The good news? The Virginia Tech Hokies (1-1) won their game today against Furman University (1-1), 24-7. The bad news? They didn’t look very good doing it. More specifically, the offense didn’t look very good, even with Tyrod Taylor making his season debut. I know a win is a win, but I don’t think there are many Hokies fans feeling too good about next Saturday’s home game against Georgia Tech … not after today’s performance.
“The good thing is, we won,” said Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer in his post-game press conference. “We know we’ve got to get better; there’s no question about that. I thought our football team hung in there. And they play hard. We just don’t always play as well as we need to.”
Breaking Down the Offense
First, let’s highlight the positives. Virginia Tech rushed for 261 yards, the most in a single game since the Hokies piled up 284 against Southern Mississippi on Oct. 21, 2006. Tyrod Taylor, minus his red shirt, rushed for 112 yards on 14 carries. That’s an 8 yard per carry average. Even if you take away his 50-yarder, he still averaged 4.76 yards per carry. And finally, Sean Glennon threw a touchdown pass while being flushed out of the pocket. He didn’t look too bad today, though he did throw an INT, but we’ll get to that later.
The first half was an abomination. Sean Glennon started the game, but played only four snaps before Tyrod replaced him. Glennon handed off three times, but also completed a 13-yard pass to Dyrell Roberts that gave the Hokies a first down on 3rd and 3. Taylor came in and led the Hokies down to the Furman 7 yard line, but just as they did with the ECU game, Beamer elected to go for it on 4th and 1 at the 3 yard line instead of kicking the field goal. And, just like the ECU game, Tech got stuff and actually lost two yards.
The other questionable call of the first half was on the Hokies’ final drive of the half. Tyrod started the drive at the Tech 21 yard line with 6:33 to play. Tech ran 11 plays (10 rushing, 1 passing) and were just wearing down the Paladins defense, driving down to the Furman 5 yard line. Then, facing 3rd and goal, Stinespring brings in Sean Glennon. What? You just churned out 74 yards, 63 of which came on the ground, and now they bring in Glennon and run a pass play on 3rd and goal. The pass … was incomplete and the Hokies elected to kick the field goal. Dustin Keys booted his first collegiate field goal to give Virginia Tech a 3-0 lead with :29 left in the first half. Poor play calling.
That’s two games in a row in which the Tech offense drove down inside the red zone early and came away with virtually nothing. At least this game they got 3 points, though it should have been 14-0. Outside of the aforementioned two drives, the offense looked pretty bad. In the first quarter, they had two of their three drives go three-and-out; and Glennon and Taylor both got sacked. The offensive line really struggled against the blitz packages thrown at them by Furman.
The second quarter was a little better, but not by much. Glennon threw a great pass to Ike Whitaker, who made an incredible catch along the sidelines for a 33-yard gain – but, the play was called back for an ineligible receiver downfield penalty. On the next drive, Glennon threw an interception, though it should have been caught, but instead popped up and was picked off by Furman. That one wasn’t on him, though he still got booed … repeatedly.
The second half was a little encouraging, but it took some help from the defense to give the offense some good field position. And if you were still standing in line at the concession stand in the third quarter, you missed most of the scoring.
Tech’s first possession of the second half began on their own 36. Facing a 3rd and 10, Tyrod busted loose for 50 yard gain down to the Furman 14. Tyrod was winded after the sprint that went from sideline to sideline, so he called for Glennon to replace him. Good thing we have another “starting” QB. Three plays later, 3rd and 6 at the Furman 10, Glennon got flushed out the pocket and rolled to his left before firing a sidearm pass in the endzone to Kenny Lewis, Jr. for the touchdown. The boos gave way to cheers and the Hokies led 10-0.
On Furman’s first play on the ensuing drive, Cody Grimm forced a fumble that was recovered by Kam Chancellor and the Hokies offense was back on the field. Lewis did the rest, picking up all 31 yards on the 3-play drive, including the 23-yard TD run to put the Hokies in front 17-0.
The defense gave the offense the ball back on the Paladins next drive when Stephan Virgil picked off a pass and returned it 18 yards to the Furman 9 yard line. Two plays later, Darren Evans scampered into the endzone to give the Hokies a 24-0 lead. That was it offensively.
Breaking Down the Defense
Again, let’s start with the positives. I can’t recall a single missed tackle today. Perhaps there was one or two, but compared to last week, it was negligible. The defense gave up just 34 rushing yards and forced two turnovers that led to offensive touchdowns. And, the first-team defense didn’t give up any points. The late Furman TD came against the second team.
The glaring issue facing the defense is the lack of penetration by the front four, which managed only one sack today. The Paladins sacked Tech QBs four times today. Furman’s QB was only “hurried” three times. That lack of pressure certainly has to be a concern for defensive coordinator Bud Foster.
A minor area of concern is the coverage in the secondary, which looked shaky today. The Paladins passed for 213 yards. In the third quarter, Furman QB Jordan Sorrells completed a 57 yard pass to Adam Mims down to the Hokies 4 yard line, but the play was called back for an ineligible receiver downfield.
Then, late in the third quarter, the Paladins put together a solid drive picking apart the Hokies secondary with complete passes of 22, 14 and 11 yards. The defense held Furman to a 32-yard field goal attempt that was blocked. After that, the first team defense came out.
So, while Foster is probably concerned about his D line’s lack of disruption and his secondary’s coverage; he’s going to be thrilled with Stephan Virgil, who had a key INT in the third quarter. Cody Grimm also forced a fumble that led to a Tech touchdown and DT John Graves blocked his second kick of the season. And on that note, let’s focus quickly on the special teams.
Breaking Down the Special Teams
For the second week in a row the Hokies blocked a kick and DT John Graves has both of them. The Hokies punted six times for a 43 yard per punt average, yet the Paladins only had one return for three yards. And on kickoffs, Tech held Furman to 14.7 yards per return. I didn’t see any glaring mistakes in this game, though I was surprised that the Hokies didn’t put more pressure on Furman’s punter. It seemed that for most of the the Paladins seven punts that the Hokies were more concerned with falling back and blocking for Victor Macho Harris, who had four punt returns for a total of 30 yards. Certainly not the explosive returns Tech fans were hoping for, but it’s hard to tell how much pain Macho’s foot is still giving him.
Looking Ahead to Georgia Tech
After watching the Georgia Tech vs. Boston College highlights, I’m very concerned about next Saturday’s game. Georgia Tech’s offense seems to be very dynamic and unpredictable. Even worse, they run a nice little slant over the middle with either a fullback or tight end and any Hokie fan who pays attention know that that play kills us every time. I’ll never forget what Heath Miller did to us in 2002 … 13 catches, almost all of them were over the middle. The Hokies’ defense might be able to keep the Yellow Jackets in check to a certain degree, but if the offense can’t put up more than 24 points against Furman, a I-AA school, it is definitely not looking good for next Saturday.
HokieSports.com Injury Report
Defensive end Jason Worilds suffered a left shoulder sprain early in the game and did not return. Linebacker Cam Martin suffered a left groin strain in the third quarter and did not return to the game. Both will be re-evaluated on Sunday.
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