Motuapuaka’s knee injury makes Hokies’ road trip to Purdue more challenging

The Buckeyes, the first unanimous preseason No. 1 team in college football, get a chance to exact revenge in what promises to be a raucous Blacksburg, Virginia.

At the moment the Furman Paladins own a record of 0-1, and have published a corresponding line up of 1-0 against the spread.

Quarterback Brenden Motley will make his first start in place of the injured Michael Brewer. The Hokies must now move forward without talented quarterback Michael Brewer for the next 4-8 weeks and that journey begins Saturday afternoon when risky FCS member Furman pays a visit to Blacksburg. Virginia Tech had a balanced attack, running for 299 yards and throwing for 284.

Final season, Beamer came upon rather a lot about his staff early on when it went on the street within the second week and beat then-No. eight Ohio State.

In addition to Motley, true freshman Dwayne Lawson and redshirt freshman Chris Durkin got playing time at quarterback against Furman, marking the first time Tech has played three quarterbacks in a game since 2008 at Florida State (Hampton High graduate Tyrod Taylor, Sean Glennon and Cory Holt).

It’s the same question you ask the Star Wars fan that has a basement full of Stormtrooper figurines and scaled models of the Death Star and Millennium Falcon hanging from their ceiling: What good are all of these toys you have accumulated if you can’t actually play with them? You start seeing opportunities, and when your opportunities are there, you have to make a play. He made a great first throw that I thought was really good for a young guy. “We’ve got a lot of confidence in Brenden Motley”, Hokies coach Frank Beamer said of the junior, who took 26 snaps Monday after being under center for 23 all of last season. “He was very much in control”. We’ve collectively spent the last few seasons bemoaning the lack of playmakers on this offense, and now that the Hokies finally have some, there has been a consistent failure to put the ball in their hands in a constructive manner. While Meyer and most of his players downplay revenge as a motivator, quarterback J.T. Barrett has a photo of Lane Stadium as the background on his phone to remind him of what happened in 2014.

Those touchdowns gave the Hokies a 35-3 advantage going to the fourth quarter. He also added 38 yards and one touchdown on the ground. So when we see a guy that has a strong arm and nifty footwork like Motley, we expect more from him, fair or unfair.

Andrew Motuapuaka’s interception return for a touchdown – his second career touchdown – headlined a Tech defense that forced three turnovers and held Furman to 254 yards. Ernie Cain led the Paladins’ rushing attack with 61 yards and three scores, but Furman’s defense must clean up some issues after giving up 328 passing yards.