Following historic weather delay, Hokies offense fizzles out in second half in 24-17 loss to Purdue

By Raza Umerani

Staff Writer

September 10, 2023

BLACKSBURG — Saturday’s contest between Virginia Tech and Purdue was scheduled to start around noon and end around three o’clock.

Mother Nature had other ideas.

The game kicked off at 12:25 p.m. It ended at 8:58 p.m. 

After the longest weather delay in college football history — a five hour, 27 minute pause in play — Purdue (1-1) outlasted Tech (1-1) for a 24-17 victory.

Kickoff was delayed for about 20 minutes due to expected severe weather conditions and the two teams were able to get a half hour of football in before the storms arrived. In that time — which took up the first nine minutes and 10 seconds of the first quarter – the road team completely controlled the game. Purdue scored a touchdown on its first offensive possession — a shifty 15-yard run by running back Devin Mockobee. 

When the Hokies got the ball back, they were able to pick up a first down on a nice catch and run from Jaylin Lane. But while being tackled, he incidentally caught the lower leg of teammate Ali Jennings, who rolled his ankle badly and was in a heap of pain after the play. He was helped off the field by trainers without being able to put any weight on that left ankle. During the weather delay, he was seen being carted into the Virginia Tech locker room with a boot around his left foot. 

“That was tragic,” wide receiver Stephen Gosnell told reporters after the game. “Sending prayers out to him. Praying for him and his well-being.”

Later in the game, Lane himself suffered a leg injury that kept him out of the final few drives of the game.

“We've got some guys banged up right now and I'm not really going to comment until we get him in that training room tonight and tomorrow,” Tech head coach Brent Pry said. “X-rays are needed and we'll see where everybody's at.”

After Purdue got the ball back, the Boilermakers ran two plays before the referees stopped the game to converse with Virginia Tech officials and subsequently announced a temporary suspension of the game. 

Then came one of the wildest storms that Blacksburg has seen in quite some time. Remarkably high winds, buckets of rain and an abundance of lightning strikes very close to Lane Stadium itself put Worsham Field several inches underwater while the stands overflowed. For a while, there was real doubt about whether or not the game would resume. 

“We kind of just sat around,” Gosnell said. “We were waiting to see what was going to happen. We didn’t know if we were going to play or not. Looking outside, it was pouring rain, everything was flooded. We had no idea the field was being drained. I think it’s hard mentally to turn that switch on and off. 

“We tried to just take our time and take a nap if we could or just think about what we're gonna go out there and do,” defensive back Jalen Stroman said. “We ate, we laid down and just get our minds right while we were sitting there.”

Around 4:15 p.m. — about three and a half after the game was put on hold — it was announced that the game would resume at 6:15 p.m. By then, the delay totaled five hours and 27 minutes — the longest weather delay in college football history. 

“I think you know, they can't get too high. they can't get too low,” Pry said. “You try to take care of them and keep them comfortable. We had short meetings, we had a good meal upstairs. We had to take their pads off and put some casual clothes on and just kind of decompress a little bit. And then when we got the green light, we kind of got back on a shortened version of our normal pregame routine that would be familiar to them. But obviously, you know, it's tough. But I thought the guys hung in there and we came out of the gates after the delay a better looking football team than we did at noon. I've got to do a better job there.”

The Hokies came out with more energy following the delay, but the Boilermakers came storming back as well. Purdue came back out with a field goal drive, and after intercepting Tech quarterback Grant Wells on the first play of the next series, punched in its second touchdown of the game on a 21-yard sprint from running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. to make it 17-0.

Then the Hokies turned it on for their best stretch of the game. On a fourth-and-four, Wells found Tuten on a wheel route out of the backfield, who sprinted up the sideline and ran through defenders, crossing the plane with outstretched arms to score his first touchdown in a Virginia Tech uniform and put the Hokies on the board.

“I'm just gifted, honestly, so at this point, it's not a surprise,” Tuten said. “It was honestly amazing. The fan base was there and even though it was kind of muggy and it was a long day. On the touchdown, they got loud, the sideline was loud, so it was a great feeling overall.”

“We got Bhayshul involved, which I think made a big difference,” Pry said. “His fourth down play was obviously a big play in the game. I think he needs to be a factor each and every week for us. I think he sparked it right there.”

