2017 ACC Football: Coastal Division Power Rankings week 5
All the Good Things Fade Away
To be fair to the Hokies, every team fades away against Clemson. The Tigers have now beaten three ranked teams, and each of those teams only loss came to Clemson.
Virginia Tech entered the game averaging 507 yards and 40 points per game. Clemson held the Hokies to 342 yards and 17 points.
There is no shame in a 14 point loss, even at home, to a team that is in a different realm than every other team not named Alabama.
However, this is also the first real defense Virginia Tech had played and it showed. As mentioned in the three impact games, the Hokies hadn’t played a defense ranked better than 98th nationally.
It showed against Clemson as Virginia Tech turned the ball over three times and were held to 26.6 percent on third down. The Hokies were also held to just 3.2 yards per carry.
Quarterback Josh Jackson did complete 66 percent of his passes but also threw two interceptions and had a season-low 5.7 yards per attempt.
Now, this isn’t to say the Hokies will fade away. As mentioned every other ranked team to lose to Clemson has rebounded just fine and the Hokies still control their destiny in the Coastal. They are just no longer the run away favorites they were a week ago.
Virginia Tech will look to rebound this week when they travel to play Boston College in Chestnut Hill. As long as they don’t lose there, the Hokies won’t fade away for long.