[Mark Umansky]
Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (1-2, 0-0 ACC) vs. Marshall Thundering Herd (2-0, 0-0 Sun Belt)
When: Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT
Where: Huntington, WV | Joan C. Edwards Stadium (30,475)
Watch/Listen: ESPN2 / Virginia Tech IMG
Spread: VT +5.5
Weather: 69°F, Sunny
Series: Virginia Tech leads the series 11-2, and this will be their first matchup since 2018.
Reppin' TKP: TKP is not making the roadtrip.
Join The Key Players Club: Hang out in the game thread, read exclusive content, post and view comments, and support The Key Play.
Discuss today's game and festivities here. Avoid leaving play-by-play, we're all watching. Remember to follow the community guidelines.
Tags:
Section:
Comments
LET'S GOOOOO
HOKIES
Here's to hoping the Herd lays a turd
Yep, a win today will make for a perfect football weekend for us here at the fish house. Coupled with last night's exciting loluva meltdown, it would make a gloomy rainy day all sunshine and lollipops around here.
Sounds like a good shot J Lane, Stroman and Jenkins are all a go today.
Jenkins already out.
...but back in again.
I think he dislocated a finger.
Truly, we are about to see one of the football games of all time.
Indeed. We are all certainly guaranteed to see...something...today.
A game will be played here today
Sure it's true that they say defense wins games but i feel that whoever scores more points in this one will win...
I'm getting no picture on espn2. Only audio. Anyone else?
I have verizon....still audio only. Watchespn is working on my phone....
A 20 yd run????
Holy crap..2 in a row!!!
What in the wold is happening?
Officials doing everything they can to deny us early points with a completely unnecessary review
A clear touchdown. The linesman was right there? What the hell is with this sunbelt crew? Makes me nervous for future calls
They marked him at the 3...on replay he stepped on the 2 and 4 with clear green both times.
Agree...doesn't bode well for a competent officiating crew
Can we do that more? 3:00 75-yard drives are pretty nice
Good first drive. Keep running the ball.
A TD on the first drive? What?? Is this the right game?
I think that is our first time scoring on the opening drive this year. Go HOKIES!
That's our first time scoring in the first quarter.
Technically...no. We got 2 points against ODU on bad punt snap.
First time since Duke last year according to AB.
Hokies running the ball for a big RB gain and then a QB run for a TD......this must be a bye week for the Hokies. Am I mistaken? s/
BOOYAH!!!! GO HOKIES!!!!!
First Q1 score of the year, if not of the Pry era? Is that true?
Are we the only team whose Kicker and WR1 have the same jersey number?
First quarter points!
I'm so sorry everyone, I hadn't done my usual routine of Wild Turkey before the game all season until today.
So it is all your fault? /s
Delane is still at corner. I thought they were going to try him at safety some.
Pick!!!!!
Drones looked so much like what this offense needed on that first drive, it still blows my mind that he wasn't starting from the jump.
Win the turn over battle!
AGAIN
Did you know those guys are roommates? They've run 6 plays and he's mentioned it twice.
Lawson with the pick and Bucky Hodges YAC!
Wow. Great pass to Felton. Just a touch better D. Do that more.
If Tuten played for Fu, he would have benched the first game and never come back.
(Fumbles).
Yup
Not a good decision there. Triple coverage.
If one receiver is covered by three defenders, (checks math) that means someone else is uncovered right?
Yup...but in general the offense is looking so much more cohesive with drones. And the play calling seems to be better and spreading marshall out instead of just pounding up the middle.
F...have to run there with them only rushing three lineman
There was definitely room for Drones to get 3 yards.
Man. That was a huge lost opportunity but I'm liking the look of todays team. Let's Get it
Triple coverage on that one.
Surely someone else was actually open? They had triple coverage on Wright I think that was?
The ball to fleton was well placed. I would've liked to see him go up for that one.
Man just pick up the first. Don't like the decision to not use drones to run it. Or not have someone on a short route.
Don't know if we are good enough to pass up points like that at the moment.
Run d looks like it still needs work.
Interesting play call and decision by Drones. I'm thinking something with Drones having the option to run would have been the most optimal decision there.
Additionally, Felton, with his height, certainly isn't winning any contested balls in the air.
Like going for it, but that throw into triple coverage was not it
Throwing into triple coverage on fourth down. Not a great decision
jones looked to have a lane there, should have taken it
I'm beginning to wonder if we have a Corn-Fu situation with the QB's on our hands. Both QB's (for a year and a half now) seem to play super tight rather than just going out there and making plays.
Idk. Drones doesn't seem to being playing in his head to me. Just seems inexperienced.
Wells looked like he was second guessing everything he did.
I completely agree which is why I said what I said. He and Wells have both looked really "tight"... every game. So it has me wondering if the "predicted outcome" mentality (maybe not that exactly) is part of the Pry-Bowen strategy.
Run defense is looking better
^^^ This didn't age well
sadly, I agree. we look better for two or three plays and then ...
They just completed a pass with 5(!) Hokies around the WR.
Yeah with the defense here I'm not sure we can keep up.
I don't understand how we can't get any pressure and yet are leaving WRs uncovered. Seems like you do one or the other.
Wish our D line could get a sack.
Bend. Don't break.
I'll allow it GIF
We're getting a lot of breaks early. Need to start taking advantage.
Scoreboard is not working so refs have to figure out what to do. How do we always get in these situations at away G5 games
Are the elevators working?
There was apparently also a proposal on the field as VT ran a play
Nice bounce on that kick.
We have to take advantage of these opportunities...no points on the INT or the possession after a missed FG hurt.
Marshall is giving us opportunities and we just are not capitalizing after that first drive.
