It has been said the biggest improvements are made from Week 1 to Week 2 in college football. Depth charts are finalized weeks and sometimes days leading up to the opening game. The opening game becomes the ultimate evaluation for coaches based on their offseason preparations introducing new schemes, studying game plans, and fine-tuning depth charts. Questions are answered and critical adjustments are made after that first game. Now imagine when that first game is against the defending National Champions and the first-time unanimous preseason No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll, the Ohio State Buckeyes. A game of that magnitude will quickly show the coaches what players are ready for the big stage, and what players need more work.

Unfortunately, the opener ended in a loss, and was followed up five days later against a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent: Furman. Although not the level of competition as an Ohio State team, they are a good enough test to practice any corrections or adjustments made after studying game film. There were several observations and assessments from the Furman game that I found noteworthy.

The offense is much more dynamic with Brenden Motley at quarterback.

First let me mention Michael Brewer was, and still is, obviously the leader of the Virginia Tech offense. He had an impressive spring, and continued making great strides going into the season opener. Unfortunately his injury against Ohio State will sideline him for at least a month. His backup, Brenden Motley, has now taken over as the starting quarterback. Motley didn’t look prepared when his number was called against Ohio State, and struggled early in the Furman game. Eventually he started to get a rhythm with his throws and turned it around in the 2nd quarter. As he continued to run the offense, the more I realized the quarterback position is now more of a threat than ever in this offense…a threat Brewer didn’t really bring as the starter.

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