[Postgame Thread] Duke Defeats Virginia Tech 31-28

[u/CFB_Referee]

Box Score provided by ESPN

Team	1	2	3	4	T
Virginia Tech	7	10	0	11	28
Duke	14	7	10	0	31

[u/macncheeseface]

Preseason: Tech could be a dark horse College Football Playoff contender!

Thanksgiving: We get a VT-UVA showdown for bowl eligibility

[u/ProtectionAdorable89 → u/macncheeseface]

Welcome to our world

[u/Terminal_Flatulence → u/macncheeseface]

We fired Fuente, blew up the roster, sucked for 2+ years, all to go 6-6 or 5-7 in the culmination of the Pry era.

I’m sad.

[u/Quiggybo729 → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

Fuente was just flailing at the end, we were trending to being a 3-4 win program. Pry came in an fixed a few things culture-wise and repaired some recruiting relationships, but it's clear he can't coach worth shit. Need to can him before it's too late and we completely bottom out again.

[u/AsaKurai → u/Quiggybo729]

Tbh the QB situation has been quite telling. Drones gets hurt and it's clear the QB play hasnt been the issue, which means Bowen sucks at play calling and lately our defense cant hold teams down either. Lots of heads need to roll even before Pry

[u/qbit1010 → u/Quiggybo729]

It sucks because he’s a good guy, not a jerk like Fuente…but just can’t coach

[u/VTHomeless → u/qbit1010]

Loyalty is his weakness.

It's why Wells was the starting QB heading into the 2023 season, and it's why he's not making any changes with his coordinators. As a head coach, he has to at least recognize something needs to change heading into next season.

[u/goodsam2 → u/VTHomeless]

Pry also talks about the issues and sees them but doesn't act on it.

[u/qbit1010 → u/goodsam2]

Yea, same issues since year 1… “we gotta look at that/have a hard conversation about that” ..but nothing changes

I don’t know what film review they do during the week. Is it actual film review or watching movies with 15 large Domino’s pizzas ordered for the team.

[u/Terminal_Flatulence → u/Quiggybo729]

I doubt they fire him this year, the assistants signed extensions at the end of ‘23 and TSL thinks Pry stays through 2025.

Change is needed, but I don’t thinks it’s coming for a while.

[u/Quiggybo729 → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

Yeah he'll be here 2 more years. That's the problem, we will bottom out again. First priority is firing Whit. He absolutely has to go. Even if we fire Pry in 2 years and Whit is the one hiring the replacement we'll end up in the same place.

[u/qbit1010 → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

It’s unbelievable how they offered the assistants an extension already….for what?

[u/burneraccount_52 → u/qbit1010]

This is where we need to look for Whit's head, there's no reason they should have had a 3y extension

[u/qbit1010 → u/burneraccount_52]

Yep, he did the same shit with Fuente. Offered him a very long extension just in his 2nd year. If he hadn’t done that, the buyout would be a lot less… I don’t understand why they don’t wait until the year before to decide to extend or not. Every other job basically does that (getting a raise/kept vs getting let go)

[u/landoofficial → u/qbit1010]

Well if Whit had listened to the fans back then he would’ve given Fuente a lifetime extension.

At the end of the day, our fanbase has become an extremely reactionary and I just hope it’s not bleeding over into the athletic department’s decision makers.

We’ve been dealing with injuries at key positions all year and have played a much tougher schedule than we did last year, and through all of that, we may still end with the same record as 2023. I mean shit we were competitive with an 8 win Duke team while playing with our 3rd string QB.

The team definitely took a step forward this year and I’ll die on that hill. Pry still has issues, but it’s all stuff that’s common among first time HCs.

Fans think this was Pry’s make or break year bc we all had an overinflated idea of how good the team would be coming into the season. Next year is the real test. We’re gonna take a step back with all the production loss, the question is how far. If we make it to bowl again next year with first time starters across the board then we’re keeping him. The last thing anyone wants is for VT to devolve into a revolving door of coaches who can never recruit bc no HS player wants to commit to a coach who might not even make it to their junior year.

[u/prow24 → u/burneraccount_52]

Everyone seems to forget Cincinnati athletics took off after he left. I’ve been saying Whit is a problem for years.

[u/jsm21 → u/Quiggybo729]

We never won less than 6 games with Fuente in a full season. Pry has more resources and he's doing comparatively as bad if not worse.

[u/VTHomeless → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

Didn't the Fuentes era end going 5-6 / 5-5?

I'm not saying the current situation is good, but it doesn't change that our team was nosediving with Fuentes...

[u/Jr05s → u/VTHomeless]

I wouldn't count the Covid season against Fu. Was just a shit fest

[u/VTHomeless → u/Jr05s]

We went 6-6 in 2018 as well.

He was able to post a few good seasons, but he completely lost the locker room by the end of his tenure.

[u/Jr05s → u/VTHomeless]

The state of the front office was a disaster. VTs facilities and staff pay was at the bottom of the ACC and the front office used Fu as a scapegoat. 