Dline needs to get some pressure.
Some sloppy plays
Can't keep taking penalties at stupid times.
And it cost us.
This game is winnable. Need to play smart.
That was awful coverage
Run stopper LB covering the RB on wheel route. Good play design. Wish our OC would notice that kind of stuff.
I didn't realize it was Johnson till after the replay lol win some lose some and yeah great design
Unless we can jump out to a two score lead I think our defense is gonna get worn down here. Our offense can't sustain drives.
Nice push off by the RB on that catch
Why do we have Will Johnson in coverage there?
Why is Johnson a LB split out that wide?
Trying to confuse the Marshall quarterback?
I can't understand this defense...
Create mismatches for the opposing O.C. and hope they think it's too obvious and thus a trap???
"Virginia head coach Brent Pry."
Hate that. Loathe entirely.
Virginia head coach Brent Pry? That's locker room material
APR needs to make a play.
Strong on coverage too
They sure have a ton of fans on the sidelines right up near the field.
First two games, can't stop the run. This week, can't stop the pass?
And boom...momentum gone.
Should have been up at least 10-0
We haven't forced a punt yet.
What a catch by Gosnell!!!
If you play zone defense almost exclusively two things need to happen in order for your team to have success...
1. The guys on the back end need great instincts.
2. The front 7 needs to get pressure.
Neither of those two things is true for the VT defense.
Gosnel has some good hands
Ugh, we look so damn bad at times...that miscommunication on that kick was awful
Nice run Tuten!!
Drones made that run work. He held the mesh for a really long time, collapsing the D. Then TUTEN just had to make one guy miss. Excellent execution.
Omg a running gap!!!!
For the love of God. A short kick and no return. But rather a flubbed catch and almost turned over
We should be running all day.
Look to Felton here!!!
Tuten!!
Why the fuck aren't we going up tempo there? That timeout bailed us out.
Drones with Tuten are bringing this backfield back from the dead. Been saying this for a while. This O needs a mobile QB.
Just the threat of run changes the dynamic. Likewise the threat of throw for Drones opens up some runs (unlike the old QP4 offense).
Too quick for the camera crew.
Why the fuck didn't we run lol
Because that's working. You clearly don't understand T-Bo.
Felton was open. Throw was late and behind.
Yeah that throw has to be coming as soon as he makes that cut. DB slipped
Why are we not using drones legs on the option there?
Felton should catch that.
Yeah. But wasn't a great throw. Drones should be sprinting out challenging the edge. Have a WR follow him and TE drag behind. Whoever blinks loses.
It's a tough catch when the db has his hand inside of your hands before the ball gets there.
No PI??
These missed opportunities are gonna kill us in the 2nd half.
We are showing progress. We are at least getting in position to score.
This is a great point. Keeping things in perspective is always helpful!
Agree. But getting points is important for this team.
If Drones ran a wing-T waggle with first and goal at the 5 it would be an easy score
Late delivery from Drones. He'll improve on that as he gets experience.
Probably should have still been a PI though.
Felton doesn't have great hands and he isn't interested in fighting for a contested ball... a bit disappointing.
Hate to single out a player, but I agree felton has been a disappointment. I'm assuming drones has had the most practice reps with him and that is why he targets him so much.
Points are always good. But feels like we just wasted a heck of a run by Tuten. He set the table for a TD.
Lawson is having a good game.
Edit: Sorry if I jinxed it.
Hurt now.
and now injured. hopefully just a momentary thing
The just showed him on sideline. Seems shaken up but they weren't working on anything. Good sign.
Fuck, Lawson slow to get up. Hope he's ok
KL21 needs to play full speed. He's unstoppable that way. When he's asked to read and react he seems to get lost in the wash.
...of course he just got hurt.
Honest question... has Felton ever caught a ball when we needed to? Contested? When you hit him in the numbers...hes got more dropped passes than my 2 year old son
Last week.
Ugh!
And there's the normal run d
Lawson gets hurt, they started running at Johnson
....and there's that vaunted Run Defense
Good god our run D is comical. It's like the kickoff. We just look at each like "you got him" as they run past.
This team is flat out awful.
Agreed. We have a handful of guys on O keeping things interesting, but very uninspiring most everywhere else. We just look flat.
Jesus....nobody home at linebacker in the middle again. Jenkins completely out of. Position.
Well at least we weren't favored. Maybe we can beat the spread.
Please don't panic, T-Bo. You're playing a good game. Running game is opening up. Now is not the time to go full spread, 3-deep passes and a punt.
9:10 left and we have forced 0 punts.
Holloway is an important weapon for this game.
This is why it is really difficult to point to progress with this team. There are some very small points of improvement (penalties for example), but damn... Year two of this defensive system and the guys who were here last year aren't any better??
I mean, some of them are still playing out of position - we still don't have a true Mike Linebacker on the roster.
They're 4 of 5 on 3rd down, need to be better there.
D-line is getting pushed around and as usual nobody can play middle linebacker.
The linebackers have been awful so far in the season, and this game isn't changing that. Just brutal
So the first play after me sitting down is a 50+ yard rushing TD for Marshall... Par for the course today or should I watch different games today?
LBs MIA
Not ideal when the bar loses power in the middle of the game
Honestly the way this game is going maybe it is ideal?
They did you a favor
Our DL has done nothing this year. Seriously need an upgrade there. No pressure nothing. Can't block up running lanes or anything. We have to have one of the worst TFL rates in the country. LBs is next position of need.
Man, Johnson and Tisdale are just awful. Hell, the LB's in general are god awful. It really is the back breaker of this defense/team.
