So how many of you were ready to rip everyone on this football team at halftime? I know I was. I was ready to rant, rave and go off on anyone and everyone involved in what was surely going to be a debacle for the Hokies. Well, just like we saw the last two weeks, both sides of the ball came around in the second half, this time delivering the largest comeback by Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer.
Oh, there are still plenty of things that need to be addressed, but for today, we probably need to just chill out and enjoy the fact that we're 2-0 in conference with four of our final six ACC games coming at home.
Make no mistake, nothing will come easily for this team this year.
The Positives
- Tyrod Taylor leading Tech into the end zone when down one late in the fourth quarter. After an abysmal first half, Tyrod improved his decision making and helped the Hokies score 34 second-half points.
- Darren Evans, who finally ran like he did in
20092008 and averaged over 10 yards per carry while pounding the NC State defense. Evans led the way offensively in the second half along with Tyrod. - Jayron Hosley. Not much more you can say about three interceptions. He made one mistake in the first half, but was great the rest of the game, especially in man coverage.
- Antoine Hopkins, who was a force in the middle when he needed to be and finished with two tackles for loss.
- Antone Exum played well in man coverage. He was called for a couple of pass interference calls, but both of them were questionable.
- Special teams, which finally got its act together with the exception of a missed extra point. David Wilson returned a kickoff for touchdown, Brian Saunders had two punts downed inside the 20 and Justin Myer was able to get the ball deep consistently on kickoffs.
The Negatives
- We came out and played terribly on both sides of the ball in the first half. We didn't match NC State's intensity, which is on the coaching staff. It's up to the staff to have the team ready to play from the get-go and that didn't happen. Again.
- Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, who was poor in pass coverage again when he was out there. We didn't see much of JGW in the second half.
- The offensive line, especially in the first half.
- The receivers, who struggled to get open and ran some lazy routes out there. The best example was on Nate Irving's sack of Tyrod late in the second quarter. Tyrod had plenty of time and Danny Coale was coming across NC State's zone coverage when he pulled up and eventually came to a stop when Tyrod wanted him to continue his route to the vacated sideline.
- Our clock management, which was atrocious when we were ahead by one in the fourth quarter. Trying to run out the clock, we tried to go deep on second down, when deep passes weren't working the entire game. I just don't get it.
- Tyrod's accuracy. He missed high a lot throughout the game and it eventually cost him with the interception that was high and off Andre Smith's hands.