Virginia Tech Football: 2 positives & 1 negative from loss to Florida State

Entering Saturday afternoon’s ACC contest at Doak Campbell Stadium against fifth-ranked Florida State, Virginia Tech entered the game as a 24-point underdog. It would have been easy to lay some serious dough on the Seminoles and it looked like they were going to cover after a 22-point first quarter.

To Virginia Tech’s credit, they did not fold after being down 22-0 after the first quarter and cut the deficit to 22-17 when Bhayshul Tuten returned the second-half opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, but the Seminoles responded with 17 points to close out the game for a 39-17 victory.

You would think it wouldn’t be easy to pick out some positives from the game for the Hokies, but we are. Here are two positives and one negative from Tallahassee.

First positive: Virginia Tech found fourth-down success

Trailing 22-3 late in the second quarter, the Hokies found some rhythm on offense and Brent Pry trusted offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen and quarterback Kyron Drones and went for it on three fourth downs and they were successful each time.

Facing a 4th-and-1 at the FSU 49, Drones picked up the first down on a QB keeper for 2 yards. They faced a 4th-and-2 at the FSU 39 and Drones connected with Tuten for a 9-yard completion and first down. Facing a third fourth down with a 4th-and-1 at the FSU 21, Drones again picked up a first down with another 2-yard run instead of settling for a field goal.

The drive ended with a Tuten 5-yard touchdown run right before the half when he made an impressive leap over a Florida State defender at the goal line. The takeaway here is that Pry showed confidence in his offense on the road in a tough environment and should give them confidence on future fourth downs this season in key situations.

Second positive: Bhayshul Tuten proved he’s a Power 5 running back

It was a rough start for Tuten through the first four games with the Hokies. Bowen struggled to find ways to get him the ball to show what he could do. Last week against Pittsburgh, Tuten had a breakout game, then followed that up with another strong performance against the Seminoles on national TV.

Tuten had just 29 yards rushing on eight carries and a touchdown, but he had the second-half kickoff return for a touchdown and had four catches for 25 yards out of the backfield. The former North Carolina A&T back has turned into a key piece of the offense going forward. Think of how much he would be behind an offensive line that plays better than what the Hokies have played.

Another thing that Tuten does is he opens things up for Drones both in the passing game and running game. Drones has added a different dimension to the offense with his scrambling ability and is another thing that opposing teams have to plan for.

Going forward, there is no reason to go away from Tuten in both the running game and passing game as he is starting to come into his own and proven to be a strong Power 5 back.

One negative: Slow start and big plays hurt Virginia Tech

If there is one issue that has haunted Virginia Tech from Week 1, it’s that slow starts have burned the Hokies as well as allowing big plays on defense. Not a great recipe for success.

Playing on the road and spotting the No. 5 team in the country 22 points before you even pick up a first down on offense is less than ideal. The backbreaker came in the second half after Tuten’s kickoff return for a touchdown.

Two plays after cutting it to 22-17, Florida State answered right back when Trey Benson went 62 yards for a touchdown and a 29-17 lead. A field goal in the third quarter made it 32-17, then once again, it was Benson who took a handoff and raced 85 yards for a touchdown.

This wasn’t a one-game incident for Chris Marve’s defense as Pittsburgh hit for a pair of big plays. There is very little room for error with Tech’s defense and continuing to allow the big plays will only make things harder over the second half of the season.