Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

October 30, 2018 at 9:46 pm.

Hokies face another challenging ground game

Virginia Tech couldn’t stop Georgia Tech’s triple-option attack last week. Now, the Hokies have to stop the power of Boston College’s ground game.

Virginia Tech (4-3, 3-1 ACC) will be trying to salvage the back-end of consecutive home games on Saturday when it plays host to No. 24 Boston College (6-2, 3-1).

The Hokies allowed 465 rushing yards in a 49-28 loss to the Yellow Jackets. Meanwhile, Boston College defeated Miami, 27-14, last week as star sophomore running back AJ Dillon returned to the field after missing 2 1/2 games because of an ankle injury.

He churned out 149 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries.

This will be a tough challenge for a young Virginia Tech defense –only one senior starter –that has been up and down all season.

“We can’t ride the highs too high and you can’t ride the lows too low,” said veteran defensive coordinator Bud Foster. “We have to just go fight every day and that’s what this program is known for. We are going to roll our sleeves up and get back to work.”

As least the Hokies will be facing, as Tech coach Justin Fuente said, a “normal style” of offense.

“We have a tremendous challenge ahead of us. Boston College is coming off of a fantastic performance against Miami. They played really well in all three phases of the game. They’re a veteran football team, very physical and do a very good job in the return game,” Fuente said.

“Offensively, they have running back A.J. Dillon, who has, obviously, been a pretty prolific player his first couple years of collegiate play, mixed in with the quarterback playing at a high level. They have a physical defense that is tough at the line of scrimmage and is pretty darn good at the back end as well.”

It wasn’t just poor defense against Georgia Tech, though. Virginia Tech muffed a punt that was recovered at the 12-yard line and led to a touchdown. The offense scratched out only 323 yards amid execution errors.

“You look at a dropped pass, a missed block, a dropped snap, a poor conversion on third down and the next thing you know the game’s over,” Fuente said.