Virginia Tech’s defense dominated the Georgia Tech offense, and Logan Thomas had a great game in a 17-10 win on Thursday night. The Hokies are now 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, while the Yellow Jackets dropped to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in league play.
No words can really put into perspective how good Bud Foster’s defense was against the GT offense on Thursday night, so I’ll just spit out some stats…
Rushing: 129 yards, 3.1 ypc (345.3 ypg, 5.7 ypc coming into the game)
Passing: 7-of-24, 144 yards, 2 interceptions
Total: 273 yards, 4.1 yards per play (484.7 ypg, 6.6 ypp coming into the game)
Derrick Hopkins destroyed the interior of the Georgia Tech offensive line and shut down the inside running game, and the Hokies played disciplined football against the outside pitch plays. Georgia Tech A-backs Robert Godhigh and B.J. Bostic combined for just five carries for 14 yards, while quarterback Vad Lee had 18 carries for 35 yards.
Lee hit a couple of big pass plays over free safety Detrick Bonner, who didn’t have his best game (two deep balls over his head, and two pass interference penalties), but Lee was just 7-of-24 and he threw two interceptions.
The Tech defense forced a fumble on Georgia Tech’s first possession, and the offense took advantage by scoring a touchdown on a 21 yard touchdown pass from Logan Thomas to D.J. Coles. Brandon Facyson made an amazing diving interception near the sideline on Georgia Tech’s second drive, and Kendall Fuller ended the game with an interception on a Hail Mary.
Georgia Tech managed just one touchdown against Bud Foster’s defense, and they were helped on that drive by a Jack Tyler offsides penalty on fourth and 1, and a Detrick Bonner pass interference on third and goal.
Despite the fact that Logan Thomas didn’t practice this week because of a strained abdomen, it didn’t stop the r-senior quarterback from having a big game in Atlanta. Thomas went 19-of-25 for 221 yards, with a touchdown and no interceptions. Two of his passes were dropped, he threw one pass away, and another incompletion came on a Hail Mary on the last play of the first half.
Not only did Thomas get it done through the air, but he also took control of things on the ground.
Logan Thomas: 16 carries, 58 yards, 1 TD
Demitri Knowles: 1 carry, 2 yards
Trey Edmunds: 6 carries, 1 yard
Chris Mangus: 2 carries, -2 yards
The Hokies never tried to establish a regular ground game. Most of Trey Edmunds’ carries came on obvious running situations when Tech was trying to burn clock. Scot Loeffler put this game in the hands of his quarterback, and he succeeded.
The Tech receivers also played a good game for their senior quarterback. Demitri Knowles led the group with five catches for 67 yards, including a big 28-yard catch over a Georgia Tech corner on a third down play on VT’s second touchdown drive. Here’s how the receiving numbers shake out…
Demitri Knowles: 5 catches, 67 yards
Willie Byrn: 4 catches, 44 yards
Kalvin Cline: 3 catches, 28 yards
D.J Coles: 2 catches, 34 yards, 1 TD
Joshua Stanford: 2 catches, 32 yards
Sam Rogers: 1 catch, 8 yards
Charley Meyer: 1 catch, 5 yards
Trey Edmunds: 1 catch, 3 yards
The Hokies scored on just two plays after the initial Georgia Tech turnover, and two drives later they went 91 yards in 10 plays to take a 14-0 lead after a five yard touchdown run by Logan Thomas.
That early second quarter touchdown was Virginia Tech’s last touchdown of the game, but they managed to tack on a second half field goal, and would have had another three points had Cody Journell not missed a 25 yard field goal that would have made the score 20-10. Frank Beamer decided to get conservative late in the game with the lead, but Journell’s miss gave Georgia Tech’s offense one final chance to tie or win the game.
However, the Virginia Tech defense came through once again, when Kendall Fuller intercepted Vad Lee on a 4th and 13 pass that put the final nail in the Yellow Jacket coffin.
The Hokies will take a much needed weekend off, and then they’ll welcome the North Carolina Tar Heels into Lane Stadium on Saturday, October 5. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:30pm, and the game will be televised by The ACC Network.
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I applaud the VT coaches on both sides of the ball; the offense played smart and the defense was the best since the Alabama game. This was a very encouraging game for the Hokies.
Kudos to Loeffler – a well designed gameplan. It was refreshing to see us play what the defense gave us, rather than attempting to “establish the run”.
Great win. The defense is playing amazing. There were a few things that have me concerned going into ACC play.
The D has an achilles heel and it’s Knowles. He is going to cost us a game. You can only dodge that bullet so long.
