SYRACUSE, NY (WSLS 10 SPORTS) - Among the things that plagued the Hokies Saturday night against Syracuse was on third and fourth down. Offensively not converting and defensively not getting off the field.
The Orange were 10 of 21 on third down and four of five on fourth down, which contributed to their 33 minute time of possession coach Foster and the defense says that's simply not acceptable.
"What happens is guys start wanting to try to do, feel like they got to make the play, and do more than what they need to do," said Foster.
Hokies defensive end Ken Ekanem added, "It's just tiring you know to keep lining up against the same guys because they play all four downs so when you play against an offense like that and they convert, it's very tiring and they carry a lot of momentum like that so it was pretty big that they do that."
On the offensive side the Hokies were stymied on first and second down which led to numerous third-and-longs where they couldn't convert, only going 4 of 13.
"We wanted to go down the field and drive it right down and go score and try and get some momentum for our defense and that's what we did but we couldn't sustain it after that and they made more plays than we did," said wide receiver Isaiah Ford.
The Hokies don't have long before they have to correct those third and fourth down woes. They play Miami in Blacksburg Thursday night.