Marshall was offsides!!
yes, the marshall lineman lined up off sides
I think 6-6 on the season was 100% a pipe dream
Another great catch by Gosnell.
God the production is awful. They going to just leave that song playing in the background? Lol
Is our defensive scheme so incredibly difficult that athletes, who happen to be college students, can't figure it out?
Being a college student isn't as impressive as it used to be. Really no different than being a HS student.
Dear lord why are they playing background music the whole time.
Lmao. This disaster has a soundtrack apparently.
Man this what happens when you don't have any true LB's on your roster and have to use converted safeties at the position...OL and LB are positions of NEEEEED
Now a turnover....here it comes
Welp
We are just awful.
Untalented, mistake-prone, poorly disciplined.
It's feels like forcing yourself to watch the same slow-motion train wreck every week.
I have a feeling this one may get even uglier than last week.
We are atrocious
Correction, this team isn't awful. It's a heaping pile of dog shit.
cant get any pressure even when offsides
Another fuckiing offsides on 3rd down.
Followed by a second fucking stupid penalty.
Atrocious. 🤦🏼♂️
I will say, this week the scheme seems perfectly fine. We just don't have the players to execute it
I've seen Marshall line up in the neutral zone twice with no flag. Sigh. Stupid mistakes again.
Stupid stupid stupid football!
Offsides and we still can't get the QB.
A TD here is game over.
Defense is a mess!
Where is the pass D?!?! How is he that open?
If they get a TD here I think I'll turn it off. I don't need this heartburn in my life
DL gets absolutely zero pressure or push.
I really do t have too many issues with our play calling so far save no runs at the goal line earlier.
Lol..bring 4...zero pressure and let WR sit at the sticks with no one within 10 yds...
Solid strategy there, Marve
Extremely disappointing on D which is supposed to be Pry's strength.
I'm guessing Jaylen Jones backup is another true freshman
One of our guys got tackled coming out in pursuit from the inside on that play.
Amen. I don't think he would've made the tackle anyway, but that would've made it first and 20
I think it was woodson
Defense just looks slow and lost. Making mistakes at critical moments. Can't get Marshall off the field. They look soft. No dogs on this defense
Where is APR we need some pressures
Playing flag football out there.
I've watched 10 minutes and its enough. My patience with Pry is gone. This team plays so uninspired, and is too full of holes. At the very least, some of these issues should be fixed by now.
I have a lot of criticism for this team, but they do not play uninspired. This team hasn't quit once this season (or last).
What channel are you watching? I am at the game and the Hokies look like they are just performing a job. Unfortunately Marshall is the team playing inspired football.
You're at the game and getting internet-quality service? Someone @ Whit right quick....
Phone service serves the same
Ugh
We can talk about players/lack of talent all we want, and that is a reasonable conversation, however we aren't nearly as untalented as our product suggests. We have guys getting halfway through year two of this defensive scheme looking worse than they did in year one.
Have him dead to rights 4 yards in back field give up a six yard gain
This
Brutal
Glad to see we can stop the bleeding.
Whatever Coach Pry is selling, the players aren't buying. Soft. Weak. Uninspired.
Losing mentality is hard to break. These players by and large are too used to and okay with losing.
Let's tie it up before the half
We are just very not good in any aspect of the game.
This is so surreal that I trust our offense more than our defense. Like should we be in the big 12?
Well everyone, have a great rest of your weekend. I'm not enjoying this and don't want to watch further. I love you all, see you next week
Someone smarter than me should tell me whether i should be upset with Marshall's O-Line. Are they "finishing the play" or pulling and pushing on downed defensive lineman after the whistle every other play?
If it's not getting called they're finishing the play. I'd want our guys to do the same.
100%
I see 3/5 of our OL with their hands on their hips, engaged with nobody at end of the play.
I'll take option #1
I still think year two is too early to get rid of a head coach short of scandal, but I think Pry should make some staff changes this off-season. These guys aren't getting it done.
I think if we don't make a bowl next year, he could be out. Boosters aren't going to tolerate paying for the highest paid VT staff ever and winning 2-3 games a year.
Yes, if we don't see significant improvement next year (e.g. make a bowl game), then I agree, he should be gone.
In terms of absolutes, yes, this is the highest paid staff. Relative to the college football coaching market? Not even close.
Agreed, but it was still the biggest commitment of funds for staff salaries in our program history. A lot of work was done behind the scenes to get that commitment, and it's not showing many signs of paying off so far.
I mean, if that's what the 'big money boosters' are thinking, then their logic is flawed. There are probably 30-40 programs (including private schools) who are paying more than us.
Now, this team isn't playing top 40 level - so if the argument is 'we fund top 40 salaries, we expect top 40 results', that makes sense. But saying 'we're paying this staff more than any previous staff, so we excpect better results - well that makes no logical sense.
You're right that it makes no logical sense, but that's the beauty of college football fandom. It rarely makes logical sense.
Yeah, how many offsides calls have extended drives today and how times have we seen players out of position leading to big plays. Also, we just look soft and pushovers on D
A score here will go a long way.
"A VT score here will go a long way" is what I am sure you meant.
You are correct. It is sad that we are at the point where the other is a possibility.
*monkey paw curls*
The clip of Huff in the locker room saying "all the talk is about us having players..." like ummm you are favored in this game??? Who is telling you we have a bunch of studs on our team??
That sjust standard coach speak. Doesn't matter who you playing.
Another instance of a coach gaslighting their player
One of the best pages from the Saban speech playbook
That was a moral victory.
Rutgers 7 - #2 Michigan 14 at halftime.
Pls convert
Why, God, are we not running on third and short?
Because clearly running plays are for 1st and 10+
Why are we not running the football? It was actually working this game.