Logan, while looking much more confident, just doesn’t have QB insticts. He is what he is. Great kid, great athlete. Average QB at best. I dont care how many hitches he hits. To expect him to be the top tier QB everyone thought he’d be, isnt fair to him.
Journell has the yips.
I thought the first half play calling was very optimistic. Hope that continues.
Can you describe QB instincts for me?
Also I’m not going to argue what LT is or is not, but is there a QB in the game who is required to run more than LT? And I’m not talking scamper, slide, out of bounds…but really act like a full on RB/FB with a high number of carries AND then throw the ball? You wonder why he may be inaccurate at times….
How is Knowles an Achilles heel for the defense? He plays offense, last I looked.
I wonder if nhokie01j has named wrong player. Does he/she mean Bonner maybe instead of Knowles?
We are all so pleased with the Hokies really gutty performance last night that no one has even complained about the helmets. I hope we never see them again.
I’m here to eat my crow, and I’m lovin’ how it tastes! I had GT winning 24-3, but I vastly underestimated Bud’s defense. An absolutely masterful performance!! Way to go guys. Now go slap UNC around for some revenge next weekend.
Time of poss.: (VT) 28:38 – (GT) 31:22
Turnovers: (VT) 0 – (GT) 3
That’s a win on both counts for the good guys. Also, good special teams performance, overall (missed fg aside). Very satisfying victory!
Great Win Last Night….it’s great to have a couple of superstars on Bud’s Defense !
And thank you K Shores for all you have have done.
Great game by LT last night. So happy to see that. Like so many fans, I’ve been frustrated by his inconsistency. I hope this is a turning point for him his senior year (much like Bryan Randall had his senior season). This team reminds me a bit of the 2004 team. Early loss to a power house team in a game in which we seemed to be competitive (USC, Bama), a dominating defense, young wide receivers, no established super-stars at running back (i.e., no Suggs/Jones/Williams/Wilson-type player at that position), and a senior QB. I hope this team continues to gel and LT continues to put it all together as our leader. Go Hokies!
I disagree on the WRs. Those freshmen caught passes and most of them were drafted. Two of them started in the NFL and are still playing
Hopkins was unbelievable!
Can whoever edits the Roster Card please add #30, our kickoff specialist. He has been doing a great job all year.
Great win, great defense, great game by LT but the PK situation is still a mess and I’d like to have seen the RBs get more (effective) carries.
I love playing GT for one main reason, watching Bud and PJ go at it. PJ makes adjustments and Bud makes adjustments, and this seems to go on all game long. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Thankfully, we have the horses on defense to execute and they played lights out. Kudos to Logan for gutting it out, literally, and playing a great game. I had no idea he didn’t practice this week because of his abdomen injury. That’s called laying it all on the line for your brothers and the school.
I’m hesitant to say this here but I’m gonna say it anyway. To the very few who have slammed Logan, are you also willing to give him credit where credit is due? I hope so. That warrior deserves it.
Thanks Hokies for a helluva game.
Here here, everybody wants to blame Logan, I have been a LT defended for the last two years, Hokies played a great game!. When the O line picks up and guys get older, we should have a great O
Like I have been saying on posts lately- EVERYTHING WILL BE JUST FINE if the game comes down to whose Defense is better- yours or mine. Our defense is playing at too high of a level right now (lights out). They will take games over and EVERYthing will be just fine. Plus Bud just has Johnson number and Johnson hates it with a passion. Just need offense to keep playing methodical and have zero turnovers each game. This should allow time for the Offense to continue to survive and grow into their new form-its coming! Would have liked to have seen more HOKIES in the stands last night than what i saw. The weather and the city sky was perfect for last night’s game. My flag is flying high. Atlanta will hate me all weekend long!
Why didn’t Coleman play?
He did, just didn’t get the ball.
He did get run over by a GT linebacker on a blitz once though, as did Joel Caleb, both times leading to sacks of our QB. If there was one real negative about our offense last night, it’s that the pass blocking by our RBs left a lot to be desired. That absolutely must improve.
Yeah, he was in the game.
He did get in the game, no carries from what I can remember.
Looking forward to seeing who gets helmet stickers. Lots of deserving candidates in this game. Go Hokies!
Thomas, Knowles, Byrn….
D Hop, Fuller the elder, Branden the Young!
defense great. lets not forget the punter. also, efficient offense without a consistent running game is what you expect from a senior leader. This team can still get better.
Heard David Pollack say he thought VT defense was the best in the nation, could have said it a couple times. Show of hands – Who thinks he’s right!
Huzzah!
Actually, it was Palmer who said that. (Just heard him as I’m watching the replay.)
They’re certainly a candidate.
Actually it was Palmer who said that.
