hokies fall at the hands of the tar heels

Chris Hirons

October 10, 2020

Chapel Hill — North Carolina manhandled, abused, bullied and tortured Virginia Tech’s defense all Saturday afternoon, as the Tar Heels won 56-45 in Chapel Hill behind 656 yards, the most the Hokies have given up in a game since 1987.

After Caleb Farley, Tech's top cornerback, opted out in the offseason, most expected that the Virginia Tech secondary, along with the rest of its defense, would struggle at some point during the season.

With defensive backs Divine Deablo, Tyree Rodgers, Nasir Peoples and Keonta Jenkins out, Sam Howell and UNC’s rushing attack took full advantage of the mismatches in Chapel Hill.

The hype surrounding the UNC-Virginia Tech matchup was built all week. Following an electrifying six-overtime finish last season, this season’s meeting was highlighted by two ranked opponents — the No. 19 Hokies traveling to play the No. 8 Tar Heels.

The hype was met with the Hokies dropping this year’s high-scoring rematch.

“I’m proud of my guys for battling,” Fuente said. “I don't know what the numbers are, but we didn’t get many stops on defense. We tried everything to keep ourselves in the game; we didn’t get it done.”

The defense was once again depleted, as it was last week and the week prior, with 15 players missing this week’s game after the coronavirus struck the secondary.

“We were throwing stuff up just to get people in the game,” Fuente said. “We put [linebacker Alan] Tisdale at safety at one point. It’s just almost not like football.”

After missing most of its scholarship starters last Saturday against Duke, the Hokies’ secondary gained Jermaine Waller, Armani Chatman, Alan Tisdale and Devin Taylor back from contact tracing and injuries.

“We couldn’t get our corners back ready in time to play safety this week,” Fuente said, visibly frustrated after the game.

Gaining its top defensive players back didn’t matter in the end. Early in the game, defensive back Chamarri Conner was ejected for a late targeting hit against Howell, which set the tone for Tech’s defense for the rest of the afternoon.

For Virginia Tech’s first two games, the defensive front seven was almost immaculate. The defense led the nation in sacks-per-game. This afternoon, the defense was dreadful and allowed 399 rushing yards, including 214 and 170 to North Carolina running backs Michael Carter and Javonte Williams, respectively. Both Carter and Williams scored two touchdowns.

As bad as the run defense was, the plan to attack Sam Howell’s passing game was ineffective as well. Howell converted 78.3% of his passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns.

“This team was able to highlight [our deficiencies] a lot better than our previous opponents,” Fuente said. “We played against a real offense this week. Most of the skill position guys will be playing on Sunday at some point.”

Early in the game, Tech went down 21-0 in the first quarter, failing to pick up a third down until its third offensive drive. The offense was stagnant until tight end James Mitchell took a handoff for a score early in the second quarter to bring the Hokies back to within 14.

Midway through the second and needing another offensive spark, reigning ACC running back of the week Khalil Herbert, who finished with 138 yards and two scores, took a hand off eight yards to the endzone to bring the score closer 21-14.

After trailing 35-14 heading into halftime, Fuente turned to Hendon Hooker, who made his season debut in the first quarter. He replaced an inaccurate Braxton Burmiester, who only completed nine of his 23 passes last week. Burmiester was once again ineffective throwing the ball, only completing 46.7% of his passes without a score.

Hooker, a dynamic running and passing threat on any play, showed off both of his abilities. He threw for 136 yards and two touchdowns on 13 attempts. The Greensboro, N.C. native added 29 yards and a touchdown on the ground, along with a 20 yard reception on a pass from Mitchell late in the fourth quarter.

Hooker had missed the previous two games with a non-covid related health scare, and even though he was available last week, Fuente elected to save him for UNC.

“I just wanted to go out there and play ball,” Hooker said. “Being back on the field was a blessing.”

Hooker brought the team back within five points late in the third quarter on a 33 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Tayvion Robinson to pull the Hokies within a score of the Tar Heels 42-37.

“Hooker came in and gave us a spark,” Mitchell said. “It was good that he came in and we were able to put up points.”

That was the closest Tech would be to taking the lead all afternoon as Carolina pulled away and added two more touchdowns to ice the game on a 62 yard run by Carter.

Though Virginia Tech fought, battled and clawed its way back all afternoon, it wasn’t enough to pull even with the Mack Brown- Tar Heels, who said that he thought he was “still in the Big 12,” after the game.

“We need to start out with more juice on offense,” Mitchell said.

The Hokies will get a chance to right the ship and start out with the juice on offense next Saturday night as Tech returns to Lane Stadium to play under the lights for the first time since its kickoff game against NC State two weeks ago.