I know our D is playing like crap. But the O has run 6 plays on the last two "drives". Can't keep putting the D back on the field that quickly.
Wtf...3rd and 2 when we've been running the ball...and we try to pass. GTFO.
I'm giving Pry till after the 2025 season. That's when he has said he will be able to get the roster to where he wants it. But lord this is painful.
I have no idea what Bowen is trying to do today.
He doesn't know how to deal with having a competent run game today
To be fair I don't think he's ever called plays for one.
Finally a sack.
Finally a Fng sack!!
Omg...pressure on the QB...what a concept
I think that is our first sack of the game
Bets on whether Marshall converts this?
They'll punt
Close though.
Defensive Tackle sighting! Need more of that. Would help protect the linebackers tremendously.
This does not warrant a separate thread, but I see some folks on our sideline wearing hats with script Hokies font on the front. I am pretty sure those are new era and not Nike. Am I wrong about that?
MacGyver reruns are fucking awesome.
It's bad when I'm actually surprised we got a stop on 3rd and 17
Barely
Barely lol got 15 of the 17 off a screen which is wild to me
Wow... we forced a punt... against Marshall...
Drones has got to stop throwing behind his receivers.
Or Wright could catch the ball that hits him in the hands.
At least our punt returner is in it. He saved us like 25 yards by running up for that ball.
I think I see what the coaches were concerned about with Drones...
Consistently late and low with throws
An injury on the OL is not good.
What was the timeline the announcers said for fourteen surgeries?
Since preseason camp started
Since the start of preseason camp
I can see why Drones and Wells are tied. Drones has some more touch and a good presence about him but I don't think he's as accurate as Wells. Problem being Wells rifles every pass.
And OL down.
I don't ever remember a Tech team with so many injuries! Something aint right.
Sigh
Two timeouts in our pocket and we don't even try to run the ball once?!
What a waste...so many chances
Zero runs. Bowen is out thinking himself.
Our run game is doing well.
Brilliant. 3 passes all incomplete and take no time off the clock.
All short passes at that. The same as running the ball from a clock management standpoint.
And the longest pass was (would have been) for 3 yards.
12 yards, 8 yards, 0 yards. That's our O on the last three series.
Our first drive was 6 plays for 75 yards.
Welp...Offense is back to the usual.
Run the ball well, then completely abandon it.
Bowen just isn't it and isn't gonna be it
How many drops does Wright have on the season???
All of them?
At this rate, he is going to be doubling his jersey number by mid-season.
T.Bo... Get it together man
Has he ever had it together?
Let's hope we can make some investments and build some relationships with winning during the half. /s
Stunning that we are ony down one score. Also down like 7 players today alone.
For the first time since I started following VT in 1998, I'm on the verge of checking out on a college football season.
There is no joy, no excitement, no signs of improvement. No reason to keep doing this every Saturday.
As an orioles fan, this team is giving me 2019/2020 orioles vibes. You hope the vision plays out but it is painful in the moment.
Going for it on 4th instead of kicking the field goal was dumb.
Drones has missed open receivers all day. We need to get back to running the ball because he's just not a good qb yet.
We also need to run to keep their offense off the field.
To sum up, run the ball.
My fear is how much qb growth can we expect if an offensive lineman is our QB coach?
Let's also not forget that Drones has made some decent (catchable) throws that his WRs haven't come down with. The cluster f#@k that is VT football is a collective effort.
He should have kicked the FG from the 32 yard, and gone for it when we were at the 3 or 4 yard line.
I think I understand the type of culture coach Pry is trying to build, but what he has on his hands is the exact same situation as Justin Fuente - a team that is soft, undisciplined, uninspired and not terribly competitive at any level.
I can understand losing to Purdue and Rutgers (the latter being only semi understandable....), they're at least P5 schools... but Marshall? This is a school you schedule to get a good homecoming win or some soft shit like that. Lose this game, and the whole perception of the staff and its future changes drastically (at least to me)
Marshall is good this season. Lots of upperclassmen, probably as good as a bottom third of the acc team.
But from a perception standpoint, I agree
This is who we are. Sometimes the truth is a really hard pill to swallow
3 and out. Good start.
Heyyo 3 and out
Three and out baby, there we go
Ouch
Parker Clements is just not good...
Yeah..I don't think the injury that just happened to not exist until after the end of last season was really the heart of the problem
FIFY
I would not be disappointed if Parker Clements did not play another snap this year
So Bowen not dialing up any rollouts or moving the pocket at all for drones like last week, going back to the Wells offense where he obviously will struggle. How much you want to bet Wells is miraculously better next weekend and a full go?
Pls no
I will 100% not watch another game that Wells starts
Drones needs a 2 count and run type of mentality.
Drones has got to pull that one down and run. I like his pocket presence for the most part but there are some times where he just needs to pull it down and run.
It's almost like he doesn't want to get forced into a running QB which I can understand but he needs to know when to use his legs and speed to go.
My big takeaway so far for Drones this year is he needs to be more decisive to tuck and run when it's clear the coverage is there. He could have at least gained positive yards on that sack or gotten back to the line of scrimmage.
Edit: I will drink x2 lol
WTF is up with these sketcher commercials? "I don't even have to bend over to put my shoes on." Tell me your shoes are for fat people without telling me your shoes are for fat people.
It's an expanding demographic
Edit: literally and figuratively
Bravo!
People are lazy. I'm sure they'll sell lots.
I want our starting O Line next year to be: Chaplin, Brody Meadows, Aiden Lynch and two transfer portal guys. Backed up up by Braelin Moore, Layth Ghannam, Bob Schick and a couple of the young guys who hopefully are brought further along by then
Where is Lane?
