After a mediocre first three seasons in Blacksburg defined by many losses that were due to little, sloppy mistakes, Brent Pry made somewhat of a staff overhaul this offseason. However, despite the new coordinators looking pretty good, the sloppy mistakes continued and while the Hokies were right in this game for most of it, those mistakes eventually were too much for the Hokies to come.
No. 13 South Carolina beat Virginia Tech 24-11,
The Hokies and Gamecocks were pretty evenly matched overall in this game, with the Hokies outgaining South Carolina 336-328 while having the majority of the time of possession at 34:09 compared to 25:51 for South Carolina. However, it was a litany of little mistakes that doomed the Hokies to defeat in this one.
- Kyron Drones choosing to force a ball in the redzone and having it intercepted
- Takye Heath with a drop on the numbers on a 3rd down near midfield
- Chopped block that wiped out big gain for Ayden Greene to put VT in SC territory
- Donavon Greene getting a personal foul after a Dylan Stewart sack to make it 3rd and 32
- Keyshawn Burgos missing a tackle that turned a 2nd and 33 into a 3rd and 3 following a 30-yard Rahsul Faison run
- The illegal formation penalty that wiped out a solid punt and set up Vicari Swain's 80-yard punt return TD
- Ayden Greene's late fourth quarter drop on a third down crossing route
- LaNorris Sellers breaking three tackles for a 3rd and 13 conversion after VT burned two timeouts to try to get the ball back
There are probably more that you can throw onto this list too, but those specific mistakes are how you go potentially from a VT victory to a 13-point loss against a good South Carolina team that cleaned up their own miscues in the second half. Brent Pry's frustration with the litany of errors was also clear in his postgame remarks.
"Too many self-inflicted errors, untimely penalties, drops, dropped balls at the same time. Not good enough in the red zone. You got to have touchdowns down there, you know," Pry said. "The penalties are disappointing. The dropped balls are disappointing. Bad decision in the red zone. I think we lineup, we don't have our gunner on the line of scrimmage on the punt and so we got to re-kick it. So you just don't know when those things, those details lead to big plays and that's certainly what happened there."
It's the little things that have played a big role in making a darling of 'best 6-6 team in America per the metrics' but 6-6 isn't acceptable in Blacksburg and if VT keeps making those mistakes, Pry's demise will be coming sooner than he'd like.
The two big plays that VT allowed (Vicari Swain's 80-yard punt return TD and Nyck Harbor's 64-yard receiving touchdown) were also areas of great frustration for Pry.
"To give up the punt return and the deep ball after making them earn it after that first series, making them earn everything they got," Pry said. "To go into the fourth quarter down by two points and then give up those two plays? We got some things to clean up and we will. We got to be a better team and we can be."
Tech's offense had five plays of 20+ yards in the passing game today but wasn't able to get a big run with the longest gain on the ground being 11. Tech put together some solid drives, but wasn't able to do a whole lot once they got into South Carolina territory, only reaching the redzone once and getting inside the 10 zero times.
Tech's failure to turn solid drives into touchdown ones played a role in Tech's demise today.
Kyron Drones was a little too inconsistent in this game as he was 15-35 for 221 yards and two interceptions while running for 26 yards. Drones made some great throws in this game and made some smart decisions with his legs, but he also had some bad decisions headlined by his redzone first half interception plus some bad choices on the ground including a decision to keep a jet sweep where Cam Seldon had the edge and blocks set up, especially with the edge focused on Drones not Seldon. There were also some throws he tried to do more than he needed including the swing pass he through to Hawkins that was too far in front despite Hawkins having plenty of space.
The upside is there for Drones, but the inconsistency will hamstring him if he can't resolve it.
Tech's wide receivers were a highlight of the offense with Ayden Greene having a team-high five catches for 71 yards in what was a good game for him overall outside of his late game drop. Donavon Greene had three catches for a team-high 94 yards. Cameron Seldon made some noises later in the game with three catches for 18 yards.
Marcellous Hawkins got going as the game progressed as he had 15 carries for 58 yards in what was an okay night for him. With Terion Stewart out, Hawkins is the lead guy with PJ Prioleau and Jeremiah Coney being the top compliments.
John Love looked like a future NFL kicker today with three field goals including a 56-yard field goal at the end of the first half. Love will certainly be a weapon for the Hokies this season and looks like a serious Lou Groza Award contender.
Tech's defense was the stronger unit outside of the disastrous opening drive where South Carolina marched down the field with ease. The Hokies only allowed 17 points on their defense with Sam Siefkes adjusting quite well after a rough start to this game. The hire of Siefkes in particular looks quite good with the Hokies' new defensive coordinator receiving plenty of rightful praise today.
Tech's run defense was solid for large swaths of this game with the Gamecocks averaging only 3.2 yards per carry, though the sacks played a significant factor in it. Tech did have a few moments where they gave up chunk run to LaNorris Sellers, Rahsul Faison, and Oscar Adaway which definitely was a separating area compared to VT's longest run being 11 yards.
The defensive line was a strength in this game with several different players making some big plays as the Hokies produced four sacks including a safety. Kemari Copeland lived up to the hype as he had five tackles including one for loss with 0.5 sacks while Emmett Laws looked good with three tackles including 1.0 sacks with a half-sack on the safety with Kelvin Gilliam. Ben Bell had two tackles including 0.5 sacks with a play where he had a perfect swim move to set up a sack while Elhadj Fall had a strip sack on a perfect bull rush and James Djonkam had four tackles.
Caleb Woodson did not make the start as part of his punishment for his game, but came in on the second series and finished with six tackles including one for loss. After the game, Brent Pry shared that VT is still performing an internal review of Woodson's case and further punishment could be coming beyond the stripping of his captaincy, him not starting tonight's game, and other internal punishments.
Quentin Reddish led the Hokies with eight tackles while Michael Short was an underrated standout with five tackles including 1.5 for loss. Tech's defensive backfield was probably the weakness of this team with the Hokies having some coverage issues at times including with Caleb Brown who got the start.
Tech was able to largely contain LaNorris Sellers, but the talented South Carolina quarterback did make the plays he needed to make, going 12-19 for 209 yards and one touchdown while running for 61 yards and a touchdown on nine non-sack carries. Elite athlete Nyck Harbor provided the home run threat with three catches for 99 yards including a 64-yard touchdown while Vicari Swain's 80-yard punt return touchdown change the dynamic of this game.
Dylan Stewart looked every part of an All-American with seven tackles including 1.5 for loss with a sack. 757 native LB Fred Johnson, a player who South Carolina swooped in late and beat VT for in his recruitment, led the Gamecocks with 10 tackles plus an interception and a pass breakup, though his decision to take his INT out of the endzone and only to the 2 set up VT's safety.
Despite 30 new transfers plus two new coordinators, this loss for Virginia Tech felt like a repeat of a greatest hit of the Brent Pry era. Tech had too many sloppy, little mistakes that proved costly in the end, especially with the two home run plays they allowed with Vicari Swain's 80-yard punt return TD and Nyck Harbor's 64-yard receiving touchdown.
If Virginia Tech wants to escape mediocrity, they have to escape making the sloppy, little mistakes that seem to define so many losses of the Brent Pry era. In this game, that simply wasn't the case despite a massive offseason overhaul with a goal to fix the consistency at which those type of mistakes happened.
If they can't resolve those mistakes in the week where coaches often say a team grows the most, another year of mediocrity could be coming to Blacksburg, and could doom Brent Pry's tenure at Virginia Tech
