Virginia Tech 38, Miami 35: Postgame Stream of Consciousness

Bullet points because that's all I'm capable of right now.

• Well, that happened.
• Miami's coaches made great adjustments at the half and started gashing an under-manned and under-sized Virginia Tech offensive line, but in the end Logan Thomas had an impeccable game and made the big play at the end that gave them the win.
• Thomas, after his worst game, had his best game. He was outstanding both passing and running. He threw for more touchdowns than he had incompletions and did just about everything right. It was a special, special performance that Hokie fans won't soon forget.
• But here's the thing about Thomas. It was wrong for people to to call for his head after the Clemson game and it's wrong for people to crown him after this game. He's a first-year starter. He's got a lot of tools, but he's going to have good games and bad games. We can't expect him to do what he did tonight consistently, but as long as he progresses every weeks and makes plays when he needs to, the Hokies' offense is going to be fine.

• The defense, however, could be in trouble. We faced a power rushing attack and sure enough, it tore us apart. We also saw James Gayle go down with injury and in addition to giving up chunks of rushing yards, also had trouble getting to the quarterback. 
• The good news is we won't face a rushing attack like the one we saw tonight until November, which will give our very young, very inexperienced line the chance to figure some things out. Hopefully Gayle's injury isn't serious, but there were some warning signs tonight that the Hokies have some of the same problems on defense they had last year. It's definitely a concern.
• Positives we can take away from the defense was the play of Alonzo Tweedy, Bruce Taylor, Derrick Hopkins and Kyle Fuller. All were great and made big contributions to the win.
• On J.R. Collins' penalty: Needs to be more aware of the situation and know that Harris was trying to bait him into doing something stupid, which he did. But if you're going to flag Collins for tossing the ball, you've got to flag Harris for woofing and make the penalties offset. Horrible call, but a horrible move by Collins, too.
• A thrilling win for the Hokies. At the end of the day that's all the matters. For the future, nothing is terrible and nothing is perfect. For the present, all that matters is that the Hokies are still alive in the Coastal. Winning it won't be easy and tomorrow may bring some very bad injury news, but at least we'll still be in the hunt tomorrow.