Everything we’ve seen from Virginia Tech during the early part of the season was on display against Notre Dame. At times Virginia Tech looked sloppy, undisciplined, and athletically inferior to Notre Dame. At other times Virginia Tech looked aggressive on offense, stifling on defense, and in general had the feel of a top 25 team.
The Hokies were in the game with Notre Dame through the first half. The Irish are a legit top 6 team, and just wore the Hokies down. Virginia Tech came in with a great offensive gameplan, and the defense held their own for large portions of the game, but the Hokies were just outmanned by Notre Dame.
That’s who Virginia Tech is at the moment. Justin Fuente is a very good head coach. Bud Foster is one of the best defensive coordinators in the business. Schematically I think Virginia Tech did pretty much all they could do. Defensively Foster brought pressure, he tried to mix things up, but it’s a fact the secondary is young and inexperienced. Foster was trying to get by on smoke and mirrors. That will only get you so far.
On offense Ryan Willis is a gamer at QB, and has a strong arm. The Irish have a great defense, and the Hokies had success moving the ball. Virginia Tech won’t face another defense like the Irish the rest of the regulars season. Virginia Tech is 3-2, but the 2 losses are not in the conference.
That means Virginia Tech can still win the Coastal, and why not? They get Miami at home, and should be favored in all their remaining games. Unfortunately any team that loses to Old Dominion can lose to any ACC team. The Hokies have been so inconsistent, you get a different game from week to week.
That said, if they can find some consistency, they along with Miami are still one of the favorites to the win the Coastal.
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3 pings
Hokie Mark says:
October 7, 2018 at 8:01 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t think I’d describe what happened as a “rout” – it was a 1-point game at halftime, after all. Instead, call it a war of attrition, where the superior depth of Notre Dame eventually wore the Hokies down.
Jfann says:
October 7, 2018 at 8:41 pm (UTC -4)
Maybe that was a bit strong… but it remind of a basketball hold a 5-7 point lead for the entire, then winning by 25. You never really got the feeling Virginia Tech could win the game after the first 5 minutes
Hokie Mark says:
October 8, 2018 at 7:46 am (UTC -4)
I can’t argue with that. Notre Dame’s first drive pretty much demonstrating that they could move the ball on the Hokie defense. Still, errors cost VT dearly. I think you could make an argument that if the Hokies had played a mistake-free first half, the halftime score could easily have been 27-10 in their favor. Does that mean they win, or just lose by a closer score? IDK…