Lessons For Virginia Tech - What Went Wrong?

By Lou Jones

Virginia Tech Inglourious Blog- The Lessons of Boise State

Well, the cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it? It’s never a good idea to draw too many conclusions from one game, especially an opener, but Boise State exposed pretty much every shortcoming the 2010 Hokies have in Monday night’s 33-30 win. Some were known concerns before the season started (green defense), while others came as a complete shock (awful special teams), but whatever the case, Tech was caught flat footed by the Bronco buzz saw early and couldn’t hold the lead late. So….what did we learn about Virginia Tech in this game?

1. The offensive line still has issues. Spotty offensive line play has been at the core of Virginia Tech’s periodic offensive woes going back to 2006, and despite the work that has gone in to correcting the problem, it reared its head again Monday night. Most shocking of all was they way Boise State was able to penetrate into the Tech backfield and stuff the much talked about Hokie running game.

2. There’s simply no substitute for game experience. Bud Foster’s young defense played well in spurts, but committed several boneheaded penalties and, more importantly, had its youth exploited at the game’s most critical junctures by the savvy Kellen Moore and his veteran receivers.

3. Ryan Williams may get the most ink, but make no mistake: Tyrod Taylor is the real MVP of the Hokies. With his team down 17-0 and on the verge of being blown out, Taylor almost single handedly willed Tech back into the football game. When he had time to throw, his decisions were smart and his passes on the money.

4. Where’s the pass rush? Tech was unable to get consistent pressure on Moore with a four man rush. This could be problematic if the trend continues, because the legitimate threat of a four man rush is the launching point for much of what VT does defensively. Without it, Foster’s arsenal of blitz packages becomes a lot easier for offenses to anticipate.

5. Great special teams aren’t a given. It’s always a bit of a shock for Tech fans when it’s their team that is having its punts blocked and generally self destructing in this area. Frank Beamer takes great pride in the part of the team he personally coaches, so expect to see some new faces here if things don’t improve immediately.

Conclusion: As with any loss of this magnitude, Hokie fans feel like they’ve been punched in the stomach, and there’s a palpable sense in Blacksburg that that the air has been let out of the season. BUT…if you believe that Boise State is the real deal, then there’s really no reason to be too down on Virginia Tech. The Broncos got an uncharacteristically sloppy, mistake-prone effort from the Hokies, and it was still almost more than they could handle. Don’t assume we get the same result if this game is played in, say, late October. This was simply a close, hard fought loss against a veteran team that might be one of the two or three best in the country. Once the running game gets untracked and the defense grows up a bit, Virginia Tech is still going to present major matchup problems for the rest of the ACC, and depending on what happens elsewhere could yet find itself in the BCS title game mix at the end of the year.