said they were feeling "antsy." Being too amped up for a football game can lead to players not thinking, trying to do too much, and committing uncharacteristic mistakes. 

Those mistakes haunted the Hokies on Saturday. In the first half, you could argue all of Wake Forest's points were all sparked by Virginia Tech mishaps. Their first field goal came after a Kyron Drones INT. Their first TD drive was halted before a horrible roughing the passer by Ben Bell on 3rd and eight gave the Demon Deacons new life. Their next drive, Kaleb Spencer shoved Wake's QB when he was out of bounds on 3rd and 15. Then right before the half, the Hokies offense had a promising run called back by a Tomas Rimac hold. The Hokies were forced to punt, and Wake scored with 10 seconds left.

In the second half, the biggest blunder for the Hokies was their inability to score touchdowns in the redzone. VT had four drives inside the Wake Forest 25 yard line in the second half and could not come away with six points. They instead settled for four field goal attempts. On the second of those four drives, VT faced a fourth and two on the Wake 21. After wanting to be aggressive on a fourth down last week, Montgomery chose to take the points. Boos rang out from Lane Stadium as John Love trotted on the field. 

The next Virginia Tech drive started at the Wake Forest four yard line after a brilliant tip drill INT featuring Jaden Keller and Isiah Brown Murray.  

The Hokies failed to punch it in on their first three tries, and then a Donavon Greene personal foul knocked them back to the 17. Philip Montgomery said after the game that he had planned on going for it before the penalty. He also declined to comment on the penalty, stating that he could be fined for his comments.

The Hokies offense as a whole struggled today. Kyron Drones managed only 111 yards passing and faced constant pressure. The O-line is still banged up, which caused Tomas Rimac to play his fourth position of the year at right guard. The vulnerability of the Hokies' front wall led to more blitzes and stunts than Wake had shown in previous weeks. Montgomery says the Demon Deacs' also showed more odd fronts, and their deep, 2-high shell in the secondary made airing it out difficult. 

After an exuberant victory last week that breathed some life into a zombie program, today felt like a hard crash back down to earth. Virginia Tech is playing with an interim coach, and roster departures and injuries have forced backups and freshman to play meaningful minutes. That level of midseason turnover is bound to result in roller coaster performances. There will be plenty to learn from this game, and I'm sure plenty of running from all the penalties. The Hokies now prepare for a trip to Atlanta before a much-needed bye. They will face an undefeated Georgia Tech squad that has looked like a contender at times, but is vulnerable. It took overtime for GT to beat this same Wake Forest squad that the Hokies went toe-to-toe with. The versions of the Hokies and Yellow Jackets we get next Saturday feel unpredictable, and with the current state of the program both on and off the field, I think Hokie Nation might need to get used to that feeling.