Willie Taggart calls out Virginia Tech players for faking injuries

NCAA Football: Virginia Tech at Florida State

Willie Taggart’s first game as head coach of the Florida State Seminoles on Monday night was an absolute nightmare, and now he’s blaming the opposition over gamesmanship.

There was a lot of buzz about Taggart’s uptempo offense, but five turnovers derailed the progress they were able to gain time and time again, and they ended up getting blown out, 24-3.

And Taggart apparently believe the Hokies players were to blame for some of that, using grey-area strategy to stay within the rules, but also slow down the Seminoles offense in the process. He was asked to react to the game during the ACC coaches call Wednesday, and that’s when he accused the Hokies players of faking injuries to slow down the pace of the game.

“It happened too often so it’s hard not to,” Taggart said, according to ESPN’s Andrea Adelson. “It is what it is. I guess it’s part of football now.”

It’s important to point out that other factors were in play here that could’ve influenced the players going down as well. It was both hot and humid, and being the first regular-season game of the year, guys usually come in a bit out of shape. What happened wasn’t anything new, and Taggart needs to take his licks and move on to the next game, rather than complaining about it.

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