Virginia Tech Football: This is a alarming assessment for Brent Pry

Saturday’s ACC game at Lane Stadium between Virginia Tech and Wake Forest is a big one for both teams. Hokies coach Brent Pry and Demon Deacons coach Dave Clawson have an unusual history with Clawson coaching Pry as a defensive back at the University of Buffalo during his playing days.

Now, the two will reunite on the football field, this time as both are leading Power 5 conference programs. This is a rather big game for both teams in terms of the bigger picture at the end of the season and becoming Bowl-eligible. Wake Forest enters the game 3-2 and Virginia Tech 2-4 after losing last weekend at Florida State. The path to an extra game following the regular season seems easier for the Demon Deacons, but the Hokies’ schedule is somewhat doable to get to 6-6.

Sports Illustrated Jackson Caudell, who writes for All Yellow Jacket, picked all of the ACC games this week and his pick for this game opened some eyebrows.

Caudell’s reasoning for his pick is not a good sign for Brent Pry

Caudell picks Wake Forest to win a close, 31-28, but his reasoning should be a concern for Virginia Tech fans. He picked the Demon Deacons because he “trusts Dave Clawson as a head coach more than Brent Pry.’’ Ouch, but in reality, he’s not wrong in his reasoning.

Pry’s team a lot of times looks not prepared at the start of games and digs themselves into a deficit like last weekend against the Seminoles. I’m not saying that Tech would have won the game with a better start, let’s not fool ourselves, however, consistently digging yourself in deficits early in the game is a big reason why the Hokies have struggled under the former Penn State defensive coordinator.

Last weekend in Tallahassee, Pry showed some confidence in his offense in the second quarter by going on three fourth downs on the drive, which led to a Bhayshul Tuten touchdown run. Close games for the most part have not gone Pry’s way in Blacksburg and picking a game between two teams that are similar in talent because of trusting one coach over the other is not a good look for Virginia Tech’s head coach. Until he proves otherwise, that’s going to be a talking point in close games, can Pry get it done when needed?