Virginia Tech Football: CBS mid-season grade for the Hokies is spot on

Halfway through the 2023 season, the Virginia Tech football team sits at 2-4 overall and 1-1 in the ACC. It has not been smooth sailing in the second year of Brent Pry and there have been a lot of questionable decisions.

Recently, CBS Sports graded all ACC football teams at the halfway mark, and the grade for Virginia Tech could be considered spot-on.

CBS Sports grade for the Virginia Tech football team is spot-on

Chip Patterson of CBS Sports graded all 14 ACC football teams at the halfway mark of the season and the Hokies got a C-. If you ask me, it’s spot-on.

He is right, it was a rocky start to the season for Pry and his team and injuries have played a big part in their record, but there are other factors as well. First, the offense has struggled to get the running game going, finally investing in Bhayshul Tuten and the transfer has shown flashes of being good.

Grant Wells was named the starter at the beginning of the season and after getting injured and turning things over to another transfer, Kyron Drones, the former Baylor signal-caller has brought a different skill-set to the position. He has settled in and it makes you wonder if Pry announced him as the starter at the beginning of the season, would the record be different? Instead of getting his first two games under his belt at home against Old Dominion and Purdue, his first two starts were on the road at Rutgers and Marshall, two winnable games. Being in the bottom half of a lot of offensive stats is not helping either.

Defensively, the Hokies have struggled allowing just way too many big plays. Last week against Florida State after closing the deficit to 22-17, Virginia Tech allowed two huge plays in the Seminoles’ running game allowing the best team in the conference to pull away. They also allowed big plays to Rutgers and Marshall on the road and even did it against Pittsburgh two weeks ago in a 38-21 victory at home. It seems like each week it’s not a matter of if, but when they’re going to allow one.

If there’s one area that the Hokies have been good in, it’s been with their special teams. Tuten had a 99-yard kickoff return to begin the second half against Florida State, while punter Peter Moore has been a field position changer with his punts.

With everything that has happened this season, a C- is spot-on. Things could be better and probably should be better than 2-4 at the halfway point. They have an opportunity against Wake Forest on Saturday to enter the bye week with some momentum with a win over the Demon Deacons.