Share on your favorite social network:

Well, the good news is that when Tech plays Stanford in the Orange Bowl, this time the Cardinal won’t have Andrew Luck.

Whew. Count me among those who thought the Hokies were past the days of falling prey to embarrassing upsets. There was a bit of a perfect storm thing going on here, with ODU just making play after play on top of VT missteps. Before the defense wore down, LaRussa was taking hits like it was the late 90s in the Terrordome…and he still threw perfect passes.

I thought about detailing the defensive collapse, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I’m going to focus on Ryan Willis in this recap, with an eye towards the future. The season basically hinges on him now. Let’s see what he brings to the table.

First Series

1st & 10 at VT 33

(12:41 – 4th) Steven Peoples run for 1 yd to the VT 34

Willis fields the snap cleanly, gets the ball to Peoples, and follows through with his fake on this short carry. In itself, it’s not much of a play, but in the bigger picture it’s good not seeing any jitters like cadence issues or a bad mesh.

2nd & 9 at VT 34

(12:09 – 4th) Ryan Willis run for 4 yds to the VT 38

He boots to the right/field looking for options; not seeing any, he pumps and turns upfield. The ODU mike meets him and Willis gets some yards after contact. This is a “get in the groove” kind of play, since it gives Willis