Pry, Virginia Tech stunned by Old Dominion in last-minute, 20-17 loss

By Jack Brizendine

Staff Writer

September 2, 2022

NORFOLK, Va. — Tucked away in a small corner of Kornblau field, head coach Brent Pry was ambushed with cameras and microphones following Virginia Tech’s last-minute, 20-17 loss to Old Dominion Friday night.

Pry — typically upbeat and positive — appeared stunned, his voice hoarse, when explaining what went wrong in his team’s upset loss.

“I am surprised,” Pry started. “We were sloppy… [Our players] wanted to make plays, they wanted to play hard, but I definitely think they were pressed and played sloppy.”

Tech’s lack of discipline on the field resulted in 14 penalties for 100 yards and five turnovers — four Grant Wells interceptions and an errant long snap returned for a touchdown.

“[I take] a lot [of the blame], pretty much all of it, honestly,” Wells said following his rocky debut in maroon and orange. “[The] defense played good enough to win, receivers caught balls, offensive line played well.

“You aren’t going to win the game with quarterback play like that.”

With under three minutes to play and Tech leading 17-13, a check down bounced out of the hands of running back Jalen Holston and into the arms of ODU’s Ryan Henry — Well’s third interception of the night — setting up Old Dominion for a game-winning drive.

Monarch running back Blake Watson lunged over the goal line with 33 ticks left of the clock, all but securing the Hokies’ first loss of the year.

The final pick from Wells came on a last-ditch hail mary with just 15 seconds to play. The pick bumped Wells’ career TD-INT ratio to 35-26 one game into his third year as a collegiate starter.

The end of the first half didn’t end any better for the Hokies. Long snapper Justin Pollock sailed the ball just over the hands of holder Peter Moore, resulting in a 62-yard scoop-and-score touchdown for the Monarchs.

“You can’t give up a touchdown on special teams that way,” Pry said. “We’ve got to fix that. You can’t make that kind of mistake and battle back.”

One of Wells’ supporting cast members that shined amid the squad’s struggles on offense was running back Keshawn King.

With Malachi Thomas out due to a lingering injury, King got the bulk of the carries for VT, taking 19 handoffs for 112 yards and also caught Wells’ lone touchdown pass.

King’s standout performance helped shoulder the load for an offense that wasn’t at full strength, with Thomas out and wide receiver Kaleb Smith exiting the game in the second quarter with an injury.

“I don’t think [personnel] limited us at all,” Wells said. “I think we have faith in every single guy in those rooms to run the plays we need to win games.”

Tech’s opening loss stings for a program that garnered so much excitement and hope coming into the year. It acts as a humbling reminder of just how much room for improvement there is for the program and that no team on the schedule should be taken lightly — just as Tech's 49-35 loss at ODU in 2018 was.

“I’m pretty frustrated right now, but you can either look at it two ways,” fifth-year senior Dax Hollifield said. “You can get down, fold up and fall apart as a team or you can look at it as a positive and you know, this really doesn’t affect us whatsoever.

“Still, my goals in preseason for the team were to go undefeated at home, win 10 games, the ACC championship, and this game means nothing towards any of those.”

While all of those goals remain intact, the Hokies can’t afford to look past another opponent.

Virginia Tech welcomes Boston College to Blacksburg on Saturday night at 8 p.m. with a chance to put Friday night in the rearview mirror.

“I think the mood [in the locker room after the game] was anxious to get back in the film room and learn from these mistakes and move on to week two,” Wells said.

“[Coach Pry] knew we made too many mistakes. He was anxious to play next week at home.”