In the third quarter at then-No. 24 NC State on Thursday, Virginia Tech posted 251 yards and 21 points. It was the first time in 348 days the Hokies had scored three touchdowns in a quarter (since Nov. 13, 2021 vs. Duke).
Most of the yardage (204 of 251 yards) came through the air, which is the second-most passing yards all-time for Tech in a quarter. It fell 29 yards shy of the fourth quarter effort (233 yards) at Syracuse in Nov. 2002, led by Bryan Randall. The Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Famer completed 23-of-35 passes for 504 yards and five scores in the Carrier Dome in the 50-42 double overtime loss.
Up to that night in Raleigh, the most points scored in a quarter this year for Tech against a FBS opponent was 14. That came in the fourth quarter vs. Miami on Oct. 15. So when the Hokies lit up the scoreboard in Carter-Finley Stadium, it was a fun experience.
Left guard Jesse Hanson called it “adrenaline-pumping.” Wide receiver Stephen Gosnell said they just came out fast and kept the Wolfpack on their toes.
“We needed this all year,” tight end Drake De Iuliis said on Wednesday. “It was the spark that we had. Everybody was engaged, no matter where they were on the sidelines. The energy was unbelievable.”
Outside of that 15-minute span, however, the Hokies struggled. They combined for just 42 yards in the other 45 minutes.
1st quarter: 35 yards
2nd quarter: 11 yards
3rd quarter: 251 yards
4th quarter: -4 yards
That came less than two weeks after a frustrating performance against the Hurricanes where Virginia Tech put up fewer yards in the first three quarters than the fourth. Both touchdowns came in the final 15 minutes.
1st Q: 70 yards
2nd Q: 36 yards
3rd Q: 12 yards
4th Q: 139 yards
“I think anybody that was doubting it, anybody that had questions, it’s an inspiration,” De Iuliis said of the third quarter in Raleigh. “You watch that one quarter of football, and we can be as good as we want to be. We have to put a whole game together, obviously, but we keep that, we watch that, our motivation’s going to be there.”
The Hokies ran 21 plays – nine rushing, 12 passing – in that quarter. Quarterback Grant Wells was only 5-of-12, but his completions went for 10, 23, 36, 50 and 85 yards. The latter two are the program’s longest two pass plays of the year, and both were to veteran wide receiver Kaleb Smith.
“We all know what he’s capable of,” Gosnell said of Smith. “He’s probably the best deep ball receiver I’ve ever been around, so seeing his success come to fruition has really been exciting. He creates big sparks for us on offense, and definitely we’re going to keep leaning on him.”
That opened up some things for the run game that was so limited (50 yards on 26 carries; 1.9 avg) over the course of the evening. On nine rush plays on four separate drives in the quarter, the Hokies picked up 47 yards (5.2 avg). Two of the possessions were capped off by rushing touchdowns from Wells – of four and 20 yards – while five attempts garnered at least five yards.
In 28 quarters vs. FBS opponents, Virginia Tech has averaged 5.0 yards per play both rushing and passing just four times. It’s no surprise the third quarter at NC State is at the top of the list.
First quarter at ODU: 5.4 rush, 7.3 pass, 6.3 total
Third quarter at ODU: 5.1 rush, 5.4 pass, 5.2 total
First quarter at Pitt: 5.3 rush, 9.1 pass, 7.4 total
Third quarter at NC State: 5.2 rush, 17.0 pass, 12.0 total
“I think the pace of the way the plays were rolling off,” Pry said of what helped them in the explosive quarter in Raleigh. “And we went a little faster click and some misdirection and some two backs and some unbalanced. I think they got a sense right there of what it’s like to get a defense off balance, when you feel like you kind of get them yinging and yanging. That’s what’s fun about it, and that’s why there’s some success.”
It’s also important to note that the Hokies had their best offensive quarter of the year and their worst offensive quarter of the year back-to-back against the Wolfpack.
Third quarter: 5.2 rush, 17.0 pass, 12.0 total
Fourth quarter: -2.0 rush, 2.0 pass, -0.5 total
https://twitter.com/ExcelSheetStats/status/1588193668694933504?s=20&t=tjo8EX_OM9SSTBTjfyCeQA
Virginia Tech showed what it’s capable of in that explosive 15-minute span. And the Hokies believe that one more dangerous quarter like that could ultimately be the thing that helps them turn the corner.
