Virginia Tech

In the original Hamilton, Ariana Dubose was cast as The Bullet. Every character that she physically touched in this production was destined to perish during the show. When VT jumped ahead after we missed an early field goal and then botched another trip inside the 10, I was scouring the home sideline for the Oscar winning actress. Thankfully, I guess she decided not to make the trip to Tally this weekend.

 One of the oddities among many in this coaching twilight zone we are experiencing right now was the Friday / Saturday combo we got from the defensive coordinator. Friday night he blasts out a crazy cryptic post that includes notes about being in Doak for the last time and Thank you Tally! Welp, that was certainly open for interpretation, but these were not exactly Swift Easter eggs. Then, after a bizarrely schemed first half that we will dive in shortly, Tony exits the home halftime locker room midway through the Chiefs show and prior to any other players or coach. Like a punished 8 year old, he goes to the farthest sideline bench available and hunkers down. So much for halftime adjustments, he apparently had a previously scheduled zoom call. Then, as the players finally emerged for the second stanza, White headed away from the team and parked down in the corner of the end zone. Well into the 3rd quarter when the defense finally took the field is when Coach finally rejoined his troops in the huddle. Maybe there was a parent teacher conference he couldn’t miss, or in light of recent events, he was carefully wiping out all his prop bets he had logged all week. In any case, that series of weekend weirdness was a first for me.

In my opinion, the defense has slowly improved all season. We have chronicled that we are not blessed with crazy talent on that side of the ball. But, the kids are in the right spots and other than the ever present qb 3rd down burst up the middle, there are no real busts. What was frustrating this week was that everyone with firing synapses knew that this VT bunch was about effective at passing as a geriatric on a moped. Yet, at no point in this entire contest did we deviate from the five defensive back set and we were outmanned all game up front. Only late in the game did we turn Earl Little loose as a human missile and he sawed their backs in half and then whispered sweet nothings after. But, why was this seemingly  spectacular lack of a game plan even happening? An exception to the talent argument are the Desir twins. No matter where Mandrell lines up. He is making huge plays. A true freshman leading the team in sacks and pressures and only plays about 30 snaps a game. This was also the best game of the season for Jeremiah Wilson who had two drive ending plays, including a pick and a tackle for a loss. But, we did not exactly scheme our way to a win on defense…

On the other side of the ball, it is tough to argue when the punter was playing sideline hangman all game. Tommy spoke postgame about how much money he left on the field. Again, with the national betting mess hitting all over sports, not the best metaphor bubba. But, he was not wrong. He cost McCoy some serious NIL by missing him for two easy touchdowns and he did not miss him by a little. Randy Pittman missed an easy one at Clemson, but this TE is a pro, and inside the 5 in the wildcat, he is almost impossible to stop. The poor Hokie who hit him on the goal line landed on his keester and had zero idea what city he was in. Apparently, Duce Robinson might work out at receiver. He did drop a pair of scoring throws early, but after that he reestablished himself as the ultimate security blanket. He is such a mismatch that back shoulder throws are almost automatic. Since not even Tommy knows where his throws are heading, defensive backs on Duce have no shot. The first five offensive plays, we ran five different running backs out there. Our long snapper was unsuccessfully trying to Crank like Soulja Boy and he had more rhythm than Gus allows our backs. When it was mostly out of hand, Ousmane got some consistent looks but what is happening with these guys is a bit of a mystery to me.

Our head coach prides himself on special teams. He has been outspoken about spending more time than most programs on this unit. Yes, our young kicker and punter are not hurting us, but the rest of special teams has been more short bus than our favored kind. Our hilarious onside kick attempts have filled a how not to video. We consider it a victory when we actually field a punt without letting it bounce for 20 additional yards. Deion, T Buck  and Pete are old man memories right now.  We have jumped offsides twice this year on a kick which have Elphaba fast turned 3 points into 7. But, hey - have some patience folks. It all came together on Saturday night. We had two actual kick returns that kickstarted drives. And it was a Hokie who jumped early and gave us an early TD. We made two of three field goals and our punt return unit did nothing wrong (you know why!). 

I know that all of you are like me and wondering what will be the final outcome of this speculation party that we are running. Well, again the truth that is social media will have us believe that all Noles have guillotines at the ready. But, another near sellout at Doak of overwhelmingly supportive fans greeeted the team on Senior Day. I don’t know if it is the new stadium amenities or just that we are a classy bunch, but I have been wildly and pleasantly surprised by the late season support of our ilk. So, what happens from here..? I am fairly convinced that a sweep either way makes this decision easy. The challenge comes from a split especially if the loss to NC State is ugly. But, it also would not surprise me to have the administration commit to Coach Norvell for 2026 after a Wolfpack win. Somehow in the midst of all this uncertainty, FSU has a top 15 recruiting class committed, so maybe that locks these kids down. This is all just a riddle inside an enigma. 

In any case, your road warriors are at it again the next two weeks and maybe this 700 plus day winless streak ends in Raleigh. Wouldn’t that be lovely in front of the most classless fans in the conference. Root for us and your faves in Garnet and Gold.