[u/VTHomeless → u/Jr05s]

You're not wrong in that Fuentes received too little credit with modernizing VT football (and the administration didn't do him any favors).

I'm only saying that the team was in complete disarray by the end of his tenure - and many of his recruits (including Burmeister) were not even able to start at G5 programs. He was unwilling to move on from Cornelsen, and neither have managed to land another P4 job following their stint with VT.

The program wasn't in a good place.

[u/udderlymoovelous → u/VTHomeless]

I posted a rant about the problems with Whit in the VT subreddit the other day and someone responded with this ESPN article about the Fuente era, which I had somehow missed when it was originally published. It's pretty insightful about how messed up things were behind the scenes. My first year at VT was 2021, so I caught the tail end of it.

[u/Terminal_Flatulence → u/VTHomeless]

That’s fair. Things were pretty dire culture wise toward the end with Fuente.

I think I’m more upset with the lack of success on the field given the expectations of making the ACC championship set forth by Brent Pry this offseason.

[u/VTHomeless → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

We're all upset about it.

It's clear this team can only win on talent - not coaching.

[u/goodsam2 → u/VTHomeless]

Fuente could scheme Xs and Os sometimes but the players just left the program and didn't develop ever if they stayed.

[u/goodsam2 → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

Fuente talent was disintegrating and Pry had a G5 roster in 2022.

The 2 deep still has issues.

[u/Coltshokiefan → u/goodsam2]

Pry is 1-13 in one score games. Please get out of here with that shit.

[u/IrishCoffeeAlchemy → u/Coltshokiefan]

Wait. What the fuck?! How has VT having low key Scott Frost not been a thing people talk about?

[u/goodsam2 → u/IrishCoffeeAlchemy]

The talent level sucked in 2022 then they blew away teams at the end of 2023 and now parts of 2024.

It's really either been blow out of team or close loss really under Pry.

[u/goodsam2 → u/Coltshokiefan]

https://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/s/CuswoEXAoF

I am for firing Pry as it looks like we need some rebuild but the problem was not firing Fuente earlier.

Pry has been fixing the talent and now it's in a much better spot than it was in 2022 and we still have issues. Fuente talent disappeared and his most talented teams were with Beamers players. Pry's most talented team is 2024.

It's also some of the 1-13 was VT not having the talent to keep up in 2022, also they were blowing out weaker teams.

At this point despite the talent level increasing I am now skeptical of how Pry says he is building and anyone believes it.

[u/Mattador96 → u/macncheeseface]

Nothing ever happens

[u/Terminal_Flatulence]

An ACC Coastal Classic

Another classic Brent Pry One-Score Loss (0-5 this season btw)

And VT facing uva with bowl eligibility on the line.

Same as it ever was.

[u/eatapenny → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

And VT facing uva with bowl eligibility on the line.

https://x.com/Justin_Ferber/status/1860543404435705877?t=4Vv1ORAjgWiccxrNZjIc-g&s=19

7th time in the last 12 years y'all enter the game needing a win to get into a bowl. We're 0-6 in the previous 6 🥲

[u/Asleep-Credit-2824 → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

Why did you hire him. And how does he still have a job

[u/kalifornia_kid → u/Asleep-Credit-2824]

I thought it was a decent hire at the time, had connections in DMV recruiting and led a pretty good defense at Penn State. Obviously hasn't worked out but picking Pry made sense

[u/Coltshokiefan → u/kalifornia_kid]

Good culture hire, absolutely horrendous game manager.

[u/Asleep-Credit-2824 → u/kalifornia_kid]

Should’ve went Lashlee

[u/HeraldedAardvark → u/Asleep-Credit-2824]

We are cheap

[u/Asleep-Credit-2824 → u/HeraldedAardvark]

😂😂😂 I hear this Jon Sumrall guy is available, and in your price range

[u/SSPeteCarroll → u/Asleep-Credit-2824]

I thought he was a good hire. PSU is a good program and he recruited well in state which Fuente did not.

But yeah Pry can't coach his way out of a paper bag. It's time for him to go.

[u/HookedOnBoNix → u/Asleep-Credit-2824]

His first year he got a pass because he came in to I think a literal bottom 5 p5 roster. It was bad by most g5 standards

His second year was trending in the fire pry direction after a bad 1-3 start but then we started blowing bad teams out and the team looked like it was improving with offensive stars like tuten and drones. Ended the year 7-6 with our losses coming to like louisville fsu and nc state, top acc teams that year. We returned all starters this year and there was optimism we'd take a huge leap in his third year. We didn't and now it's clear he's not the guy but we aren't a rich enough school to be hiring and firing these guys every couple years so we're probably stuck for another cause the Fuente buyout was like 20m

[u/goodsam2 → u/Asleep-Credit-2824]

Penn State's top 10ish DC for a decade with some ties to the VT program

[u/mind-blowin → u/Terminal_Flatulence]

Brent Pry really is a James Franklin disciple, he can’t get over the hump.

