Well...someone had to talk about last week.
Brian and guest co-host Joe welcome French on to the podcast as they discuss the debacle that was Pittsburgh, what could be wrong with Logan Thomas and how awesome Ronny Vandyke can be. They also look ahead to Bowling Green, talk about what they are watching from the Hokies and discuss whether or not another ten win season is possible.
All of that, and more (including a Carter Warley joke) on episode four.
Leave us questions and comments below, because we will read them on the pod in the coming weeks!
MP3 Download link: http://thekeyplay.podomatic.com/enclosure/2012-09-21T07_30_04-07_00.mp3
Comments
lol, Funeral is right!
fml
Do you guys get the feeling...
That we don't treat our spring/fall preseason practices with the attention that they deserve? That has to be the only logical explanation for why we come out flat in the first month of the year... If we truly want to establish ourselves as an elite team (achieve that ultimate goal), we need to play in practice like we would in a game (not like the Pitt game).
It's dumbfounding and inexcusable that we have one of these head scratcher losses almost every year for the past six or seven years... And when we get the chance to play big games early in the season (USC '04, LSU '07, Alabama '09, Boise St '10) we come out relatively strong -- exception of LSU -- but let our big opportunity to prove ourselves go to waste... I know all of this has been said before but I feel it can always use some reiteration.
Also, great work with the pod guys.
It's really hard to say.
Without being at practice and watching, no one really knows how focussed the team is, or how hard they've practiced. The only time it will come out is after a loss, because after a win everything is hunky-dory. Foster, Wiles, Marcus Davis among others said the focus and effort was lacking this week.
In 2002, 2003, 2005 hot starts, including big wins over ranked non-conference foes, were cooled off down the stretch, so I'm not sure if the time of the season has much to do with it—we were ready for Georgia Tech.
If anything it's a matchup issue. Foster's 4-2-5 and the offense are geared to beat ACC teams. They both really struggle against more physical teams (Boise, Stanford, etc...). They really seem to thrive on familiarity. Paul Johnson's offense gave them problems at first, Clemson did last season, Pitt did this year, and I bet UNC will too. They are really good at adjusting though.
Pitt wanted to get down and dirty + Tech thought they waltz in and out with a win = a paddlin'.
It's a loaded question...
But I know SOMEBODY on the staff has recognized exactly what we're recognizing here (that we're not geared to match up with physical teams), so why aren't we taking steps to make our team more aggressive and physical to match up with those teams?
I mean, if we try to make ourselves more like Stanford, Boise, etc... not carbon copy, but just playing with more physicality and effort on every play (sometimes we seem to be listless on the field) we can still dominate teams in the ACC because probably 9/10 times Boise, Bama, or Stanford could dominate any other ACC team.
And I say it's a loaded question because I know we can't just change our philosophy overnight. It takes a lot of hard work on the recruiting trail, training and conditioning, more discipline in practice NO MATTER WHO WE'RE PLAYING AND WHO THEY LOST TO IN THE PREVIOUS WEEKS, and overall execution of the new gameplan on the field... It would mean a few years without our normal successes, but in the long run, wouldn't it be worth it???
If the above comments sound totally stupid, they probably are.
Sick burn on Carter Warley. Hilarious!
My Theory about the Early Season Struggles on Offense
I think that the early season struggles don't come from the old cliches, like "coming out flat" or "poor gameplaning" or whatever adage we can come up with.
As I have said in my column, for other teams, preparing to play Foster's gap defense is similar to preparing for the Georgia Tech offense. You have to change everything you would normally do, and it can screw with your basic execution against other teams. That is a reason why teams struggle with playing the gap defense; it is a curveball.
At the same time, in preseason camp, the Hokie offense practices AGAINST THE GAP DEFENSE. They don't go against a 1 gap or 2 gap 4-3 or a 3-4. They learn the offense against those looks, but when they go live speed, they go against the gap defense set of fundamentals and reads. Slowly, their body and muscle memory adapts to compete against the tendencies of the gap defense. Then, a week and a half before the season starts, they stop practicing full speed against the gap defense and go back to learning the offense against normal defensive sets, BUT they do so against scout team players which do not go at game speed.
For years, I think that this is the reason why the offense has struggled early on. By the time they play the first game, the reality is, it is the first time all season that they have played against a regular defensive set at full game speed. Instead of the slanting and stunting of the front seven, it becomes a more physical, point of attack battle, and the mind and body just are not prepared for it.
Just a thought
Do you think its possible to set up a "scout" team in spring/early fall camp to help bring the O up to speed against 4-3 looks (or 1 or 2 gap...probably not 3-4 unless GT is early in the season) earlier? Would that do any good, given that they still would be a scout team?
I was wondering when this would come out, great stuff. Keep em coming!!