Story of the Statline: Virginia Tech at Vanderbilt

Well Saturday was…heartbreaking, for lack of better words.

What looked to be a promising start to a potentially playoff-bound year for Virginia Tech ended up taking a turn for the worst, with the Hokies falling to the Vanderbilt Commodores 34-27 in overtime. While it’s hard to put the loss on one single player or position group, there were very evident flaws for the Virginia Tech team in this game.

For starters, the Hokies defense was probably the biggest contributor not to the Virginia Tech loss but to the Vanderbilt win. Mainly it was Diego Pavia, the quarterback for the Commodores, exploited the Hokies defense, as he led Vanderbilt not only in passing (12/16, 190 yards, two TDs, zero INTS) but also in rushing (26 carries, 104 yards, one TD). With Pavia having significantly more rushing yards in the game than Bhayshul Tuten, Tech’s star running back, it was not a good look for not only the Virginia Tech defensive line and linebackers, but also for the offensive line. Moreover, Virginia Tech struggled to tackle Pavia downfield, which was likely the biggest reason the Commodores quarterback was able to rush for so many yards.

Continuing with the theme of running the football: the Hokies didn’t do much of it. When the team did it wasn’t very successful. The fact that Tuten led the team in rushing with only 34 yards and only averaged 3.8 yards per carry goes to show how slow the run game was for the Hokies. Even Kyron Drones, the quarterback, had more carries (16) than Tuten (9). While it’s not uncommon for run games to not work on certain days in football, Virginia Tech took too long to abandon it against Vanderbilt. Even though running the football wasn’t working in the first half, the playcalling still leaned towards backfield usage with Tuten, whether that be with handoffs or screen passes. However, it was not a total failure for the Hokies backfield, as Tuten was able to find the end zone running the ball, and Drones was able to pick up yardage using his legs when needed.

The most likely reason for Virginia Tech’s slow offense on Saturday was the protection at the line of scrimmage, which also contributed to the lack of success running the football by Tech. Many times when Tuten had the ball it involved him moving laterally instead of right down the middle of the field. As previously mentioned, a lot of his involvement was based around taking screen and checkdown passes from Drones and taking handoffs and racing to the sideline to try to get around defenders. Further, the Virginia Tech O-Line struggled against the Commodores defense, allowing four sacks and eight tackles for loss.

While it’s easy to be critical about the play from the Hokies this past weekend, the game was not a total loss. Kyron Drones put together a strong performance in the season opener, completing 22 of 33 of his passes for 322 yards, two TDs, and only one INT. Further, wide receiver Ali Jennings proved to be a great deep-ball threat against Vanderbilt, taking in two receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. Brothers Stephen and Benji Gosnell showed out with solid receiving in the second half, recording three receptions for 72 yards and four receptions for 61 yards respectively. Lastly, Bhayshul Tuten was able to make himself a versatile threat for the Hokies offense, finding the end zone for both a rushing and receiving touchdown in the game. 

While the defense had its issues in this game, the strong offensive surge in the second half is something to look forward to for both this Virginia Tech team and its fans.

Looking ahead to next week, the main areas of improvement for the Hokies will likely be on the defensive side. Virginia Tech should look to solve the issues with its run defense in preparation for the home opener against Marshall on September 7th, as well as work on making stops downfield, whether it be through pass defense or just tackling beyond the defensive line. While there were missed opportunities on defense (for instance the three fumbles forced that all ended up going Vanderbilt’s way), the rushing performance by the aforementioned Pavia showed weaknesses for this Virginia Tech defense that will most likely be looked at this week.

Although week two against Marshall should be a “get right” game for the Hokies, it’ll be a big test to see how well the Virginia Tech team can adjust for the remainder of the season. Drones being sidelined at the end of the Vanderbilt game with an apparent injury was not something Tech fans wanted to see at all, especially in the first game. The immobilization appeared to be just cramping in his leg, however fans will obviously be hoping that the star quarterback is at 100% the entire season.

While the Hokies CFP hopes are still alive, the team will pretty much need to be perfect in order to prove it’s deserving of a spot among the top programs across the country. By perfect, that means winning out the rest of the season against teams like Miami and Clemson.

The loss to Vanderbilt didn’t look good for Virginia Tech. However, it’s early in the season and there’s plenty of football left to play. With the new 12-team playoff format, Virginia Tech can very well receive a bid with a 12-1 or even 11-1 record. It won’t be easy, but if Virginia Tech is the team that it was hyped up to be this past offseason, winning out is very achievable. What matters now is beating Marshall on Saturday.