For the second time in four years, Virginia Tech lost on the road at Old Dominion, falling 20-17 on Friday night.
Old Dominion fans stormed the field to celebrate their second win over a Power 5 team. The first also came against the Hokies in 2018, a 49-35 win.
That wasn’t exactly the way first-year Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry wanted to start the season. The Hokies had five turnovers, leading to 17 Old Dominion points. The most crucial came with 2:58 left in the game. Leading 17-13, quarterback Grant Wells threw an interception that set up the game-winning score, a 1-yard touchdown run by Blake Watson with 33 seconds remaining.
The Hokies also committed 15 penalties for 121 yards. Wells, starting his first game for Virginia Tech, threw four interceptions and went 21-of-36 for 197 yards with one touchdown.
“They wanted to make plays, they wanted to play hard, but I definitely think they pressed and they were sloppy,” Pry said. “You want to make people earn it, and we didn’t do that.”
Contributor Dax Hollifield added: “It’s embarrassing. Very embarrassing.”
Playing road games against the Group of 5 hasn’t worked out particularly well for the ACC teams that end up scheduling them. With this loss, the league now has 20 road losses against Group 5 teams in the College Football Playoff era.
💦💦💦💦💦💦💦💦💦💦!!!
1⃣-0⃣#ReignOn pic.twitter.com/OE5mRznZb6
— ODU Football (@ODUFootball) September 3, 2022
The match was complicated from the start, as neither attack found much rhythm. Old Dominion led 10-7 at halftime. Then the start of the second half was delayed 15 minutes because members of the Virginia Tech coaching staff got stuck between floors in an elevator. Finally, the coaches were able to get off the lift, but they had to run up the six flights of stairs to the coach box.
This could be a good metaphor for what happened in the second half. But this is not the last time the schools will see each other. They are currently scheduled to play each year through 2031, with four of those games at Old Dominion.