Whyyyyy did he give up on the run game??????????????? Of all the games to do so don't do it in the only one where you're actually having some success
Did we tell drones to stop running? I guess it makes sense because if he gets injured we have nobody healthy to back him up but my goodness he can't throw the ball or go through his progressions quick enough either.
Damn we had the safety there.
Another fucking stupid penalty on third down.
And fucking again a fucking 60 yard play on the next down.
Bullshit. That was an awful call.
That almost should have been OPI
..more awful penalties...
Just completely bailed them out.
....and then we implode even more.
I think I'm done with '23....
God dammit, that was so fucking stupid
Dear lord we can't get out of own way
Great.
This defense..... 99 yd TD drive
Hell of a tackle by Delane there I do love that effort even on a busted play
Payne needs to play more. That is two sacks.
Lets go Payne!
That Marshall RB gonna end up with 300 yards
Pitt part 2
We'll be lucky to win another game.
We can still win this one. We have a chance to grab the season by the scruff of the neck and win 3 of the next 4 (Marshall, Pitt, and Wake are all extremely winnable for any somewhat average team).
We need to avoid the 1-6 slide at all costs. Then 3-9 becomes the ceiling. That is unnacceptable
I wish it were otherwise, but our defense is just not good. We aren't coming back from a 14 point hole.
Okay yeah you're right we're not coming back
Your expectations are too high for this team
To play at the level of a top 75-80 FBS team? Yeah apparently so
Rush D sucks!!
Chris Coleman pointed this out. Every team we've played this season has set their record both in total rushing yards and yards per carry
Hey, did y'all know that kid won the state of Ohio triple jump in high school without really even practicing for it?
Can't wait to hear that old chestnut three more times this game.
We go from three and out at the goal line to letting them run 99 yds down the field.
I'm not sure we have a winnable game left on our schedule.
UVA is equally as bad, if not worse.
They have a qb who is more than willing to take shots and stretch the field and that scares me against our defense.
Having watched them against JMU, another SBC team, I'm not sure that's true. We're getting fucking shredded by Marshall. UVA barely lost to the Dukes.
They are at least competitive in their last game. I don't think we beat them this year.
Have you seen our defense?
Hokies Defense=Porous Yuck
Such a bad football team...this isn't fun to watch at all.
Game over....
Sorry...this team is making zero progress.
Pry so far is full of enthusiasm and promises but short on anything that even resembles results.
Find some real Coordinators or you're gonna be finding a new job, Brent.
I am really starting to believe that it does not matter who has the whistle. Our days of being even decent in football are over.
In the CFB world these days, until we commit a LARGE (obscenely large) amount of money to this program, you are probably right.....
99 yard TD drive, completely on the ground? Cool
They're tougher, they're faster, they're better coached.
We're just a bad, bad football team. I'm not seeing another win this season.
Isn't that the second 99 yard drive we've given up this year?
14 points feels insurmountable with the way the offense has been going.
I am definitely not suggesting Pry should be fired. He should be given his time. However, based on the trajectory, he is NOT the guy. Gonna be a painful 3-5 seasons followed by a massive overhaul... again.
Marve, Bowen and Quinn all need to be gone...
TBF, that wasn't even close to defensive PI. Just another give-me by the refs.
It was... textbook actually. Strong never turned around, he simply bulldozed the WR over without locating the ball.
Yeah, I disagree. 1) looked a lot more like offensive PI and 2) wasn't the ball tipped before any contact? I'll have to watch the replay to make sure im not going off maroon and orange glasses/emotions/wild Turkey 101
Edit: I rewatched it 3 times, and it probably was at most a ticky tack call but my initial read was wrong
Yeah, I may have missed the ball being tipped before contact. And I'll give you that it wasn't egregious, but Strong still has to try and locate the ball to keep that flag in the Ref's pocket.
Game 4 and our LBs still have no idea what lane to fill.
If only we had multiple coaches with experience teaching LBs.
Someone over on 247 posted it, but kind of think it's true. Pry just looks shell-shocked on the sideline. I think this part of the job is just too big.
Feel like this team would maybe limp to 6-6 with a CAA schedule.
I started watching VT football in 1986. I cannot believe we're being physically whipped by Marshall.
That wasn't a defensive PI. That was a total bailout by the refs
Does regression equal progress?
Asking for a friend...
Rhum Bar in Beaufort NC. 800 percent more fun than watching Virginia Tech football
Eventually, y'all are going to have to come to the realization that we are just a very poorly constructed team. People have been warning us some ugly football was in our future for the last few years based on Fuentes recruiting. It's here, we are just that bad and you can't ignore it anymore
And yes our talent is that bad. We are playing guys every down that wouldn't see the field at most other schools. Marshall should be at the tires off us with the way each team is built. You can be mad and argue with that, but the reality is what you're seeing now. We have players playing who cannot be coached.
Preach.
We also have coaches who can't coach
Saban couldn't coach these players to a winning record. These players are making fundamental mistakes on a play by play basis. It doesn't matter what plays you call when the players are incapable of running them, and incapable of learning them in practice
Your statement is a bit of an oxymoron. Players play to their level of ability/talent (sometimes above that) based on the coaching they receive. I'm not sure there are more than 2-3 players on the entire roster doing that.
What Saban could do is show signs of improvement even in losses. We can't even get that
With Saban they wouldn't make those mistakes though
Saban wouldn't take a job with the players we have because he wouldn't want to put himself in a no win position
We have coaches who have been telling us we aren't where we need to be. They said it all preseason. They said it when they got here. People with high expectations have created those themselves.
Not getting your ass absolutely kicked by Marshall is not a high expectation.
