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Virginia Tech fell at Vanderbilt 34-27 on Saturday afternoon.
It’s a sour start to the 3rd season of the Brent Pry era — a campaign that many in Blacksburg hoped would re-establish the program amongst the ACC’s best. Instead, Virginia Tech opens the season with a loss at Vanderbilt as 13.5-point favorites.
Vanderbilt won in overtime thanks to a rushing touchdown from Diego Pavia. Pavia had a great day overall, as he threw for 2 touchdowns and rushed for over 100 yards and a game-winning score on the ground.
Here are 3 takeaways from the thriller in Nashville:
Virginia Tech’s slow start
For awhile, it looked like Vanderbilt was going to run away with this game. The Commodores jumped out to an early 17-0 lead and played keep-away from the Hokies for most of the first half. Virginia Tech had just 3 full drives in the first 2 quarters — they ended with an interception, a punt and a field goal.
Virginia Tech managed just 86 yards in the first half. The root of VT’s woes were mostly in the running game, as the Hokies managed just 19 rushing yards on 13 first-half carries.
On the other side, Vanderbilt was excellent before the break. It scored 17 points on its first 3 possessions of the game while taking nearly 18 minutes off the clock.
Kyron Drones’ big 2nd half
Virginia Tech — and Kyron Drones specifically — were much better coming out of the break. Virginia Tech scored points on 4 of its first 5 drives to start the 2nd half, which got the Hokies back in the game. Drones completed 18-of-22 passes for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns after halftime.
Receiver Ali Jennings made the big play, scoring on a 62-yard reception to give Virginia Tech a 27-20 lead over the Commodores.
Drones suffered what appeared to be a non-contact injury late in the game and was not on the field for Virginia Tech in overtime.
VT’s Running game, defense struggled
Ultimately, Virginia Tech’s performance wasn’t enough. This failure ultimately rests on a couple of key units.
Offensively, Virginia Tech’s running game was completely ineffective. The Hokies rushed for just 62 yards on 26 carries — a total of 2.4 yards per attempt. It’s the first time a power-conference team has failed to rush for at least 4 yards per carry against Vanderbilt since Missouri in 2022.
Defensively, the Hokies weren’t good enough early on in the game and then fell apart in the 4th quarter. After taking a 27-20 lead, Virginia Tech allowed Vanderbilt to quickly tie the game. After forcing a missed field goal at the end of regulation, Vanderbilt scored relatively easy in the first overtime period — which proved to be enough to earn the win.
These are issues Virginia Tech will need to fix quickly if it wants to live up to lofty preseason expectations.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.