Well, that does it officially on the 2024 football season for Virginia Tech. After starting a season with a ton of hype, the Hokies closed it out with a depleted roster and a 24-10 loss to Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. As we have done in the past, it’s time to break down what head coach Brent Pry had to say following the game and give our take.
Brent Pry on his penalty
Look, officiating is what it is. We have seen some questionable, at best, calls in some of the College Football Playoff games, but in the second quarter, it appeared that two obvious defensive pass interference penalties were not called on Minnesota, as well as a roughing the passer, and Pry had enough. He picked up an unsportsmanlike penalty after a non-call.
“To me, there were a few minor things early they [referees) missed,” Pry said. “Then the back-to-back no calls. I didn’t see that. I didn’t understand that. We’re going to fight for every inch we can get.”
For someone who has been criticized for not showing a lot of emotion at times on the sideline in games, kudos for him to get his say even though it hurt the official’s feelings and they needed to throw the flag.
Brent Pry on the lack of plays being made
The Hokies were missing a number of players on both sides of the ball, but they hung tough against a Big Ten opponent who was bigger and tougher in the trenches. Offensively, there were plays that were there to be made, but they couldn’t make enough.
“Disappointed in the loss,” said Pry. “Had our chances. Didn’t make plays. They made more plays than we did.”
They did make more plays and those plays were made against a young and inexperienced secondary. On the flip side, some questionable play calling deep in Gophers’ territory failed to yield points late in the game to make things interesting.
Brent Pry on why Pop Watson got a majority of the snaps
Going into the game, it was clear that Pop Watson was going to make the start and it was good to see Collin Schlee healthy enough to play some. He led Tech down the field for their only touchdown drive of the game, but Watson still got a majority of the snaps the rest of the way.
“Pop had had a great week of bowl prep,” Pry said.
In the bigger picture, yes, Watson is returning next season and Schlee isn’t. Actually, both Watson and Kyron Drones are returning and it’s going to create quite the competition going into 2025.
Brent Pry excited for the future
A lot of younger players got meaningful snaps and experience against Minnesota for the future and they do have some talented young players returning along with transfer portal additions. That makes Pry excited for the future.
“I’m excited about the guys returning,” Pry said. “I’m excited about the guys we signed. I’m excited about the guys from the transfer portal.”
Yes, there are reasons to be excited, but as we wrote late Friday night, the program is not in a better place than a year ago as he said. That is not the time to pull that out considering the 6-7 season and a portal exodus.
There is no question that 2025 is a make-or-break season for the Hokies’ head coach and it feels like he needs to get his next defensive coordinator to hire correctly like he did with Matt Moore along the offensive line or things get really dicey for not only Pry but the staff as a whole.