When Logan’s On , this team rolls! Thank You Mr. Thomas and all that played last night in this great win. VT looks like the team that played back in 2004…Tough Bunch.
Notre Dame, Ole Miss, and Wisconsin should all lose this weekend. I think we are top 25 on Sunday. Great night for the Hokies!
seriously?
Don’t underestimate how many voters watched this game and not the last two.
We need one more win before we have that discussion
Who cares about ratings anyway?
I hope that Ole Miss wins, but I guess an Miss loss would help us
Where are the LT and CFB haters ? I guess they are in the kitchen eating a little crow.
Easy now! We’re all Hokies here. Time to celebrate, not pick a fight.
Never a hater but last night showed why the NFL scouts were drooling a couple of years ago. We were close to the field and could actually watch him read through his progressions.
Gotta say hats off to Ted Roof, their D is way better than it has been. If they had that D a few years ago they would really have been dangerous.
Saying Bonner didn’t have his best game is an understatement. When GT broke huddle with 4 wide and Bonner had man coverage we knew the ball was going to that receiver. Fuller bailed him out on the pick at the end because he was beat again.
Hopkins was a beast in the game and Mr. Knowles impressed me going up and taking that ball. I think he’s going to be a pretty good receiver by the end of the year.
Sorry, sounded too harsh on Mr. Bonner. My apologizes – he isn’t getting paid for this. I’m sure Coach Gray will get things sorted out.
I don’t think you were too harsh on Bonner. He definitely had a bad game as was the one sore spot for our D last night. GT knew that coming into the game and capitalized on that. Luckily, overall, the Hokie D was able to contain the entire offense enough to not make Bonner’s weak play a reason to lose the game.
I think it’s fair to be really tough on him, the same way it’s fair to be tough on an average student because there are 15 other students ruining the curve! For the most part, the Hokie D should grade out A+ last night, but Bonner should come out with a C. He just doesn’t seem to have the natural ability (or taught ability) to cover a man well. Lately he seems like he can never turn to see where the ball is when he is playing good coverage (Marshall), which puts you in some bad situations because that is one of the first things refs are looking for when trying to decide if the defender is playing good D or interfering. As far as I know, only REALLY good defenders can play good coverage with never turning to see where the ball is, and Bonner isn’t one of those guys.
Let’s not forget, that’s why they moved Bonner to safety. Really good kid and probably lose to UVA last year without him when he was lights out.
Agree 100%. If Bonner had better instincts back there, this game would not have been as close as it was.
He did do a great job tackling at the line. He just isn’t natural in coverage. It would have been nice to have Exum back for this game just to play coverage.
Thanks for correcting yourself on Bonner. That 1st PI call in the endzone was probably an arm on the shoulder of the receiver. I didn’t see any other angles but many times that call is made just because the arm is on the receiver. There’s no rule against touching, having a hand on the receiver. The foul occurs when a push or pull on the receiver occurs. Still, DBs have to be careful in that situation. The 2nd PI call Bonner should have been looking for the ball. It looked like the receiver slowed down because the ball was under thrown and Bonner ran up his back. Bigger picture is that Os are going after Bonner but Coach Gray and Bud will sort that out. Fuller didn’t bail him out, that was the adjustment for that time of the game – had a guy playing centerfield on purpose, for a reason, not by luck. It’s no different than leaving a back in to help on OT double team a stud DE so he doesn’t kill your QB.
Factually, Fuller made the play like he is supposed to on an under thrown ball and has great instincts in the backfield. Bonner, yet again, had no idea where the ball was and was completely lost on that last play.
He was also playing out of position. He is a Safety for a reason… coverage down the field (CB style) is NOT his strength… Fuller was up in Whip (thank goodness!). I got mad at Bonner a couple of times myself, but had to remember that he WAS playing out of position. In all honesty, I think GT did a good job finding maybe the ONLY soft spot in our defense, and hammering at it all game long.
Detrick will be much better when he can go back to his regular spot…..these injuries are talking their toll; even on a defense as deep as ours!
thanks Hokies, Buds defense won another game for frank.Great overall performance guys.
Frank showed more trust in his assistants last night than any time that I can remember.
Wow! Great win over an always tough opponent. Logan looked like the guy we’ve all wanted him to be, and the D was AWESOME! Still have work to do, but thanks for making this a good early weekend!
Great win for Hokie Nation! I was really impressed with how coaches prepared on such a short week! I think Loeffler called a great game with O and found ways to move the ball with the talent he has. Obviously, I would like to see running game much stronger, but it is what it is this year. Great timing for having longer prep time for UNC game! As usual, “Bud is da man!”.