Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (4-4, 3-1 ACC) at #15 Louisville Cardinals (7-1, 4-1 ACC)
When: Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 3:30 PM EDT
Where: Louisville, KY | L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (59,823)
Watch/Listen: ACCN / Virginia Tech IMG
Spread: VT +10
Weather: 65°F, Cloudy
Series: Tech holds a 6-2 all-time advantage against Louisville.
Reppin' TKP: Not making this trip.
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Comments
Feels good to be playing meaningful football in November. Let's win today
HOKIES!!!
Let's go!
HOKIES!!!!
I think this is first nationally/regionally meaningful November football game we've played since 2019. Very exciting.
Yeah I've gotten used to not following football by November and focusing on basketball season. I've missed this feeling!
Bend but don't break, limit mistakes, win turnover battle, score one more point...Keys to victory today! Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk!
Get the W no one thinks we can get, and get out of town. LET'S GO
HOKIES
I'm nervous.. Slightly hopeful but realistic. A far better feeling than apathetic!! LET'S GO
A win is a gain, a loss is a measure!
I'll miss you guys in the real-time game thread this time, as I have to go for my periodic CT & MRI scans this afternoon. Have a couple of cold ones for me, and I'll catch up watching the replay later tonight!
Hope all goes well!
Thanks- I was thinking you'd be a good choice to lead off the TKPC users AMA when I start the series back up in the spring... non VT guy living in North Dakota?....so many questions....
I should really update my profile data. Lol. I'm actually in Ohio now, right outside Dayton. We left SD back in 2019, and was in Washington the last 3 years prior to being here.
But sure, I'd be down for an AMA. I'm not that interesting, but I'll go for it lol
Everybody's interesting....you just gotta ask the right questions! 🤪
Thinking good thoughts for you my man.
Thanks guys!
LETSSSSS GOOOOOOOO!
HOKIES!
Rooting for good news!!
Thanks Brent! As you know, it's pretty routine. Just monitoring for no change in my remaining metastasis in my lungs. Been pretty much stable for 4 years now. Congrats again on your boy and 21 years! Hope you guys had a good day!
We cracked open a bottle of Jett Brothers bourbon. And his brother played a concert for him. It was perfect.
Awesome! 🥲
Scans showed status quo. No changes.
Woo! Congrats!
Thanks buddy!
Per ESPN:
The Cardinals will be without top cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr., and four starters on offense are considered game-time decisions, sources told ESPN.
The game-time decisions include two of the program's best skill players -- star tailback Jawhar Jordan (hamstring) and star receiver Jamari Thrash (upper body) -- as well as starting left tackle Willie Tyler and center Bryan Hudson, according to sources.
If they are missing Jordan that's a big plus for the Hokies.
If Jordan and Thrash are somehow out, they have a very limited offense.
👀
If Jordan and/or Thrash are out we should win this football game.
I'm too pessimistic to believe we could get that lucky. What are the odds this is just gamesmanship by Loserviller? Would this change how we prep or our game-plan? Like someone else said, I'm nervous and excited, which is tons better than apathetic. Go Hokies!
Even if just Thrash is out, you could go man coverage on the outside with a single high safety and sell out on the run the whole game.
I just saw that Storm Duck (formerly of unc) would replace Brownlee. I seem to recall that Storm Duck was a thorn in our side when he played against us for unc
And yet the line hasn't moved... they're probably playing.
Even if Jordan plays but isn't 100%, that's still potentially huge for us. If they can't just line up and run the ball down our throats, it greatly increases our odds of pulling off the upset.
FEELING CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC FAM
I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MY HANDS!
Was supposed to be at my daughter's swim meet this afternoon and tomorrow, but she is not feeling well. Think is is just allergies and not actually sick as no temperature. But really stuffy and trying to competitively swim with a badly stuffed nose is ... not desirable. Scratched ,which allows me to watch today. On the road against a top 20 team will be a tall order. Putting my luck this season to a real test:
VT record when I watch on TV = 4-0
VT record when I watch in person = 0-1
VT record when I don't watch at all = 0-3
WATCHWATCHWATCHWATCHWATCH!
Yes, am planning to.
Made some great chicken sautéed with white pepper, chipotle pepper, thyme and Cajun seasoning with BBQ sauce to be topped with sliced red onions and hot banana peppers on a sub roll. Can't wait for it.
Anyone know when a "game time decision" is made official? It's it truly at game time, or 90 minutes before like in NFL?
I'll be missing it today (baby shower for our first is this afternoon!) but I'll check in on it periodically. Hopefully we can at least keep it close and make it a good game. Go Hokies!
🤷♂️ NFL has to announce their lineup 90minutes before, so I wasn't sure if NCAA had the same rules or if it could be a truly game time decision after warmups.
Looks like they announced one "game time decision" in Thrash is out.
I know I can be hurt again, but it feels good to feel interested again too.
