It was one of the most anticipated football games to be played in Blacksburg in recent memory. With an emotionally charged Hokie Nation ready to move forward (but certainly never forgetting) from the tragic events on April 16th, the number nine Hokies were taking on the unranked East Carolina Pirates from Conference USA. The Hokies entered the game as a 28-point favorite. East Carolina's starting quarterback was suspended for a recent brush with the law. ESPN's College Gameday was in town. Another opening day Hokie blow out right? Ummm, not exactly. In what was more of challenge than most Hokie fans would have preferred-or even expected-the Pirates gave the Hokies all they could handle, but eventually succumbed 17-7. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="413" align="left"><tbody><tr><td width="407"></td><td rowspan="4" width="6"></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><font face="verdana" size="1">Associated Press</font></td></tr><tr><td height="3"></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><font size="1">Wheeler played big on the day.</font></td></tr></tbody></table>Make no mistake about it, ECU is a very well-coached football team with a defense that will win them a lot of football games. ECU Coach Skip Holtz put together a masterful game plan, particularly on offense, which had Bud Foster's crew on their heels for the first two and a half quarters. Combine that with a lackluster performance by Tech's offense, and this game was far closer than Coach Beamer would have preferred. Some may attribute the lackluster performance to the Hokies being on an emotional roller coaster before the game. That may very well be the case, and certainly understandable. The Hokies played hard, but were just not very sharp. Coming into the season, the biggest question mark on the team was the offensive line. Unfortunately after Saturday, it does not appear to be anymore settled. What is most disappointing about the offensive line's performance is that even the veterans on the line were mediocre at best. Sergio Render was Tech's top performer on the line with nine knockdown blocks; however, there were several plays where even Render was dominated; one play he was straight bull-rushed and ended up on his back. Tech's most veteran lineman Duane Brown, was making his first start at left tackle and did not have his best game, even prompting offensive line coach Curt Newsome to suggest that Brown played tired in the second half. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="208" align="right"><tbody><tr><td rowspan="4" width="6"></td><td width="202"></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><font face="verdana" size="1">Associated Press</font></td></tr><tr><td height="3"></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><font size="1">It was tough going for Glennon, but he had a solid day on Saturday.</font></td></tr></tbody></table>The biggest concern on the line heading into this game was how well would Nick Marshman (right tackle) and Richard Graham (left guard) would perform. Watching the game in the stadium, it was pretty obvious that these two were struggling. After going back on watching the game on DVR, it is clear that Marshman was a step too slow out of his stance on several occasions, and Richard Graham is just not strong enough or big enough to be consistently effective. Without having the advantage of seeing these guys practice on a daily basis, it would seem that the offensive line would be better off with Marshman moving back to left guard (his original position), and moving Graham to right tackle. Not to take anything away from ECU's defense, but if Graham was getting blown off the line by their defensive tackles, what is going to happen against LSU's Glenn Dorsey? Coach Newsome needs to get this figured out soon if the Hokies are going to live up to their potential this season. The good news is that they don't play their first ACC game until September 29th against North Carolina. The bad news is that LSU lurks next weekend. The rest of the offense did not fare much better. Most notably, running back Branden Ore had one of his worst games as a Hokie. Sure Ore compiled 70 yards rushing, but he also played a role in all three of the Hokies' turnovers-including losing a fumble in the first quarter. It just seemed as if Ore was going through the motions and was playing without a purpose. He certainly was not the Branden Ore that made first team all-ACC last year. The one bright spot on offense was the big day that sophomore tight end Sam Wheeler put together. Wheeler had seven catches for 81-yards, including a touchdown reception in the fourth quarter that solidified the outcome. That play was a thing of beauty: from the play call, to the route, to the pass by quarterback Sean Glennon. Speaking of Glennon…At first glance, it did not appear as if Glennon played a good game. From the first offensive play of the game where he threw an interception, to the lost fumble, it appeared to many Hokie fans that the "new" Glennon was the same as the "old" Glennon. Upon further review; however (and with the help of the aforementioned DVR), Glennon actually had a pretty good game. Sure his stats looked decent, going 22-33 for 245 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. But even beyond the stats, it appeared as if a lot of the talk coming out of camp about Glennon having matured and becoming more comfortable in the offense just might be true. There were a couple of badly thrown balls-most notably completely under-throwing a wide open Sam Wheeler for a touchdown-but other than the first offensive series, Glennon looked sharp, made good decisions, and maybe even most important, looked relatively comfortable in the pocket. <table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="208" align="left"><tbody><tr><td width="202"></td><td rowspan="4" width="6"></td></tr><tr><td align="right"><font face="verdana" size="1">Associated Press</font></td></tr><tr><td height="3"></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><font size="1">The defense stepped up in a big way on Saturday.</font></td></tr></tbody></table>Getting back to the touchdown pass to Wheeler, not only did Glennon make a perfect read and throw, he stepped into the pocket despite pressure coming right at him and delivered a strike to Wheeler. I'm not so sure the Glennon of 2006 would have made that play. To be sure, no one's ready to pencil Glennon in for the Heisman, but on this Saturday afternoon, he was certainly one of the best players on the Hokie offense. Defensively the Hokies came out sharp, forcing the Pirates into a three and out on their first offensive series. From there; however, things got interesting. The Pirates used three different quarterbacks: Brett Clay, Pat Pinkey, and Dominique Lindsay. Clay played the first two series for the Pirates, but after that, it was Pinkey and Lindsay for the majority of the game. With Pinkney and Lindsay in there, the Pirates ran a variation of the spread offense, with the quarterback constantly employing the read option and keeping the ball on the majority of plays. This scheme appeared to catch Tech's defense off guard somewhat. Instead of the fast and aggressive defense we have come to know, the Hokie defenders seemed to be playing on their heels while the Pirate offense kept them guessing. After the game, Coach Beamer said they had prepared for that offense, but just maybe were not prepared for the speed at which East Carolina ran it. Midway through the third quarter, it seemed as if Bud Foster's halftime adjustments were paying off, and the Hokies were able to limit the Pirates' effectiveness on offense. Tech's pass defense was as good as advertised, holding the Pirates to just over 100 yards passing, punctuated by Macho Harris's second quarter interception returned for a touchdown. Overall, Coach Foster likely had a few things he was not pleased about, but his defense adjusted to the scheme it was facing and only gave up seven points. Game one is in the books. To the Hokie players, coaches, and fans, there is probably some quiet relief about that. Surely there are several facets of the team's performance that are disconcerting, the biggest concern obviously being the offensive line. At the end of the day, a win is a win (it could be worse, you could be a Michigan fan). The Hokies are 1-0, with a chance to pull off a huge upset next weekend. Coach Beamer likes to say that he believes teams make their biggest improvement from game one to game two. Let's hope so, otherwise it is going to be a long night in Baton Rouge.