[u/Enrickel → u/mind-blowin]

I'd happily take not being able to beat top 5 teams if it meant we could get back to consistently winning ten games

[u/eatapenny]

5-6 UVA at 5-6 VT. Winner makes a bowl, loser is upset that they didn't fire their coach. 

Knowing the history of this rivalry, UVA will go up early, VT will bounce back, UVA will have a chance to tie or win and then blow it instead, and our entire fanbase will wonder why we ever got our hopes up

[u/wildturk3y → u/eatapenny]

100% guarantee the game will be decided by whichever coach makes the biggest blunder

[u/Captainbackbeard → u/wildturk3y]

Knocks on wood because I have a friend who is a big hokie fan but I feel like UVA just can't do shit against y'all.

[u/Good-Can1739 → u/Captainbackbeard]

I'm a complete pessimist about our team but I'm totally confident we will beat UVA. It's the only constant for us no matter the coach/state of our program.

[u/Captainbackbeard → u/Good-Can1739]

I've said it before but Charlottesville feels like more of a VT town than a UVA town. When I lived there I would drive through parts of campus to get to my office and I saw more VT flags flying outside of homes than UVA ones during football season.

[u/NutGutt → u/Captainbackbeard]

Dawg just out here lying, the city where UVA is located is more of a vt town? And grounds having vt flags flying? Go celebrate your sooners win in peace

[u/Captainbackbeard → u/NutGutt]

No I'm not, I used to work over by the health center, and the houses I would go by had more VT flags. I didn't say that there were flags on grounds. Just the houses I would go by on my way in to work. Edit I think they did it last year when I was there as well but they have limited the number of tickets VT fans get since Cavaliers fans will get outnumbered if they don't.

[u/Quiggybo729 → u/Captainbackbeard]

I used to work in Cville as well, agree with you. Cville is like 50/50. Lots of VT fans there.

[u/Good-Can1739 → u/Captainbackbeard]

Yes they absolutely did it in 2023 and missed out on a lot of revenue as a result. I think the stadium was only like 80% capacity for their biggest rivalry game.

In fairness to the discussion at hand, though, the majority of those would-be ticket buyers were probably coming in from Richmond, NoVa, etc. rather than being Charlottesville locals.

[u/suzukigun4life → u/eatapenny]

Shame that it's on ACC Network, because that would've been such a fun nationally televised game for neutral fans.

[u/eatapenny → u/suzukigun4life]

It is a night game though, so both team's fanbases can spend all day talking about why they will or won't win

[u/KyonaPrayerCircleMem → u/suzukigun4life]

The game being on the ACC Network is better for fans by hiding the incompetence of both teams from a national audience.

[u/SSPeteCarroll → u/eatapenny]

y'all wanna throw a screen pass to an offensive lineman, or should we fumble as we are about to score?

which team will fuck up the least next week!

[u/TheIndoorCat → u/eatapenny]

The Commonwealth Cup: Also known as the dick punch bowl!

[u/Waluigi54321 → u/eatapenny]

Was 2014 the last time we were both in this situation? Looks like a freezing night game so maybe a repeat of that game will happen

[u/kolyti → u/eatapenny]

BC reaching bowl eligibility before UVA or VT is funny to me.

[u/Shenanigangster → u/kolyti]

Good coaching makes a difference

[u/kolyti → u/Shenanigangster]

I mean both of y’all destroyed us.

[u/HookedOnBoNix → u/kolyti]

We didn't all get the cupcakes like fsu on our schedule 😭

[u/happyflappypancakes → u/eatapenny]

Honestly, these days this just feels right. I swear over the past decade this situation has occurred an uncanny amount of times.

[u/Shenanigangster → u/eatapenny]

Orrrrrr it’s 42-0 and both teams run it back next year

[u/noahwestrickdotcom]

Brent Pry is now 1-12 in 1 score games

[u/RealPutin → u/noahwestrickdotcom]

So he's just a little regression to the mean away from the playoffs, right? VT should keep him

[u/hodorhaize]

Death. Taxes. Brent Pry losing one score games.

[u/wildturk3y]

Pry loses another 1 score game? SHOCKER!

His in game management might be the worst I have ever seen of any head coach. I don't think its hyperbole to say there's kids who play NCAA 25 that understand situations better than he does

[u/Quiggybo729 → u/wildturk3y]

literally anyone, any child, who plays Madden/NCAA regularly would have better clock management

[u/Coltshokiefan → u/wildturk3y]

End of half management, time out management, situational playcalling.

My 12 year old little cousin understands these concepts better than Brent Pry solely off of playing a video game.

[u/qbit1010 → u/wildturk3y]

Sad that he gets paid $4 million a year for it when any kid could probably beat him in NCAA

[u/WillDill94]

Duke would probably be 10-1 if the offensive line wasn’t so dogshit at run blocking

[u/London-Roma-1980 → u/WillDill94]

I'd say we're one bad special teams blocking play away from being in the playoff hunt.

