Brent Pry points to Virginia Tech's protection issues in first quarter against Louisville

Virginia Tech is on the road in Week 10 against one of the top teams in the ACC this season, the Louisville Cardinals. So far, in the first quarter, it has been all Louisville, with the Cardinals leading 7-0. The Hokies offense has yet to find a rhythm early on, and their defense has struggled to stop Louisville’s run game.

As the two teams took the field for the second half, ACC network sideline reporter Ashley Stroehlein caught up with Virginia Tech’s head coach Brent Pry to get his thoughts on his Hokies’ first quarter performance.

“Yeah, right now, we gotta protect a little better on offense. We didn’t get a sustained drive and flip the field. But defensively, we gotta stop this run game right now,” Pry said.

In the first quarter, Louisville put up 71 yards on the ground on 11 carries. Unfortunately, the opposite of what Pry wanted to see out of his defense happened on the very first play of the second quarter, as Louisville ripped off a 39-yard touchdown run to take a 14-0 lead.

Mose Phillips out for Virginia Tech in first half following targeting vs. Syracuse

Virginia Tech is missing safety Mose Phillips III in the first half after he was ejected from Thursday night’s game against Syracuse for targeting. The foul occurred in the second quarter of the matchup.

Phillips went to lay a hit on Orange wide receiver Umari Hatcher when he appeared to lower his head on the play. Officials reviewed it during the commercial break and ruled it was, in fact, targeting. As a result, Phillips will miss the rest of the game. Hatcher also headed to the injury tent afterward.

Phillips is in the midst of his freshman year with Virginia Tech and has been a key player on defense. He entered Thursdays’ game as one of four Hokies with 15 tackles through seven games.

Phillips is a former three-star recruit out of Cane Ridge (TN) High School. He was the No. 37-ranked player in the state of Tennessee from the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Virginia Tech got out to a lightning fast start against Syracuse in a Thursday night prime time matchup. The Hokies started the game with 23 straight points before the Orange got on the board with a field goal. Virginia Tech wound up scoring one more time on the ensuing drive to take a 30-3 lead into the locker room.