I won't bury the lede on this one (and yes, it's spelled "lede" and not "lead"). The most impressive aspect to me of Virginia Tech's 2-0 start, in which they have outscored opponents 86-20, is how prepared they have been to play both games.
Sure, they've made mistakes, but the Hokies have been well-prepared from the opening kickoff against both FSU and William & Mary. They took the opening drive to the house against Florida State, and started off the W&M game with two 18-yard gains before a fumble by Deshawn McClease short-circuited the opening drive. Tech then scored on ten straight drives to make up for it.
This team has its flaws, but so far, not being prepared to play isn't one of them.
In his Sunday column, Chris Coleman referenced the 2008 Furman game, an uninspired 24-3 Hokies win. I'll go you one better: the 2007 William & Mary game in Lane Stadium, when Virginia Tech won 44-3 but didn't look good doing it. I wrote in Monday Thoughts after that game:
" … the … game we’re talking about here, a 44-3 win over Division 1-AA William & Mary, was pretty alarming. It was a win that was lopsided on the scoreboard, but nearly even statistically. ACC play opens this Saturday for the Hokies, and alarm bells are clanging loudly."
That team went on to win the 2007 ACC Championship, but in the fourth game of the season, they only outgained William & Mary 287-262 and had just 133 rushing yards against the 107th worst rushing defense in Division 1-AA.
My one enduring image from that game is this photo of William & Mary defensive tackle Sean Lissemore, a 275-pound redshirt sophomore, beating Hokies offensive lineman Matt Welsh (51) and an unidentified teammate with a bull rush up the middle.
(To be fair to that offensive line, they did this later in that season against UNC.)
I could go on and on, but you get my point. In 2007 and 2008, Virginia Tech teams that would win ACC Championships weren't ready or motivated to play 1-AA teams Furman and William & Mary.
This was not the case Saturday. The Hokies blasted the Tribe on the scoreboard (62-17) and in the stat sheet (586 yards to 266 yards). Virginia Tech did what they were supposed to do, no excuses. The five-day layoff between games, which felt like less due to travel back from Tallahassee, was not used as a crutch or an excuse.
Young Guys Everywhere
Since this game was a blowout, my attention to detail inside Lane Stadium wasn't the best, as I spent time chatting with friends and being distracted. When I read Chris's column about how many young guys the Hokies played throughout the game, I was surprised.
Last night in film review -- thank you, hokietapes on YouTube -- I was floored by the number of subs the Hokies were playing, and honestly, I was very pleased with it.
You see these discussions all the time on the message boards, fans saying things like, "Since we're supposed to crush [fill in the blank], do you think the coaches will get a lot of young players into the game?"
The answer is usually no. Coaches have nightmares about losing these types of matchups, so they err on the side of caution and generally play the starters into the third quarter before the substitutions start. If they don't build a lead, the substitutions of course never happen.
Not here. Justin Fuente and his coaches substituted liberally on offense and defense, starting very early in the game. There was an unspoken expectation that the backups, many of whom were freshmen, would take care of business as well as the starters, and they did.
Chris detailed many or all of the young players who got on the field in his column, so I won't repeat them here. But I can't overstate how intrigued I am by Justin Fuente's confidence in the outcome of the game, to the point where he didn't think twice about sprinkling young players all over the field.
With the new redshirt rule that says players can participate in up to four games and still maintain their redshirt, it's hard to say where all this will lead or what the coaches are thinking. But two guys that stand out as participants in this game that we otherwise thought would redshirt are DB Nasir Peoples (#31) and offensive lineman John Harris (#57 … I was having Wyatt Teller flashbacks).
We asked Fuente at the Monday press conference what he's planning with the freshmen, and he said that they keep a spreadsheet of guys who are playing, and they talk about it every week. There are a few guys who are playing who are going to redshirt, but he didn't name names, of course. I get that; he's got to do some testing and tinkering and keep guys engaged, without really saying what he's thinking.
Another Sellout
If you're looking for more reasons to be optimistic about a game that we probably won't talk about much beyond, oh, Tuesday of this week, here's another: this game sold out.
Selling out a game against a lower-level in-state opponent isn't unprecedented. The ODU game sold out last year. But I still think it's encouraging, and it's a sign that Hokie fans are excited about this program. Now, let's no go overboard: a bad weather forecast made sure there were lots of empty seats, but nonetheless, the environment was decent, and the money counts and spends, even if the seats are empty.
