⚡ CFB Dashboard

Virginia Tech was a heavy favorite going into Saturday's ACC kickoff against Boston College, but a combination of heavy wind and rain put points at a premium in Chestnut Hill. Two fourth quarter touchdowns, one by Marlion Jackson and one by Jeffrey Overton Jr., gave the Hokies the late lead and an opportunity to run down the clock and escape Massachusetts with a win. "I want to thank our fans. I thought we had fans that came out and supported us on the road in tough conditions and were there for four quarters, which was awesome. "I want to give BC and Billy a ton of credit.  I thought they played their tails off. We thought they played hard on film, and I thought they played hard today. I also think they called a really good game based on the conditions, right? They did a really good job of calling the game based on the conditions.  So, give Billy and give BC a ton of credit. Their quarterback, we got a lot of respect for him. We had a ton of respect for him. He's gutsy. He's competitive. Everybody that plays him says he's faster than what you think, and it was the same way. We've got some guys that can run that were in position and he'd get the edge on us. "So, I'm just proud of our guys. That was a gutsy win on the road. You've got to win games like this during your season. There's part of me that's going to say this wasn't the prettiest win, but there's part of me that says it was as pretty as it gets. So, I'm just proud of the guys. That was a gutsy win on the road under challenging circumstances. I want to give the O-line a ton of credit. We're down two starters, (Michael) Troutman comes in and starts his first game of his college career and battles. (Logan) Howland's in there battling his tail off. Layth (Ghannam) was playing out of position some of the game, that was impressive. Brody (Meadows) goes down during the game. So, you know, that was impressive, not having Montavius (Cunningham), not having JT (Justin Terry). Again, I'm proud of them. Gutsy. I'm also proud of Marlion Jackson, right? You never know when your number's going to be called. He transfers in here. He's played but hasn't started [and] makes a huge play late in the game for us. "Overton, 209 yards rushing, and the one at the end was huge. So, just proud. Gutsy. Offense, defense, special teams found a way to get a win on the road." On Jeff Overton's 76-yard touchdown run and the running game: "We felt like, and that's why I talked to the team about at halftime, right? This was going to be a fundamentals game. This was going to be a gap-sound game, this was going to be an execution game, right? Like, who's going to be the first one to allow a run to crack, right? You get out of the gap, you're getting frustrated, you're trying to make a play, you get out of your gap, and then all of a sudden the ball finds your gap and it goes for 80. "And I thought late in the game, the weather died down. Like, the one drive they had, the weather died down and then I got on the headset and told Ty (Howle), 'Look, we need to be aggressive. The weather has died down,' and then the weather picked right back up. And I told him, I said, 'We're going to need to continue to be aggressive.' Made some big throws there, which I think helped open them up and loosen them up a little bit and then, some of the stuff that we're doing in the running game by creating an extra gap with an extra fitter.  I think it helped us today. There's no doubt about it. "And then Jeff's got the ability to make guys miss. And then, you know what I didn't know? What I didn't know is, does he have the ability to take it the distance? 76 yards. The other thing that our strength staff and Jeff and our nutritionists need a ton of credit for - when I got here, Jeff was 185 pounds. He's 207 pounds. So, he's put on that type of weight in a short period of time and hasn't lost a step, and I make the argument he's actually gotten faster, so, big, big-time play and a critical moment, obviously. You've got to give the O-line a ton of credit. I mean, Jeff's name's going to be obviously up on the whatever, whatever they say. Showbiz. "Jeff's name will be up there in the marquee, but it's really about the O-line and those guys grinding out and the tight ends as well." On the two-point conversion and finishing the game strong: "Yeah, but maybe I was misinterpreted because just because I wanted to finish better didn't mean we needed to start slow, but yeah, again, I'm just proud of them. That was a big finish at the game. I think Grunk (Ethan Grunkemeyer) and Ty (Howle) are doing a really good job. You guys see, we do a bunch of check-with-me stuff that either Grunk handles or Ty handles, that two-point play was a check-with-me. We check back in to the run, and then we were able to get push, so, that was a big-time play at a critical moment. We finished strong today in the fourth quarter, and we hadn't necessarily done that. Some of that, I think, is because we didn't have our guys in the game, some of those games late, but at the end of the day, the standard's the standard, and you got to go out and get the job done and execute no matter what." On Mason McKenzie and Boston College's offense: "I thought they did a good job calling the game, but that guy makes some plays. I think we had him the one time on third and 23 or whatever it was, and I think we got him down. I think we got a sack, and he finds a way to slip out of it. They did a really good job with the zone-read stuff where they were reading the backside and had a lead blocker for them so they could still read the inside zone. If the end collapsed, they would pull it with a lead blocker on the edge. They had a couple different ways to do that with different people, with different personnel groups.  and they did a nice job of it, so again, give Billy and them a ton of credit. Give their quarterback Mason McKenzie a ton of credit. He had 138 yards, 5.3 average, so it's hard not to give that guy a ton of credit because we haven't given that up all year." On Marlion Jackson's performance: "I've been talking about Marlion (Jackson) really since he arrived in terms of he's got a unique skill set and movement patterns for a guy his size. His releases, his ability to get in and out of cuts, it's impressive and today I thought he was super consistent, caught the ball with confidence with his hands in wet conditions and made some huge plays for us. "I think it's a great example to a lot of guys in the locker room, right? You don't know when your number's going to get called and he gets an opportunity. AG (Ayden Grene) was not available today and he steps in and plays his tail off. So, we need to build on that with him. We need to build on that with us, and it won't surprise me if he ends up having a huge year for us and for himself." On Ethan Grunkemeyer's performance in the weather: "He did a nice job really all day. There was a couple that got away from him, you know, we had confidence that we could throw the ball in the rain. I think the combination of the rain and the wind could be challenging at times and it's also swirling. It's not like it was just clearly in one direction. I talked to some people that have coached here for a long time and they said it's always a little bit tricky in there, but especially on a day like today. "Ethan's doing a really good job. I mean, 22 of 35 for 147 yards and one touchdown in those conditions, I think, is super impressive. There's going to be some people nationally that are looking at the stats and I think unless you watch that game and you were there, like you guys,  it's hard to appreciate it and I thought it was impressive." On John Love's performance kicking in the difficult conditions: "I've been saying this since I arrived. John's as good as I have been around. Usually, the guys that can kick the 60-yarders, they're not consistent, and the guys that are consistent can't kick the 60-yarders. He's able to do both. But it's all of it, right? It's the snap, it's the hold in these conditions.  Those were big-time for us." On the offense's inability to finish after Que'Sean Brown's big return: "I sure would have rather scored a touchdown the time inside the 10 after Q's big return. That's another thing we probably didn't talk about a whole lot is the significance of Q. Brown.  He's been big. He's been big. I'm proud of him. I think he's got a deal with Ty Howle - he won't punch it in so the offense can get credit for the touchdown, but, we've got to finish those offensive drives and I know Q will finish some of those returns as well. But if I had to imagine, he's got to be one of the leading punt returners in the country based on average. I don't know the stats, but I have to imagine."