3 discouraging things we learned in September about Virginia Tech football

As the calendar turns to October, the Virginia Tech football team is hoping a new month brings more success. After entering the season with a lot of hype, the Hokies have been a disappointment, to say the least.

They began the season with a disappointing overtime loss at Vanderbilt but had wins over Marshall and Old Dominion before suffering a three-point loss at home to Rutgers. If that wasn’t bad enough, then came last Friday night. 

Trailing Miami, 38-34, with three seconds left, quarterback Kyron Drones lofted a Hail Mary to the end zone where the referees ruled that Da’Quan Felton came down with a catch for a game-winning touchdown. After it went to replay review, the call was overturned and the Hokies lost by four points. This will be an ending that has been talked about for a long time.

As we begin October, it’s going to be a light month in terms of games for Virginia Tech with just three games and a bye built in. As we look ahead to Stanford this Saturday on the road, here are three things we learned about the Hokies in September.

Virginia Tech slow starts are concerning

What makes the 2-3 start frustrating is that despite the Hokies getting off to slow starts and coming up short on some rallies. Slow starts have been the norm except for the first couple of drives against ODU and Miami.

There are several factors as to why there have been slow starts, but it all comes down to being prepared and ready to go and they have shown they weren’t. Whether it’s a coaching situation or a player's situation, that simply can’t happen. There is just too much talent on the roster to be 2-3 because of the way they start games. There are other factors than the slow starts, but the slow starts need to be fixed. If they play like they did against Miami over their final six games, they will be bowl-eligible. The Miami game proved that this team can be an ACC contender, it’s just a matter of going out and doing it.

Special teams are not so special for Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech has always prided itself on special teams and through five games, they haven’t been as good as they would like. Mistakes in each game have popped up and they played a big role in losses to Vanderbilt and Rutgers. They survived them against Marshall and ODU, but again, a repeated mistake happened against the Hurricanes, but it didn’t cost them.

For the second time this year, Virginia Tech had two players on the field wearing the same number on a John Love field goal attempt. He connected on the kick from 57 yards, but the referees missed two No. 17s on the field. They got away with it, but that simply can’t happen.

Virginia Tech is a few plays away from being 5-0

You might be thinking that this is crazy, but it’s not. They are seriously a few plays away from being 5-0. All three losses were winnable games. All of them. Whether it's the slow starts, play calling, clock management, mistakes, or coaching decisions, the frustrating part for Virginia Tech fans is they are that close to being 5-0. 

The Hokies are hoping that the calendar turning to October will help with games against Stanford, Boston College, and Georgia Tech, the latter two at home. As we saw at Miami, they can be the team we thought they were going to be at the beginning of the season and there is still time to salvage this season, beginning with a win at Stanford this upcoming weekend.