Attention, Hokie Nation! Ruthanne Dellinger reporting, former Corps of Cadets drum major, mace in hand, posture perfect. I break down defense the Lunch Pail way: no names on the backs, just goals in a battered metal pail and 11 people carrying them out. And I jump. Every time our defense makes a stop, I jump, out loud, with a little "hup!" My neighbors in Blacksburg have learned to live with it.
On Saturday, I jumped a lot.
Exit light, enter stats.
Part 1: Four of the First Five
Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech 34-24 at Lane Stadium on Saturday. We're 5-2 and 2-2 in the ACC, and we snapped a two-game losing streak. Our previous two games, both losses, had come down to the final play. This one didn't. Hup!
It took three plays. Ethan Grunkemeyer found Que'Sean Brown for a 60-yard touchdown on the game's third snap. Then Grunkemeyer ran 20 yards for another score. He hit Ja'Ricous Hairston for a 5-yard touchdown, and John Love added a 39-yard field goal. We scored on four of our first five possessions and led 24-3 at halftime. That's a parade formation, people. Everybody in step.
Georgia Tech came back in the third quarter and got within 24-17. That's when a drum major raises the mace and calls for the next song. Grunkemeyer threw a 26-yard touchdown to Jeffrey Overton Jr. with 5:41 left in the third. Then Brown returned a punt 63 yards to set up Love's 24-yard field goal, and it was 34-17.
Grunkemeyer finished 15 of 22 for 250 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions. And Brown? Six catches, 182 yards. AP says that's a career high for him and the sixth-most receiving yards in a game in Virginia Tech history. Quentin Reddish had an interception, and on Georgia Tech's very first possession, the ball came loose at the goal and rolled through the end zone for a touchback. AP says Georgia Tech's two turnovers led to 10 of our points. Hup, hup, hup!
Honest note from the drum major: Georgia Tech outgained us 428-409, and its quarterback had a career day. We've got cleanup to do on defense. But we won, and our coach was pleased with how all three phases contributed. So am I.
Part 2: Marching Into the Valley
Saturday, 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. Virginia Tech (5-2) at Clemson (4-2) at Memorial Stadium. This starts the hardest stretch of our season, with three of our next four on the road, at Clemson, SMU and Miami.
Inspecting the Tigers
Respect first, always. Clemson just beat Charleston Southern 37-0. Its kicker, Nolan Hauser, made a 59-yard field goal. Will Heldt has four sacks. And Death Valley on a Saturday night is a loud place. I'll bring earplugs and my best posture.
Now, the inspection.
Charleston Southern is an FCS team. Against FBS teams, Clemson lost 51-10 at LSU to open the season and 41-13 at home to Miami two weeks ago. Miami held the Tigers to 55 rushing yards. Clemson's offense gains 340.7 yards a game, 110th in FBS. Its passing game averages 187.5 yards a game, 112th. It scores 22.3 points a game, 106th. And Clemson converts 33.3% on third down, 116th.
Clemson's passing game ranks 112th, and ours ranks 11th, at 301.6 yards a game. That's a gap of 101 spots. In marching band terms, that's the difference between the drum major and the kid who forgot his shoes. And last season, per CollegeFootballData, Clemson went 7-6.
Inspecting the Hokies
Grunkemeyer completes 72.6% of his passes, with 1,984 yards, 15 touchdowns and two interceptions. Brown has 46 catches for 616 yards. Overton has 613 rushing yards. We score 37.1 points a game, 23rd in FBS. And Aycen Stevens has eight sacks. Eight! That man owns real estate in the backfield.
Lunch Pail report: our run defense allows 87.4 yards a game, 10th in FBS. Opponents convert only 32.6% on third down, 29th. Clemson's offense lives on the ground, and our front is built to say no.
Honest Inspection Notes
The drum major doesn't hide a wrong note. Our pass defense allows 227.3 yards a game, 95th. We're minus-4 in turnover margin, 113th. We lost at Cal 25-20 and lost at home to Pitt 35-33. And Clemson leads the series 23-11-1, according to CollegeFootballData, and has won the last six meetings, dating to 2011. The last time we played in Death Valley, in 2012, Clemson won 38-17. Streaks end, people. Somebody has to end them.
The Drum Major's Game Plan
Every parade needs a plan, so here's mine, in four counts. Count one: stop the run. Clemson ran for 231 yards last week, but it was held to 55 by Miami, and our run defense ranks 10th. Make Clemson throw. Count two: let Stevens loose. Eight sacks in seven games is a man who knows the route to the quarterback by heart. Count three: take the shots to Brown. Clemson's pass defense is solid, but Brown just showed he can win any matchup. Count four: protect the ball. Both teams are minus-4, and the first team to turn it over in Death Valley at night is going to hear about it from 81,500 people.
Hit all four counts, and we march out of the Valley in step.
Postcards: Blacksburg vs. Clemson
Blacksburg. Blacksburg was officially established on Jan. 13, 1798, and today it's a mountain town of 44,826, according to the 2020 census. Lane Stadium played its first game in 1965. And for about 25 years, our team has entered to Metallica's "Enter Sandman," with the whole stadium jumping. Jumping! You see where I get it from.
Our traditions are humble and tough. The Lunch Pail started as a symbol of a no-name, blue-collar defense, and every week, a list of goals goes inside and a player earns the honor of carrying it to the sideline. There's even a Lunch Pail Defense Foundation that funds academic scholarships for students near Blacksburg. That's a tradition that feeds people's futures. And yes, our HokieBird is a big, proud turkey, the successor to the old Fighting Gobblers, created in 1981. Laugh all you want, Clemson. Turkeys are tough, they travel in flocks and they've got the best seat at every family table in America.
Clemson. Clemson is a lovely little city of 17,681. Blacksburg is more than twice its size. And here's what I learned. The nickname "Death Valley" comes partly from Death Valley National Park, in California. And the famous Howard's Rock? It came from Death Valley, California, too. So Clemson's stadium nickname and its lucky rock were both borrowed from California. Even the scenery is a transfer.
Clemson's tigers rub that rock before the game. In Blacksburg, we carry a lunch pail full of goals. One tradition is about a rock. The other is about work. Hup!
Dismissed
Here's my final inspection. Clemson has a loud stadium, a strong kicker and an offense that's struggled all season against FBS teams. Virginia Tech has a quarterback with 15 touchdown passes, a top-10 run defense, an eight-sack pass rusher and a wide receiver coming off a historic day. If the Lunch Pail stops the run and Grunkemeyer protects the ball, Death Valley gets very quiet. And I'll be jumping.
Exit light, enter stats. Go Hokies!
My call: Clemson Tigers 27, Virginia Tech Hokies 24.