Virginia Tech vs Georgia Tech Reaction

I don’t understand how a team can leave such a sweet taste in my mouth, while looking so terrible.  But, for the first time that I can remember, Virginia Tech didn’t choke in the clutch! And because of that, I have reason for optimism as we head into week 2.  While there are so many things to be concerned of moving forward, I am extremely excited about this team and ready to see us bounce back extremely well as the season progresses. 

In the spirit of irrational optimism, here are some of the things that impressed me about this Hokies team. 

(1) The entire defense looked incredible.  If you look back at the game, the first TD was scored on a short field.  While I would have loved to see them held a FG there, I give the D a pass here.  The FG drive was against a tired defense which had been on the field for over 10 minutes of the 3^rd quarter.  But they stiffened up when it mattered and kept them out of the end zone.  Finally, the last TD drive was somewhat of a concern and should have been stopped several times.  Even still, I’m impressed and look forward to how good this D can be.  They held the #2 rushing offense from last year to under 200 yards! That's incredibly done!

(2) Special teams looked promising.  I know there was a missed FG and a botched snap/catch/punt.  However, other than that, there were no mistakes.  I have full faith in Journell and think that Hughes might be the best punter around VT in a while.   Remember the 19 yd. punts last year and having a WR handle punting duties? Yeah… this is better. 

(3) Discipline.  There were very few penalties in the game, no turnovers, very few stupid mistakes, and several clutch performances (Fullers, Thomas, Journell).  This is so un-Hokie-like and a good sign moving forward.

(4) The running game looks promising.  I know we had less than 100 yds rushing, but we would have had 22 more yards without the botched punt.  I think Logan will put together a nice season running the ball and Michael Holmes / JC Coleman looked like they belonged in the backfield.  Coleman looked like a young David Wilson / change of pace back and Holmes looks like he can handle the bulk of the duties and run between the tackles. 

Go ahead, tell me I’m being way to optimistic, I don’t care!  This is our year!

Check out my reaction to my picks here.