After the Miami Loss, Can Virginia Tech Still Salvage the Football Season?

On Friday, the Virginia Tech Hokies suffered one of the most heartbreaking losses in a history that includes a lot of Maalox moments (I broached that topic after the Vanderbilt debacle).  This was a new low, though, after a video review of the game winning touchdown pass was questionably overturned. 

And while the famed reversal of Danny Coale’s Sugar Bowl catch took away an overtime lead for Virginia Tech, this one punched harder because Tech would have won the game had the call on the field stood.

The Hokies battled, heading into Miami Gardens as a three-score underdog yet taking the undefeated Hurricanes to the brink.  Fans should be happy to see their Hokies play so tough, right?

As Lee Corso loves to say, “Not so fast, my friend!”

The final call was gut-wrenching.  But football is not won or lost on any single play. There were a multitude of situations earlier in the game that had they gone Tech’s way, the outcome would have been different.  And I’m talking both sides, as Miami made plenty of its own mistakes.

Hokie Nation is reeling after a coulda-woulda-shoulda road upset over a top ten team felt like another episode of Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.  And for the third time in three years under Brent Pry, the Hokies are 2-3 after the first five games.  So the big question is this:  can the Hokies still salvage their season after such a devastating loss?

That answer is wholeheartedly YES!  There are still seven games to play, all in-conference, with a lot on the table.  A shot at the ACC championship game is possible if the Hokies win out, an eight-win season (which is improvement over last year) is attainable, and at the very least, four more wins gets the team back to a bowl game is still expected by the fan base.

In order for any of that to become reality, though, improvement in these five areas is necessary: 

I have to start with the obvious…the final play in Miami, where the officiating crew made their umpteenth questionable call of the game. This one resulted in a social media firestorm over the weekend.  From Hokie Twitter to College Gameday to conspiracy theories that the ACC manipulated the call for league interests (which I don’t necessarily think are untrue), the debates raged on for days.

It appeared that Tech had Lady Luck on their side when the referees ruled the final Hail Mary as a touchdown.  However, (five minutes later), she gave the Hokies the cold shoulder and the call was reversed.  That was a bad break, as the outcome of the game was in the hands of people watching a blurry video over 700 miles from the action.

On the previous possession where Miami scored the go-ahead touchdown, the Canes had some good fortune on a crucial fourth-down conversion.  At midfield needing three yards, receiver Xavier Restrepo had fallen (what was up with the turf at Hard Rock Stadium?) four yards past the line of scrimmage and he still caught the ball while on his back.  That was a lucky break for Miami (and an amazing play, hat-tip to Restrepo).

If that ball sails over Restrepo (why didn’t it?  He was ON HIS BACK!) or he otherwise does not make the catch, the Hokies take control of the ball at the 50-yard line with five minutes to play and a three-point lead.  Instead, the Canes convert, and four plays later, quarterback Cam Ward escapes a sure sack by Keyshawn Burgos, fights off a second sack attempt by Kaleb Spencer, and flips the ball to his tight end who also breaks a tackle and rumbles 26 yards to the one-yard line.

Great athletic play?  Yes.  Heisman moment?  Maybe. But also lucky? Absolutely.  If Burgos comes in just a little lower, the 253-pound Hokie takes Ward down for the sack, setting up second and twenty from the 37.  If Spencer or Keli Lawson make their tackles, the big play does not happen.  That just might alter the outcome.

Some may say that people make their own luck, and that is true to an extent, especially on Miami’s last drive.  Ward and Restrepo made brilliant plays.  But if just one of the previously discussed three plays goes the other way, the Hokies probably have their best road win since beating #8 Ohio State at the Horseshoe in 2014.

Tech has been "unlucky" throughout the first month of the season.  Back in the opener, an early tipped pass by a Vanderbilt player gave the Commodores the ball in Tech territory.  They stuck it in for seven.  And early against Rutgers, Tech fumbled a punt in their own territory that led to seven points for the Scarlet Knights. 

Sure, good defenses cause turnovers, but there is also an element of luck since people have to be in the right place at the right time to secure the loose ball.  In both of these situations, as well as in the Miami game when a deflected pass led to an interception and seven points for the Canes, if someone is a yard further away, perhaps the turnovers don’t happen, and then those touchdowns aren’t scored. And perhaps those one-score losses are one-score victories. 

If Virginia Tech is to win at least four more games to make a bowl, luck will need to be on their side.  It will help to have more calls in their favor (to quote Forrest Gump, “That’s all I’ll say about that.”)  And the ball is going to have to bounce the Hokies’ way more often than not. 

In sports, there are a lot of clichés about games being won in the fourth quarter, cream rising to the top, being only one play away, etc.  These are overused phrases for a reason, though – because there is truth to them. 

As chronicled above, Miami’s top players made tremendous plays down the stretch that led to victory. Virginia Tech had plenty of its own big plays against Miami, such as the interceptions or Drones’ fourth quarter scramble and TD pass, but when the game was on the line, the Hokies didn’t come through.

Tech needs more “big moment” plays.  In their three losses so far, it has actually been the opposite of that, as the Hokies have come up short on both sides of the ball in the fourth quarter when the games mattered most. 

Against Vanderbilt, Rutgers, and Miami, the Virginia Tech offense suffered late three-and-outs that took less than a minute off the clock.  When the team needed to move the chains – and get that late game score – they came up short.  Way short.

Conversely, in each of those losses, the defense gave up long scoring drives where the opponent either tied the game or took the lead with under four minutes remaining.  Needing a stop, the defense also failed to deliver with these games on the line.

