It’s hard to win if you don’t score, and that’s two consecutive ACC opponents who have put up a big fat goose egg against a Virginia Tech defense that has improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season. 

One of the biggest questions we got in the offseason was “how much do you think the Tech defense can improve from last season?”  We all knew they’d improve, but how much?  I assumed they’d improve from bad to somewhere around average, but I was wrong.  This has turned into a pretty darn good stop unit, and their total defense ranking of No. 35, while good, doesn’t do justice to how well this defense is playing right now.

The improvement at certain positions was evident early in the year.  Jermaine Waller and Caleb Farley looked a lot better from day one, and the improvement at defensive tackle was clear in the first game against Boston College.  A couple of the other positions took some more time to improve, but once Reggie Floyd and Dax Hollifield rounded into form at their key positions on the boundary side for the Hokies, this defense really took off. 

The best defenses overwhelm the opposing offense, and that’s exactly what happened to Georgia Tech and Pitt over the last two weeks.  They were overwhelmed with dominant coverage on the outside, Bud’s blitzes are starting to have effect, and the Hokies’ communication and decision making in zone coverage has gotten a lot better.  When all those things come together, it makes for a good defense, and probably the only thing holding back this group is the lack of an elite pass rusher at defensive end.  Oh, if only they could have kept Patrick Jones II of Pitt in-state.  A guy like that would take us over the top.

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