Virginia Tech Football: Rapid reaction to Hokies win over Wake Forest

After a slow start by both Virginia Tech and Wake Forest Saturday afternoon offensively, things picked up in the second quarter, despite the six reviews by the ACC officiating crew in the opening 30 minutes.

Both teams struggled in the opening 15 minutes moving the ball, but in the second quarter, the Hokies had much more success offensively, they took advantage of a turnover and yes, they continue to give up big scoring plays to their opponents. Sigh.

In the end however, a strong second half propelled the Hokies to a dominating 30-13 over Wake Forest. Here is some rapid reaction after the Hokies improved to 2-1 in ACC play.

Virginia Tech and Wake Forest have second-quarter offensive explosion

Bhayshul Tuten opened the scoring on a 3-yard touchdown run, that was reviewed after he was ruled short of the goal line, but while laying on top of a defender, he extended the ball over the line, and the call was reversed. The drive was set up by a Virginia Tech fumble recovery at the 49-yard line. Tech settled for a John Love 37-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead on their next possession, but the Hokies’ inability to not allow the big plays hurt them.

Wake Firest’s Demond Clairborne returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. What is amazing is the Hokies inability to not allow big plays to their opponents this season and it seems to come at bad times. Taking a 10-0 lead on the visiting Demon Deacons, who struggled to move the ball in the first half and went to their backup quarterback, giving them life was the last thing Brent Pry’s team wanted to do.

To Virginia Tech’s credit, they answered on their first play from scrimmage when quarterback Kyron Drones connected with Jaylin Lane for a 75-yard touchdown pass, but Wake Forest marched down the field before halftime, thanks to a questionable face mask penalty on the Hokies, for a field goal.

Virginia Tech overcame a mistake in the second half to secure the win

The Hokies got a stop to begin the second half, then overcame a Tuten fumble in the third quarter to pull away for the victory. If there was one negative, Virginia Tech could not score touchdowns in the red zone, until Lane’s fourth-quarter tunnel screen put the game away. They got two Love field goals in the second half, but because of how well the defense played, it will get overlooked in the big picture. Not to be overlooked was the third-quarter fake punt that was run to perfection.

This was another strong effort from the Hokies’ defense against a team that had been struggling on offense this season. They held the Demon Deacons to two field goals, with their only touchdown being in the second quarter on Clairborne’s kickoff return. They forced two fumbles and turned them both into points.

In the overall picture, winning this game is big for a team heading into the bye week at 3-4 and it gives them life in terms of becoming Bowl-eligible. Yes, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s more doable now than it was two weeks ago.