It's only surprising if you didn't pay attention to where our recruiting was when these players were brought in.
Also, if you were paying attention to Marshall, you knew going into the season this was easily our toughest OOC game.
I think that's a pretty difficult argument to make this early in the year.
Rutgers had a better D and the QB certainly wasn't any worse than Plancher.
It's really a pretty moot point anyways because we've lost convincingly to everyone except ODU...
As someone who thought we were a 4/5 win team this year... We're looking at 1-3 wins right now IMO. I don't think my expectations were that high or unreasonable.
This right here. We just needed signs of progress this year. Pry's message and recruiting work is going to start falling apart if we have another 1-3 win type of effort. The message is ringing hollow.
This is the point!!!
Yes, the Roster is bad. Yes, Fuente was a terrible recruiter that left a mess of a Roster, but even given the above, the product that is being put on the field has underachieved even the modest expectations that existed.
This isn't just a Roster problem...sorry for those that want to play that tune only...this is way more systemic.
I don't have high expectations at all, I just wanted to see improvement this year and all I see is a defense that has regressed, no improvement on offense, and a team that more times than not comes out and gets punched in the mouth and can't recover. Literally the only thing I think we do better than last year is commit less false starts.
Punting has been more consistent with Moore.
Don't shortchange us...lol
You are partially correct IMO. The talent is bad, but it isn't as bad as the product suggests. These coaches clearly have no idea what they are doing.
Convince me otherwise: Whit, Ballein et al hired Pry to fill the fan base full of nostalgia and bravado, making us feel like it's the old days and got someone they're comfortable with that fits at the Blacksburg country club. But these guys have no intention of being serious about having a winning football program in today's landscape.
Whit, Ballein, et al gave the fans what they wanted. Fans wanted:
That's exactly what we got.
Charles Huff fit all those criteria too, and seems to be a better coach to boot. But VT had to get someone who fit with the Blacksburg clique as well.
There were a lot of people calling for Huff (including Joe). I would've been very happy with that hire. if I recall correctly, at the time VT was searching, Huff was coming off one 5-7 season at Marshall. Easier to sell the fanbase on a 0-0 coach than a 5-7 coach.
I'm really hoping he's still available at the end of next year at this point.
Pry is doing some things well, but the players don't seem to be showing improvement. Is that the players or coaches?
Those guys don't give a fuck about us. They only care about the donors who give them a lot of money and those donors don't care. They're happy we peaked in 1999 and just care about feeling important and rubbing shoulders with the coaches when they're on campus. They don't give a fuck about on field results.
If they did, they would fund us to fix it.
Not having players matters but I am fucking sick and tired of seeing a football team that is soft, not prepared, and makes too many mistakes.
No targeting there?
Leave Bowen and Marve in Huntington. This is awful.
Honestly who on the staff deserves to come back? There's not a unit out there that's prepared.
WRs have been the only remotely consistent unit. It's tough not having Jennings or Lane but seeing the strides Gosnell has made and even Lofton has made plays this year he didn't make last year.
Yeah that's fair, Mines and his room can come back. Leave the rest in the hollers.
I'm good with Cheetah. He has players who haven't even played a full year at their position contributing.
He's one of the most active coaches on Twitter, I can't believe I forgot about him lol.
Cheetah and Mines are the only P5 assistants on this staff.
This isn't fun anymore.
I mean 1/8 on third down. Cannot sustain a drive for anything. And now it's not just like "well the defense got worn down" they haven't been able to stop anything all game long. And if they did they bailed Marshall out with a penalty.
From a players perspective how much fight do you have when you see the offense go three and out again and know you haven't stopped anything.
The first time coordinator thing looks dumber with each passing day.
Why not call the defense, get an experienced offensive coordinator, and get an older former head coach to help out and cover head coaching type duties?
Also have the FSU/Clemson game on....we are SO far removed from that level of play, it's almost like watching an NFL game compared to a DIII game.
Tired of the "roster is so bad" and "Fuente screwed us" stuff.
We play soft, dumb, and look like we'd rather be playing Monopoly.
I've seen H.S. teams with nobody who even sniffs a D-1 Talent level play tougher and more focused football than this.
You can't get completely dominated by Marshall and claim your roster is the problem.
This Staff isn't it. If you cant coach to a level that produces a better on-field product than this, you can't coach.
So glad someone said it
A lot of people don't like the truth when it smacks them in the face
Like your comments about the roster?
You aren't wrong, but you also aren't 100% correct. This coaching staff is absolutely outclassed every single week. The players on the roster aren't even doing things that, as mentioned above, HS players do.
There's a reason that when Marve left FSU, the collective response from FSU fans was..."wow..we didn't really think much of him anyways"
He wasn't even a great LB coach and I think that shows thru.
We can keep blaming Fuente but '25 is coming quick and nothing on the field should make you think some new faces are going to make a big difference
Not sure why it has to be either 'the roster is so bad' or 'the coaches are so bad'
We're seeing the perfect storm of both IMO
with each new egg we lay, I believe this a little more
It's even harder to stomach when you see Elko turn a 3 win Duke team with far less program prestige and resources immediately into a 12-4 record in his first 16 games. Or Deion Sanders who turned arguably the worst running program in P5 into as ranked team his first season.
Yes Fuente's terrible recruiting is hurting this team, a lot of upper classmen just aren't it. But Pry could have definitely hit the portal way harder and overhauled the upperclassman in this roster and he chose not to. His freshman classes haven't shown they are ready to play at this level yet. We have a roster that is poorly coached, poorly disciplined and not good enough in several areas. And this with us spending more resources than all but 3 teams in the ACC, all of whom are way beyond us right now.