Causes for Concern
Let's hit the brakes for a moment and talk about areas where the Hokies need to improve, as evidenced in this game.Fumbles: After a disastrous 2016 that saw Virginia Tech finish No. 128 out of 129 teams in fumbles lost (18 in 14 games), the Hokies improved to No. 12 last year, with just five fumbles lost.
So far this year, Tech has put the ball on the ground seven times in just two games, losing just one of them. At least the Hokies are recovering them; this year is the opposite of 2016, when the Hokies lost, if I remember correctly, ten of their first eleven fumbles that year.
That's going to even out, though. The best way to not lose a fumble … Captain Obvious, reporting for duty … is to never fumble it in the first place.
Lack of Push from the Defensive Tackles: Ricky Walker left this game with an injury with 6:54 to go in the first quarter, and from that point on, the defensive tackles were Jarrod Hewitt, Vinny Mihota, Jimmie Taylor, Robert Porcher IV, Darius Fullwood, and Clay Dean. (Note: no Xavier Burke)
Those players, even with Ricky Walker included, totaled just three tackles. Three.
Defensive tackles don't normally stuff the stat sheet, but they also didn't get much push up the middle at all, much less make tackles. I think Hewitt and Porcher will get better over time, but this game is one to remember. If Tech couldn't blow up the middle of W&M's line, what's going to happen against Georgia Tech, Pitt, and Boston College?
We're told via back channels that Walker is in a walking boot and being held out of practice for precautionary reasons, whatever that means, and it may just be subterfuge. If it were me, I wouldn't play him against ECU or ODU. The Hokies should be able to beat both of those teams without him.
Arm Tackling: Last week, a Caleb Farley arm tackle almost led to a Cam Akers touchdown. This week, I saw more arm tackles from the cornerbacks, who aren't being physical on the perimeter in the run game.
Add the lack of push up the middle to the arm-tackling on the perimeter, and Virginia Tech is currently vulnerable to a physical run game. This is not a surprise. We knew it was an area of concern going into the season, and nothing we have seen changes that.
Hoyt's Struggles Snapping: Redshirt sophomore center Zachariah Hoyt struggled with shotgun snaps again in this game, snapping many of them high and launching at least one over the head of the quarterback. The coaching staff was quick to pull him and replace him with Kyle Chung, though they did bring Hoyt back in later. When Hoyt again snapped the ball high, he exited in favor of Chung. (The announcers misattributed Hoyt's last bad snap to Chung; it was Hoyt.)
Is it truly a concern that Hoyt is snapping the ball high? Not really, because the Hokies have another option in Chung, with enough good players to fill in the rest of the line. If either one of them gets hurt, it becomes a thin spot on the line. This is all good experience for Hoyt, and he'll learn from it. He's still a young player, and it’s just more evidence that as talented as they are, the Hokies are still young. They're doing things that they'll fix over time.
Random Observations
This just in: Terius Wheatley is fast. He turned the corner quickly against Florida State and showed some good speed in this game as well. Terius didn't run much track in high school, but here are his personal records (PRs) in a few events, from milestat.com.
To put that in some context, here are Cole Beck's PRs via milestat.com.
That's more than a little bit of apples and oranges. Note that Beck has 103 results in 11 different events, whereas Wheatley only has 26 results across eight events. Looking at Wheatley's profile shows that he only ran outdoor track one year, in 2016. Beck ran track for all four years of high school (2015-2018) and focused on it.
Wheatley doesn't look like a burner if you just look at his limited track stats, but he's faster than I expected. The coaches are tapping into that by having him run some on the perimeter, where he's doing well, with 80 yards in just nine carries (8.9 ypc).
Third down conversions: after going just 3-14 on third down against FSU, the pendulum swung back in the other direction, as Tech converted nine of 11 third downs. They're now 12-25 on the year for 48 percent.
Dax loves Blacksburg: Dax Hollifield isn't starting, but he isn't pouting, either, nor is Devon Hunter. After Houshun Gaines forced a fumble on William & Mary's first possession, Hollifield, Hunter and Nadir Thompson all ran out on the field to celebrate. I'm not talking about a few feet onto the grass; they were all the way out to the hash mark.
Here's a pic showing the celebration. Hunter has already arrived, and Hollifield and Thompson weren't far behind.
Also, does this look like a guy who isn't have a great time?
Dax finished tied for second on the team in tackles with five, including 1.5 tackles for loss (TFL). He entered the game early, coming in with over six minutes left to go in the first quarter.
