Thursday was Halloween, and in my house, we always have a discussion each year as to exactly when to turn off the lights and call it a night.
Today, it felt like a similar conversation may be coming soon in regards to Virginia Tech football.
Understand that I’ve always been a glass half full kind of guy in watching the Hokies for over 50 years. I’d rather not say anything at all than be negative about them, as my blood type is orange and maroon positive. Writing about them is a hobby that’s suppose to be fun for me, and criticizing the team is not.
But with Virginia Tech blowing a 21-3 lead today and losing to Syracuse 38-31 in overtime, it feels like the ground underneath the program is getting shaky. Last year the team rallied from a 2-4 record to get to 5-6 before beating Virginia in the regular-season finale and become bowl eligible. They then beat a team in a bowl with several stars sitting out of the game to have a winning record.
Some were skeptical as to how good the Hokies were, and that was OK because except for Boston College, every team they beat had a losing record. Another season with a lot of starters returning, common sense would say, would be a true test of where the program was going.
A lot of work was done and a lot of resources were devoted to give Coach Brent Pry what he needed. In the offseason, media spoke of the Hokies being a dark horse contender for maybe making the national playoffs, although I thought that was a bit lofty. But a solid 8 or 9 win season was generally accepted as a minimum level of achievement.
Another year where Virginia Tech had to win a regular-season finale just to be bowl eligible with all this talent would not be acceptable.
To anyone.
Hard as it is to believe, the Hokies managed to lead on the road in the Dome at Syracuse 21-3 today. Despite losing their starting quarterback and running back to injury, they pulled things together; Collin Schlee played well in relief of Kyron Drones, Malachi Thomas was a beast in place of Bhayshul Tuten, and Jeremiah Coney came out of nowhere as a change of pace back to gain almost 100 yards (96 on only 9 carries) in limited action.
There’s no way any Hokie fan thought the team wouldn’t win with that advantage and only 7:44 left in the third quarter.
But they didn’t win. And in losing, the Hokies fell to 5-4, could easily lose the next two to Clemson and Duke, and would then be 5-6 and needing a win over Virginia at Lane Stadium to be bowl eligible.
In most of these losses, the culprits were the same. Bad clock management. Play calls on both offense and defense that had you scratching your head. Failing to take advantage of what looked like easy opportunities. Putting players in the game that were dinged instead of substituting a younger, healthy one.
Only thing different about this one today is I didn’t see two players wearing the same number on the field at the same time.
It’s frustrating. And no matter what happens I’m still going to watch every minute of every game, as I have since the early 1970s. The addiction is strong. Saying if a particular situation doesn’t happen I’ll stop watching would be a lie. I’d only be kidding myself.
But as is the case with all of my favorite teams, all I want is to know every time I watch, the team has a chance. That we have enough good players, and that the coaches have put them in a position to possibly win. That you can see improvement with each game.
That’s the list. That’s all I want.
I didn’t get that today. I don’t think the coaches put the team in a position to win, and it’s not the first time it’s happened this season despite a pretty strong roster, either. That’s on top of last season when it happened a few times too.
In evaluating a new coach, I’ve always thought you needed to give them three solid years. The first two years you need time to get newer players. By the third year, the strategies they employ, the mistakes they make, and the way they fix those mistakes are indicative of what you’re probably going to see on a consistent basis going forward.
This is year 3 of the Brent Pry experiment. The Hokies lost another close game and are 1-12 in one-score games. For an old guy like me, another game like this just leaves me disappointed, as I tend to sigh, go get something to eat and forget about it in a couple of days.
Most fans aren’t like that, however. Crushing losses like today push them a little farther away from the program each time it happens and at some point, the games go from mandatory watching to being elective entertainment.
That’s the danger of today’s loss. If the meal doesn’t eventually taste good, people stop coming back to the restaurant, prompting many of us to face the same annual Halloween conundrum, only for football
The bowl of candy, so to speak, is running low. And people are beginning to wonder if it’s time to turn out the lights…