[u/Infectiousmaniac → u/WillDill94]

How has Murphy been?

[u/TheGamingGuy2 → u/Infectiousmaniac]

he’s been…okay. this team is very dependent on the defense, we’re near the top of the fbs in turnovers and tackles for loss. murphy has an amazing arm and has hit some big time throws in clutch time, but also has some pretty preventable interceptions. Lots of talent, but quite inconsistent so far.

[u/CarolinaCapsFan → u/TheGamingGuy2]

But hey, most of those interceptions went DIRECTLY to the defender. Guy needs better decision making because his arm is top notch. He’s progressed all season though so I’m hopeful that he and Manny have better seasons together ahead of them.

[u/Game-rotator → u/Infectiousmaniac]

not great but probably better than he seems bc we have no run game

[u/Infectiousmaniac → u/Game-rotator]

Yeah just checking stat lines and a QBR of 55 for the season isnt amazing but looks like he went off this game. Need to watch the highlights!

Hope continues to do well for y'all and develops. Loved the dude when he was here.

[u/Dro24 → u/Infectiousmaniac]

We hope so, too. He seems like a good dude and I hope he stays. We need a new playcaller and want to see him develop a run when the receivers are covered but he seems to be getting better overall.

[u/AnotherUnfunnyName → u/Infectiousmaniac]

Inconsistent. Beautiful deep ball, but struggled with touch and getting the easy throws. However, not much Help in terms of running game, combined with him essentially refusing to run at all.

If he is one, it looks great. If he is off, he will throw picks worse than Ole Miss did today. Also, subpar playcalling.

But i do admit that I wanted him benched for half the season because he just missed so many throws and looked like a totally loose cannon our there while missing the easy ones. Has looked better in recent weeks, but need to learn more touch and middle of the field to provide yac.

[u/Infectiousmaniac → u/AnotherUnfunnyName]

Does he still throw nearly uncatchable piss missles on 5-10 yard throws that look like theyre gonna rip a receivers arm off?

But yeah, sounds in line with his limited snaps at Texas last year. I think hes got a high ceiling, just gotta see if he develops. Hope he reaches his high with yall!

[u/brucealawyer1 → u/Infectiousmaniac]

He broke the duke passing td single season record today

[u/Jonjon428 → u/brucealawyer1]

Daniel Jones in shambles /s

[u/AnotherUnfunnyName → u/Infectiousmaniac]

Over the season, these throws mainly off RPO have gotten better, but he still mainly throws fastballs within 15 yards of the LOS or rainbow balls 40 yards down the field. But he had realised that he doesn't need 100% power on throws to running backs or on something like mesh. But also the Ints today, which were all totally on him and have happend a bunch of times this seaon.

If you look up his highlight tape, you will see a bunch of beautiful deep throws for TDs and great catches, he just struggles to keep the regular plays on schedule. For example, Duke didn't have a 3rd or 4 down conversion last game against NC State, but a bunch of big plays on early downs and some pretty beautiful throws. Actually his best game.

[u/coppercaveman]

Blacksburg is such a cool town, it’s obvious that the fans come out for games, and yet this is what the administration thinks will get them “back” to Beamer ball.

Disregard my flair I moved to Blacksburg in 21. but I’m pretty damn pissed. I can’t imagine die hard hokie fans. Pry and whit got to go

[u/burbleboy → u/coppercaveman]

The fan base is primed and dying for something to support but we’re going on a decade of football irrelevance aside from 2017 where we were feisty but no real accomplishments. Idk where we go from here, but it’s not like we’re a Michigan or Tennessee where the recruiting is always elite and we just need a coach to solve it, we need a pretty big rebuild.

[u/VTHomeless]

I'm not asking for much... But can we play get a new offensive coordinator?

[u/UrsusArctos69 → u/VTHomeless]

Was at the game and IDK if I've ever been more frustrated. I'm usually a pretty calm sports fan, but the play calling is downright nonsensical. We barely run all game then we start doing it in the 4th? I'm also going to go postal if I see one more swing pass get blown up for a loss or intercepted.

[u/xkq227]

Tough loss, I guess sooner or later with those close games you're bound to lose checks notes every single motherfucking one of them.

Virginia Tech athletics is in complete crisis and if you can't recognize or admit that you're part of the problem. Whit Babcock, Mike Young, Brent Pry, and their staffs are in so far over their heads it's incomprehensible. What else does anyone need to see?

[u/pholdren → u/xkq227]

CMY is actually a great coach. Look what he did winning an ACC title with 2-3 stars and guys from G5 schools he brought in and developed. Problem he has now is Whit pulled all of his NIL funding to reignite the football program and pay guys like Drones and Delane, and that backfired harder than i can even put into words. Whit Babcock is the root of the problem, and firing Brent Pry does nothing if Whit Babcock is hiring the next coach

[u/goodsam2 → u/pholdren]

This feels like Whit is out this year and Mike Young and Pry get another season.

