Virginia Tech has plenty of reasons to be optimistic going forward

After four weeks, we finally got the version of the Virginia Tech football team that we thought we would get in Week 1 at Vanderbilt. The Hokies came out ready to play, they scored early, overcame a deficit, and led for nearly the entire second half. In the end, however, it wasn’t enough to leave South Florida with a win against No. 8 Miami, but it was still a very encouraging effort from Brent Pry’s team.

At 2-3 overall, the Hokies are left to pick up the pieces and fly cross-country to play at first-year ACC member Stanford on Saturday afternoon. This is going to be a tricky game for several reasons. Flying cross-country is one thing, but to do it after the way things ended against the Hurricanes is another.

There are two ways that Virginia Tech can go moving forward beginning this weekend at Stanford. They can sulk after the way things ended at Miami and let things spiral out of control, or they can use it as motivation over the final seven games. The Hokies team we saw for 60 minutes at Hard Rock Stadium last week was the team were expecting from the beginning.

Through the first four weeks, a lot of the mistakes from Virginia Tech were self-inflicted. There is a way around it. They had some mistakes against Miami, but instead of them snowballing, limited them. Was the fake field goal a mistake. If it works, Pry looks like a genius, but it didn’t, and instead of taking three valuable points, they came away with nothing. Who knows what three points there to go up 13 does to the rest of the game? The Hurricanes used the momentum from the stop and marched right down the field for a touchdown.

The Hokies, however, did what a veteran team with a lot of talent does, they responded with a touchdown. It’s what good teams do.

Kyron Drones made plays, and offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen got the ball in the hands of his playmakers more, hello Bhayshul Tuten and Jaylin Lane! Drones were forced out of the pocket but still made plays. He made an NFL-calibar throw on the run in the fourth quarter to Ayden Greene. Touchdown. Huge answer. That’s the type of football we expected from the beginning. 

The lasting image from Friday night is going to last until the ball is kicked off at Stanford on Saturday, but make no mistake about it. If the Hokies play the way they did over their last seven games, they’re winning a lot of them. After Stanford and a bye week, Pry’s team plays four of their last six games at home. A win Saturday against the Cardinal and Blacksburg will be counting the days until the Hokies are back at Lane Stadium against BC. There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic for the rest of the season.