\

This Saturday at noon, the No. 6 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies (3-1, 1-0) will take on the Duke Blue Devils (2-2, 0-0) in Durham, N.C., and Tech’s Stephan Virgil can’t wait.

Virginia Tech senior cornerback Stephan Virgil returned to action against Miami after missing the Marshall and Nebraska games with an injury.

Virgil has played well in the state of North Carolina since his arrival in Blacksburg. The Rocky Mount, N.C., native blocked a punt against Duke in 2007. Last year in Charlotte, he picked up a botched lateral against East Carolina and returned it for a touchdown. In the same game, he blocked a point after try and returned it 90 yards for two points in the Hokies’ favor. Later in in 2008, Virgil secured a 20-17 win at North Carolina with an interception in the final minutes.

Though the Hokies’ surprising offensive domination against No. 9 Miami on national TV stole the headlines, Virginia Tech’s defense took a major step forward against a very talented Hurricanes’ offense. And it’s no coincidence that the return of Virgil to the lineup made a huge difference.

Virgil was injured in the Hokies’ season-opener against the Alabama Crimson Tide and missed the next two games against Marshall and Nebraska. When he returned for the Miami game, he made his presence known with six tackles including one for a loss and some big time hits.

While he may not exactly be the epitome of a shut-down corner, when he’s on the field, offensive coordinators have a tendency to look to the other side of the field. Virgil had six interceptions last year. If Duke decides to be aggressive in the passing game on Saturday, look for Virgil to step in front of a couple of passes and maybe even take one back to the house. He has only played two games, but he’s hungry for his first pick of the season.

With regards to the game against Duke on Saturday, the Hokies appear to be a clear favorite to win the game. They’ve won the last eight meeting against the Blue Devils and in the five meetings between the two programs as ACC rivals, the Hokies have shut the Devils out twice and last season held them to just a field goal. With Tech’s defensive showing signs of returning to its top-10 form, it could be a long day for Duke coach David Cutcliffe.

Offensively, Duke will have to contend with Tech’s freshman phenom Ryan Williams, the nation’s sixth leading rusher, as well as the ACC’s leading rusher, scorer and three-time conference Rookie of the Week. Williams ran roughshod over Marshall, Nebraska and then Miami. And thanks to an offensive line that finally seems to be putting it together, Williams could see a career day in Durham.

And don’t forget the Hokies’ other freshman running back David Wilson, who averages 9 yards per carry and 43 yards per game as a back up. He’s also proven that he’s a dangerous kick returner.

The bottom line is that if the Hokies play a complete game like they did last week against Miami, then we could be looking at the Hokies putting up a 50-spot on the Blue Devils. That’s a big “if,” though. Last year, the heavily favored Hokies managed just one offensive touchdown in their own stadium in a 14-3 win. That was mostly due to five first-half turnovers. Tech moved the ball well, they just couldn’t hold onto it.

Turnovers, however, have not been a problem for Virginia Tech so far this season (knock on wood). Tyrod Taylor has only thrown one interception and has yet to lose a fumble. In fact, the Hokies as a team have only turned the ball over four times in four games. Two fumbles against Alabama; one interception against Marshall; zero turnovers against Nebraska; and one fumble against Miami. Outside of the INT, the three lost fumbles have come on kick or punt returns, not from the running backs.

The Blue Devils are a much-improved team and it wouldn’t come as any surprise if they gave the Hokies more of a game than most would expect. But the attitude coming out of the Tech locker room is that of a team dead focused on a making a point to the rest of league … at Duke’s expense.

Pregame Notes (PDF)

Popularity: 2% [?]

The weekly ACC injury report is out and it looks like senior tight end Greg Boone will play tomorrow against the 19th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers. He is listed as probable.

Boone missed the Marshall game with an SC joint sprain (shoulder) after delivering an impressive crack-back block on a Ryan Williams run that set up a touchdown against Alabama. Hopefully Boone will be up for some blocking because the Hokies offensive line will need all the help they can get against Nebraska’s monster defensive line, led by All Big 12 defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

Senior cornerback Stephan Virgil is listed as questionable for the Hokies with a knee injury. Like Boone, Virgil also injured his knee against Alabama and missed the Marshall game. Freshman Jayron Hosley stepped in an played some cornerback against Marshall, but the Hokies will need some help this week. Expect Bud Foster to put a lot of pressure on Nebraska’s inexperienced quarterback and provide a lot of safety help to the corners to help defend against NU’s big receivers.

*Weekly ACC Injury Report

*Injury reports are optional.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Atlantic Coast Conference released its weekly "voluntary" injury report this morning and the Virginia Tech Hokies announced that tight end Greg Boone and cornerback Stephan Virgil are ‘doubtful’ for tomorrow’s home opener against Marshall.

Boone sprained his shoulder throwing a huge block in the Alabama game that eventually set up one of Ryan Williams’ two touchdowns. Virgil injured his knee and missed two straight days of practice this week and will likely sit out tomorrow’s game.

Visit ESPN’s ACC blog for a complete injury report list from other teams in the ACC.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Box Score | Game Film

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.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Game Highlights | Game Stats

We’re sorry it took so long to get this recap of the game up on the site, but we seriously needed to take a step back and calm down before we put our thoughts on the Web for all eternity. We might have written something we couldn’t take back. So, here goes the PG version…

Tough loss. No doubt about that. There isn’t a Hokie fan anywhere that isn’t hurting right now. Even though most knowledgeable fans knew that ECU was capable of beating us, not many of thought the Pirates actually would. Surprise.

