On Saturday, September 21st, Sports Radio America’s Arnav Sarkar traveled 7 hours down to Blacksburg, VA to watch his Rutgers Scarlet Knights take on the Virginia Tech Hokies. He was accompanied by our Assistant Sports Editor, Abs Samanta, who lives close by. They had a wonderful experience at Lane Stadium and are going to be sharing their thoughts in this joint article. Expect some game coverage and interesting elements that they witnessed!
Gameday Experience
Hey, it’s Abs here. There was a sellout VT crowd in what was their White Effect game of the season. A sizable Rutgers contingent managed to make the trip as well, and we got to see them at the northeast section of Lane Stadium’s East Stand. Meanwhile, we were surrounded by Hokie fans in the South Stand but were lucky to be joined by an older couple supporting RU in front of us. This was the first time I watched a game at Lane Stadium, and I was happy to have Arnav by my side for his time here as well.
Photo Cred: Arnav Sarkar
Arnav’s here now. Being able to witness Enter Sandman live was amazing! There was such an electric atmosphere in the stadium, which felt like a gigantic, well-built castle to me. Now I know that SHI Stadium is a tough place to play in its own right, but it felt like Lane Stadium just trapped all the energy inside. It could’ve been a hostile environment, if not for how well-behaved the fans were. They seemed to never give up, cheering on their team and managing to disrupt Rutgers when it mattered most. I’m not going to lie, the crowd noise did get annoying at one point. Even on first and second downs, all the Hokie fans just banded together to raise the volume as much as possible. The VT marching band kept us entertained between plays, which I relished as a former RU band member myself.
Photo Cred: Abs Samanta
One thing that we really appreciated was how nice the VT fans were. After the game was over, walking with my red Rutgers shirt on, a lot of RU fans got to dap us up on the way. What surprised me was how hospitable the Hokie fans were. A lot of them wanted to make sure we had a good time and complimented the Scarlet Knights for a hard-fought match. The only reason for my surprise is I wouldn’t expect any of this in Piscataway, haha. You’d be lucky to even get a “good game” message from our fans against our opponents, but here we were instead in full-blown conversations with VT fans of different ages. In fact, one of them even stopped his car in the middle of the street to roll down his window to talk about the game with us! So many Blacksburgians and Hokies wanted to make sure that I enjoyed my stay.
A Game of Miscues
Football is a game where any mistakes can greatly influence the outcome. Even then, it just seemed like a lot of strange things happened in this matchup. Early in the first quarter, Virginia Tech’s punt returner Jaylin Lane fumbled a punt which Rutgers recovered. The Scarlet Knights used the short field to capitalize with the game’s first touchdown. The Hokies turned the ball over on downs on the next drive and allowed RU to go up 14-0 with a minute left in the quarter. Rutgers kicker Jai Patel missed a 36-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, his first of two misses on the day.
Near the end of the first half, VT stopped Rutgers a yard short of a first down deep in their territory, and Rutgers appeared to be forced to kick a field goal. However, after each team took timeouts to debate their strategy, Virginia Tech’s Aeneas Peebles inexplicably jumped offsides to give the Scarlet Knights a first down. Not to be outdone, RU’s Kenny Fletcher fumbled a short pass to give the ball back to the Hokies at the VT 3-yard line. This bizarre sequence ended with Tech QB Kyron Drones tripping over one of his offensive linemen on third down and throwing the football out of the back of the end zone as he fell backward. The play resulted in a safety and now Rutgers had a 16-7 lead.
Photo Cred: X.com
After RU scored to open the second half, Drones fumbled the ball on VT’s first play of the half to give the Scarlet Knights excellent field position. However, despite getting all the way to the 1-yard line, Rutgers could not convert on fourth down and left points on the board. Later in the third quarter, another RU drive stalled at the Virginia Tech 35-yard line. The normally accurate Patel proceeded to miss a long 53-yard field goal attempt… Though the Hokies turned the ball over on downs once again, their defense stood strong to force a punt that Lane returned to the RU 39-yard line. Rutgers allowed VT to get back in the game and force a 23-23 tie, as the Hokies scored two TDs and converted both their two-point conversions.
The game’s final miscue was a Robert Longerbeam interception of Drones to essentially ice the game. Though, it could be argued that the Scarlet Knights should’ve ideally scored a TD after getting to the Hokies’ red zone. The momentum was going their way after a 63-yard completion from QB Athan Kaliakmanis to WR Ian Strong. Instead, Patel shook his nerves off to hit a 24-yard FG, and that was the final lead change of the game. RU won the game 26-23.
Rutgers Should Have Put This Game Away
Abs is back again. As Arnav mentioned in the last paragraph, the Scarlet Knights made it deep into VT territory but had to only resort to a field goal attempt. This was one of several Rutgers missed chances that should’ve ended this game earlier, even if the Hokies scored their remaining points. Early in the second quarter, RU’s drive stalled at the Hokies’ 18-yard line. A TD here would’ve given them a two-score cushion again, and even a FG would’ve put Rutgers up by 10. To us in the stands, it just seemed like Jai Patel didn’t put enough power into the kick and it sailed right.