I am aware this wasn't a 1 year fix, but to be this poor that we may end up only winning 2-3 games yet again is shocking. if we were on track to be a 5/6 win team i'd be preaching patience but we have to be looking longingly at the panic button right about now
This is where the broken relationship with VA high school coaches is killing us. Pry feels like fixing that relationship is priority #1, which is why he didn't decimate the roster immediately.
I don't know if Pry's strategy is the right move for the long term health of the program. I hope it is, but I don't have much confidence right now.
What sucks about the remnants of this tropical storm weather is I can't even escape this game by going outside to get some yardwork done.
I'm fucking living in it. There are boats on the water in 30 plus mile an hour wind. No excuses, play like a champion
Rule #76: No excuses, play like a champion
RUN THE FUCKING BALL!
With Drones!
LETS GO
Very lucky to get that pick when the defensive line had zero pressure
That spot was bullshit
We need to change strategy and get the ball out quick to a receiver in space. Fuente 2016 style. Marshall has figured out that if they send the house on a drop back and cover run gaps we can't do anything
Shocker he pulls and runs it and gets yards.
This line is a seive.
It's worse than most G5's
Our OL is soooo bad
Thing is we KNEW THIS going into the year. We only brought in 1 guy and he's not even in the rotation. Sure we had 2-3 major targets but we should've been trying to overhaul the damn thing. 100% on the coaches
I mean, I don't think that was possible, for any coach. Even Deion's line is garbage. The difference is Sean Lewis is doing everything possible to scheme around that line.
It's better than ours. Duke brought in 7 OL transfers this year. You're telling me we couldn't at least steal one of them? I'm fine if we bring in a few transfers that didn't work out, but we brought in ONE and from FCS
I've explained this ad nauseam: https://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/1213836#comment-1213836
I get the point - we should've played the numbers game and recruited multiple transfers in hopes that just one would become an immediate contributor. I think this goes against Pry's plan to rebuild relationships with VA high school coaches, but something's gotta give.
Their defense has soo much more fire than us. Embarrassing.
What has our defense done to get fired up about? They're getting pistol whipped on the ground every single game. They are bad and they know it
Very true.
No illegal contact for our slot receiver who got tackled at the first down line?
2 turnovers and 0 points.
Delane has been playing safety the last couple of drives.
Our Tackles are turnstiles for Marshall DE in passpro
Jared Verse might have 8 sacks by himself.
Our entire OL is bad. Drones doesn't even get to the end of his drop back on most plays before the OL is blown up and he has to scramble for his life.
We genuinely might have the worst OL in the country. The talent there is so, so bad. These guys are barely FCS level
Should I turn the game off?
Apparently Tech is still waiting for it to start.
Turn it over to FSU/Clemson....its a pretty good game.
My dream is that we offer Dan Mullen $3m/year to be our OC. Will never happen (for a variety of reasons), but one can dream right?
We are!............... Bad.
We are so bad
Lol and wtf is that. #65 what the fuck are you even doing there.
He's been doing it for three games. Either it's taught or we don't watch film.
Oof OL is bad.
More like OooLf.
crazy how when we are on defense I assume we will give up a 3rd and 20
We can't block air. Yet we keep running slow developing plays (and long passes). Mind boggling.
"Play action Drones, never had a chance!" Pretty much sums up our line play.
This has gotta be the worst Tech team I've seen in my life!!!! Pathetic!!!
What the fuck was chaplain doing there? He just stood still!
Hit him with your purse, Xavier.
This is pathetic....
Wright sucks
Six straight punts.
Would we have no worse chance of winning if we just punted on first down and played field position?
It would just give them more chances to break off 50+ yd runs
We would gain 10 yards of field position by not losing yards on the first three downs.
We've really turned into Nebraska (without the national titles....) all the glory from the golden days and now just a fucking joke....
Welcome to the new era of VT football. Mercy.
The center is "ducking" before he snaps. Causes our guys to jump.
Another fucking g offsides on 3rd down.
A stop by the defense. Come on HOKIES!
We have 23 yards of offense this half. Let that sink in.
SMU is going to absolutely blast us when they join the ACC
Schedule them as out of conference and get them to send some of those millions our way /s
... and Cal... and Stanford!
Marshall is bigger, faster and much more physical than VT... This has been a theme for the last few years, but Pry and Co. have been around for almost 24 months and there doesn't seem to be any significant changes in the physicality of the players/team.
They've overhauled the QB room, the WR room, and the RB room. The secondary is being developed - we have numbers and potential there. That's half the position groups on the team.
I'm not going to say the coaches have done a great job, but it's incorrect to say there haven't been 'any significant changes in the physicality of the players/team.'
I respectfully disagree.
I'm just hoping we can keep with with 14 pts. Maybe get a late fg and make it not look as bad as it really was.
I thought VT +9 was a mistake but damn that was a good call at open...
Turns out Vegas knows what they are doing.
Sorry, I apparently left a bunch of words out- I thought me taking VT +9 at open was a mistake. Looks like it might have been a solid call
Thank God there isn't relegation in college football, we'd be in an FCS conference by now
Honestly I usually hate most national broadcasts and this team has had a couple of mess ups but I haven't hated this crew overall. I think we benefit from Roddy Jones being part of the ACCN so he is at least aware of our team and is able to call the game fairly. I appreciate that he's politely called out how dumb some of our decision making has been lol
I still don't understand the clock management with VT football (again, going all the way back to Beamer). We are down 2 scores with a wet paper bag of a defense, we need some urgency here.
New clock rules are not going to help either.
Nice decision there
So, when we roll Drones out and give him some options he moves the offense... and scores... HMMM...
