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Inside Hokie Sports
Virginia Tech’s football coaches and players
spent a week in Orlando enjoying their bowl
experiences. They floated around the twists
and turns of the lazy river at the team hotel.
They visited Universal Studios Florida and
Universal’s Islands of Adventures and rode
the many rides in both parks.
Yet nothing equaled the rollercoaster that
was the Camping World Bowl.
Despite
amassing
518
yards
of
offense—their most against a Power 5
opponent this season—the Hokies let some
prime scoring opportunities slip away and
gave up a few too many plays on defense, all of
which added up to a 30-21 loss to Oklahoma
State at Camping World Stadium on Dec. 28.
With the loss, Tech finished the season
with a 9-4 record and saw its three-game bowl
winning streak come to an end.
“I’m awfully proud of our squad,” a
disappointed Tech coach Justin Fuente said.
“Proud of our kids. We’re saying good-bye
to some fantastic seniors that have set great
examples for our younger players.
“We had a plan, and we executed it well at
times. Those are my initial thoughts on the
game. I don’t really remember Oklahoma
State making very many, if any, mistakes. We
made a handful, just enough to keep us from
pulling the thing off.”
As Tech enters its offseason, it will think
about what could have been. The Hokies used
their ground game to keep Oklahoma State’s
high-powered offense on the sideline and to
control a chunk of the game. But a missed
opportunity in the second quarter served as a
foreshadowing of the rest of the game.
Tech led 7-3 and went on a 17-play march
that gave it a first-and-goal at the Oklahoma
State 1. But quarterback Josh Jackson and
Steven Peoples couldn’t orchestrate a handoff
on a zone-read play and fumbled, and OSU’s
Ramon Richards recovered. The official
scorers gave Jackson the fumble, which
Oklahoma State ultimately converted into a
field goal and got back in the game.
Instead of leading 14-3, Tech led just 7-6—a
10-point swing. “It was a mesh that those two
guys [Jackson and Peoples] have made 10,000
times and just rode it a little too long,” Fuente
said. “It was something we feel comfortable
with because we’ve done it since day 1. We
didn’t execute.”
“I tried to pull it [the ball] late and Peoples
is strong guy, and he had a good grip on it,”
Jackson said. “I just didn’t get it. That’s my
fault.”
No one rode the rollercoaster more in this
game than Jackson. The redshirt freshman
quarterback accounted for 298 yards and
three touchdowns, including two rushing.
But in addition to the fumble, he also threw
an interception, and he missed a few open
receivers for potential big plays.
One of those came right before halftime.
On second-and-17 from the Tech 30, Jackson
lofted a pass to Henri Murphy, who raced past
Richards, beating him by three or four steps.
The pass, though, was too long, and Tech
wound up punting. The Cowboys scored on
the ensuing possession to take a 13-7 lead at
halftime.
Jackson also missed a potential touchdown
pass to Eric Kumah on the first play of the
fourth quarter. The Hokies trailed 27-14 at
Despite racking up more than
500 yards, including 248 on
the ground, Tech missed on some
opportunities and allowed too
many big plays in a 30-21 loss to
the Cowboys to end the season
by
Jimmy Robertson
in Camping World Bowl
loss to Oklahoma State