The next big mistake was the Kenny Fletcher fumble just three yards away from the end zone. Hokie corner Mansoor Delane did a good job of punching the ball out on a first-and-goal at their 8-yard line. This would’ve had the Scarlet Knights up 21-7, but at least they got a safety in VT’s next drive to have a 16-7 lead. With 15 seconds left before halftime, Rutgers DB Eric Rogers forced a fumble on Hokies RB Bhayshul Tuten at midfield, but the ball went out of bounds. It was a 31-yard run on a drive that started at VT’s own 19-yard line, and a successful recovery might’ve prompted HC Greg Schiano to go for a FG before the end of the half. Fletcher and Kaliakmanis had a chance at redemption on fourth-and-goal at the VT 1-yard line in the third quarter. Instead, the play resulted in an incomplete pass and more points left on the board by RU…
Photo Cred: On the Banks
Honestly, I feel like they should’ve just run it in with RB Kyle Monangai, a noted strong north-south runner. Even a field goal would’ve put Rutgers up 26-7. On their following drive, Patel missed his second kick of the day at the VT 35-yard line. This would’ve been his new career long, as his previous longest kick was 51 yards. While he is usually an accurate kicker, Patel was notably 2-for-4 on kicks of 50+ yards in 2023. For Virginia Tech to tie the game, they needed to score two touchdowns AND two two-point conversions. If RU stopped even one of them, the pressure would be on the Hokies to keep scoring, but VT didn’t have to worry about that. Before VT’s game-tying TD and 2PT, Rutgers had the ball on fourth-and-1 at the VT 44-yard line. However, back-to-back penalties pushed them back further, forcing a punt.
While these don’t really fall under mistakes, Ian Strong was only 12 yards away from the end zone during his 63-yard reception. He could’ve made it harder on VT with a touchdown. Monangai got stuffed on first and second down at the VT red zone and the Scarlet Knights didn’t convert on third down either. A little more luck would have produced seven points and more time off the clock instead of a Patel FG and a Robert Longerbeam INT to end VT’s drive. With 1:24 remaining and the ball in VT territory, RU did have another chance for a score. Instead, they rightfully decided to run the clock out.
Unexpected Parts of the Game
- The VT fans, at least the diehards, just never gave up on their team. Even on first and second downs, we could hear chants of “Let’s Go” followed by “Hokies!” There was so much crowd noise and, as Arnav mentioned earlier, it was getting annoying after a while. With a stadium that seemed to capture the energy around it, that could’ve been a reason why Patel missed his earlier two chances. It was a new atmosphere that he may not have been used to.
- Related to the crowd noise, obviously the Hokie fans were trying to keep RU from gaining rhythm and momentum. However, when things were not going in VT’s direction, the whole crowd was silent and you almost wouldn’t realize that something was going on. That’s what happened to us when Jaylin Lane fumbled a punt return in the first quarter. Until the jumbotron was showing us replays of the play and the refs were reviewing it, neither of us knew that a fumble had occurred because of the silence.
- Virginia Tech knew that Rutgers was a run-first offense led by star running back Kyle Monanagai, so they countered by running run-pass option play (RPOs). QB Athan Kaliakmanis opted to keep the ball on many occasions and dump it off for short completions for sizable gains and first downs.
- Arnav was especially surprised by the passing game, which usually has taken a back seat for RU. Monangai, by himself, had more rushing yards (165) than Rutgers receiving yards (147) against Howard this year. RU running backs had 285 yards to Kaliakmanis’ 230 against Akron, including a career-high 208 rushing yards by Monangai. Against VT, the Scarlet Knights had 269 passing yards to 153 rushing yards. Though only three players caught the ball for 16 total receptions, they made the most with their catches.
- One thing that a lot of fans might not realize while watching a football game on TV is the direction of play. Arnav and I were faked out on many occasions, mostly on Rutgers plays. It may be more that both of us were expecting runs down the middle by Monangai and so the RPOs shifted our attention away from the actual play going on on another side of the field. Thank goodness the jumbotron was there for us to instantly catch a replay of what we missed!
- Rutgers offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca called a screen pass with 4:35 left in the fourth quarter, and the risk paid off mightily. Despite a similar pass being intercepted and returned for a touchdown against the 2023 champions Michigan, the same play went for 63 yards this year. Arnav was impressed with the offensive creativity in this game after VT stuffed the run offense on many occasions.
- The usually stout RU offensive line gave up three sacks in this game, which is uncharacteristic of them. Considering that Rutgers only has four sacks on the season so far, they’re going to hope that this game was an anomaly.
Photo Cred: Abs Samanta
Final Thoughts
Arnav will finish it off for us. Although the win wasn’t pretty for the Scarlet Knights, it allowed Rutgers to improve to a 3-0 record and extend their non-conference win streak to ten games. This was their first win ever at Lane Stadium. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech dropped to 2-2 on the season, with this just being the Hokies’ fifth loss all-time against RU. Abs’ friend and notable VT fan, Michael Woolwine, had this to say about his team’s performance: “We’ve started three of our games slowly, allowing the opponent to score first twice now. We always come out in the second half and play lights out. We scored 2 TDs and 2 2-point conversions with ease. Why didn’t we do that earlier?” Indeed, Virginia Tech only had 34 first-half points in their first four games compared to 84 in the second!
The Hokies excelled in running the football, both with Drones scampering downfield for big gains and with Tuten breaking free by making defenders miss. Tuten was VT’s impact player, finishing with 122 yards, three touchdowns, and an average of 8.1 yards per carry. Drones and the passing game could not get going, so he assisted his team on the ground with nine rushes for 60 yards (6.7 average). On the flip side, Virginia Tech’s defense had a solid showing with three sacks, four TFLs (tackles-for-loss), and four PDs (passes defended). Lastly, Abs and I have this LinkedIn post and picture of me doing the Rutgers “chop” to cap off this close win by my Scarlet Knights.
Photo Cred: Arnav Sarkar (L- Arnav, R- Abs)
