Coming off a bye, the Virginia Tech football team was looking for a second straight road win after beating Clemson two weeks ago, 20-16, in South Carolina. The Hokies had a primetime showdown at SMU on Friday night in Dallas in a matchup between a pair of two-loss ACC schools.
The winner would keep their slim hopes alive to get to Charlotte next month for one of the two spots in the ACC Championship Game. As mentioned above, the Hokies were coming off a bye, while SMU was coming off a 30-27 loss at Syracuse last Saturday. Something had to give, and unfortunately for the Hokies, it was their performance that gave in and gave way too much.
James Franklin assigns blame for Virginia Tech's blowout loss at SMU
This was another big game for Franklin in his first season in Blacksburg. SMU won the coin toss, took the ball, and marched down the field on eight plays for 75 yards in just 2:38 for an early 7-0 lead. They piled on after that and rolled to a 51-28 beatdown of Virginia Tech. You name it, the Hokies were beaten, and beaten badly. Whether it was offense, defense, special teams, or coaching, the Mustangs were more prepared and better. Who did Franklin point the finger at for the loss? At himself, of course.
"Obviously, we did not play well at all. We did not play up to the standard. Ultimately, I'm responsible for that," said Franklin, per Andy Bitter of Tech Sideline.
No, James, you guys didn't play well. In fact, Virginia Tech looked unprepared, not ready, and just flat from the opening kickoff. Playing from behind on the first possession didn't help either, as chasing the score on the road against a team coming off an embarrassing loss is not a recipe for success for any team.
The loss dropped the Hokies to 6-3 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. They have three regular-season games remaining: at home against Stanford, at Miami, and at home against Virginia. Eight wins are still in play for Virginia Tech this season. However, if SMU is racking up 569 yards of total offense, what will Miami do when Tech visits South Florida in a couple of weeks?
Virginia Tech had an opportunity to make a statement in primetime on a Friday night; instead, they failed to come close to that and now had to go back to the drawing board in all areas before hosting the Cardinal next Saturday night at Lane Stadium. SMU is good, and after Friday night, they appear to be way ahead of the Hokies, and the gap isn't close.
Sure, it's a disappointing result, but how many people had the Hokies at 6-3 right now? It's hard to believe, watching that performance, that they are a couple of missed field goals away from potentially being 8-0 entering the game. Imagine if they were 8-0 entering the game and lost by as badly as they did? They would be getting killed, more than they already are.
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