Vanderbilt did not allow Virginia Tech to score a single point during the second half of their non-conference college football game on Saturday. The Commodores locked in after a slow start and left Blacksburg with a dominant 24-point victory.
Although their play is deserving of praise, I am more impressed by their behavior postgame.
The Hokies gave high praise to their college football opponent for how they treated the visitor’s locker room. It serves as a direct reflection of the culture Clark Lea has established on West End.
Virginia Tech hacked the system.
There are very few schools in the United States with a better grounds crew than Virginia Tech. They make sure the field at Lane Stadium looks immaculate each and every Saturday (or Thursday) in the fall.
Their ability to completely transform the playing surface through a very meticulous seeding process after a Metallica concert over the summer was very impressive. The Hokies know what they’re doing.
With that in mind, the grounds crew works alongside the custodian crew for the maintenance of team facilities. That includes the visitor’s locker room.
Virginia Tech’s grounds crew decided a few years ago to put the pressure on its opponents to leave their locker room as clean as they found it through social media. It is brilliant.
They post a photo of the visitor’s locker room on X after every game. They thank the schools that clean up after themselves and put those who do not on blast.
Boston College was the first team to catch my attention around this time last year.
Vanderbilt did not leave a trace!
The Commodores dominated the Hokies after a slow start.
Diego Pavia threw for 193 yards and two touchdowns on 12 completions. Makhilyn Young ran for 95 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. The defense held its opponent to less than 250 yards total.
Vanderbilt scored 34 unanswered points in the second half. Virginia Tech lost 44-20.
If I was to guess, the postgame celebration in the visitor’s locker room was probably pretty wild. Pavia loves to party. He earned the right to turn up. I bet it was lit.
And yet, you would never even know they were there.
There was no trash on the floors. It was immaculate.
The only thing left to do was vacuum, which Vanderbilt did not have the ability to do. Well done, Dores!