Facing High Expectations, Hokies Falter in Frustrating Loss at Vanderbilt
As nearly two-touchdown favorites, Virginia Tech fell flat against perennial SEC-doormat Vanderbilt.
How long does it take to erase about eight months of trust, good will, and hope?
For Brent Pry and his Virginia Tech Hokies, it turns out that it only takes about 60 minutes.
Within an hour of kicking off their 2024 campaign, Virginia Tech faced a 17-point deficit. And after clawing themselves out of the grave they dug, the Hokies jumped right back in it to lose 34-27 in overtime to Vanderbilt in front of a predominantly Hokie-friendly crowd.
“We got shell-shocked a little bit,” Pry told reporters after the game.
Excuse me?
How does Pry, fresh off a season where he, his assistants, and his players found themselves and tasted success for the first time, get out-coached by a guy with a win-loss record of 10-27 through three seasons?
I posted on X before Virginia Tech’s season-opener that the Hokies needed to do three things to beat the Commodores — take care of the football, contain new Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia as a runner, and avoid special teams miscues.
The Hokies failed all three of these objectives. Tech turned it over almost immediately, leading to a quick Vanderbilt score. Pavia rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown, supplementing a fine passing day. And a critical special teams mistake involving two players with the same number on a punt return gave Vanderbilt a free three points.
Those three points came in handy at the end of regulation.
There’s only one way I can view this loss — Pry and his staff did not have the Hokies prepapred to play.
Special teams faux pas aside, as egregious as that was, the Hokies looked lifeless on both sides of the ball in the first half. And after making some initial adjustments after halftime, the Hokies failed to adapt in the fourth quarter.
These are not mistakes from teams that win conference championships, or teams that have aspirations of making the new 12-team College Football Playoff. Instead, these are mistakes of a team that finished 7-6 last season.
We should have known that things would largely remain the same. We should have known that returning production from a mediocre team did not mean improved results. We should have known that despite all of last year’s progress, Pry is still an inexperienced head coach that is prone to mistakes.
Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt changes the lens in which the 2024 season must be viewed. This is not a 10-win team, as I predicted on Hokie Hangover. This team will not make the College Football Playoff as many of us had hoped. Rather, this is a team that will be lucky to improve on their middling 2023 season.
Of course, I could be overreacting. Virginia Tech might answer the bell after getting knocked down and start playing up to their potential. But I can only go off what I see, and on Saturday, I saw a team that isn’t ready for the bright lights.
Virginia Tech has a chance to get back on track next weekend against Marshall. They might very well do so. But for now, fans have every right to be skeptical of this team and what they can truly accomplish in 2024. It will take a lot longer than 60 minutes of football to rebuild the hope and optimism that the Hokies discarded on Saturday.
Agree 100 %. Fans need to distinguish between "returning production" and "returning experience".
I would agree that yes, we have a very high % of players who returned that have a lot of past playing time. Looking at last years record and who they were able to beat i have a hard time labeling the W's and L's as PRODUCTIVE! As much as Pry tried to tell his team to "block out the noise", they obviously didn't listen.
Well said