“I think it’s going to be a domino effect, to be honest with you,” De Iuliis said. “I thought that last week was going to be that game. Didn’t go our way, but there’s still so much opportunity for the same thing to happen.”
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The reason we lost is because NC State blitzed every play in the 4th quarter and our coaches did virtually nothing to counter it; no split screens, no bubble screens, no end arounds, no roll outs for Wells, nothing except maybe an extra blocker which didn’t work. The offense was off the field after only a minute being on the field on every play. NC State had the ball all quarter, wore the defense down, and that was it. I blame it ALL on the offensive coaches. So while the 3rd quarter was great, they showed they have very little ability to adjust mid-game. Our offensive coaches were holding all those pre-planned plays and change ups for the 3rd quarter, and they used them, and it worked. But when that was over, that was that…they simply cannot adjust mid-game for some reason.
Be nice if we could field a kickoff instead of
Fumble/recover/start inside the ten yard line. Might have won the game last week with better field position. Of course ten false starts and some inside the ten didn’t help. Hope the first string Jacket qb doesn’t play.
Hokies need a break as well as a spark.
5 of 12 in his best Qtr of football. His stats are pathetic. I don’t understand how coach can’t see that the QB inconsistency is killing us. We have to have something better on the roster. Sometimes you get surprised and don’t know what you have until you see it in live action…J. Herbert, G. Smith, K. Allen, to name a few. Season is over, give someone else a chance to show what they can do.
Yes, the passing game [not really Wells] is not smooth and not a well-oiled machine – it is not even a rough get it done machine. We hit a couple of deep balls, Grant bought time for himself. But, the nice slants, the outs, the bread and butter consistent passing game is not there. I think it is more due to a lack of real threats at WR. Not too much worry of our WR’s getting by anyone unless Grant buys time. Put someone out there with real speed and ability to separate, then some underneath routes start to open up. Too easy to say clamped down on these WR’s. I don’t think it is Grant – but not sure.
I’m thankful I turned the game off after the third quarter. I saw the writing on the wall.
And if I remember right – Houston had close to 526 rushing.
Takes me back to the Jimmy Sharpe days. His 2 favorite quotes ( used them both every week) were 1) We are getting better and better each week. 2) I’ve got the best bunch of boys I’ve ever had.
Sorry, but Don Strock set the all time VT passing record with 526 yards in a fall of 1972 game at Lane Stadium(freshman year for me). Final score was VT 27, Houston 27.
Burnop played in that game and had double figure catches.
Correct. David is searching the stats database provided by VT, which only goes back to 1987 and doesn’t include stats as far back as 1972. We’ll discuss this in the office to avoid this sort of error in the future.
I have removed that note from the article.
Strock had two very long passes dropped in that game too.
And if I remember right – Houston had close to 526 rushing.
The real question is where in the world is Connor Blumrick and WHY isnt he part of the backfield on key plays throughout the game? With our RB situation a complete disaster,you would think that Bowen would dial up some planned plays for him….I just cant understand for a moment what our Offensive coaches are thinking..so this week we are apparently counting on Keshawn King to save nus unless Wells can pass for 350 plus?
Someone said several weeks ago that Connor did not run his routes aggressively when he was not being targeted.
He has contributed very little all year. Why the campaign and complaint? He had numerous chances earlier in the year
That’s the point, one would think he’d be a match up problem, but never sees the field.
This offense could get hit by lightning and it would still be mediocre. The playmakers they have are not put in positions to be successful and they are not fooling anyone about what is coming. As Titans fans used to say in the time between Chris Johnson and Derrick Henry, “Run, Run, Pass, Punt” – VT has added a penalty per possession to the mix just for fun. NFL teams can’t be successful with an offensive scheme like VT is attempting to implement and they have much more talent everywhere.
It’s kinda funny how we are getting excited about a couple of home run jump ball plays. Can’t expect to win a lot of games without first downs and consistent drives down the field.
Three of those four quarter will really get after ya!
So…we are just 3 full quarters away now. I remember the good old days when we were one or two plays away.
Most of the third quarter yardage came on just two plays. While big chunk plays are nice to have, they are hard to replicate. Unless this offense demonstrates that it can grind out long, methodical drives with any consistency, it will continue to be a serious weakness.
Good point. So it is really like it has been all along, we just need more explosive plays.