There is not a better way to describe what Virginia Tech’s football season has become over the past month than through the words of Katy Perry. “You’re hot, then you’re cold; you’re yes, then you’re no; you’re in then you’re out; you’re up then you’re down.”
The Hokies started the season with the highest hopes and, while certain ESPN announcers continued to call us the “upset of the week,” post-Alabama, we played strong and won five straight games.
With national championship dreams possible again, the Hokies climbed as high as No. 4 in the BCS, only to fall a week ago to coastal-division rival Georgia Tech.
In what most fans considered to be a scrimmage against the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Hokies fell behind early and had internal breakdowns throughout, culminating in a fumble by redshirt freshman tailback Ryan Williams with just two minutes to go.
Tech was picked as a 16.5 point favorite over North Carolina but, in true Redskins fashion, only ended the game with 17 points.
Coming into Thursday night’s game, North Carolina’s offense was ranked 114th in the country overall. Virginia Tech’s defense was ranked 31st —this probably accounted for the majority of our 16.5 projected point differential.
“I firmly believe we can be a good football team,” said Tech head coach Frank Beamer. “If you look at the game in parts, in parts our offense was good, in parts our defense was good and in parts our special teams is good, but the problem is being consistently good.”
The win over Boston College aside, Tech has struggled to find a consistency within their team over the past weeks — this made none more obvious than in the loss to North Carolina.
Whether it’s a breakdown of the offensive line ending with Taylor sacked in the backfield or a breakdown of the defensive backs leading to Cody Grimm on North Carolina’s best wide-out in single coverage in the end zone, there is a plethora of confusion surrounding this team.
A shaky victory over Duke was laid to bed by our victory over the Eagles, but we have continued to see inconsistencies on all sides of the ball.
“I think the teams have been running good plays against us,” said senior outside linebacker and captain Cody Grimm. “They caught us in some defenses and ran good plays. Some unfortunate bounces for us out there and some good plays — they have good players.”
One blunder in the defense falls in the form of third-down conversions. Georgia Tech and North Carolina combined to convert 18 of 34 third-downs against the Hokies.
“I don’t think we got into a rhythm as a football team,” continued Beamer. “We just didn’t get into a rhythm and the game just didn’t fit for us.”
In the Hokies’ past two games, they have also lost the time of possession battle 74:36 to 45:24, a difference of over 29 minutes, heavily in favor of their opponents.
On the offensive side, Taylor continues to impress fans with his ability to link up with young receivers, but in Thursday’s game alone the Hokies were tackled six times for a loss including three sacks.
One thing to blame is Beau Warren missing at center for the Hokies, but the offensive line as a whole needs to improve.
The Hokies have to find a way to play like they did earlier this season, a more Kanye West “Stronger” style of play, if you will. They need to play “harder, better, faster, stronger,” and they need to do it on both sides of the ball in order for this team to regain its earlier success.
