Two-Faced Hokies Defeat Marshall in 2024 Home-Opener
After a startling loss to Vanderbilt on the road, a defeated Hokies team took the field against Marshall for the home opener, and at least in the first half, they looked the part.
The story was the same as Week 1, a slow start on the field against an opponent that many expected The Hokies to beat, and beat handily. While Tech did come up with the win 31-14, just four points shy of covering the spread, that doesn’t tell the full story of struggles and revival of the game.
Virginia Tech’s first half can be summed up in one word, “punt”. The Hokies punted six times in the first half. The offense was less than stellar, amassing just 41 total yards during the first quarter and 131 yards for the half.
The Hokies did have one sequence where they finally pulled it together, but two costly penalties killed all sense of momentum. VT began their drive with possibly the best field position you’ll ever see in competitive football–the opposing team’s 35. The Herd were stranded on their own 15 after a trio of incomplete passes from Stone Earle, forcing Alec Clark to punt from deep in Marshall territory. His punt only made it 20 yards in front of the line of scrimmage before heading out of bounds at the 35.
First and 10 on the 35 didn’t last long, however. Parker Clements got a facemask penalty on play #1, making it first and 25 on the 50.
Needing to chip away at some yardage, the team went to runningback Bhayshul Tuten. On a pair of carries, Tuten picked up 35 yards, the first down, and got Tech into the red zone. It’s clear that Tech is at its best with the ball in Tuten’s hands.
A few more plays go by, and the Hokies have whittled away to the 2-yard line and a short pass to Benji Gosnell punched it in, but here’s where penalty #2 comes in.
Illegal block in the back–Da’Quan Felton. 15 yards. Touchdown null.
The Hokies couldn’t get moving in the right direction after that, settling for a 42-yard field goal. The two penalties accounted for -30 yards in a single drive. The Hokies had +50 yards of offense throughout the drive, if not for -30 in penalties and -10 from a sack, all else equal there’s an easy touchdown.
If anyone was ready to play from the first kick, it was undoubtedly Jaylin Lane. The wide receiver/punt returner dominated on special teams with a 58-yard punt return to the house as time expired in the first quarter. He followed it up with an 18-yard return that put the Hokies in a fantastic field position. Add that to his four receptions for 41 yards, Lane sparked a fire that eventually caught with the rest of the team.
While the offense didn’t have much going their way outside Jaylin Lane, the defense was another story. Right from the get-go the defensive unit dominated Marshall. Stone Earle wasn’t able to settle into a groove in Marshall’s Air Raid system, disrupted by Mansoor Delane and Dorian Strong, who held the Thundering Herd to a measly 39 passing yards in the half. The run defense was stout as well, allowing only 48 yards.
Whatever magic Brent Pry cooks up in the locker room at halftime needs to be studied. The Hokies left the tunnel looking like late-2023 form. They came right out and got the job done, force-feeding Tuten on a steady march right down the middle to the end zone, growing the lead to 17-7.
While the Herd answered back in two plays–a 69-yard rush from A.J. Turner and an 18-yard catch from Christian Fitzpatrick–the Hokies had their groove back. Stephen Gosnell laid out for a career-long 49-yard reception which primed another Hokie score.
The two-faced Hokies are a dilemma that isn’t unfamiliar to Blacksburg. Slow starts and half-games are the Achilles Heel of VT Football. If they can play a full 60-minute game firing on all cylinders, there aren’t many teams on the schedule they can’t beat. Until they show that complete effort; however, it’s uncertain what the true ceiling of this team is.
