A View from the Sideline: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Pittsburgh Panthers

It was a win! The game was advertised as a battle of the bottom feeders of the ACC, with both struggling for footing with problematic rosters in transition. While true, there is no doubt that it’s never easy to win against a peer, and certainly not Pitt. It was a good win. GO HOKIES!!!

By John Schneider Oct 2, 2023, 4:00pm EDT

/ new

Postgame for Center Kaden Moore. The face says it all.

Pre-game was busy, and the stadium filled pretty quickly. There is that time, as viewed from the press box, where Lane is just quiet, sort of the calm before the storm.

The crowd was building at 6:30, but the field activity was quiet.

We had a flyover - it was too dark at the National Anthem’s time of 7:55 so the airlifter made several passes around the stadium before departing the area.

It was Military Appreciation Day so the Air Force provided a C-17 for a pregame fly over.

This coaching staff still has pre-game warmup issues. The team is usually not completely out of the locker room for very long, and the activities are jumbled up and disorganized. The building mass of visitors doesn’t help matters.

Pregame warmups were brief, and sort of disorganized.

Other than two unfortunate plays, both for touchdowns, the defense actually put good pressure on both Phil Jurkovec and the Pitt backfield. It was probably the best aggregate defensive performance of the season.

The Pitt running game just didn’t get going.

Of course, the main sparkplug for the Hokie offense turned out to be the play of Kyron Drones. While he wasn’t perfect, he dynamically changed the way the Hokie offense was called and executed. Almost all to the better.

They were blitzing and run-dogging all evening.

One thing was really obvious, is that Bowen avoided a fixed pocket for most of the game. Drones was allowed to get outside and chose a receiver or to pull the ball in and take off.

Kyron Drones rarely dropped back into a pocket. Offense kept him moving and it helped everything.

The defensive line was getting decent natural pressure for the entire game. Coach Marve looked like he was swapping guys out like hockey lines, and there was definitely a fresh approach to linebacker run fits.

The Hokie Defensive Line was getting good natural pressure on anyone behind the line of scrimmage.

The first TD pass for Drones for the evening. Just wish that I had a transporter to get the other side of this. I had asked Da’Quan Felton, in the offseason press sessions, what his favorite route package was. He responded, “I just wanna fly.”

Well Quan got to fly on this one, for six, too.

Too bad I couldn’t be in two places at one time. He’s Drones’ first TD throw, to Da’Quan Felton.

How about the Old #1...

This is what Drones was making Pitt do, all game.

The Hokies actually got some decent blocking going when they were inside the 10.

Stephen Gosnell spend a good deal of the evening sucking up coverage opportunities, but he did make a huge difference with this critical grab.

Cross field fast action is tough. but this Stephen Gosnell catch was important.

Bhayshul Tuten can fly... or at least he is giving the impression that he can. What was surprising is that Tuten was reputed to be an inside power runner. Last evening the was used to attack the edges, and only sometimes went through the ‘A’ gap. It was an impressive evening for him.

Bhayshul Tuten’s setup to get into the end zone on a surprise screen pass.

#1 Shall not be denied. This from the Pitt 6 yard line and Drones decides that he was absolutely going to score.

Just before Kyron Drones turns to back into the end zone for a TD.

Unfortunately, the NCAA rules about being too happy regarding scoring under any circumstances difficult or not, this resulted in a flag and a critical 15-yard penalty on the kickoff.

Got a bit too excited... drew a flag... NCAA has rules against demonstrations of happiness, you know.

You hate to publish things like this but it’s necessary to show that Drones was being blitzed and run-dogged constantly after the 2nd quarter. It was bad enough in the first, but Narduzzi doesn’t spare the horses on defense, and knew that he had to get his team to stop the Drones-Tuten express. This time his guys did it.

Disaster strikes... Drones was constantly blitzed from all angles and this one worked.

But the Hokies got it back with a beautiful deep crossing route from Jaylin Lane.

Jaylin Lane crosses the goal line for a TD

Of course, everyone has seen this one, but this is where I saw it.

A bit different angle on the Drones touchdown sweep.

And To Wrap... EVERYONE IN HOKIES NATION LOVES You Know Who.

Always need to get a seasonal refresh of my Hokie Bird pictures.

Next game we’ll be photographing will be the Wake Forest game on Homecoming Saturday, October 14th. Hopefully I will have my camera recording issues fixed. I should have cleared the memory and factory reset its little brain. I kept finding settings that were conducive to photographing sepia toned stills in a studio setting. It’s taken a few sessions to get everything working properly, but the lens is larger, and the picture quality is denser than my action camera. I think that I have it stabilized, now, and will be testing it around campus this week to see how the new settings work. There have been lots of changes going on, so maybe a campus photo essay is called for.

A View from the Sideline: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Pittsburgh Panthers

Share this story

Share All sharing options for: A View from the Sideline: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Pittsburgh Panthers

GO HOKIES!!!

More From Gobbler Country

Loading comments...

Share this story

All sharing options for: A View from the Sideline: Virginia Tech Hokies vs. Pittsburgh Panthers