Virginia Tech Football: Brent Pry Quote Shows Lack of Adjustments Against Clemson Was Baffling

As the Virginia Tech football team was trying to run out the clock against Georgia Tech on Oct. 26, running back Bhayshul Tuten was injured with what appeared to be an ankle injury. He missed the game a week later at Syracuse but dressed for last Saturday’s game against Clemson. 

Virginia Tech ended up losing to the Tigers, 24-14, and it wasn’t that close if we’re being honest. The Hokies' running game was nonexistent as it rushed for a total of 40 yards in the game, with 28 coming from backup quarterback Collin Schlee in the fourth quarter. Kyron Drones, who was also is playing injured, had 12 on 11 carries and Tuten had zero net yards on four carries. That was against a defense that was missing some key players and has struggled against this run this season. That makes us ask the question, where was Jeremiah Coney?

Virginia Tech gameplan vs. Clemson was baffling

The Hokies were shorthanded against the Tigers when it comes to running backs with Tuten injured, Malachi Thomas was out injured as well and P.J. Prioleau injured back in October at Stanford. Very few teams win without establishing a running game of some kind and Virginia Tech didn’t do that against Clemson, which begs the question, where was Jeremiah Coney?

One week earlier at Syracuse, the freshman from Richmond had nine carries for 96 yards. Then one week later, with an ailing Tuten and no Thomas, offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen and Pry continued to give Tuten reps.

"We wanted to give Bhayhsul every opportunity to see how he was,'' said Pry. "We have trust in Coney. He has a little bit of game experience, he's got a lot of true carries in practice against the first and second defense. He's a guy we've got to know more about as he's been in the program.''

I get going with a game plan for every game, but this is where adjustments come in and need to be made. If Pry and the staff had trust in Coney and after his performance against the Orange, it would have been a no-brainer to give him an opportunity against Clemson. I get wanting to give Tuten an opportunity, but at some point, you need to realize it’s not working and go to something that has.

It didn’t happen and the result was another frustrating loss with very few adjustments made. I’m not saying that playing Coney would have had a different outcome, but there was nothing to lose in working him in the game.