That was a really fun trip to a great city, but someone threw a lousy football game into the middle of my vacation weekend.

The Monday morning quarterbacking is pretty simple: the Hokies were outprepared, outcoached, and outplayed early and late. Vanderbilt had a game plan that anticipated Tech’s offensive and defensive game plan, and because of that, their players played with confidence and executed well, though they did make mistakes here and there.

On the other hand, Virginia Tech’s coaches got caught with their pants down, didn’t have a great game plan, didn’t adjust well, and made some critical mistakes during the game. The Hokies were beaten at the line of scrimmage, played on their heels defensively, and weren’t aggressive enough offensively early in the game.

There’s talk about how the Hokie players were flat, didn’t have a sense of urgency or show emotion, etc. I don’t fully fault the players for that. Players want to play and are excited every time the ball is kicked off to start a game.

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