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Rothe from the Top Rope: BC - Vintage Defense Returns in Pry's Home Debut

Adam Rothe·September 12, 2022

Defense is back in Blacksburg

There was a point in the Virginia Tech vs. Boston College game last Saturday where BC was 0/9 on third down. They ended up finishing a terrible 2-15.

Want to know something interesting? Tech was nearly as bad. Finishing 5-17 on third down efficiency.

This game was an old fashion slug fest between two teams trying to figure out what the actual **** happened the week prior. Tech was coming off yet another embarrassing loss to ODU and BC was coming off a loss to perhaps the worst P5 team in the country with Rutgers.

The party was started early for the Hokies after BC QB Phil Jurkovec had his first throw of the game picked off by Armani Chatman, which eventually lead to a Tech TD. The Tech offense highlight of the night was a 65-yard TD run from Keshawn King, which was much needed because the Tech offense has been pretty awful to start the season so far.

After that TD Tech went punt, turnover on downs, punt, end of half, punt, punt, and then finally a TD at the end of the 3rd quarter.

If it wasn't for the lockdown defense this game could have swung the other way.

Jurkovec finished 15/28 with only 138 yards and 1 TD (as well as the previously mentioned interception). He finished with a QBR of 19.1 (yikes). BC's lead rusher, Pat Garwo III, only managed 15 yards on 10 carries. And All-ACC wide receiver Zay Flowers was contained as much as possible with four receptions for 79 yards.

BC finished with 155 total yards compared to Tech's 284.

TyJuan Garbutt was an absolute menace on the Tech defensive line. He constantly wreaked havoc on BC's bad offensive line and thus Jurkovec was always under pressure.

If there's one thing all Tech fans knew it was that this defense under Pry would be aggressive and attacking. There's a reason Bud Foster gave his blessing to bring back the iconic "Lunch Pail." The defense was flying around all night showing just what is possible for this Pry coached unit.

The Tech offense on the other hand...

Pretty, pretty, pretty bad (Larry David voice).

Grant Wells was pedestrian with only 140 yards passing with 1 TD, to go along with 24 yards on the ground. It seemed that perhaps OC Tyler Bowen had reigned back his gunslinger after the interception-fest we all witnessed in week 1 against ODU. That worked to some extent with regards to turnovers, as Wells didn't throw any picks this go round, but the offense was stagnant.

Aside from the King run and getting the ball in favorable position after the opening Jurkovec interception the Tech offense really didn't move the ball down the field. If you take those two scores away Tech only wins 13-10.

At this point it seems that perhaps Bowen is trying to figure out exactly how to handle his QB. Do you let him sling it with the chance he could throw multiple interceptions per game? Or do you play conservatively in order to limit the turnovers, which in turn limits the team's explosiveness?

All I know is that the offense needs to be sorted by the time Tech plays teams like UNC, Miami, and NC State who can sling it around the yard. WVU isn't quite as explosive, and they're sitting at 0-2 right now, but they have scored a combined 73 points in their first two games, compared to Tech's combined 47.

Injuries are also already starting to pile up. Multiple players have knocks, so will be interesting to see how those players are managed as the season kicks into full swing.

At least with Wofford coming into town this Saturday that should give an opportunity to work out some issues while scoring some points. That game also needs to serve as reps for the backups to strengthen the depth if possible. Wofford has yet to score a point this season, so hopefully the Tech defense can keep that streak going.

Pry's first dub

For the Hokies there are many things to clean up and work on, especially on the offensive side of the ball, but there's nothing better for a coach than to get his first win and it was made even better by the fact it took place at home.

No words can really do it justice, so I'll just leave this tweet.