Virginia Tech Football: Hokies feel like they ‘got better’ during their bye week

Virginia Tech has lost four straight, but the Hokies will be refreshed from a bye week heading into Thursday night’s nationally-televised matchup with #24 NC State.

“I feel like this week off was great. Everyone got to recover. We focused on what we are good at and what we have to get better at,” defensive lineman Wilifried Pene said

There’s a lot to get better at for Tech (2-5, 1-3 ACC), which did look better in its two most recent losses – a 45-29 setback at Pitt on Oct. 8 that was a one-score game in the fourth quarter, and a 20-14 defeat to Miami on Oct. 15 that saw the Hokies claw their way back from a 20-0 deficit.

Virginia Tech hasn’t lost five straight since 1992, the year before Frank Beamer engineered the turnaround that put the Hokies in the national discussion for the next two decades.

First-year coach Brent Pry, whose team going into the game in Raleigh as 13.5-point ‘dogs, is trying to keep the focus where it needs to be.

“The positive is, there are positives. There are encouraging things during each and every one of the losses we can build off of,” Pry told reporters at his weekly presser on Monday. “Listen, we’re doing good things, and there are things we can improve on, and we’re doing things well enough to win. We’ve just got to do it more consistently. And, the proof is there, and they see it. So, they’re bought in, and the belief is strong. They’ve worked really hard to win.”

And the team worked really hard over the bye week.

“We worked on what we needed to work on, but we also got a lot of reps at the plays that we’re good at and gained confidence in that aspect. Anytime we can go into an open week, you want to gain confidence in what you’re doing,” said QB1 Grant Wells, who has passed for 1,439 yards, seven TDs, seven INTs and a 114.3 pass-efficiency rating in 2022.

“We got better during the open week, honestly,” defensive back Nasir Peoples said. “The younger guys were able to get some reps and the older guys got to rest a little bit. So, just going into the next couple of games, we were able to look at our upcoming opponents and focus on us, too.”