Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Furman Paladins: a View from the Sideline Part 1

It’s been one of those weeks, with lots of things going on, and a bye week scheduled so we’re going to split this up into a couple of picture essays.

By John Schneider Sep 18, 2019, 12:00pm EDT

So, Saturday was just weird. Okay? It was just a plain old weird day. Everyone should have known that something was screwed up because at the end of the National Anthem there was no promised flyover (overcast sky), and the Skipper misfired... leaving the captain of the gun crew yanking uselessly on the lanyard. A misfire of a field piece -even a replica firing blanks- is serious and requires some amount of care in clearing.

I think that’s when I got the first sinking feeling that something wasn’t right with the entire day. Later, nature would play a nasty trick on everyone, again. The heavily overcast and slightly cool day did the Blacksburg Weather Flipparoo... The clouds cleared, and by the middle of the 2nd quarter we were roasting at temps far exceeding the predictions.

There just seemed to be some sort of hex on everything, including the uniforms which featured the chrome orange helmets and all maroon pants and jerseys. It was mentioned that it was an odd projection and sort of shrug at the spirit of the Orange Effect Day. White out being traditional for Military Appreciation, and the first “effect” game of the season.

Later in the game, there was the conspicuous absence of the 3rd quarter fan rally, again. Since they dumped the Hokie Poky break and went to the Rah Rah break, we thought that was going to hang for a while. A lame imitation stirred up between the 1st and 2nd quarters, and nothing at all happened between the 3rd and 4th. The change wasn’t announced, either. It just sort of was tossed out there like an afterthought.

Either way, the team seemed dull and listless in the first half, and only really got one drive going, which stalled for 3. By the end of the 3rd quarter we were seeing the effects of a team that was sort of flummoxed and gassed. Thankfully the defense rallied and Tre Turner injected some energy into the O.. and the Hokies managed a win. It was too close for many folks, but a W is a W.

Let’s take a look at some of the sights of the pregame, and action. We’ll have more this weekend, but these are interesting: