Willie Taggart: Virginia Tech Faked Injuries to Slow Down Florida State Offense

Willie Taggart has come out and accused Virginia Tech of faking injuries in order to slow down Florida State’s offense during Monday night’s contest. Something tells me Taggart should be worried about other things after the way his team performed against the Hokies.

During the ACC coaches call this week, Taggart was asked about Virginia Tech’s players being slow to get up after plays. He was specifically asked whether he thought the injuries were intentional. Here’s what he had to say:

"“It happened too often so it’s hard not to.”"

Just a reminder, Florida State got hammered 24-3 Monday night and the team’s offense was at best anemic and at worst an outright embarrassment to the university and the sport of football. No one needed to help Florida State slow down its offense, the Seminoles were doing a fantastic job of that on their own.

The Seminoles plan to employ a new up-tempo attack this year under Taggart, but that’s hard to do when you turn the ball over five times. Or when your stud running back, Cam Akers, rushes for just 82 yards on 14 carries. That may seem like a decent number, until you realize Akers had an 85-yard run. No, that’s not a typo.

Florida State was 5-for-16 on third-down conversions, averaged just 6.7 yards per pass, 3.4 yards per run and had three interceptions and two fumbles. Virginia Tech players potentially faking injuries was the absolute least of FSU’s worries.

For his part, Hokies head coach Justin Fuente said the following when asked about the situation:

"“Going into the game we were severely concerned about our ability to handle the humidity and the weather, just coming from our climate. We had some issues with it throughout the game. At halftime numerous guys getting IVs and getting treatment so they could finish out the game.”"

When asked specifically about faking injures, Fuente had this to say:

"“My answer is we had numerous issues with cramping and guys battling through bumps and bruises and nicks and things they were fighting through.”"

Maybe the Hokies were intentionally acting hurt to slow down the Seminoles, maybe they weren’t. In the end it doesn’t matter because Florida State got destroyed and it likely had no impact on the game. T

aggart should have blown off the question and turned things back on his team’s performance. But he didn’t, and it’s a terrible look.