Neither team played a great game, but ECU certainly looked better on offense putting up 369 yards to Virginia Tech’s 243. It was the fourth worst offensive production for the Hokies in their last 15 games. And 62 of those 243 came on one play, a bomb from Sean Glennon to freshman Dyrell Roberts – the lone offensive highlight. Not to be outdone by the offense’s poor play, the young defense gave up the fourth highest yardage total in its last 15 games (389 vs. Boston College; 380 vs. Clemson; and 589 vs. LSU).

OK, so what went wrong?

Breaking Down the Offense:

Things got off to a bad start when offensive right tackle Blake DeChristopher left the game in the first series with a deep thigh bruise. But, the Hokies running game looked good early. Kenny Lewis, Jr. rushed for 28 yards on Tech’s first drive, but it stalled when Sean Glennon, the undisputed (for now) starting QB, threw an interception on his first pass of the game. Glennon’s first pass of the 2007 season, against ECU, was also an interception. Ouch.

The Hokies got the ball back on their own 44 and slowly moved the ball to ECU’s 14. But the Hokies couldn’t get in the endzone (or a first down) and turned the ball over when they went for it on 4th and 1 and got stuffed. Glennon went on to throw another INT that was returned to the Hokies 1 yard line and ECU later punched it in to pull within 14-7 at the end of the first half.

The only positive offensive play, as mentioned earlier, came in the third quarter when Glennon threw a perfect pass to true freshman Dyrell Roberts who was streaking down the sideline and made the over-the-shoulder grab in full stride. That set up a 3-yard touchdown run by Darren Evans. That was it offensively.

When the Hokies needed to run time off the clock late in the fourth quarter, they passed instead of running the ball. And when they got the ball back with 1:52 left, down by five, they went four and out including a fumbled center-QB exchange on the final play.

Immediately following the game, sports Web sites all over the place started asking the question, “Will Beamer take the red shirt off Tyrod?” Let the great debate begin. VTHokieFans.com will weigh in on this in the days ahead, so stay tuned.

Breaking Down the Defense:

For just the fourth time in the last three seasons, the Hokies defense was unable to sack the opposing team’s QB; East Carolina and Florida State last season and Duke (of all teams) in 2006. I think the fact that ECU held the Hokies’ 2007 defense (with Ellis, Hall, Adibi, Powell and Flowers) without a sack speaks volumes for the talent level of its offensive line. Still, you’d think that Bud Foster would have been ready for them this year.

The defensive front for the Hokies managed just ONE (1) QB hurry and as I mentioned earlier, no sacks. ECU QB Pat Pinkney was never pressured and had plenty of time to complete 19 of 23 passes (82%) for 211 yards. Meanwhile the running attack used three tailbacks to pile up 134 yards rushing – Pinkney added 24 yards to give ECU 158 total rushing yards. Tech’s young and inexperienced secondary got torched today. They definitely missed Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris, but that’s how these guys will get better – with playing time.

Still, the lack of QB pressure and a young secondary were not what killed the Hokies on defense today. No, that would be the inability to tackle, which is how the Pirates got the majority of their aforementioned 158 rushing yards. Honestly, I think we’ve seen better tackling in a flag football game. I was reading Kyle Tucker’s post-game blog and Beamer addressed the poor tackling by the young defense.

“We have to tackle a lot better. We missed a lot of tackles today. A lot of tackles. I bet when we go back and count the number of missed tackles, it’ll be a bunch,” said Beamer.

The lone highlight for the defense was Stephan Virgil’s 30-yard scoop and score fumble recovery for a TD in the second quarter to give Virginia Tech a 7-0 lead. Virgil also returned a blocked PAT for a 2-pt. conversion score.

Breaking Down the Special Teams

With the exception of the blocked punt returned for a touchdown that gave ECU the win, Tech’s special teams played well. They blocked a PAT (point after try) and returned it for a two-point play that gave the Hokies a 16-13 lead instead of tying the game at 14-14.

The return teams did well averaging 21 yards per return (5 for 105). [EDITED 9/1] Surprisingly, though the Pirates punted three times in the game, Virginia Tech was not able to return a single punt. Tech’s kickoff coverage team did a good job holding ECU to just 11.5 yards per kickoff return and recovered a fumbled kickoff return following the Hokies first touchdown. The Hokies’ punt coverage was not as impressive allowing a 22-yard per return average.

[UPDATE 8/31/2008] There were some troubles with the kicking game including a missed 44-yard field goal that hit the upright and the missed extra point. But, with rookie kickers, none of whom are on scholarship, this was to be expected. I really fault Beamer for not letting Dustin Keys kick the FG on the Hokies second drive of the game when they were facing 4th and 1 at the ECU 5 yard line. That would have been a huge confidence boost for the kid playing in his first college game. Instead, Beamer trots him out there for a critical 44-yard field goal, which he missed by hitting the upright.

It’s unfortunate that Tech played one of its best “Beamerball” games in recent memory and ended up getting beat at their own game. We’re not sure what will happen with the QB situation, but you can bet the Hokies will be working on punt blocking and tackling this week as they get ready for the Furman University Paladins on Sept. 6.

That’s all for now, but we’ll be back with more breakdowns and previews in the days ahead, so stay tuned and keep your heads up. We like our odds next week!

Popularity: 2% [?]