As notably not a Va Tech fan I hope my response carries more weight but that Houston game was a game we had an entire off season to prepare for and a game Houston looked at like any other non conference unranked matchup. Houston is always easier to beat early on as everyone gets bought into Sampson’s system.
With the level we played, if it was coaching and a new version of Red then we would not have face planted the next two games. That Houston game if we won would have been fools gold for beating a team we treated as our Super Bowl. We never once matched the level of focus and intensity defensively in any game after which just further makes it clear they had over prepared for that game instead of putting the work in for a whole season to improve as a staff and a team.
Not to mention there is no excuse for not doing a summer trip as well.