After 31-28 Loss To Duke, Hokies Face Familiarity In Micro And Macro

Raza Umerani

Editor-in-Chief

November 23, 2024

DURHAM, N.C. — In Back To The Future, shortly after going back in time to 1955, Marty McFly winds up joining his mom’s family for dinner.

His grandfather sets up the television at the table with an episode of The Jackie Gleason Show that Marty has already watched via a 1985 re-run, so he exclaims, “I’ve seen this one before, it’s a classic!”

After Virginia Tech’s 31-28 loss to Duke on Saturday night at frigid Wallace Wade Stadium, that same sentiment of familiarity is ringing throughout the program in more ways than one.

The Hokies (5-6, 3-4 ACC) essentially checked every box that has plagued them in what has turned into one of the most disappointing seasons in team history. 

A slow start with an early 14-0 hole, a too-little-too-late comeback, a nagging injury bug with a cockroach-like self-preservation and yes, yet another one-score loss. 

Tech gave up touchdown passes 86 and 77 yards to standout receiver Eli Pancol thanks to defensive breakdowns on the Blue Devils’ (8-3, 4-3) first two drives and lost starting quarterback Collin Schlee after a hard hit at the end of the first quarter. Still, they came back and even took a brief second-quarter lead, but simply got worn down over the second half. A valiant effort by backup signal-caller Pop Watson wasn’t enough to get the Hokies over the hump, resulting in their fifth loss by seven points or less this season.

“Just didn’t do enough things to contribute to winning,” Tech head coach Brent Pry said after the game. “We gave them a head start. … I thought we battled all night long. Very resilient effort. Battled all the way to the end with a young quarterback. Gave us a chance to win it in the fourth.”

Watson took over to start the second quarter after Schlee got his bell rung on a helmet-to-helmet hit, suddenly thrust into the first meaningful snaps of his collegiate career. 

He rose to the occasion in some aspects, throwing for 146 yards and gaining 52 on the ground — though, he netted -4 yards since he was sacked a whopping eight times, the most allowed by Tech since the 2011 Orange Bowl against Stanford.

Still, he completed less than half his passes (12-for-25), threw a poor interception on a key fourth down deep in Duke territory and lacked the pocket presence that allowed Duke to rack up so many quarterback hits and tackles for loss.

“Sacks come from sometimes you lose one-on-one battles, sometimes it’s just a well-designed blitz and sometimes the quarterback holds the ball,” Pry said. “It’s a combination of things tonight that led to those sacks. Everybody around Pop’s got to step up. We’ve got to have better protection, we’ve got to call the right plays for him, make it as easy as we can for him to be successful.”

After Schlee connected with Ali Jennings for a 65-yard catch and run to put Tech on the board late in the first, Watson led the game-tying drive in the second, which Ayden Greene capped off with a walk-in 21-yard sprint on a well-executed double reverse. After forcing an interception — a second for star defensive back Dorian Strong in as many possessions — the Hokies took a 17-14 lead thanks to a chip shot field goal from John Love.

From there, both sides of the ball began to falter. Another breakdown in the secondary resulted in a 58-yard completion from Maalik Murphy to Jordan Moore, setting up Pancol’s third touchdown of the first half on a seven-yard back-shoulder ball. Coming out of the half, Duke marched right down the field and extended the lead courtesy of a two-yard run from Star Thomas to cap off a seamless seven play, 74-yard drive.

Both teams stalled a bit for a while after that; Watson threw his aforementioned pick after a Blue Devils turnover on downs as Duke only mustered 13 yards on the 16 plays that followed the touchdown drive.

Tech’s defense allowed its offense to get back into it with back-to-back fourth quarter scoring drives — first another Love field goal, then a 29-yard sprint from Bhayshul Tuten, who looked much better after dealing with a lower-body injury for several weeks. The star back eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing on the season with his 19 carry, 83 yard performance, becoming the first Hokies tailback to do so since Khalil Herbert in 2020.

A two-point conversion after the touchdown made it a three-point game, and after the teams traded punts, Tech needed a stop to have a chance to tie or win the game. It looked as though it wasn’t meant to be as Thomas broke off a massive 33-yard run on the first play after the two-minute timeout. But, on the very next play, the ball was stripped from him by Keonta Jenkins, and Cole Nelson fell on it for the Hokies, who got one final lease on life.

But, with the game on the line, Watson and company couldn’t get anything going, losing three yards before being stonewalled on fourth-and-13 to essentially end it.

A commendable effort from a third-string quarterback, four turnovers from the defense and a career day for Jennings — who had his best game as a Hokie with six catches, for 158 yards and a score — simply weren’t enough. Tech dug itself too deep a hole to climb out of, resulting in the team’s fifth one-score loss of the season, bringing Pry’s total in such games to an incomprehensible 1-12. 

“Super frustrating, because we have six losses now? Five one-score losses,” Jennings said. “Some of them we’ve been in the lead. Some of them we’ve had opportunities to take the lead and just can’t find a way to pull them off. And we know a lot of the times, we are the better team. Just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. Not playing complementary football down the stretch. We’ve just got to find a way to be a good team in all phases to pull off a good win.”

Let’s go back to Marty for a second, because I think his journey thoroughly resembles that of this Tech team. 

Going back to 1955 in the first place? That’s the Syracuse game. The Hokies went back to a house of horrors and wrote another chapter in the long book of Dome woes. 

Getting hit by his grandfather’s car? That’s the Clemson game. The trusty old Dabo Swinney-led Tigers hit Tech hard for its worst loss of the season.

Saturday night’s game is more akin to when Marty wakes up after being hit. He’s in recovery, much like the Hokies were after Schlee went down. 

And finally, the Jackie Gleason re-run. That’s next week’s game against Virginia. For the sixth time since 2012, the Hokies will need to win the Commonwealth Clash (8 p.m. ET, ACC Network) to keep their season alive. 

You’ve seen this one before. It’s a classic. 

But, like any classic that’s been played on television over and over again, you’re probably getting sick and tired of it.