The game was barely one minute old when I saw something in Virginia Tech’s offense that got me fired up.
It was third and 1, and everybody and his brother expected the Hokies to run. Over the last decade I’ve probably yelled “look for the tight end” at my television over a hundred times, only to watch them look for everything else but, then do something highly predictable.
This time, quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer surprised me by throwing a short pass over the middle to tight end Ja’Ricous Hairston, who caught it at the ODU 44, then went for 30 yards for a first down. This led to the first of 44 points as the Hokies claimed a decisive 44-21 win.
Hey now, I thought, they looked for the tight end. They listened. It actually looks like we’re going to be running a REAL offense this year.
Finally.
That was one of many positive things I saw in a game that for Hokies fans was reflective of the wisdom of noted football philosopher Mick Jagger, who once sang “you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find…you get what you need”
Since this was a return to the scene of the crime last year when ODU beat up the Hokies, took their lunch money, then laughed all the way home to Norfolk with such style that Virginia Tech fired head coach Brent Pry a day or two later, what many Hokies “wanted” was complete and utter annihilation of ODU. Because of that, when Virginia Tech took a 34-6 halftime lead, you could slightly hear grumbles about why wasn’t the lead bigger.
When mistakes occurred with more frequency in the second half as the running game started to shut down and the defense had several coverage breakdowns that resulted in Monarch scores, the grumbles grew louder.
But did I mention ODU never got closer than 23 points? It may not have been what some fans wanted, but after last year, I say give me all the grumbling you got if it’s going to result in leading by at least 23 points. Yes, they made mistakes. Yes, the running game wasn’t as potent with starting center Kyle Altuner out with an injury, and it showed. And yes, things got sloppy on defense in the second half.
But you could see they were also experiencing some things that they needed. On offense, Grunkemeyer showed not only his skills as a QB but his growing trust in his receivers, particularly tight end Luke Reynolds. Several times he’d be under pressure, roll out to one side, then buy himself time to go through his progressions before completing a pass to either Reynolds or wide receiver Que’Sean Brown.
That’s huge. Previous years have seen endless examples of QBs glancing downfield for a fraction of a second and if everything isn’t perfect, they take off and run. Because of that, many of those QBs didn’t complete a lot of passes, and defenses stacked the line anticipating more one-dimensional plays.
ODU couldn’t do that with Grunkemeyer. He completed 31 of 42 passes for 327 yards, and showed the poise and abilities of a pure pocket passer, something the Hokies haven’t had since the middle of the Beamer years. When ODU crowded the line, Grunkemeyer just threw over them.
Defense played well in the first half, but what I saw that impressed me the most was the emotion the players showed on behalf of their leader, Pry. They were smothering in the first few series, as if they were telling ODU “I know what you did last summer.” That, as well Grunkemeyer’s chemistry with the receivers, are promising signs of a team that with each game could be gelling into something special.
The special teams were special, and there was never a point where ODU was in any danger of winning the game. Yes, there are things to fix, but I kind of wanted to see that happen. Starting a new regime in many cases is about winning together, making mistakes together, and coming together as a team to fix those issues. They didn’t have much to address after the VMI game.
They’ve got plenty now.
In the end, this is also a second straight week of Virginia Tech fans getting what they needed. ODU has been rather vocal in its confidence since winning 2 of the last 3 games, and there was a specific need to make them aware there was a new sheriff in town and things were now different, something that 34-6 halftime lead might have accomplished.
It’s also the first time since 2021 the team is 2-0, setting up an interesting situation. The last time the team played ODU, the Hokies fired their coach (Brent Pry). The last time they were 2-0, they ended up firing their coach a few weeks later (Justin Fuente).
Saturday showed that nonsense is all in the past. There is stability, talent and a team growing together in confidence. Instead of complaining about the head coach and worrying about what the future holds, fans can now complain about why the team didn’t score 70 for the second straight week, while having realistic hope good things are on the horizon.
Which means for a second straight week, Saturdays are fun again.
What more could you ask for?
