Virginia Tech came up short for the second-straight week losing as double-digit favorites at California 25-20. The Hokies are the better team by most metrics, but simply did not play up to their level, while the Golden Bears put together arguably their best performance of the season and picked up a huge win to calm the angst around their first-time, first-year head coach Tosh Lupoi.
So with all that said, let's dive into my takeaways from VT's 25-20 loss to California.
1. Pass Defense and Specifically Cornerback Play is Subpar
Virginia Tech's pass defense was bad Saturday as the Hokies allowed 321 passing yards to a backup QB for Cal who wasn't even the full-time starter for Colorado State last year on a day where the Hokies made Cal one-dimensional.
Tech's cornerback play was subpar in this matchup with Cal's very good WR duo of Ian Strong and Chase Hendricks both looking a class above the Hokies all day with Strong having five catches for 97 yards and Hendricks having seven catches for 94 yards.
Jaquez White was matched up with Hendricks often and while he had a couple good plays in this game, it's hard to deny the reality that Hendricks was better than White on a consistent basis. Strong is a proven Power 4 receiver and that showed against a collection of cornerbacks headlined by Thomas Williams and Cam Chadwick who didn't look up to the Power 4 standard in this game on a consistent basis.
In some ways, the struggles of Williams and Chadwick make the benching of Joshua Clarke (who only played three defensive snaps) a little dumbfounding given that Clarke has a higher ceiling and the others were struggling to an extent that it would at least be worth trying something else.
While White only allowed catches on four of seven targets thrown his way, Tech's other primary cornerbacks and nickelbacks didn't force a single incompletion when targeted per PFF. Chadwick allowed three receptions for 68 yards on three targets while Williams allowed two catches for 28 yards on two targets. Isaiah Brown-Murray at least minimized the damage but still allowed four receptions on four targets for 26 yards while Kenny Woseley Jr was quite bad allowing five receptions for 64 yards on five targets.
You would hope that a team in nickel would be in a better situation to defend the pass, but with the way that the Hokies have looked so far, it seems like VT's better pass defense is in their base rather than bringing in an extra defensive back. That shows how poor Tech's pass defense and the cornerbacks especially have been.
On a positive, VT didn't have the coverage busts that they had earlier this season, an encouraging sign that Tech's safety play is making strides with the trio of Tyson Flowers, Quentin Reddish, and DQ Smith. However, running the called coverages correctly can only do so much when your cornerbacks simply aren't getting the job done.
The pass rush for the Hokies wasn't great either as they only generated 12 total pressures per PFF. This is a unit that is definitely improved from last season and are solid overall, but definitely not as good as the inflated views of them that stemmed in part from playing a really bad VMI to open the season.
Still, the pass defense struggles weren't simply because of an ineffective pass rush that gave Cal all day to throw. This was more about a group of cornerbacks that simply didn't get the job done and were outclassed (other than Jaquez White who had some positive moments), raising questions about whether they can take the necessary steps to get up to the necessary level against tougher competition. If not, then VT's only solutions are likely to wait for younger guys like Joshua Clarke and Jojo Crim (once healthy) to develop and to rebuild this room via the transfer portal this upcoming offseason.