To win close games, the team needs to step up in these moments.  Players need to make big plays – on both sides of the ball - and the team needs to learn how to win.  If they do this, eight wins is very possible this year.  If not, plays like this Cam Ward miracle will happen again and a bowl bid may hang in the balance.

Once again, Virginia Tech lost a one-score game that included several questionable coaching decisions that adversely affected the outcome. 

At Vanderbilt, overuse of screen passes and underuse of the best running back on the field were common complaints.  Then an oversight left two players wearing number zero on the field for a punt, and after the penalty was marched off, Vandy kicked a long field goal.  Remember, the game went to overtime, so maybe Tech wins this one if not for those coaching mistakes.

Rutgers was a three-point loss, and fans have criticized play-calling and game preparation for this one as well.  The safety sack has garnered quite a few gripes, as it was a straight drop back instead of the safer rollout with a pass/run option.  And it seemed to take forever to stop the short passes that Rutgers ran successfully for so long.

The script was similar in Miami Gardens.  Three highly questionable calls doomed the Hokies in a close game where Tech had the lead for most of the contest.  Just prior to halftime, Tech used a timeout with 27 seconds remaining, way too much time to leave for a field goal attempt.  Had they let the clock run down, the kick would have ended the half.

Instead, Miami had over twenty seconds to get into field goal range, and that was aided by the decision to kick a squib that was returned to midfield.  Had the coaches instructed Kyle Lowe to boom the ball into the end zone, Miami might not have gotten close enough to make their own end-of-half kick. 

And of course, there is the failed fake field goal that not only cost Tech three points, but it also led to seven points for the Canes.  That is a ten-point swing, plus the three that resulted from poor decisions just before halftime.

Thirteen points tied to coaching decisions.  Virginia Tech lost by four. 

(Author’s note:  I like that Brent Pry is aggressive.  He has shown that he is not afraid to go for it on fourth down or call a trick play.  However, these are risk-reward decisions, and sometimes the risk is not worth the reward.  There were two Tech trick plays – the botched fake field goal and the Malachi Thomas intentional-grounding-halfback-option-pass – and they both killed drives and took away great opportunities for points in what would end as a four-point game.)

The Hokies are now 1-10 in one-score games under Brent Pry.  In contests like these, coaching decisions are very impactful, and this record unfortunately reflects those poor decisions in the close ones. 

The team – and the staff - has to learn how to close out games.  If Tech wants eight or more wins each year, they have to be on the better side of the scoreboard in close games.  Improved game management will help make that happen.

This is an area of the program that deserves props.  Running back Bhayshul Tuten has hit the century mark in each of his last four games, and he is among the best in the country in forcing missed tackles and gaining yards after contact. He is an absolute beast.

For some unknown reason, he was not featured much at Vanderbilt, carrying the ball only nine times for 34 yards. He did catch six passes in that game, but most were (unsuccessful) screen passes that only gained 18 total yards.

Tuten carried the ball 15 times for 122 yards against Rutgers, but that includes a first quarter where he barely touched the ball.  Considering how close both of those games were, one cannot help but wonder if the outcome would have been different had Tech made Tuten more of a focal point earlier in the games.

The coaches did just that against Miami, though, establishing run early in a game where Tech ran for 206 yards and Tuten earned 141 of them, his high in a Hokie uniform (and second highest total of his career)  He is a playmaker, arguably Tech’s best offensive weapon, and he should be featured regularly in Virginia Tech’s offensive scheme.  His success gives the team its best chance to win.

For the first time this year, Hokie fans are walking away from the weekend feeling good about the feistiness of the team.  During each of the four contests to start the season, Virginia Tech seemed to lack intensity at some point, particularly in the first half.  That was not the case against Miami.

Tech played hard.  They battled. They were physical and they were gritty.  Even when things were not going their way, they never gave up, creating turnovers and overcoming mistakes.  This was like a championship prize fight, right up to the last play of the game. 

It is unfortunate that Virginia Tech could not overcome all of its mistakes, but it was refreshing to watch the fight in this squad.  If the Hokies had played with this kind of four-quarter intensity in every game so far, without question they would have beaten both Vandy and Rutgers and the preseason goals would still be on the table.

Maybe it was the rivalry with Miami, maybe it was the adrenaline of playing a top-ten team.  Whatever the cause, Virginia Tech needs to bottle it and play with that kind of spirit and aggression from here on out.

As bad as it may feel right now, Virginia Tech is not that far from being a good football team.  Their three losses have been by a combined 13 points.  They are right there when it comes to winning football games.

However, too many mistakes and too much inconsistency have plagued this team. Because of this slow start and the heartbreaking loss at Miami, it feels like the future of the Brent Pry era is at a crossroads.

The Hokies can carry that same Miami energy to Stanford and walk out with a win, or they can let the loss get the best of them and set a negative tone going into the bye week.

Pry said in his recent press conference that the team has turned the page “aggressively.”  He said they are only looking forward toward the Stanford game.  As a fan, that makes me feel good, but I want to see it on the field.  I want to see the same energy as Miami.  I want to see the Hokies play with a chip on their shoulder. 

There are seven games remaining on the schedule, and four are at home.  If the Hokies can keep playing with intensity, continue to run the ball effectively, and make big plays late in games, a bowl bid is certainly attainable.

And if the games are managed more cleanly and the Hokies get a few lucky breaks, they can even win out.

After close losses, Frank Beamer liked to say that the team was just a play or two away.  It's time to change that trend and make the big plays to come out victorious.

Let's do that in Palo Alto against Stanford!

Go Hokies!