The biggest thing I took away from yesterday was the size of the team. Stiner was hyped up to be a good hire and making a difference all summer, and we really saw that come to fruition yesterday. The team looked like an SEC team. That’s going to be huge when we get to those winnable SEC games

Kudos to Clark, staff, and the team yesterday. Most complete and complementary football game of his tenure outside of maybe Florida 2022. Great win!

This is the official game thread.

From The Washington Post's article on the winners and losers after week one:

Vanderbilt (winner)

The simpleton’s instinct when sizing up the Commodores’ 34-27 overtime defeat of Virginia Tech on Saturday is to dwell on how a chronic SEC cellar dweller dispatched a purported ACC contender, then add in a three-letter conference chant for good measure.

But for those who actually watched Vanderbilt go about its business in its opener? The inescapable conclusion is the Commodores are better — at running the ball, for certain, and definitely at creating problems for opposing offenses at the line of scrimmage.

Importing Diego Pavia (190 yards and two touchdowns passing plus 104 yards and a score on the ground) from New Mexico State to play a clean game mattered. The addition of consultant Jerry Kill, whose work at New Mexico State was only the latest of many demonstrations of his coaching chops, is a plus, too.

Vanderbilt wasn’t perfect, and eventually the Hokies figured out how to move the ball. Others will see how Virginia Tech adapted and respond accordingly. No one should anoint the Commodores an SEC title contender.

But capable of reaching a bowl game? Of being a heck of a lot better than the team that slogged its way to 2-10 last year? It’s already fair to elevate hopes to that point.

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Virginia Tech (loser)

The Hokies ran into an improved Vanderbilt team (see above), but that doesn’t absolve them of a disappointing first half in their 34-27 overtime loss in Nashville.

Quarterback Kyron Drones and the offense eventually figured things out, though Drones cramped up at the tail end of the game. And it wasn’t a league game, so it doesn’t do any real damage to the Hokies’ playoff hopes. They just go into the motley mix of ACC teams (Clemson, Florida State) that have some work to do.

The real damage done is puncturing some of the excitement that had finally started to return to Blacksburg after more than a half-decade of sustained mediocrity. Virginia Tech won six of its last nine last season — pulverizing rival Virginia along the way — and brought back almost all of its starters on both sides of the ball.

If ever there was a year for the Hokies to jump back to 10-win territory, it was this year.

And maybe that still happens. But it’s going to be a lot harder to sell that in the coming weeks.

Click to expand...

Looking through the MTSU box score vs TN Tech, you'll see more than a few names of former commodore's on offense and defense... All things considered after his time at VU I hope Derek is successful with Middle. Will be interesting to see if his staff there is good.

WORTH MONITORING: Hard jobs in the SEC got distinctly harder with Oklahoma and Texas entering the league. It is tougher to fight into the middle class for addresses like Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and South Carolina. (Things can change fast in either direction -- check the 2023 preseason hot seats for casual Missouri references.)

Vanderbilt is fresh off a winless SEC season under Clark Lea (9-27) as he enters Year 4. It's hard to imagine that school stomaching another massive buyout. The firing of basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse this spring, after he'd been extended in the fall of 2022 without reaching the NCAA tournament, is believed to be one of the biggest in college basketball history. (Reports vary but have started at $15 million.) Lea is an alum projected to be owed in the neighborhood of $18 million, and he was extended prior to the 2023 season through 2029. That's five years after the current season as the school pushes through a massive facility build.

Watching some football, maybe an Old Fashioned or two…

I hope y’all find a way to enjoy this victory today because it was awesome and we don’t always get many...

OL and DL are both improved. LB and safety positions are legit. Secondary….

The offensive playcalling and execution today was a masterclass, period.

Enjoy, fellas.

It is one of my favorite sayings and I have said it often in the past year but this morning I realized that I can say it and really mean it: "It's Good To Be Gold!"

Not sure why some were surprised by Seddy’s running ability. I thought he ran well last year behind a bad oline. He runs hard and instinctual.

I haven’t seen mention of the other #2 in all of the post game discussion. Randon Fontenette is a stud who made a lot of big plays in the first half. He may have in the second half too, but my 4 year old had me pretty well distracted so I can’t speak to that. We thought he was a big portal add at the time, and I think we were right. Excited to see what this guy can do the rest of the year.

God knows we’ve had our shit pushed in for years. I don’t know what the rest of the year holds, but I’m gonna enjoy this feeling. Diego if you read this, we love you. Anchor down this year!

Am I correct that Cole was not targeted? And we still got the win. I like!!!

- This kid is un-effing-believable
- He'd make a great rugby player
-- Clark Lea should've been coaching the defence all along
- I'm gonna need to figure out a way to watch games over here in Europe. Open to suggestions. ESPN used to do an overseas package but it ended in 2023
- Chris, please tell rivals they need to sort out their GD{R compliance. I have to access this site via VPN now
- The thing that stuck me most was the resilience of both players and staff. We're supposed to blow leads/. We're not supposed to win anyway.
- The best thing about the new crop - they all have expectations to win and experience doing do. They are unburdened by the past
- Schedule is brutal. 5 wins will still be an achievement, and why can't we play Florida this year! But no one will relish playing us.
- The kid is unreal.

Chris and crew -

After seeing today, do you think a lot of the camp issues may be attributable to the QB run game not able to be activated in a practice setting?

Now, I expect teams to dare us to throw as the year progresses but today was very encouraging.

Sure, our kicker was wide right at the end of regulation, but he hit two clutch bombs earlier. Our punter hit some rockets and a gorgeous pooch punt that our guy caught on the fly ay about the 4 yard line.

Me me 👍🙌

Brent Pry is solid. I enjoyed his post game interview.

He needs to learn how to raise money

VT just didn't have much talent.

#NIL

He needed that and he got it. If we get to 12M NIL, this could be fun.

If you get B10 Network, flip over to it. (at least during breaks in the TAMU game). Idaho giving Oregon a scare and are playing with their hair on fire.

That’s finding a way to win instead of lose, and a reason to be excited @InGold .

I haven’t read a single word on here so apologies if this is reiterative, but I watched the entire game.

- Pavia is such a gamer. Dinardo used to always preach in a close game, there needed to be a person who would just want it more than the person lined up against them, and they would step up in win it. That’s Pavia to me. He has good vision and feel but I think he plays above his talent. Which is 💯 fine by me.

2. Skinner and Alexander look like they belong.

3. Our special teams should be a net plus for us this year even in the SEC

4. We beat them in play calling (which is what I focused on much more than players) on both sides of the ball.

The neutrals

- I thought Va Tech called an absolutely horrible game. Their playbook offensively was unimaginative, limited and predictable. And as much as we all want Marve to succeed after this game, he was horrible at adapting to Pavia. He spied him too late, with the wrong player and when that didn’t work he just kept blitzing for the strong side of the field. It got so predictable VU would just roll to the other side it was so obvious.

- I never thought of this (or any game) as “must win.” We have a long season and the key to me is to win 1-2 in the SEC. If there’s a must — it’s to show we can be competitive in a league that is vastly more athletic than the SEC

Great win!

😀


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