Virginia Tech made the classic mistake of not firing its coach last season, which led the folks in charge to have to fire him three games into this season. Brent Pry couldn’t get over the hump during his time
in Blacksburg, and his team looked overmatched in each game to start the season. Phillip Montgomery has stepped in to finish the season, and the results have been mostly positive. Montgomery is 3-2, and the Hokies have been competitive in each game since he took over.
As with all teams, the offense starts and stops at the quarterback position. Few teams are impacted by this fact as Tech is. Kyron Drones has been the biggest factor in this team’s offensive performance since he stepped on campus a few years ago. Drones has been the focal point of the passing game and the running game for three years now, and you can typically bank on a win or loss based on his performance.
Drones has been flat-out volatile this year as a runner and a passer, but he is coming off his best game of the year against Cal. Drones only completed half of his passes, but he threw for 3 touchdowns and ran for 2 scores to go along with 137 rushing yards. The Tech offense uses a lot of misdirection, with Drones being tasked with making reads on RPO plays and option runs. He struggles mightily to make the correct decision consistently. If he’s on his game, he can take it over, and that usually starts with his legs. If he gets going on the ground, it opens things up for him to use his big-time arm down the field.
The Hokies have two backs who are averaging over six yards per carry, and they combine for over 120 yards per game on the ground. Marcellous Hawkins is the starter in the backfield at 5-11/219 while Terion Stewart backs him up at 5-9/222. This is one of the biggest backfields in the country when you add in Drones at 6-2/235. They figured out that running the ball is the identity of their offense last in the game last week against Cal, when they scored on a 9-play drive with nothing but running plays.
The Hokies tend to look to stay balanced even with Drones’ struggles as a passer. Couple that with his questionable decisions as a passer, and I think that the success on the ground against Cal will lead to an adjustment. I expect the Cards to get a heavy dose of this running game, with Hawkins being a potential problem for the Cards. He runs hard, but he also has good speed in space. UofL has to continue its strong play against the run this weekend.
Tech doesn’t have a great group of receivers, but they are experienced players. Ayden Greene is the top option on the outside, with Donovan Greene manning the other outside receiver spot. Throw in Takye Heath in the slot, and you get a solid group of pass catchers who don’t exactly give you a lot of concern. However, these guys are plenty capable of making the common plays that the Hokies will need if the run game gets going. They all have enough speed to beat single coverage, and Heath is specifically a guy who can take a short pass and turn it into a big gain with his speed.
The issues on offense may lie at the feet of Drones, but the offensive line is right behind him in line. The Hokies rank 128th in pass blocking and 124th in run blocking per PFF. Some of the pass blocking issues come from Drones’ decision making, but the run blocking shows up when you watch the Tech running backs meeting contact early on every carry. There are also times when Drones is getting pressured directly after the snap. If there is an area where the Cards have a major advantage, it’s up front in this matchup.
