This one might be the easiest or it could be the most difficult depending on the reception. This game registered a 13 on the 10-point frustrating scale. From the bright sunshine making photography difficult to the game itself, this one is probably a good one for the books just as a lesson in how to screw up a free lunch.
Before We Get Into the Details
You have to wonder what happened to the energy level of the NC State game. The Hokies were home, and the crowd was solid (and very orange I might add). It was Homecoming (a bit on the early
side but seeing that there are only 3 home games left, maybe understandable – maybe). Wake was 2-2 and struggling with a dinged-up quarterback and a battered running back. This was a layup for the team that beat the Wolfpack.
That team didn’t show up on Saturday. The team that laid down and played dead for ODU wasn’t on the field either, but this entire setup looked like the whole crew; coaches, players, and staff were just not focused on winning. Just listen first, before we go through the details and see if this makes any sense.
Setup: The NC State game was played and coached by a team with a chance to exist in the future. The coaching staff was not isolated, and if Philip Montgomery could glue together a decent enough finish to the season, there might be some hope for a 2026. There were plenty of players who didn’t hit the portal yet, and there were more than enough games to put a quality exclamation point on a collegiate career resume for both players and coaches, especially the players graduating.
The Theory: For NC State, the team had something to play for… hope… CVs… the future… a chance to be considered for a 2026 pickup. They had something to prove, and the coaches certainly had a possibility of getting a chance to coach in Blacksburg next season, including Montgomery. The team that took the field for the Wake Forest game had nothing.
The Change that Blew Everything: The administration announced the GM and Coaching search committee, and it was pretty plain that whatever existed in Merryman Hall for 2025 had a slim to none chance of showing up for Spring Practice 2026.
The Result (Conscious or Not): The game just didn’t matter to the team as a whole. It mattered for some individuals for potential pro consideration (John Love has a good chance of being picked up by an NFL team.) There are a few players with eligibility left that might be attractive if they hit the early portal or the portal. And there are still a few who might figure they could impress the next coaching staff. But what took to the field on Homecoming 2025 Saturday was unfocused, confused, sloppy, and careless.
Maybe the theme for the entrance should have been “Nothing Else Matters” instead of “Enter Sandman”.
Well, time for details…
What Worked?
Not much on offense. Terion Stewart was good when he was in, though handing it off to him on the first play from scrimmage was a bit of a lunk-headed call since Wake was expecting it. He averaged 6.9 yards a carry but only touched the ball 9 times. Unfortunately, Stewart got tweaked up and was pulled. Marcellous Hawkins was good with an average of 4.4 yards per carry but only carried it 11 times. Kyron Drones racked up yards, but that’s not what was supposed to happen.
Special Teams didn’t do too badly, but John Love did miss a field goal (would have done a little for momentum but not much) but accounted for the bulk of Hokie scores as the game got past the 2nd quarter.
The defense was actually decent enough to keep Wake from really driving the length of the field much. Unfortunately, too many times the length of the field was too short to defend effectively. The run defense was reasonably stout, holding Wake to 91 net yards for the game. Wake wasn’t running the ball poorly, but they also weren’t getting very far very fast, especially in the 4th quarter. The pass rush got occasional pressure on Wake’s QB, and his passing wasn’t the best but…
So, a Bit did Work, But Too Much Didn’t
The Tech pass defense didn’t manage to stop Wake enough times. Robby Ashford, obviously playing hurt, managed to get the ball out to his receivers who were A) downfield and B) sticky fingered enough to catch it when it was close. Ashford’s stats weren’t glowing, and Tech’s defense only managed to get him to turn the ball over once.
Tech’s passing offense was pretty much a nothingburger. It wasn’t for lack of trying on the receivers’ effort, either. Objectively Kyron Drones was just not particularly good for the game. He was missing downfield reads to wide open receivers. He was telegraphing throws from the line of scrimmage and failing to scan the entire field. He ran too much, and when he did pass, he was just not particularly accurate on most of his attempts. His longest pass completion was 24 yards and most of his completion yardage came from yards after catch. Was there the sound of a loud groan on the sideline after the nth bubble screen was tossed behind the line of scrimmage for a negative or less than successful gain?
The Tech play calling and offensive series decisions were leaden and unimaginative. Every time there was a breakaway for good yardage on the ground or the air, it was seemingly always followed up by either a dead dive or some lame screen pass from the dinky-dunk chapter of the old playbook. It’s like Montgomery and his offensive coaches just didn’t get the message that it was time to throw caution to the wind and go for broke on every down.
Dun Busted… Again…
The Hokie Red Zone offense is an absolute disaster. A team cannot win if it cannot get the ball across the goal line when there is ample opportunity to do it. The lack of imagination in play calling was matched by the almost resigned execution. Tech even tried a quarterback sneak from the 2 1/2 – 3-yard line when the box was so loaded that at toss sweep to a running back on either the field or boundary side would have walked into the end zone. There are no excuses for this. It’s just a program disaster and has been going on for several seasons across 4 coaches, interim or otherwise. From the box score drive count, the Hokie offense left a minimum of 12 points on the field due to ineffective play calling in the red zone. That was more than the difference in the game.
Penalties… Again, the Hokies were hit with critical penalties at crucial times. Bryan already went over that problem in his 5 Takeaways article, but at some point, some sort of mental discipline needs to take over. The 15-yard personal foul penalties and the unsportsmanlike conduct flag were emotional and disciplinary breakdowns that will almost always result in something really bad happening. A touchdown opportunity wasted, a drive stop reversed which ended up in a score. Whatever the case, this team has had years of emotional control breakdowns that need to be addressed, or things are likely to get much worse than they already are. Frustration at this point in the season and under these conditions is going to cause boil overs. The problem is, with no job after Thanksgiving the staff is probably not particularly motivated to kick enough tail to fix the issue… and the players might not even listen if they did.
The Theory has Yet to be Disproven
If you fire the coach and cut off the staff, and there is no particular obligation for anyone in the organization to continue to press hard to win, the inevitable outcome is set in stone.
The program made a serious mistake formally announcing the coaching search committee and seemingly slamming the door on a Georgia Tech like staff and team rescue. We’ll see if more players hit the portal before the weekend. It’s an ugly situation. There might have been valid reasons for dismissing Pry at the end of a disappointing 0-3 start, but there are probably as many or more reasons for why it might have been a rash decision. We’ll talk about that in an article next week after we face Georgia Tech which is a program that took the decision but then gave their program a chance to get back on its feet.
And that’s the final Dun Busted for this one. The program just keeps taking really rash disadvantageous decisions and cannot find the handle on the snowball gathering speed down the mountain.
The Pictures are Up on Facebook.
On a better note, the pictures are up on the Facebook page.
