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Virginia Tech

Keep attacking: Quarterback Kyron Drones threw six deep passes against contested coverage, and his receivers came down with three receptions. Drones mentioned multiple times leading into the season that Philip Montgomery’s offense gave the quarterback freedom to attack in man-to-man coverage, and Drones took advantage of that. Donavon Greene, Ayden Greene and Isaiah Spencer hauled in contested catches that got the ball into South Carolina territory, and Drones will look to do that against Vanderbilt.

Pin down Pavia: Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia shined over two seasons at New Mexico State. He hasn’t missed a step heading into his second season with the Commodores. He threw for 2,293 yards, rushed for 801 and accounted for 28 touchdowns last season. Pavia opened the season with 275 passing yards, 44 rushing yards and three scores against Charleston Southern. The Commodores’ game plan revolves around Pavia’s dual-threat ability, so Tech will need to keep him in the pocket and force him to be a passer.

Get in red zone: The Hokies only made two trips into the red zone against South Carolina. For starters, they need to get into the red zone on a more frequent basis against Vanderbilt. Then, they will have to score touchdowns. The Hokies won’t be able to win many games relying solely on field goals from John Love, so capitalizing on red zone trips is necessary against a Vanderbilt team that is averaging 28.6 points in Pavia’s 14 games at quarterback.

Vanderbilt

Establish run: The Commodores racked up 181 rushing yards against the Hokies last season. That was part of an effort to win time of possession (34:32) and wear down the Virginia Tech defense. Doing that again will be crucial for Vanderbilt. Sedrick Alexander had 69 rushing yards and a score against Tech last season, and he opened this season averaging nearly 7 yards per carry against Charleston Southern. Alexander is expected to factor in the Vanderbilt attack.

Play zone: The Hokies showed against South Carolina that they were willing to take chances when the Gamecocks played man coverage. That led to quarterback Kyron Drones taking more chances in the passing attack. What’s the best way to limit those explosive pass chances? Zone coverage. Mixing up the looks and making sure receivers aren’t able to get behind the defense will be key to preventing the Hokies from picking up yards in chunks.