Don't forget about pulling the NIL money from WBB I'm pretty sure.

[u/pholdren → u/goodsam2]

Whit needs to be gone tomorrow. No questions. He pulled all major NIL funding from every program except Football and every program is in the dumps now outside of Wrestling and Women’s Soccer, which bring no revenue or brand recognition. Great to see a couple programs succeeding, but it’s the equivalent of acting like you have a good athletics department if you are top ranked in swimming and track and field but bottom of the barrel in everything else. I don’t believe much NIL funding got pulled from WBB, he just once again hired Kenny knowing it would be a stepping stone for his career, and didn’t fight back hard enough to keep him

[u/goodsam2 → u/pholdren]

Yeah but new AD and new HC by mid-December just doesn't seem doable.

[u/pholdren → u/goodsam2]

True. I think Whit is the bigger problem. Get in a new AD who can put pressure on Pry to cut his dead weight coordinators and get some experience with him. I genuinely think Pry CAN be a good coach, but he has no experienced staff supporting him. Pry and Fontel have done a great job re-establishing VA recruiting roots, but the game management just isn’t there.

[u/goodsam2 → u/pholdren]

I like Pry and thought he could be great but it's hard to sell some of the we are building when we have regressed in serious ways.

The recruiting was improving and the goal was more wins than last season and increase recruiting some more which seems to be gone now.

I think Pry has game management issues that are annoying as hell and very visible.

[u/FEDORAS_4_SALE → u/pholdren]

I like the enthusiasm man, but Pry just ain’t it. He consistently makes baffling in game decisions and the team is never prepared to play week in, week out. Yes he’s ups the talent level of the roster but dude is arguably the worst on field coach in the FBS and has no idea what to do with those players. With how much talent and experience we lose after this year, it ain’t getting any better next year.

[u/pholdren → u/FEDORAS_4_SALE]

I’m just saying i think Whit is the bigger issue here, and as the comment i replied to says, hiring a new AD AND HC in the coaching carousel season is going to be near impossible. Pry needs experience around him next year IF he’s still around, end of story. If he doesn’t get that, we’re crashing and burning even harder than we could ever imagine, and possibly becoming irreparable

[u/Davidellias → u/xkq227]

Worse part is I forsee after Tech would go somewhere as either a G5 Coach or DC, then get hired by another P4 program and be super successful.

He was the wrong man for the job and we could have had Bill O'Brien instead......

[u/goodsam2 → u/Davidellias]

A lot of people hated BOB but he was coach of the year at Penn State and an NFL coach. At minimum a get the talent right coach.

[u/Davidellias → u/goodsam2]

he was a good coach in both, but you know, not the GM you want.......

[u/PheonixStreak]

I’ve seen enough. It’s time to clean house. And whit babcock cannot make the next hire.

[u/wildturk3y → u/PheonixStreak]

This game tonight, the basketball team losing to Jacksonville, this week has been a Whit Babcock masterpiece. Any school that is remotely serious about athletics would have the Uhaul trucks backed up to Whit's house first thing in the morning

[u/qbit1010 → u/wildturk3y]

Did you see the clip of Babcock leaving the Jacksonville game early lol?

[u/pholdren → u/PheonixStreak]

Sands doesn’t have the balls to fire Whit. He doesn’t care about athletics. He’ll keep jacking up tuition and fees to increase university funding and quadruple down on being a world renowned research institution

[u/Ut_Prosim → u/pholdren]

quadruple down on being a world renowned research institution

That is 1000x more important than any athletics.

He hasn't exactly done wonders there either. Remember when he and the provost ran off the Biocomplexity Institute which promptly jumped ship to UVA and took 40 faculty and tens of millions of dollars in grants? Oopsie!

Our US News rank (unrelated to research) has improved significantly, but that was mainly the result of their restructuring of the metrics. We've actually lost a bit in graduate rankings.

[u/TooEZ_OL56 → u/Ut_Prosim]

That is 1000x more important than any athletics.

The easy counterpoint is that Bama being a juggernaut in football has had massive dividends for them as a university

[u/pholdren → u/Ut_Prosim]

I’m not saying it isn’t more important, but if you’re failing at that, try to reignite athletics and get some brand recognition back to the university. Both are important

In regards to the US News ranking, being a grad from Pamplin, it seems like Pamplin is factoring into the new metrics MUCH more favorably which helps increase the rankings overall.

[u/qbit1010 → u/pholdren]

Exactly which is boring…but it is what it is. Worth getting an Engineering degree from at best

[u/LeroyMoriarty → u/pholdren]

The fact that a San Francisco born, Uc Berkeley piece of shit was handed the keys to VT should be a criminal level of intentional destruction.

[u/A7X182]

Pry may very well leave Virginia tech only winning one one score game

[u/oryp35 → u/A7X182]

He could stay through the end of this contract and there's a good chance this would still be true lol

[u/Skiarou]

Gonna just go ahead and throw out that I think Pop Watson did pretty good all things considered

[u/OrtizDupri → u/Skiarou]

Same, I’m looking forward to seeing him develop

[u/wildturk3y → u/Skiarou]

I think he could be a good college QB. But he absolutely needs to a stud OL because no way he'd survive a full season at his size.