Nice to see them not quit. Hoping the defense has one more stop in them so tech can at least cover
Mind boggling that this is still 1 score game. I have to still believe.....it's just in my nature to never quit.
Mine, too. Says the guy who's been married twice!
Let's go!
I hit a little more of that wild turkey for y'all.
Me too brother!!!
BS!
HORSESHIT!
Complete BS call
Jesus H that's a soft penalty flag.
That was so BS penalty call on Tisdale
NO FUCKING WAY NO FUCKING WAY THATS A PENALTY HOLY SHIT
TLF. Isn't that a flag too?
That bullshit penalty could have ended the game for us. Ridiculous.
Sunbelt crew as a said earlier
Call T/O
Holloway.
Pls
Is it too much to hope for a blocked punt?
Why did we not call timeout?!
Ok guys. We have all 3 timeouts and 3 minutes. LETS FUCKING GO!
Let's see if there is any fight left.
Honestly it's a small miracle this game is even still in contention this late in the 4th.
Horse collar!
LOL no, actually a phantom hold!
Ugh.
Gotta go fast here.
At least now we can blame the refs /s
Sadly, it's against Marshall, but this could be Kyron's "this is my fucking job" moment.
Penalty on a clean block but no penalty on a horse collar tackle, hmm
How about fake the swing to Tuten then run a seam route there, TBow?
Why can they have hands all over Drones face and no call?
Two fucking hit to the head tackles not called.
Regardless if we score or not the decision to not take the FG early on in the game is looming. We aren't a team that can afford to not take points when we can get them.
Agreed!
Come on guys.......
Why the hell have we not used our TO's?!?
Terrible time management.
It's because of our roster...duh
Poorly blocked inside zone.
The staple of the TBow offense
This is on Drones. Let him make a play.
Glad to see some fight in this team though.
4th and Logan?
In the unusual event we score a TD here, I say go for 2. We're a 1 win team, on the road. Just go for the win.
Agreed.
You've absolutely gotta be fuxking kidding me.
You're a guard...you see the damn ball
That's on Pry
How is that on Pry? I don't see it
Discipline. We don't got it.
I respectfully disagree - at least to the extent that it is not all on the coaches and maybe not even a half. Individuals are responsible for their own actions.
HOW CAN YOU FUCKING DO THAT AFTER A TIMEOUT?
We are not a good team.
Our OL is trash in every way. That's why.
No fucking discipline
I hate football so much....
Pass was behind Lane. Drones leads him and it is complete.
That's why the staff named Wells the starter. Not saying I agree with that move, but it wasn't a dumb one.
If that throws out in front that's an easy completion though
Coach Pry ain't gonna be here long FAM
pull schick's scholarship. fucking hell
Just bench him. You could see he felt terrible after the mistake. It's still unacceptable. Need to be consequences other than running for that. Need to have a motivator to do better
I pretty much checked out last year, especially with posting here. Definitely checked out now. It's not good football. It's not good coaching. It's not fun to watch. And it's inexcusable.
Timecop level time management at the end there. If we take a timeout at 1:12 2nd and 1 we probably win the game
That's a stretch IMO
Score on the drive I mean. At 2nd and 1 we aired it out, where if we take the timeout we can run for the first down, clock stops to move the chains and we're rolling with over a minute left
The bolded comment is the poor assumption IMO
Regardless, I don't think this is even in the top 10 things I would've fixed about today's game.
It's 1 yard we were moving the ball. Get multiple tries, three timeouts. We get that first down
Tie the game maybe. It's a pretty big leap to say this team would have won that game if it goes to OT. Unless you think we go for 2 in which case idk what to expect in that situation
Tie the game yeah you're right. But with the momentum maybe we go for 2 and get it
Oh I am 100% in favor of going for it if we score there. I'm just terrified of what Bowen would call
Definitely limited the chances to tie. Call a TO there and you can map out your second and 1 and your third and short/first and ten play.
"That is a good football team. They are Power 5. I don't know if anyone knows that. "
Charles Huff
The quote about out-disciplining us was painfully true.
Lol...in name only
I didn't know, anymore.
Well at least the preseason is over now!
Pry is from the Beamer tree. Maybe this is an exhibition game.
Drones is not a good qb yet. Receivers were running open and drones was throwing it behind them or not finding them regularly. Lane was open on that last play; drones throws a better ball and lane might've taken it to the house.
Defense got better but man what an awful game
really looks like pry was right when he said drones isnt better, just gives a different look.
This team is bad. They aren't good. But I'll give them credit, they've gotten down multiple scores each game for the last 3 weeks and have battled back each time. They're fighting and they won't give up which I credit them with. I'm proud of them for that.
The problem with that, for me, is that it seems like the true grit & effort isn't kicking in until we are down and in desperation mode. I wish we could teach/summon that curb-stomping mentality of the 2000s.
Can we get Corey Moore and Xavier Adibi to transfuse these guys?
I don't know what Corey Moore is doing these days, but is there not a way to use all that staff money to hire him as a motivational speaker?
Like, if we could hire him to fire up the team before every quarter with additional ad-hoc hype as needed (it'll be built into the contract) we'd be stomping some dudes.
LB: misses tackle
S: bad read, gives up 35 yard run
Corey Moore: we swarm! We swarm, baby!
LB: tackle for loss
S: blitzes, sack, forces fumble, recovers it.
CM: Welcome to the Terrordome, baby!
As of January he was the Assistant Dean at the University of Kentucky College of Nursing
Honestly I wonder how much of that is, by the time we're down/desperate is when we let go of the reigns and let the team play free.
The fact that we still had a chance at the end is...something.
You're right, it means the offense had two sustained drives the entire game and that the defense played one quarter of the game.