On the following series, Tech snuffed out a fourth-and-one to force a Purdue turnover on downs and get the ball back with terrific field position, leading to a 41-yard field goal from John Love to make it a one-score game. After the defense forced another three-and-out, Wells and Lane connected on two huge passing plays — pickups of 18 and 13 yards — before capping off the drive with a game-tying, two-yard touchdown connection to tie the game at 17 before the half.

“We were going fast. We were playing with good tempo,” Gosnell said. “That’s always a big part of our offense. … Guys stepped up and made big plays when it counted.”

The Hokies were helped on that drive by a roughing the passer call, but it proved to be costly as Wells’ leg got banged up on the hit, hindering his performance for the rest of the night.

While the first half featured some offensive fireworks, the second half was an absolute slugfest. 

Neither team scored in the third quarter, and neither came particularly close. Every drive in the period ended in a punt, excluding an interception thrown by Wells and a Purdue missed field goal. 

But the Boilermakers’ first fourth quarter possession proved to be the difference maker. They marched the ball 74 yards on 13 plays in six minutes and 31 seconds for the go-ahead touchdown — a two-yard scamper by quarterback Hudson Card. At the time, the Hokies had stopped Purdue on seven consecutive third downs. On that drive, the Boilers converted back-to-back-to-back third downs, including a third-and-11 catch and run by Mockobee that set up the short score. 

“We had them at third-and-long and dropped the coverage,” Pry said. “Then the back popped out of the backfield. I thought the quarterback had a little bit too long to throw it, but we dropped coverage and we didn't have good leverage on the back and he earned the first down. That was a critical play. I thought we looked tired on that drive. I think we got to have a little bit better rotation and be a fresher team in the fourth quarter than we were right there.”

On the next two drives, the Hokies couldn’t even move the ball forward with a net yardage of -19, largely unable to pass as a result of Wells’ injury. When Tech got the ball back for the final drive of the game to try and score a game-tying touchdown, it had no choice but to insert backup quarterback Kyron Drones. Despite a couple of chunk plays, Drones wasn’t able to deliver for the Hokies, who turned it over on downs to end the game. 

“Grant really wanted to go. He just was dinged up,” Pry said. “I think he gave us the best chance to throw the ball, which is what we needed to do. With the injury, he couldn’t escape the rush. And I don't think he was stepping into his throws like he needed to. Tough spot to put Kyron in, two and a half minutes [left on the] 8-yard line. I thought he did really well considering the situation we put him in.”

Earlier in the week, Pry said that he wanted to play Drones more and get his snap count up, but he wasn’t inserted into the game until that final drive, even with Wells’ injuries and two interceptions. The emphasis remains on Drones’ development and putting the team in the best position to win.

“We want to play Kyron, but then there's times when we feel like Grant gives us the best chance. ... But I'm excited about what Kyron did tonight. And I think we need to really commit to making people defend Drones as much as they need to defend Grant. ... If we play our cards right and we do a nice job with it, we can have a two-headed monster right there. A guy that can be a very accurate passer and a guy that can be dangerous running the ball and [running] play action.” 

Injuries certainly derailed Virginia Tech in the game, but nothing held its offense back more than the rushing game, which was far worse than it was in the opener against Old Dominion. The Hokies ran the ball 22 times for 11 net yards — a drab 0.5 yards per carry. 

“They got a stout group. We knew that going into [the game],” Pry said. “Their front was a nice looking group of kids. .. We wanted to push it to the perimeter a little bit more and maybe we should have done that. … We’ve got to be able to run the ball better than that. We’ve got to find ways to run the ball. If it can't be inside, we’re going to run it outside. We got to be a little bit more creative.”

The lack of an effective run game hampered the Hokies’ offense the entire game, revealing growing pains from a young and inexperienced offensive line.

“I think we practice hard,” Tuten said. “We gameplan hard. We play hard. We just got to play better.”

On the other side of the ball, Tech’s rushing defense struggled mightily once again. Purdue was able to gash the Hokies for a whopping 179 yards on the ground. The Boilermakers air raid offense also had a nice day as Card finished with 248 yards and a rushing touchdown. Wells finished with 243 yards and two interceptions on 16-of-33 passing for Virginia Tech.

The win brings Purdue back to .500 ahead of a tough home test against Syracuse (2-0) next week. Meanwhile, the Hokies go on the road for the first time in 2023 for their second consecutive matchup with a Big Ten team as they face Rutgers (2-0) in Piscataway on Saturday afternoon.