Good: The Hokie Defense

Defensive coordinator Chris Marve’s defense looked like a team reborn Saturday evening. While you may see 14 points given up to Marshall as a little disappointing, it is crucial to note that one of the Herd’s touchdowns came after a blocked punt that sat up the Herd inside the Hokie 10. Besides that, you saw much-improved performances from the Hokie’s pass and rush defense as they caused havoc, tacking 12 pass breakups, an interception, and forcing eight Marshall punts on the night.

Bad: The Hokie Offensive line

Kyron Drones was forced to scramble and try to make a play numerous times throughout the first half. So before we start to get ancy on Drone’s ability, rewatch those highlights and count the number of times Marshall gets free rushers aiming for the Baylor transfer. Also, this is not just a writer’s issue. Brent Pry marched to where the O-line was camped out multiple times in the first quarter, and each time, he looked like he was getting increasingly more frustrated with the lack of protection given to Drones.

The Ugly: Playcalling

Once again, much like at Vanderbilt, Tech was playing slow and things were far from effective in the first half, with the only touchdown being a Jaylin Lane punt return. It was previously stated that the reason Tech called so many horizontal passing plays was to open up the ground game up the middle.

Yes, it is good that the Hokies prioritize a strong run game; you can see that in Bhayshul Tuten’s 125-yard night. Where many Hokie fans get upset is that there is a real lack of what I call “natural explosive plays.” When Stephen Gosnell reeled in a 49-yard grab, that was a “natural explosive play” because it played to the strengths of Drone’s strong arm.

When several stale screens cause a melody of boos to rain down the concourses of Lane Stadium, that is not a “natural explosive play” because it forces wideouts and Drones to oftentimes put the ball well behind the first line stick, which, in turn, places all the pressure on the receiver to spin away from trouble and to wield themselves to the first down marker.

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) – Breaking down the walls on a conversation that’s never easy to have.

“There’s such a mental health stigma in the community. It’s critical that people come forward and are willing to have this conversation,” said Leigh Gathings, the Vice President of Behavioral Health for LewisGale.

Girl Scouts from across the state came together to do just that at Operation H.E.R: Strong Minds, Strong Girls Mental Health Summit.

“We are really excited to share with our girls and their parents and caregivers and teachers an opportunity for them to learn more about mental well being and how to show up for each other,” said Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Chief Executive Officer Nikki Williams.

This is the first event of this magnitude hosted by the Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline. Williams said it’s been in the works for a year now after girls in the organization talked about the challenges they face daily.

“As Girl Scouts, that’s what we’re supposed to do, is meet girls where they are,” said Williams. “We say we move at the speed of girls, and the girls are telling us this was important to them right now.”

Throughout the day, Girl Scouts of all ages attend workshops talking all things mental health. They learned new coping mechanisms for when things get tough.

Gathings said these kinds of conversations are crucial to have as kids are growing up.

“It’s critical that our girls are able to speak to the emotions that they’re feeling and to be a good friend and to understand the feelings that they’re having,” she said. “So that if their feelings become out of sync they’re able to speak up and ask for help.”

But young girls aren’t the only ones who learned something new. Parents who attended learned to have supportive conversations with their children.

“It’s critical that we understand that what’s going on with our children, whether we’re a coach, a teacher, a Girl Scout leader or a parent. It’s crucial that we’re having those conversations, that we know what our kids are feeling and experiencing, and then we understand their stressors,” added Gathings.

The Girl Scout mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.

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Virginia reversed some lopsided historical trends in its fourth-quarter comeback victory at Wake Forest on Saturday night. The Cavaliers had lost their last five games against the Demon Deacons, but managed to beat Wake for the first time since 2007 and earn their first victory in Winston-Salem since 2002. Virginia now leads the all-time series with Wake Forest 35-17, a series that dates back to 1889.

UVA improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2021 and this marks just the third time since 2013 that the Cavaliers have won their first two games of the season. The other two instances came in 2021 and 2019.

The 14-point deficit Virginia erased was the largest comeback for the program since October of 2021, when the Cavaliers came back from down 17 points to beat Louisville on the road.

Virginia won its ACC opener for the first time since 2020 (Duke) and won its ACC opener on the road for the first time since 2019 (at Pittsburgh).

See the chart below for a breakdown of the stats from Virginia’s victory over Wake Forest:

Here are some key individual stats from the game along with some more notes:

Anthony Colandrea completed 33 of 43 passing attempts for 357 yards and three touchdowns. His 33 completions were a career-high and most by a Cavalier quarterback since Brennan Armstrong against Pitt in 2021. Colandrea’s three touchdown passes matched a career-high.

Malachi Fields went over 100 receiving yards for the second-straight game, catching 11 of the 13 passes that went his way for 148 yards. 46 of those 148 receiving yards came after the catch. His 11 receptions and 148 receiving yards were both career-highs.

Of the 43 passes attempted by Colandrea, 33 were caught and only one was dropped. Trell Harris was responsible for that one drop, but made up for it by catching seven passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. His seven receptions were a career-high.

Eight different players caught a pass for Virginia in the game, including five players with at least four receptions. Tyler Neville caught all four passes that targeted him and two of those receptions went for touchdowns. That was the first two-touchdown game of his career and Neville is the first Cavalier tight end to catch two touchdowns in a game since Tom Santi did so against Duke in 2007.

Grady Brosterhous executed a quarterback sneak for a touchdown with a little over two minutes remaining. That score was the first of his career and stood as the game-winning touchdown after Will Bettridge converted the PAT to give UVA the lead.

Antonio Clary led the Cavaliers in tackles with 11 for the second-straight week and recorded his second-career sack. Jonas Sanker also posted double-digit tackles with 10 and posted his first-career sack. Trey McDonald made a career-high nine tackles and recorded his first-career sack.

The Virginia defense racked up six sacks, most in a single game since posting eight sacks against Georgia Tech in 2022. UVA had 11 total sacks in the 2023 season.

VIDEO: Highlights & Postgame From Virginia’s Epic Win at Wake Forest

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