Virginia Tech Football: 3 takeaways from frustrating loss to Marshall

It has been a long time since the Marshall football team had beaten Virginia Tech. Saturday afternoon at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, West Virginia, they got a chance to beat the Hokies for the first time since 1940. They didn’t waste their opportunity.

The Hokies looked like they came ready to play and marched down the field on the game’s opening possession and scored a touchdown for a quick 7-0 lead on a 75-yard drive. After that, it was all Marshall and the Sun Belt Conference opponent put their foot down and Virginia Tech was not able to answer.

The Thundering Hurd outscored the Hokies, 24-10, following the game’s opening drive, and for the third straight week, the defense proved that they can still not stop the run. On the other side of the ball, Virginia Tech had some questionable play calling as the game went along and it played a big part in them digging a hole that they could come out of in a 24-17 loss.

Penalties, questionable play calling, and a lack of discipline have been the calling card through the first four games and unless that changes, it’s going to be more of the same going forward. Here are three takeaways from what was Tech’s third straight loss.

Virginia Tech failed to capitalize on early Marshall mistakes

If you watched the first drive of the game, you would never think that the Hokies offense was struggling this season. Running the ball, throwing the ball, and just about any offense of any kind has been hard to come by. That was not the case on the first possession.

Starting at their own 25-yard line, Virginia Tech marched 75 yards, with 62 of it coming on the ground, for a game-opening touchdown on a Kyron Drones quarterback keeper from 31 yards out. He was initially marked out at the 3-yard line by the official, in a bizarre call, but replay review overturned the call correctly.

On Marshall’s first possession, Keli Lawson had an interception near midfield to set up the offense. Unfortunately, they were not able to capitalize and turned the ball over on downs on a 4th-and-3 where Drones threw in triple coverage down the field instead of looking for a short pass or a QB keeper.

At the time, it certainly felt like a wasted opportunity for the Hokies to go up by two schools on the road. Scoring a touchdown, or just even a field goal, gives a team looking for any breaks some momentum. It didn’t happen and even though it was early in the game, it still felt like a huge missed opportunity. Well, it was.

Virginia Tech’s defense gave them a chance

Was it a case of too little, too late for the Virginia Tech defense? Maybe, however, for as bad as things were in the second and third quarters, the Hokies’ defense buckled down in the fourth quarter and gave them a chance to steal a victory on the road.

Let’s set one thing straight, they still face up the big plays, especially in the first half on a Rasheen Ali 56-yard touchdown run, then the 98-yard drive in the third quarter that turned out to be the game-winning touchdown, but in the fourth quarter, they came up with stops when needed and the offense couldn’t capitalize.

Tech’s defense forced three straight three-and-outs and got an interception from Keonta Jenkins. The only first down the Thundering Hurd picked up was on a very questionable personal foul penalty on third down for hitting Marshall’s quarterback Cam Fancher. Well, knicked him trying to avoid him. Even Roddy Jones from ESPN agreed it wasn’t a penalty.

Virginia Tech did end up getting a stop and forcing a punt, but the offense was not able to score on their final drive, turning the ball over on downs.

Virginia Tech needs to utilize Kyron Drones better

There were multiple reasons for coach Brent Pry and his staff to make the change at quarterback last week against Rutgers. The first was the injury to Grant Wells. The second? Drones bring a different dynamic with his athleticism.

It appears that the coaching staff is not using Drones’ skill set all the time and it’s clear in their playing calling. They are having him drop back more, attempting 35 passes against Marshall, and the sophomore instead of scrambling to avoid pressure, looked to throw the ball away. I get it, you don’t want to run him a lot as his body will take a beating, but with no running game, asking him to drop back between 30 and 40 times a week is not a recipe for success with him.

The offensive line is a mess, the running game has struggled, and the play-calling is, well, suspect at times at best. There needs to be more mixing instead of the same old play-calling from week to week.

Virginia Tech falls to 1-3 and limps home after losses to Rutgers and Marshall on the road. In reality, both games were winnable and even if they were 2-2, it might not be all that gloomy in Blacksburg. They open ACC play next week against Pittsburgh at Lane Stadium and they can only hope returning home can give them a spark.