BLACKSBURG, VA – The Virginia Tech Hokies mopped the table with the Duke Blue Devils in Saturday’s game at Lane Stadium, but it was not without flaw that they did so. The offense once again took the better part of the first half of the game to get under way and the defense was sloppy early committing way too many penalties. The 36-0 blanking of the Blue Devils was to be expected, but it was the subtleties that may cause one to be a little concerned, especially with more formidable opponents on the horizon. (I know at least one “mad person” who might be concerned.)
The Blue Devils are not what would consider a powerhouse football team. However, their rush defense continues to hold offensive coaches scratching their head. The Hokies were held to a mere 105 yards on the ground.
The Hokies opened up with what most us envisioned them opening with: the deep ball. After the Duke opening kickoff went out of bounds, quarterback Sean Glennon opened the first drive of the game with a deep pass to David Clowney. (I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is more Clowney.) The sixty-yard strike put the Hokies within five yards of drawing first blood. It took Ore three tries, but he finally broke the plane and gave the Hokies six points. “They drew first blood, not me.” Place kicker Brandon Pace had the extra point blocked.
The Hokies would hold off the Blue Devils on there first possession but not without some trouble. Duke’s Justin Boyle was able to rush for fifteen and five yards. The Hokie crowd was in this game from the beginning and inexperienced, freshman quarterback Thaddeus Lewis was forced to call time out due to the noise. (Well done Hokie fans.) The Hokies allowed Duke’s drive to continue with sloppy play. A 15 yard roughing the passer put the Blue Devils in Tech territory. The defense pulled it together and Duke turned on their backup warning. A sack by Brenden Hill/Vince Hall and one by Brandon Flowers, push the Devils back to their own 31. (Anyone notice that we have a lot of Br(e/a)nd(e/o)n’s on the team?) Another penalty on the kick return put the Hokies on their own 26.
On the ensuing drive, Ore had some success running the ball. Conversely, Glennon stopped having success with the pass. Glennon would miss his next six passes, including an interception on this drive. He began this game with a good pass, but started to rush passes and was somewhat inaccurate with these passes. Even the opening bomb was thrown short and Clowney was forced to make the adjustment.
The Hokie defense completely shutdown the Duke offense for the rest of the game. There were another couple of penalties against the defense, including another roughing the passer, which will hurt this team if it continued. On that particular roughing the passer play, Aaron Rouse, team leader, was the culprit. To boot, the hit sent Lewis to the locker room and Marcus Jones would take over for the Blue Devils. This play was wrong all around and I hope that Rouse knows it.
Notably, the play of the game, the so-called Game Day highlight, would have to be Eddie Royal’s 58-yard punt return for Tech’s second touchdown. Royal has a tendency to travel too far east to west on the return. Usually, this results in very little forward progress. In most cases, he would have accumulated more yards going north to south. As I most often do, I began yelling “North-South, Eddie! North-South!” as the ball is in the air and Royal stood ready to catch the ball. And of course, Eddie ignored my instruction. (He’s hated me since I went out with his sister. I didn’t do anything, I swear man.) Well, Eddie through creative use of the blocks ran the 56-yards into the end zone. Actually, I think he ran close to 156 yards because he went from the west side of the field to the east and back to the west before he dove into the end zone.
Glennon’s problems through the air continued until he hit Josh Hyman for 17-yards in the second quarter. The Hokies moved down field to the Duke 25-yard line. Pace kicked a field goal and the Hokies pulled away 16-0.The next two drives the Hokies moved the ball extremely well with a balanced attack through the air and on the ground. The first drive resulted in a touchdown (23-0) and if not for poor time management the second could have resulted in points but did not as the half came to a close.
The Hokies and Blue Devils exchanged a few drives inside Blue Devil territory to start the second half. Duke, pinned in their own end zone, began using a spread scheme on their punt formations to make the Hokies commit bodies to the outside. The Hokies’ special teams’ play, a.k.a. Beamerball, is so respected, that staffs across the country have come up with schemes to combat blocked kicks. The first I recall such schemes being affective were those run by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Finally, Glennon connected with Josh Morgan for a 21-yard touchdown pass to put the Hokies up 30-0 with the extra point.
As the fourth quarter opened, the Hokies were driving down field to what would be the fifth Hokie touchdown. With the game well in hand, the coaches gave us more looks at Elan Lewis and amazingly fast Kenny Lewis, Jr. at the running back position. Lewis Jr. rushed for -2 yards on first play of his collegiate career, but would eventually bounce back to score his first touchdown of said career. You may recall that Lewis Jr. joins the team after spending time with the practice squad. He comes in to replace George Bell on the roster, as Bell’s career has been sadly cut short due to various injuries to his knees.
Again, Brandon Pace would have a PAT blocked and the score was 36-0.
The last drive by the Blue Devils appeared to threaten the shutout. Starting at his own twenty, Marcus Jones was able to lead his team to a first down on the Tech nineteen with a little over two minutes to go. But soon the defense, playing mostly second and third string players, tightened up and pushed the Blue Devils back and finally intercepted a 3rd and 22 pass.
The Hokies suited up backup quarterback Ike Whitaker to finish out the last of the game. Whitaker passed for a five yard completion and Lewis and Lewis (no relation) ran the ball and the clock out.
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