Three Takeaways From Virginia Tech's 42-35 Loss to Clemson

The Virginia Tech Hokies suffered a heartbreaking 42-35 loss against Clemson in a game in which Virginia Tech proved to the nation that they were once again relevant in college football and ready to continue that for a long time again. The Hokies showed tons of heart and toughness fighting from down 21 in the third quarter to come within 30 yards of scoring a late touchdown that would have given them a chance to win if they went for 2 as Justin Fuente said they would have. The Hokies have made a lot of progress this season and Fuente has the Hokies in position not only to win an ACC title next year but also make a serious run at the College Football Playoff. With that said, here are our takeaways from Virginia Tech's ACC Championship loss to Clemson.

1. Adonis Alexander still has a lot of room to grow at CB.

This offseason, Adonis Alexander made the full-time switch from rover to cornerback with fellow defensive back Terrell Edmunds going the other way from cornerback to rover. For Edmunds, the move was perfect as the redshirt junior has become one of the most underrated safeties in the country and was even named to ESPN's ACC blog All-ACC Team. Meanwhile, Alexander has looked good at times at cornerback, but his performance Saturday night showed that he has plenty of room to grow this offseason at cornerback as the weakest of Virginia Tech's three cornerbacks on Saturday and throughout much of the season. Against Clemson, Alexander made some good plays and nearly had an interception right near the sideline which he dropped after playing some good coverage. However, Clemson also went after Alexander for much of the game whether that was by putting Mike Williams against him or putting a particular play's primary ide receiver against him with Clemson seeming to have their most success through the air against Alexander and not Greg Stroman or Brandon Facyson. Alexander has great size and athleticism to play cornerback, but he still isn't natural at the position while he is a little slow for a cornerback. Against Clemson, his size didn't make much of a difference against a big receiver in Mike Williams who seemed to be able to get a lot of what he wanted against Alexander while Deon Cain and others also were fairly effective lined up against the sophomore cornerback. Alexander has shown good athleticism and ball skills but his man coverage skills are an issue still as he is fairly inconsistent in man coverage and has shown some struggles against teams with a deep group of wide receivers like Clemson. Alexander has made progress at cornerback but the position doesn't seem to be the best fit for him right now. However, there is no indication of a position change coming, so Alexander must improve and become more consistent in man coverage or opposing offenses will continue to target him.

2. Virginia Tech's defensive line should be better next year.

Virginia Tech's defensive line was quite solid this year led by All-ACC First Team DT Woody Baron who has had 17.5 tackles for loss this season along with fellow seniors Ken Ekanem and Nigel Williams who have been hampered some by injuries, but still have had strong seasons. However, Saturday night's game was the latest example of how Virginia Tech's defensive line should be even better next year despite losing three starters. Virginia Tech has a talented group of young defensive linemen ready to step up next year on a defensive line that will have four starters who on average were at least four-star recruits or right on the cusp of being that, making this the most talented defensive line based on recruiting that the Hokies have had over the past few years. This season, we've already seen how bright the future of Virginia Tech's defensive line is with Tim Settle leading the Hokies with 1.5 tackles for loss against Clemson while having an impressive 7 tackles for loss this season despite not starting a single game. Settle is already starting to live up to the hype and has the potential to be one of the ACC's top defensive tackles next season. Ricky Walker was the man the Hokies turned to as a starter in place of Nigel Williams when Williams as injured and Walker showed why he played as a true freshman two years ago and why he has a very bright future with 6.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 28 tackles in only 13 games and 4 starts. The duo of Walker and Settle will be ready to terrorize the ACC and give plenty of nightmares to opposing interior offensive line as two massive guys that can blow up the middle of the offensive line. Trevon Hill has shown plenty of promise this season with 33 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks while stepping up in his only start of the season against Miami when filling in for Ken Ekanem with 5 tackles and 1.5 sacks in that game. Hill is a very good athlete with his biggest strength being a speed rusher similar to Dadi Nicolas, but Hill also has shown that he can make plays as a run defender and has already bulked up to 240 pounds, showing that he has the frame to put on a lot more strengthn than Nicolas could and be a more physical defensive end. Next year's starting defensive line will be the second-straight year the Hokies have replaced three starters, but the talent is there for this unit to improve once again for the second-straight year with Vinny Mihota also impressing in his first year as a starter on the edge. No one should be surprised if by this time next year, we are talking about all four Virginia Tech defensive line starters receiving some sort of All-ACC recognition.

3. Mitchell Ludwig has improved a lot this season.

Mitchell Ludwig hasn't been perfect this season, but the junior punter has shown a lot of improvement even if his 38.8 yards per punt are a little disappointing. Against Clemson, Ludwig had an impressive 60-yard punt that was one of the best punts we've seen form a Virginia Tech punter over the past several years while also averaging 44.8 yards per punt in what was one of his best performances of the season after averaging 35 yards or less per punt in three of four November games. However, that number doesn't shown how much Ludwig has improved as one thing the junior punter has done not too badly at is make sure teams are pinned inside of the 20 instead of having touchbacks when punting from around midfield. Ludwig has dealt with plenty of those situations that have caused to bring his average yards per punt average down, but Ludwig has done a great job pinning teams inside their own 20 with 7 of his 18 punts doing that while having all 3 of his punts do that against Pittsburgh, leading to a low 31.3 yards per punt because of punting from around midfield. Ludwig still has room to grow as a lot of these punts are necessarily putting teams inside their own 10, but Ludwig has also done a good job at limiting what opponents can do on returns with solid hang time on punts that has allowed Virginia Tech's strong punt coverage to limit opponents' abilities to make something big happen on a punt return. Ludwig still has a lot of room to grow and definitely could be pushed for the starting punter job this offseason, but Ludwig is no longer the liability that he was to start the season, and now is a mini-momentum builder at times. Stay up with The Tech Lunch Pail for the latest on the Hokies via Twitter and Facebook plus subscribe to our email updates.