Hokies Head To Tallahassee To Take On Florida State (10-4-23)
By: Joey Raymond
Headline Photo Credit: Katie Lovell
Take a deep breath Hokies fans, your guys finally got a win. Pitt came into town, and the Hokies took advantage of an extremely loud Lane Stadium. Unfortunately Virginia Tech faithful, it’s time to come back to reality. Let’s be honest with ourselves here, Pitt is not just on, but driving the struggle bus. They have a ton of injuries and a lot of depth issues and you can tell. The big bad, ranked fifth in the country, larger than life, Florida State Seminoles are up next, and I don’t have to tell you how good they are. Now don’t get this misconstrued, Pitt is a really good team despite their struggles. Virginia Tech came to the ball though and it’s very possible that as a team they can use that game to build confidence and move forward.
What Happened Last Week?
Let’s take a minute to reflect on that big win against Pitt. First and foremost Hokie nation, you guys should be proud of yourselves. That stadium was loud and rocking from start to finish. The noise caused several ‘delay of game’ and ‘false start’ penalties. Pitt struggled in this one, only amassing 38 total yards on the ground. Pitt had some big plays offensively in the passing game, but if you take away their two longest passes, the Hokies only gave up 91 passing yards. Defensively the Hokies looked good, and much better than they have all year. Most impressively for me though, was Kyron Drones. Drones scored 5 total touchdowns, getting two on the ground and three in the air. If offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen keeps putting him in positions to be successful, he could be a real problem for ACC teams going forward. The Hokies ended up putting the pedal to the metal in the fourth, beating Pitt 38-21.
Florida State’s key from last week? Rest. The Seminoles come into this game off of a bye week. That means they’ve had an extra week to look at film and prepare for Kyron Drones and the Hokies. The week before that though, Florida State beat a really tough Clemson team, who even though have had a tough season, are always ready for a fight. The game Florida State has played that Hokies fans might look at is the Boston College game, where Florida State came out and almost lost to a young and beat-up Boston College team. The Eagles did a lot to upset the flow of Jordan Travis in that game. I would be doubtful those areas haven’t been cleaned up yet.
What Would It Take To Win?
The Hokies have a mountain to climb to win this one. My big keys for the Hokies would be for starters, limit the big plays. Jordan Travis is a Heisman candidate. There is no getting around that, he’s big, fast, strong, and more importantly smart. The odds of him making a big play himself are extremely high, and that doesn’t include his supporting cast of characters either. He has a really good running back and some amazing receivers to throw to. Limiting the big plays has got to be first on the Hokies’ minds in this one. Secondly, Tyler Bowen has to put Kyron Drones in a position to be successful. Now that Drones is showing some confidence, let him get into a spot to make plays with his legs and with his arm. He scored 5 touchdowns against Pitt. He’ll need to do more of the same if they want to be in it against a squad like Florida State. Lastly, the offensive line needs to be almost perfect. For Kyron to have a big game, you have to keep him safe. Florida State has some dogs on the defensive line. If they can’t keep Drones safe, their offense will go nowhere.
Florida State’s keys are fairly straightforward. First of all, you have to let Jordan Travis be Jordan Travis. He’s a dynamic playmaker that can quite literally do it all. If you give him the time and space to go through his reads, he is going to make inhuman-type plays. Secondly, get pressure on Kyron Drones. The Hokies’ offensive line is young, and have struggled at times this season. If you can get to Kyron and make him worried, he’s shown that he’ll panic and put the ball into situations it shouldn’t be. Examples of that include the interception at Rutgers and the fumble against Pitt. Lastly, don’t try to do too much. What I mean by that is, Florida State’s offensive identity is pretty established and the Hokies have struggled against teams that can run the football and produce big plays. That’s Florida State’s bread and butter. Stick with yourselves and don’t allow the Hokies to take advantage and they’ll walk away with a win.
Our Prediction:
With all of that being said, I truly do believe the Hokies have a chance to hang in there with Florida State. The Hokies have shown flashes this season of what they could be, and truly I do believe that when the Hokies can put it all together, they’ll be one of the best teams in the ACC. However, they haven’t shown that they can do that consistently this season. Do I think that Virginia Tech deserves to be a three-touchdown underdog? No, probably not. I think this game will be closer than what some are predicting it to be, especially now that the Hokies are showing some offensive and defensive prowess. I still have Florida State winning by at least two touchdowns though. Florida State has Improved a ton under head coach Mike Norvell. Who is a great example of what happens when you give a coach time to rebuild a program from the ground up? They’re playing this game in Tallahassee, which is one of the toughest venues in all of college football. I just think overall, it’s going to be too much for a team that’s been this inconsistent.
