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HOKIES WIN! VT leaves Lynchburg victorious

Over the course of the 2022 season, Virginia Tech has lost an unfortunate number of games in which Orange and Maroon were superior to opposing colors.

Their opponent Saturday, Liberty, had been on the opposite side of Lady Luck, with an 8-2 record that included sneaking by a bad FCS team, and three other victories by a single score in which the Flames had not been superior.

Luck flipped for both squads. Virginia Tech wasn't always the better team, but managed to go on the road and secure a 23-22 victory.

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The game followed what has been an all-too familiar script this season: VT scored first, and built a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter, but allowed a kickoff return touchdown immediately, and a field goal moments before the break to merely be tied at halftime. Liberty earned a safety and a field goal to take a five-point lead, and with four straight scores for the Flames, Virginia Tech fans were all-too familiar with how this one was going to play out.

Only... it didn't. Jalen Holston scored the go-ahead touchdown - his third of the game - midway through the fourth quarter, and the Hokies kept Liberty from responding.

A +2 turnover margin in the fourth quarter (+3 if you count a turnover on downs) showed that this wasn't the same Hokies team that had entered three previous final frames with a lead, only to lose by a single score - in two of them, a single point. The Hokies' pair of strip-sacks were a throwback to the Lunch Pail Defenses of yore, and along with a first-half fake field goal, harkened to the halcyon days of BeamerBall.

There's still plenty to work on. Quarterback Grant Wells completed 14/20 passes for 148 yards, but his offensive line (and an extremely rough receiving corps) left him exposed for six sacks. Although he had the three scores, Jalen Holston left a ton of yardage on the field en route to 3.8 yards per carry. Keshawn King was healthy enough for just 11 carries and four catches (Holston caught two passes himself, but also had a pair of drops). Defensively, the Hokies held Liberty within a point of their season low scoring total, but had trouble handling backup quarterback Kaidon Salter on the ground.

All told, though, this is a Virginia Tech season that has dipped into "moral victory" territory, so getting a literal victory is something the Orange and Maroon won't turn their noses up at.

One final chance for victory - possibly - looms in Lane Stadium next weekend. The status of the Commonwealth Cup game against Virginia remains up in the air. The Cavaliers canceled their game this weekend after three players were shot to death in Charlottesville on Monday, and Hokie Nation would certainly be understanding if UVa's program called it a year, with neither squad fighting toward bowl eligibility.

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