Virginia Tech’s opener in Atlanta slipped away in the final quarter and Brent Pry’s emotions told the story. His message carried more frustration than optimism after a 24 to 11 loss to South Carolina.
“Disappointed in the outcome and there’s no pats on the back,” Pry said. “Too many self inflicted errors, untimely penalties, drops, dropped balls at the wrong time, not good enough in the red zone. You got to have touchdowns down there.”
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The game turned late when South Carolina struck with two decisive plays. Pry did not sugarcoat it. “To give up the punt return and the deep ball after making them earn everything they got…to go into the fourth quarter down by two points and then give up those two plays…we got some things to clean up and we will. We got to be a better team and we can be.”
The Hokies managed three field goals from John Love including a 56 yarder at halftime but never finished a drive in the end zone. Pry admitted it was costly. “Bad decision in the red zone…we’d make a big play and we’d have the penalty, it would bring it back.”
Kyron Drones threw for 221 yards on 15 completions but also tossed two interceptions. Pry’s words carried sharp disappointment. “Honestly the throw in the red zone I was really disappointed. That’s stuff that he’s moved past. I haven’t seen that necessarily in camp. We can’t make that play. We need those points down there.”
Defensively the Hokies produced four sacks and showed flashes in Pry’s new system. “We mixed coverages up. We changed fronts up on them. I think we had him hesitating back there a little bit. I think we had four sacks. I thought the game plan was the right one.” But the head coach left no doubt about the real story. “These are self inflicted wounds. We’re a better team than that. I don’t expect us to make those.”
Pry closed with a reminder that effort was never the issue. “I thought the guys fought their butt off. I was very pleased with that. It wasn’t about the effort.”
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