The Basics
Team: Virginia Tech Hokies
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia
Enrollment: 30,504
Head Coach: Phillip Montgomery (45-53)
Record: 2-3
Wins: Wofford, NC State
Losses: South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Old Dominion
Transfer
portal rank: 44 (1 4-star, 28 3-stars)
Two weeks ago, I was pretty confident in Wake’s chances to steal a road game in Blacksburg—now, not as much. The Hokies fired head coach Brent Pry after getting destroyed by Old Dominion and falling 0-3 to start the season, and since then, Virginia Tech has looked like a completely different team. In the 2 games after making a coaching change, the Hokies beat Wofford 38-6 and then went on the road and beat NC State 23-21. Despite losing a few guys in the portal after the coaching change, it seems like interim head coach Phillip Montgomery has the team buying in and believing that they can turn the season around.
Offense
Points per game: 23.6 (96)
Yards per game: 376.8 (79)
Run/pass split: 50/50
Rush yards per game: 155.8 (70)
Pass yards per game: 221.0 (77)
3rd down conversions: 46.5% (36)
Sacks allowed per game: 2.4 (100)
Turnovers per game: 1.2 (63)
Offensively, it doesn’t seem like too much changed in the philosophy when Pry was fired. Of course, the Hokies have only played 1 FBS team since the coaching change, but against NC State, VT was pretty close to their average in passing attempts and rushing attempts while maintaining a balanced run-pass ratio. The biggest difference in the offense post-Pry is that the Hokies have been much better running the ball. In the first 3 games of the season, VT ran the ball 102 times for 396 yards (3.8 ypc, 132 ypg)—in their last 2 games, the Hokies have run the ball 68 times for 383 yards (5.6 ypc, 191.5 ypg). You might be thinking that improvement is because of the Wofford game, but Tech actually had their best rushing game of the season against the Wolfpack, running for 229 yards and 7.4 yards per carry.
The main guy to watch out for in the Hokie rushing attack is Bowling Green transfer Terion Stewart. At 5-9, 220 lbs, Stewart is a bowling ball that ran for nearly 2,400 yards for the Falcons before transferring to Virginia Tech. He won’t win any footraces, but tackling him has proven to be incredibly difficult for defenses this season, as he is currently averaging 9.2 yards per carry.
QB Kyron Drones is a capable runner and is leading the Hokies in rushing attempts this season, but he is only averaging 2.5 yards per attempt. He is mostly a threat around the goal line and has accounted for 4 of VT’s 5 rushing touchdowns this season.
In the passing game, Drones has completed 62% of his passes for 1,105 yards, 8 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions. Drones sort of took a step backwards last year after he threw for 2000+ yards with 17 touchdowns and 3 interceptions to go alongside 800+ rushing yards in his first season at VT in 2023–it seems like he is back on track this season, as he is on pace to throw for over 2,500 yards and 19 touchdowns. The Hokies use a lot of quick hitters and wide receiver screens to get their playmakers the ball in space, but they don’t really have a “go-to” receiver that Wake will have to gameplan around. Their deep threat is a guy Wake fans should know well: graduate transfer Donavon Greene. Through 5 games this season, Greene has caught 12 passes for 222 yards and leads the Hokies with 2 touchdown receptions. I would prefer he didn’t have a big game against the Deacs, but it’s great to see Greene healthy and doing well. With 12 sacks allowed, Drones is one of the most sacked QB’s in the NCAA this season (116th), so that is something Wake might be able to take advantage of on Saturday.
Defense
Points allowed per game: 28.0 (102)
Yards allowed per game: 356.8 (68)
Rush yards allowed per game: 137.8 (65)
Pass yards allowed per game: 219.0 (78)
3rd down defense: 42.1% (98)
Sacks per game: 2.6 (35)
Turnovers Forced per game: 0.8 (110)
The defense is where VT has really stepped up since the coaching change. In the first 3 games of the season, the Hokies were allowing over 37 points and 210 rushing yards per game. In the 2 games since, Tech has allowed just 13.5 points per game and 58 total rushing yards. Obviously, Wofford being one of those games probably skews the statistics (the Terriers ran for a whole -1 yard), but the Hokies still held NC State to just 21 points and 59 yards rushing on 32 carries (1.8 ypc) in Raleigh. That is a massive difference compared to the 45 points and 250 rushing yards VT gave up to Old Dominion just a couple of weeks prior. The Hokies lost a few veterans in the portal after the coaching changes, and that has seemingly allowed younger guys like true freshman LB Noah Chambers to get more playing time—in his first game of the season, Chambers had 6 tackles and a sack against NC State. This could be the case of addition by subtraction on the VT defense.
The pass defense for VT hasn’t changed as much. The Hokies are allowing opponents to complete 69% of their passes (127th out of 136) this season for 219 yards per game. Against the Wolfpack, the Hokies allowed CJ Bailey to complete 76% of his passes for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns. Where the Hokies have improved is their pass rush–after recording just 4 sacks in the first 3 games of the season, the Hokies have 9 sacks in the past 2 games, including 5 against NC State last week. The Wolfpack had only been sacked 4 times all season, so to get to CJ Bailey 5 times in 1 game is pretty impressive. Wake Forest’s offensive line has been one of the best in the nation in pass protection so far this season, so this should be an interesting matchup.
Ultimately, I think this is going to be a tough matchup for the Deacs. After an impressive win on the road against NC State, you have to know that Lane Stadium is going to be packed and rocking on Saturday despite VT’s terrible start to the season–that is a rowdy environment to have to face for Wake’s first road game of the season. The Hokies have seemingly discovered how to stop the run over the past 2 weeks, and Wake has to be able to run the ball with Demond Claiborne to have any success on offense. If the Hokies continue their recent trend of holding their opponent to under 100 yards on the ground, Wake is going to struggle to score points. Tech’s weakness on defense seems to be through the air, and despite Wake’s ability to hit a few deep balls every now and then, I don’t know if the Deacs are consistent enough passing the ball to be able to take advantage of that over the course of the game. At 2-2, this is still a great chance for Wake to steal a game on the road and get halfway to bowl eligibility. We’ll see if they can pull it off.