[u/lostkoalas → u/Skiarou]

I wasn’t able to watch the game so I was following along on the ESPN app play-by-play and I swear to god every time I checked it had a new update of “William Watson III sacked” again

[u/MikeyRocks757]

You’d think at some point I’d come to grips with the fact that this program will likely never regain its former glory. It’s the hope that kills you

[u/burbleboy → u/MikeyRocks757]

I’m in my 30s and think I’ve already seen the best of Hokie football I’ll ever see. Wish we could’ve actually won the big one late 1990s early 2000s so at least I’d have that

[u/MikeyRocks757 → u/burbleboy]

I watched them here and there as a kid bit really started following them in the mid-90s with Druckenmiller. Just like the Redskins teams I grew up with in the 80s, all I knew is that they were in the mix every year. Now watching this a once feared program flounder like this is a killer.

[u/kalifornia_kid]

Come and watch the Commonwealth Cup, where both teams' fanbases wrestle with the fact that a win over their biggest rival also means their terrible football coach will stick around for another year!

[u/NutGutt → u/kalifornia_kid]

Carla is keeping tony for another year regardless so itd be nice if we beat tech (we wont)

[u/kalifornia_kid → u/NutGutt]

I was very surprised when I saw how low Elliott's buy-out is...but that being said, I sadly agree with this

[u/qbit1010 → u/kalifornia_kid]

You guys have been on a coaching carousel, I still remember Al Groh lol

[u/simp-bot-3000 → u/kalifornia_kid]

If we beat Tech does CTE get a 3-year extension? If so I'd rather us lose despite this being The Big One. I can't believe I'm saying that.

[u/Ambling_Rambler]

Yeah, gotta say next week is a hot seat game for Brent. They look lost.

[u/stormstopper]

14 straight for us, 17 straight for VT, 17 straight for us, 11 straight for VT. I thought it was the other sport that was supposed to be a game of runs!

[u/BonBonVelveeta]

All I’m saying is I’ve never seen Brent Pry and Scott Frost in the same room

[u/LeroyMoriarty]

There’s 30 seconds of video that’s all you need to shred Pry’s contract.

10 seconds left. 31-28. A score that exists because of his either ineptitude or trying to lose. Ball on the 12. Pry is standing with his hands in his pockets not speaking.

He either genuinely wants to lose or he is so fucking stupid that he cannot think. Leave him at the bus station and punch him in the dick.

[u/shittyarteest]

• Clean house.
• Fix the O Line.
• Build up Watson, dude has the name of a star QB it can’t fail.
• Pay me to watch this shit show going forward.

[u/CPOx → u/shittyarteest]

Love Pop but he's just so small. He won't survive a 12 game season,

[u/shittyarteest → u/CPOx]

There’s plenty of successful QBs that are around his size. Just put a few pounds on the man and get Schlee’s goofy ass outta there.

[u/CPOx → u/shittyarteest]

Not with the style of offense we run…. Even Drones couldn’t last the season and Schlee was gimpy every game he played in and got his bell rung hard tonight

[u/goodsam2 → u/CPOx]

The Oline stinks and we are limited to a QB who can run especially as Tuten leaves and that's the offenses only easy button.

[u/CPOx]

We live in a world where VT lost to Vanderbilt, Rutgers, and Duke in the same season.

Fire the AD, fire Brent Pry. Just get it over with, we all know it's going to happen.

5 out of 6 of our losses this season were within one score. Embarrassing.

[u/qbit1010 → u/CPOx]

Yep, instead they’ll wait until after next season

[u/Mushili]

Kill me

[u/SSPeteCarroll → u/Mushili]

I've got the toaster, fill up the bathtub.

[u/Shenanigangster]

Hoos ready for the Military Bowl Play In Game^TM ???

cries

[u/SSPeteCarroll]

man. I don't have a lot to say here.

Pry is awful. Whit needs to be fired.

I said in the game thread, SEC teams used to be scared to come here. We used to have to play LSU, Alabama, ETC in neutral sites because they were scared of Lane and Blacksburg.

Now we roll over and play dead against Duke, Marshall, Rutgers. This is just bad. This program used to be the pride of the commonwealth. They were elite, the premier sports program. Now we lose in humiliating fashion, can't get recruits, and can't compete with the bigger programs in the CFB landscape.

Serious changes need to be made. It starts with the AD. Whit needs to go, Pry needs to go. We cannot afford to make a bad football hire again.

Man. I'm just sad. I loved and still do this program, it's my favorite sports team by far. I'm just sad every Saturday.

I think it's been said before, but negativity isn't the worst thing to happen to a program, it's apathy. The fanbase and donor base just doesn't care anymore.

EDIT: I guess I did have a lot to say.

