Florida State wide receiver Greg Carr catches a deep ball from quarterback Christian Ponder in the third quarter of the Seminoles' 30-20 win over Tech on Saturday afternoon. The Hokies have a conference record of 2-2.
Florida is widely known as the Sunshine State, but after Saturday's 30-20 loss in its capital city, the state of Virginia Tech football is mostly cloudy.
The first thunderbolt came on the Hokies' first offensive play from scrimmage. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor looked to pass, rolled to his right and was sacked by Florida State linebacker Toddrick Verdell.
As he was brought down, Taylor's ankle bent awkwardly and left him lying on the ground. It also had Tech fans scrambling for the oxygen masks, fearing the worst for their scrambling signal caller.
Contrary to what most believe, the Hokies have one of the top -- if not the best -- backup quarterbacks in the conference.
Sean Glennon, helped the Hokies score the first 10 points of the game -- all in the first period.
He went 9-for-16 with 133 passing yards and called his own number to sneak into the end zone, which put Tech up by two scores.
Glennon also helped give some much-needed life to a fledgling passing game. Leading the way for the receivers was Jarrett Boykin, who caught four balls for 89 yards, including a 41-yard pass completion.
But lightning couldn't strike twice, could it? Well, those fears were realized. Glennon was writhing in pain at the start of a third-quarter drive, which really took the wind out of the Hokies' sails.
With less than six minutes left in the period, Glennon was sacked by Dekota Watson and was down for the count, injuring his left fibula.
Each finished the game with a protective boot on his left foot and both were negative on X-rays taken Sunday. Both are questionable for the Nov. 6 game against Maryland.
Enter third-stringer Cory Holt. He probably didn't expect this when he entered Doak Campbell Stadium.
Holt went 3-of-6 for 28 yards passing, including a four-yard scoring pass to Andre Smith.
He did fine in an emergency role, one that he hadn't given a thought to playing -- much less practicing -- for most of the season. Mainly used as a back-up wide receiver, he had seen no action at quarterback this past week in practice.
"It's a credit to him that he came in and made a couple of plays, battled, picked up a nice first down, made a nice throw, did a nice job," said head coach Frank Beamer.
The redshirt senior from Lexington, N.C., originally came to Blacksburg as a quarterback. His most recent action behind center came in a mop-up role during the Hokies' thrashing of Duke in 2007. But before the 2008 spring game, he moved to split end.
Holt hadn't seen the field at all this year. Once Glennon was injured, he knew it was his time.
"When Sean went down, I just took off my headset and went out there," Holt said, who did not warm up before entering the game.
The mash unit at quarterback is just the latest in a long list of hurting Hokies.
Brandon Dillard -- out in preseason -- and Kenny Lewis Jr. both suffered ruptured Achilles' tendons. Rover Davon Morgan tore his ACL against Nebraska. And now Taylor and Glennon -- the combo that piloted Tech to the ACC Championship last year -- join that list.
Even when Taylor and Glennon come back, who's to say they'll be at full strength when they do play?
Still, the Hokies have some other topics of concern on the field.
Special teams, usually a mainstay, has struggled this year. Granted, Dustin Keys and Brent Bowden have had strong and accurate legs. However, special teams have been a contributing factor to their three losses in 2008, a thought rarely -- if ever -- considered during the Beamer era.
In the opener against East Carolina, a late-game punt block by the Pirates was returned for a touchdown and turned into an agonizing 27-22 loss.
Against Boston College, a 65-yard punt return by Rich Gunnell helped the Eagles hand the Hokies a five-point setback.
Now, most recently, in Tallahassee versus Florida State, a special teams miscue turned out to be the turning point. With Tech up 13-10 and with FSU ready to kick the ball away on fourth-and-19, freshman Eddie Whitley ran into punter Graham Gano.
"Disappointing that we roughed that kicker," Beamer said. "I wanted to go after him one more time. We tried early and felt like we kind of had him."
Leave a comment 0 Comments Write a letter to the editor
All letters to the editor must include a name, e-mail, daytime phone number and affiliation to Virginia Tech. Affiliation includes: year and major for students; position and department for faculty and staff; current city for alumni and parents.