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Halfway through the regular season, Pry continues to pay high attention to such plays in a two-game slide at Virginia Tech (2-3, 1-1 ACC) because the defense has been relatively stout in the first three games, unable to limit the explosive offense.
Heading into Saturday afternoon’s game against Pittsburgh (2-3, 0-2) at Accra Stadium, Pryor reminded that unit that it’s important to be in the right position to not generate chunks of yardage that wear down the Panthers’ defense.
“We’re definitely talking about it,” Pry said. “We definitely feel like – at least during the week when we focused on one thing, in my opinion, we showed up that way, and we improved in that area, and so the explosives are something that we talked about. All camp. … [and] We will return to some of them.
In North Carolina’s 41-10 loss to Chapel Hill, NC last weekend, the Hokies allowed 16 carries, including a 35-yard completion to Bryson Nesbit, a 33-yarder to Josh Downs and a 29-yard pass to John Copenhaver. They had a 35-yard run to Omarion Hampton and an 18-yard carry to Caleb Hood.
Virginia Tech, which ranks third in the ACC in total yards (310.2), gave up 13 completions of at least 15 yards to quarterback Drake Maye and gave up the most points and yards (527) in its lopsided loss this season.
Maye, a redshirt freshman, completed 26 of 36 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions or sacks.
“When one or two guys are in the right position, a small run or small passing game turns into an explosive game,” Pry said. “That’s generally how it goes. Now against North Carolina, I think their guys made some plays. It’s just another way to collect explosives.”
The trend began in a 33-10 rout of West Virginia a week earlier at Lane Stadium, where the Hokies allowed eight touchdowns, including a 24-yard touchdown pass from JT Daniels to Sam James with 11 seconds left in the second quarter. He gave 13-7 to the mountain leader.
West Virginia finished with 218 yards on 46 carries, including a 24-yard run and two rushes for 18 yards each. The inability to stop the run left the Hokies, who ranked fifth in the ACC in rushing defense (100.8), at a deficit of more than 17 minutes per possession.
Virginia Tech recorded just one sack in its second loss against its border rival.
“The film doesn’t lie,” Hokies defensive end Josh Fuga said. “We haven’t been able to get as much pressure on the ball as we’d like, so it’s been a challenge this week in practice to put pressure on, and what I like about the team I’m on is we have guys who are willing to accept that. Challenge and take it forward.”
Virginia Tech, however, will likely start Dorian Strong, who has not played with the Tar Heels due to injury. After practice Wednesday afternoon, Pree Jr. called Upper Marlboro a “long shot.”
Pittsburgh, coming off a 26-21 loss to visiting Georgia Tech, had 10 touchdowns, seven of which came in the fourth quarter as the Panthers scored touchdowns on two straight possessions in the final two minutes.
Quarterback Kaedon Slovis, a senior transfer from Southern Cal, finished 26 for 45 with 305 yards and three touchdowns, drawing support from coach Pat Narduzzi, whose starting job may be in jeopardy as he averaged 249.3 yards per game in conference passing.
“We have to put pressure on the back of the ball,” Pree said. “D-line in general and [defensive line] Coach [J.C.] Price disappointed last week. We just didn’t play and we didn’t play on the edge, and we did that, so we know we can do it. Now we’ve moved sideways and sideways with some things, but I think we have a team that can do it, and that was a big focus this week.
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