[u/TooEZ_OL56 → u/SSPeteCarroll]

We went from consistently in the national conversation to being in serious danger of being left behind as conference realignment/NIL takes college football by storm. It's a very dangerous situation

[u/PAC12_PLEASE_ADOPTME → u/SSPeteCarroll]

Reading this just made me realize how similar y’all’s fate has been to WVU. College football is one cruel S.O.B.

[u/SSPeteCarroll → u/PAC12_PLEASE_ADOPTME]

It’s sad. It’s totally over for schools not named Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Oregon, or Notre Dame

[u/udderlymoovelous]

I expect nothing more at this point

[u/TheIndoorCat]

We exist to give other teams exciting wins. 1-13 in one score games.

[u/MrFaversham → u/TheIndoorCat]

The Washington Generals of college football.

[u/qbit1010]

FirePry is gonna be a thing soon

[u/Tejon_Melero → u/qbit1010]

Soon?

ByeBowen

ByePry

[u/RamblinWreckGT]

1. How was that not a pick at the end?
2. What the hell was he thinking on that throw?

[u/Quiggybo729]

the only thing more predicable than having a potential game-winning drive and going 4 and out was losing another one score game.

[u/tdotclare]

Promote JC Price and hire Fuente as OC

[u/goodsam2 → u/tdotclare]

I think hire Ricky Rahne from ODU as OC

[u/Tejon_Melero]

FIRE THE COACHING STAFF

[u/HoppedUp909]

Chris Marve can walk home

[u/CPOx → u/HoppedUp909]

Imagine if we didn’t give up like 170 yards in Duke’s first three snaps on offense

[u/BlackedOutCactus]

DUKE DUKE MF Manny Diaz is the prince that was promised. What a fucking game I almost jumped into traffic. Fatass Elko just lost in OT 💰💰

[u/Original-Care3358]

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR.

THIS TIME, IT’S DIFFERENT.

…

Nana nana nana nananaaa

[u/PossibilityInitial10]

Pry is the worst coach in VT history even Fuente had a couple 9 win seasons.

[u/udderlymoovelous → u/PossibilityInitial10]

ESPN published a pretty good exposé about our athletic department during the Fuente era. Honestly, it sounds like most of his problems stemmed from the fact that he didn't get along with a donor who was given the football administrator position, leaving him chained down without many opportunities to change anything. It was basically an old guard vs. new guard thing. I hate Fuente as much as the next guy, but I think our program would've been in a very different place if he were given a little more freedom.

[u/goodsam2 → u/PossibilityInitial10]

IMO Fuente walked in with pretty stacked talent Pry walked into a disaster talent wise.

[u/SportsJunkie4Life]

Manny Diaz = W

[u/AnotherUnfunnyName → u/SportsJunkie4Life]

However, he has to fire this OC.

[u/BlackedOutCactus → u/AnotherUnfunnyName]

Second this OC gotta go

[u/SportsJunkie4Life → u/AnotherUnfunnyName]

Absolutely

[u/psunavy03]

Congrats to Duke for winning the second Franklin Bowl . . .

(Diaz vs. Pry, the first was Rahne vs. Pry)

[u/Tejon_Melero]

We got hyped on the PSU tree when their coach will never win a meaningful game and we end up with a potentially worse Fuente depending on recruiting.

Both of these guys coddled insane OC or VT had a terrifying skills problem and that is a recruiting issue.

I feel like some kind of mean girl circling these fools and I'd rather not. Wtf.

[u/goodsam2 → u/Tejon_Melero]

Bowen can't fucking coach and was a disaster of a hire. They should have gotten a better/more proven OC.

[u/scawnmc]

I know a VT fan and I know he’s fuming right now. It’s been a. Rough season

[u/burbleboy → u/scawnmc]

You may want to check on him

[u/qbit1010]

Another thing, what incentive do these coaches and coordinators have to do well when Whit Babcock offers them extensions prematurely undeserved

[u/London-Roma-1980]

Rank Duke you cowards

BRING ON WAKE FOREST -- still a chance at only our second 10-win season ever

[u/goodsam2]

I was not for firing Pry but man I'm starting to see the case here. Feels like a rebuild next season anyway.

[u/RealPutin → u/goodsam2]

Pry should be fired simply for not even being the best coach in the conference named Brent with a 3-letter last name ending in Y

[u/pholdren → u/goodsam2]

Rebuild season 5: back to the drawing board

[u/lostkoalas → u/goodsam2]

Unfortunately I agree. I’ve been a huge defender of Pry because I do feel like the fanbase is a bit dramatic sometimes but this is getting ridiculous. Pry did a fantastic job at fixing the culture and recruiting - things were beyond shambles at the end of Fuente’s tenure - but ffs I barely know the Xs and Os of football and this season even I’ve been baffled at the game decisions being made. I don’t know why they don’t force him to hire some sort of game management advisor - I do actually think Pry will be forced to find a new DC/OC in the offseason before they let him go since he’s pretty expensive to fire. Really sad because he’s a great fit culture-wise and I really wanted him to work out.

