For a while on Saturday night, it looked like the Virginia Tech Hokies were going to avenge last season’s 34-27 overtime loss to Vanderbilt. Quarterback Kyron Drones was terrific on the first drive, leading to an early field goal. That momentum continued throughout the first half as the Hokies went into the break with a 20-10 lead.
That’s where the fun ended. Vandy would score 34 unanswered points in the second half to blow the doors off the Hokies and send another sold-out Lane Stadium crowd home
early in a 44-20 Commodores’ victory.
Vanderbilt received the second-half kickoff and quarterback Diego Pavia led the Commodores on an 11-play, 75-yard scoring drive that took up almost eight minutes of the clock. When the Hokies got the ball back, they quickly went three and out. Pavia again led Vandy on a touchdown drive, and the game was essentially over despite it being only 23-20.
The Hokies took possession at the end of the third quarter, and Drones saw his first-down pass batted down. Virginia Tech committed a false start on the next play, and Drones was sacked. And just like that, the ball went back to Vanderbilt.
How did Vandy respond? With another touchdown, of course.
The Hokies did nothing offensively in the second half, as Drones finished the game completing 17 of 29 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown. He carried the ball 12 times for 37 yards and a touchdown. However, he had close to 70 yards rushing early in the fourth quarter and kept going backwards.
For the game, Vanderbilt finished with 492 yards of total offense and averaged 7.5 yards per rushing attempt. Pavia completed 12 of 18 passes for 193 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 61 yards. Meanwhile, the Hokies managed only 250 total yards of offense, with much of it coming before halftime.
Virginia Tech falls to 0-2 on the season. Brent Pry has the hottest seat in college football. He shouldn’t be the only one.
We’ll have more on this game, for better or worse.