Bullet Points
- The tight end passing game is almost non-existent so far. Chris Cunningham and Dalton Keene have two catches in two games for 19 yards. It's a card Virginia Tech hasn't really played yet.
- Damon Hazelton was brought on to return punts after C.J. Carroll muffed an early attempt, putting the ball on the ground and then recovering it. Since Fuente asks that you first catch the ball, and that was Carroll's second muffed punt this seaosn, Fuente decided to try Hazelton, who returned two punts for 18 yards and 10 yards. Those were the first two punt returns for Hazelton in 13 career games between Ball State and Virginia Tech.
- Not to be overlooked: Brian Johnson hit a 45-yard field goal, nailing it almost straight down the middle. Joey Slye only made five of 15 attempts over 40 yards in his last two years, so that's an area where the Hokies need improvement.
- The personal foul on Rico Kearney was a bad call. Here's the moment at which Shon Mitchell started to slide. You can see that Rico is already committed to the tackle.
- Did you catch the William & Mary had a 17-play, 57-yard drive with time of possession of 9:50? It started with 2:28 to go in the third and ended with 7:38 remaining in the game, resulting in a field goal.
- Oh, look, here's Captain Obvious sneaking back in: Hendon Hooker showed great speed on his 69-yard TD run. I tried to find high school track stats, a la Terius Wheatley and Cole Beck above, but milestat.com doesn't have any Hendon Hooker entries.
Looking Around and Down the Road
Virginia Tech fans feel good about where the program is headed, but there's still another gear, another level, that they can hit. That gear will come when the "table-setting" win is followed by the "big" win. Last year, the table-setting WVU win was never followed by a big win (Clemson or Miami).
This year, FSU is the table-setting win, and it has kept Hokie fans engaged and excited. If the Hokies can take care of business between now and the Oct. 6 Notre Dame game, that will be another chance for a big win.
So far, the Hokies have been fortunate that they've had many teachable moments during wins. They've identified some problem areas without those areas resulting in losses, mainly difficulties with the shotgun snap and tackling on the perimeter.
They've also identified some strengths. Damon Hazelton is as good as he was rumored to be. His size, hands and body control are going to result in a lot of catches over the next two-three years (hopefully, three). Eric Kumah has taken a step forward in that realm as well. The defense is solid and will get better, and the offensive line has a lot of movable parts. Oscar Bradburn and Jordan Stout are field position weapons of the highest order.
The coaching staff clearly has the attention of the players, who don't lack for confidence, whether it's on the road at night against Florida State or at home at noon against William & Mary. If the coaches can keep the players dialed in at the start of games like they've done so far, they're going to put pressure on every team on their schedule. The Georgia Tech game in particular is one to watch for this, because bad starts are costly against the Jackets.
At the same time, film on these young guys is starting to accumulate. Back to the topic of the Jackets: If I was Georgia Tech, I'd be planning on going after Virginia Tech's corners on the perimeter, and seeing if they're physical enough to handle the outside pitch.
In case you missed it, Duke quarterback Daniel Jones fractured his clavicle against Northwestern, putting him out for at least the rest of the month (Duke and VT play on September 29), and they also lost All-ACC cornerback Mark Gilbert for the season. That's bad news for those players -- both injuries sound painful -- but good news for the Hokies' path to a big showdown with Notre Dame on October 6.
In the short term, however, the Hokies have to get past East Carolina and Hurricane Florence. I don't know what to think of ECU. In game one against North Carolina A&T, the Pirates looked unfocused in a 28-23 home loss, but they looked much better against the North Carolina Tar Heels, rolling up 500+ yards in a 41-19 win, their third straight over UNC.
That doesn't mean I'm going to pick ECU to beat the Hokies, and I might not even pick this game to be close. But the projected heavy rain and uncertainty of the hurricane situation this week could be an equalizer.
In a larger sense, do you think the Hokies are ahead of schedule? It looked that way after the FSU win, but the 'Noles' struggles with Samford this past weekend (a 36-26 Florida State win in which FSU trailed 26-21 in the fourth) took some of the shine off that opening victory. I'd say the Hokies are right on schedule. They're doing some good things, but their best days are ahead of them in 2019 and 2020.
Still, I'll end how I started: I like the focus of this team right now, and if they come to play every game with this kind of preparation and focus, no one is going to handle them easily, and they'll be in every game. That's about all you can ask with such a young team.