BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech tight end Ja’Ricous Hairston grew up in NASCAR country, about 10 miles from Martinsville Speedway. His assessment of the Hokies’ offense is not only steeped in those racin’ roots, but also spot-on.
“Sometimes,” Hairston said, “it seems like a cylinder is misfiring.”
Sometimes. Too many times, and never more so than Saturday at Lane Stadium, where Virginia Tech fell to No. 16 Louisville 28-16.
The Hokies gained a season-low 240 yards, passed for their fewest yards (76) since a 2023 loss at Louisville and went scoreless during a second half in which the Cardinals scored 21 points.
“That’s the No. 16 team in the country,” interim coach Philip Montgomery said, “and we gave them everything they could handle.”
Sort of. For a half.
Thanks to a defense that turned stout after Isaac Brown sprinted 52 yards for a touchdown on Louisville’s second snap, Tech went to intermission leading 16-7. Kyron Drones ran for a score and threw for another, P.J. Prioleau blocked a punt for a safety, Isaiah Cash intercepted Miller Moss, and defensive tackle Kody Huisman stoned backup quarterback Deuce Adams on a fourth-and-1.
Tech, in Montgomery’s words, “controlled the physicality and momentum” during the first half. But as this Hokies season has reminded folks, halftime margins, even those of multiple scores, often are meaningless.
Virginia Tech led Vanderbilt by 10 at halftime and lost by 24, and trailed Cal by 10 at recess before winning by eight in overtime. The lesson: Talent usually prevails, and Louisville has as much talent as any ACC squad.
The Cardinals (7-1, 4-1 ACC) are the third playoff-caliber opponent Virginia Tech (3-6, 2-3) has encountered this season, joining Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. The Commodores and Yellow Jackets overwhelmed the Hokies with superior rosters headlined by force-of-nature quarterbacks Diego Pavia and Haynes King, both of whom could land in New York as Heisman Trophy finalists come December.
Louisville’s Moss doesn’t occupy that realm, but he’s blessed with teammates such as running backs Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown, receiver Chris Bell and receiver/return specialist Caullin Lacy.
The Browns (unrelated) combined for 220 yards rushing and three touchdowns; Bell contributed a game-high eight receptions, and Lacy caught a touchdown pass and broke a 63-yard punt return that set up Louisville’s go-ahead score in the third quarter.
“When he gets vertical, it’s scary,” Montgomery said of Lacy, whose 106 punt-return yards are the most Tech has yielded in 12 years.
The Cardinals’ depth was most evident in the fourth quarter, when Isaac Brown limped off the field, and an illegal block below the waist saddled them with a first-and-25 on their own 35. Keyjuan Brown followed with successive runs of 20, 17, 4 and 24 yards, the latter carry for the lights-out touchdown.
Tech had multiple opportunities to stress Louisville after intermission, but Donavon Greene dropped a deep pass on third-and-10 — Drones’ “I can’t believe it” reaction spoke volumes — and on the next snap, Lacy busted his punt return to the Hokies’ 5.
Tech’s final gasp on offense came on a fourth-and-3 at Louisville’s 38. The Cardinals blanketed the intended receiver, Hairston, forced Drones to run and stuffed him for a 1-yard gain.
“Put that one on me,” Montgomery said. “Maybe I should have called a better play.”
Perhaps, but Montgomery is playing a weak hand. Conversely, Louisville coach Jeff Brohm, a native of the city and former Cardinals quarterback, has aces everywhere he turns.
Louisville won at Miami and is the only team to best James Madison. The Cardinals stumbled at home against Virginia, but that was an overtime contest in which they gift-wrapped two defensive touchdowns for the Cavaliers and missed a 42-yard field goal.
While the Hokies enter their second open date before playing Nov. 15 at Florida State, their fans remain obsessed with the program’s coaching search — hard to blame them — and the incessant chatter that recently deposed Penn State coach James Franklin could be Blacksburg-bound sooner rather than later.
Virginia Tech not vetting a prospect of Franklin’s stature — he led the Nittany Lions to five top-10 finishes in 11-plus years, this after reviving Vanderbilt — would be malpractice. Through Franklin’s lens, the Hokies are an established brand with rabid fans and, most enticing to a coach, a university board that recently vowed to infuse the athletic department with an additional $229.2 million over the next four years.
Now is Franklin, not knowing what other jobs might open — we’re looking at you, Auburn, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Florida State — willing to cede leverage and sign a contract now? That seems less likely than the parties having mutual interest.
After FSU, Tech closes the season against Miami and Virginia, both among the top 25 and, like Louisville, more talented than the Hokies.
“That’s the thing about this team,” Tech receiver Takye Heath said. “When we face great players, we attack the challenge.”
The longer the season goes, the steeper the challenge becomes.
David Teel, david.teel@virginiamedia.com
