It’s Monday, and by now, hopefully everyone has processed the disappointment of Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt.
Which raises the question, “what’s going to happen next?”
I believe this will be an interesting week because Virginia Tech football fans have quickly gone from an offseason of hype and optimism to a crossroads of faith in the program. Are the Hokies still that team some thought might even be a dark horse contender for the playoffs and they just had a bad game in Nashville? Or are they that inconsistent squad that couldn’t at times get out of their own way the first half of 2023?
Part of me wants to compare all this to 1995. That team had some hype around it, although nobody talked about major bowls and playoffs. They lost to Boston College on a Thursday night to start the season in a game they could have easily won. Then to make sure anybody wasn’t depressed enough about losing the opener, they followed it with one of the more stink-laden performances in school history by losing to Cincinnati in the rain. They didn’t even score, losing 16-0.
“I paid money for season tickets to watch this?” was a common refrain in the stands after going 0-2 at home.
But they rallied around Frank Beamer and put a streak together that saw them not losing the rest of the year, culminating in a 28-10 win over No. 9 Texas, a win many believe catapulted the Hokies into the national football discussion for years to come.
The other part of me wants to compare it to last season, and how Hokie fans were so hungry to return to those days of glory, we may have pronounced some situations as fixed that really weren’t. The team won its opener before losing 3 in a row, prompting a great deal of angst in Hokie Nation. They then put together a 3-1 stretch with impressive wins over Pitt (3-9), Wake Forest (4-8) and Syracuse (6-7) at home, losing only to No. 5 Florida State on the road.
But then they went to Louisville and returned to their old bad habits, getting off to a slow start, not showing any energy, and fell behind by a bunch early. If this sounds almost exactly like Virginia Tech’s performance against Vanderbilt, well, it was. They probably played their best game of the year in a road win at Boston College the next week, but then for some reason returned to their sleepwalking ways at the start of a loss the next week to N.C. State.
A home rout of 3-9 Virginia got them to bowl eligibility, followed by a 41-20 win over a Tulane team where several key starters did not participate for the Green Wave.
So were the problems fixed, or just masked by circumstances that allowed for a 7-6 season?
This week’s game with Marshall will go a long ways in determining that. I do know in 1995 they had some leaders on that defense that played with an anger that they were not going to get beat in that third game against Miami, which turned around the entire season. Jim Druckenmiller seemed to have a knack for hitting a big pass when the team needed one, and when he’d take off on a run and truck a defensive back, the entire stadium would come alive. The offensive line gave Druck time to do these things.
I’m not sure I’ve seen that level of “I will not lose and I’m going to fight every one of you in the locker room if you don’t make a play” passion on this year’s squad yet. I stress “yet.” They’ve certainly got the talent and individuals very capable of doing this.
Unlike 1995, there is also one big elephant in the room, this one involving coaching. Tom Peters wrote an excellent book called “In Search Of Excellence” many years ago, and he said something I’ve found true in all my years of business: “Passengers judge how an airline maintains their engines by the coffee stains on the flip down trays.”
His meaning was clear: People believe if you don’t take care of the obvious, right in your face, little things, they will doubt your ability to take care of the bigger, much more important things.
Brent Pry and staff failing to notice the two No. ZEROS on the field at the same time against Vanderbilt Saturday was the Hokies version of coffee stains on the flip down trays.
Nobody in 1995 doubted Frank and company knew what they were doing. They may not have agreed with everything he decided, but there was a faith special teams would come up with a big play, the offense would find an open receiver, or the defense would make a key stop when it had to.
This year’s team is capable of doing the same. And Saturday they have a chance in front of a friendly home crowd to put all this to rest by coming out of the tunnel with high energy, crisp execution, and looking like the team Hokie fans have been hoping to see for the last 8 months.
Another slow start where the team falls behind and plays with no energy, however, would be the sum of all fears.
Then we won’t be worrying about coffee stains on the flip down trays.
We’ll be worrying about the entire flight.
