You knew this game was going to be different from the very first play from
scrimmage, when the Hokies sent David Clowney deep and Sean Glennon reared back
and completed a 60-yarder to the Duke five yard line. It was a
shut-up-and-sit-down play call and execution from offensive coordinator Bryan
Stinespring and Glennon, both of whom came under criticism this past week for
the lack of punch in the Hokie offense.

From that point on, Glennon did as much as a young quarterback can do to
silence his critics and encourages his supporters. His final statistics were
strong (15-of-25 for 301 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT), but beyond the numbers, you
could see him settle in and start to play with confidence as the game went on.

After his opening bomb to Clowney, Glennon took time to find the throttle. He
struggled to get his timing down, throwing an incompletion and then an
interception on Tech’s second possession, when he was too late to deliver the
ball to an open receiver down the middle, and he complicated his mistake by
underthrowing his pass. Duke thiefmaster John Talley picked the pass off, and
everything Glennon had earned with the long pass to Clowney was canceled out.

On the Hokies’ next possession, Glennon threw another incompletion, then
did a nice job of avoiding the rush on a third and seven. Glennon broke out of
the pocket and angled for the first down marker on the sideline, but he failed
to sell out for the first down and came up short. It was, I thought, the biggest
mistake he made all day, not knowing where the first down marker was and not
committing to keeping the drive alive.

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