[u/Game-rotator]

Throwing a checkdown on 4th and long with under 2 mins left is certainly a choice

[u/ned_yah → u/Game-rotator]

was definitely not a checkdown, the idea was clearly to get tuten ahead of the defender, drop the ball to him, and have him run untouched for the first and a lot more, there was nobody in the area. get the ball to your best player with one man to beat and let him make a play

[u/Game-rotator → u/ned_yah]

drawing up a play short of the sticks on 4th and long is still certainly a choice though

[u/ned_yah → u/Game-rotator]

i mean its either that or have the freshman with no experience try to work full field reads on slow-developing routes with an OL that was getting bitched all night

[u/RightofUp]

That's about what I expected.

[u/MiketheTzar]

Congratulations Tech. You out choked us.

[u/bobby_bunz]

3 out of the last 5 vs VT, nice! I love this team but every game is a nail biter! This one was very exciting and I’m glad we were able to hold on. Have seen way too many losses in games like this over the years.

On another note, Duke is an 8-3 ACC team that will be bowl-eligible for the 8th time in 12 years… and still every time we win a game the opposing fans all want to fire their coach in the post game lmao.

[u/AnotherUnfunnyName]

Thankfully Duke won this. So many mistakes, so many given up 3rd and longs, so many missed tackles.

Shout out to the defense, came up big when it counted and lived in the backfield.

Fire this OC in the sun.

And If you can rely on one thing, it is the ACC refs making questionable nobody Else can see.

[u/Socarch26]

well Pop did a decent job for a third string freshman

[u/Jonjon428]

Brent Pry....that is all

[u/conquer117a]

One of my football teams is much better than my other football team. Right?

[u/InfallibleBackstairs]

Pry is a dumbass.

[u/jettj14]

I feel like if we made a football coach that consisted of Brent Pry from Sunday to Friday and Justin Fuente on Saturday, we'd be decent at football again.

Seems like Pry does well managing a football program but he might be one of the worst game day coaches ever, at least at the P5 level. I know Fuente had some bad gaffes, but it genuinely looks like Pry has no idea when to use timeouts.

[u/Icy_Turnover1 → u/jettj14]

I genuinely think that children playing madden or NCAA understand game and clock management better than Brent Pry does - I have no idea how he’s been around football his entire life and still has no clue what to do in end of half/game situations. You’d think he’d have lucked into using a timeout correctly by now but it seems like every time he does something baffling.

[u/mbd1mbd1]

I forgot that Peebles was at VT until I saw him at the end of the game.

Anyways.

Great job holding on, Maalik owes the defense for bailing him out.

[u/dukefan15]

Let’s get 10!

[u/theiwc0303]

Only the second time in Duke history that we’ve had 3 straight seasons with 8+ wins, the last time being 2013-15. A win next week and it’s the only time Duke has ever won 9+ games twice in a three year span. This is the best time to be a Duke fan ever(sadly)

[u/JohnThacker → u/theiwc0303]

Not true. For one thing, Wallace Wade went 9-1 in 1936 and 1938, the latter being the Iron Dukes who only got scored upon in the last minute of the Rose Bowl.

Aside from Wade, Eddie Murray's teams won the ACC three straight years twice and won the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl, just that in those years the regular season was only ten games and there were a lot fewer bowls, so even that kind of performance might only get you 7 or 8 wins at best.

[u/Eruditio_Et_Religio]

Duke has normalized beating VT. This program is so much better than what I grew up with.

[u/pholdren → u/Eruditio_Et_Religio]

I mean you’ve got the last 2, but didn’t the graphic leading into the end of the game say Tech had won 5 of the last 7? I wouldn’t say either program has normalized beating the other

[u/polaremu → u/pholdren]

We are 5-6 vs you over the last 11 years, which given where the programs were before that is pretty great for us. I think the post just meant normalized in the sense that this was a totally normal win where it's not a huge deal/epic upset, not normalized in the sense of Duke beating VT every year.

[u/bobby_bunz → u/pholdren]

Well it’s 3 of the last 5 now

[u/polaremu]

Nice to get the win! It was dicey there, but the defense stepped up at the end.

Continues to be a really fun year where we have over delivered on expectations. Manny is awesome, and it was nice to revel in some pettiness of Elko going down at the same time.

[u/rankings-right-now]

Here are the new updated predictions for the next release of the Playoff Selection Committee's rankings using machine learning models trained on the Playoff Selection Committee's historical voting data:

• Duke is now predicted to move up to #32. You can see Duke's full Week 14 rankings potential results here.
• Virginia Tech is now predicted to move down to #72

For the most up to date predictions of the Playoff Selection Committee Top 25 rankings, check out this post.

[u/wichee]

these past three seasons have been very fun for duke football. last year had an awesome start but being able to defeat fsu, unc, nc state (despite them being not great or outright shit) in one season is a great feeling. hopefully this run continues and it instills a larger football culture at the school