This was a nice breather before going into a stretch of seven straight ACC games. A lot of the same bugaboos showed themselves, such as penalties, turnovers, and a propensity to give up drives at the end of a half or the game, but in the end, the Hokies settled down and put this one away behind a strong second-half running game.

There’s a black lining in this silver cloud, though. Shai McKenzie tore an ACL late in the game and will miss the rest of the season, and Ryan Malleck was only able to go a few plays before exiting the game for good.

In the end, the Hokies got a W and are now three wins away from bowl eligibility, but I wonder if much progress was made in this game. It feels more like a placeholder to me, and the loss of McKenzie puts a pall over it.

...