Virginia Tech’s undefeated start to the James Franklin era came to an end Friday night as the Hokies lost to Pittsburgh 35-33 after having four turnovers and 82 penalty yards on eight penalties. Despite outgaining the Panthers by 204 yards, Tech’s sloppiness was too much for them to overcome.
So with that said, let’s dive into our takeaways from the Hokies’ 35-33 loss to Pittsburgh.
1. Sloppiness is a Reminder That VT is Still in a Rebuild
When you outgain your opponent by over 200 yards, you shouldn’t lose yet the Hokies found a way to lose this game.
Why? Sloppiness.
Tech had four turnovers and eight penalties for 82 yards that proved to be killers in this game for the Hokies.
One of the worst examples was on a first half drive for Pitt where the Hokies four penalties including a double penalty from Kenny Woseley Jr that turned a 3rd and 16 incompletion into 26 yards and a red zone first down that Pitt took advantage of for a touchdown to make it 17-14. Elhadj Fall had a roughing the passer earlier on that drive that turned a 17-yard gain into a 32-yard gain.
The Hokies have now had six or more penalties in four of their five games and 75+ penalty yards in three of their five games. It is concerning that James Franklin and his staff have not been able to clean those issues up yet but it is also a sign of the youth of this team and the rebuild that the Hokies are continuing to go through.
The four turnovers weren’t ideal to state the obvious, though one of Ethan Grunkemeyer’s interceptions was controversial. NBC’s officiating analyst Terry McAuley shared on social media that he thought the referees had it wrong and that it should have been ruled a catch for Davion Brown. That turnover provided a massive swing as if it’s a catch, VT is punting and likely has a 24-14 lead going into halftime. Instead, Pitt has great field position and quickly took advantage to make it 24-21 and take all the momentum going into halftime.
The other Grunkemeyer was a sloppy error too with Grunkemeyer trying to force a ball into a double-covered Marlion Jackson while on the run. Even if he would have gotten the throw off better, I still think it gets picked off rather than being a touchdown, regardless of Jackson’s slip in the endzone.
That’s before you get to Tech’s tackling issues with PFF saying VT had 16 missed tackles including four from Noah Chambers and Quentin Reddish each plus three from Tyson Flowers. The encouraging thing is that unlike the penalty issues, Tech’s tackling had been pretty good prior to tonight and feels more correctable.
The Hokies were the more talented team last night, but they were also the sloppier one. That sloppiness cost them the game and showed the difference between a Pat Narduzzi Pitt that is a solid program and a James Franklin VT that is still rebuilding.