Even if Jordan plays hopefully that being a game time decision he isn't full speed.
Cracking open a bottle of Weller Antique 107 for this one.
Very jelly of that...
I'm either doing sherry cask courage and conviction, or eh Taylor cask strength. Might mix some codigo in for fun.
Been looking for that bottle of EH Taylor for a while now...
It's the only thing I've ever gotten out of the Vabc lottery.
Backing this down to Writer's Tears until our play improves. Thus far, we haven't deserved the good stuff.
Thanks to a last minute change I can now watch the game live on my TV. The first game is was able to watch this season (after not being able to since the 2021 season) was the Pitt game. So obviously I need to have my fat country as$ in front of the TV today.
This might be your longest post, ever.
Let's GO!
HOKIES!
Not great lol
Gotta settle the nerves, fellas.
We've already been through this, at Florida State. C'mon
OL just buried this 1st drive
Tough start... lots of football left though.
So far, not great, Bob.
Dang. Well let's go defesne
Oh no. Bad Bowen might be back today. Can't win this with Drones dropping back
Ugh..falling short on intensity and execution on both sides isn't encouraging
Gotta make those tackles.
Very disappointing how flat we tend to come out on the road.
Honestly is if we can at least stay in this and make it a game I'll be happy.
We are still not here we want to be and Louisville is good. So no shame in a loss today. Let's just not get embarrassed.
First big play of the game.
Can we hold them on a 4th down
WOW, good stop.
Road Hokies and home Hokies are two different beasts lol
Really need to clean up the mistakes to have any chance in this game.
Oh boy here we go....see a big rushing game incoming
Don't feel good about this one. No answers for the run on defense, and the offense is going to try and throw the ball all game and get behind the sticks.
Wow, literally not what we needed on either side of the ball
Ugh. Fuga's crashing the pile from behind pushed them over the line to gain for a first down. Gotta...not do that.
They already called it dead. He was last the line before he jumped on.
I wonder if Jordan is gonna be a game time decision next week as well.
It's funny, they don't LOOK short-handed, at least not in the run game.
Not an ideal start to this game.
Run fits by the linebackers have not been good.
So the Jordan GTD stuff was all just a smokescreen, right? There's no way that kid was a legitimate GTD running the ball like that so far today.
Yeah, he DEFINITELY knew he was playing.
First half of the season kind of start. But it's early, just need to take a deep breath and do what we do.
We only gave up like 45 yards. We need to settle down, gain yards and flip the field. Can step on our dicks and then have a short punt to make it worse.
Bad start on offense and defense but lots of game left. Just settle down, get Tuten going and we have a chance. Just hate seeing the blown block and multiple bad penalties. Keep that up and we are going to be obliterated.
We need to get in position to sell out against the run. Make Plummer beat you.
I agree. Their best WR is out.
This...
Double Eagle up front (or something) with a single high safety. I don't think Plummer can beat us.
You know what we need now to shut down the run game?
Scootin Turin
Tuten just ran through that dude!!
Tuten trucked that defender.
You just got Darren Evans-ed.
Left side of the OL is getting dominated.
Did they miss an offsides?
Yes
Why give up there? WTH?
Playing field position game.
I agree with you. But a long incomplete and you still are playing field position. Granted, with the pass "protection" we have seen so far, could have been pushed back if you throw. But Still, underdog on the road, take a shot.
Could have still done that with a quick fade to Felton and the potential for a first TD.
This OL is just so, so bad.
3rd and 14 and Hokies do a "we give up" play.
Our play calls on third and long haven't been stellar.
Kind of weak call there. I mean take a shot. You are in good punting position to pin them anyway.
At least do something to make the defense have to make a read. We just showed them the play and the whole defense converged on Tuten.
Good punt this time.
We need to let Drones run more early. Seems to get him in the flow. He hasn't even looked to keep early in the latest games.
Annnnnnd there's the first half of the season Bowen playcalling.
Throw it deep! It gets picked it's like a punt
I'm not sure he has time.
This defense is fast.
Gonna be a quick game if it's 80% run plays on both sides
Bowen is gonna have to call plays to leverage Drones' legs and arm to keep us in the game. Roll outs, options reads, etc. Line can't keep up right now
NOT GREAT SO FAR BUT IT'S KINDA WHAT I EXPECTED
It's clear Tuten and the run game can work on first and second down. Why not stay with it? The coaches have to see what is working and what our strength is and they seem locked into some predetermined game plan and aren't adapting to the game in front of them.
Peoples is playing like a man possessed today.
Yeah, he's on it.
DEFENSE IS MUCH BETTER WHEN PEOPLES AND JENKINS ARE BOTH FULL GO
To be fair, VT needs some better field position. Given Louisville's offense, cant' give THEM good field position.
Not sexy, but it's a bit early to release the Kraken. The defense is faaaaaasst.
Tuten has to succeed in early downs.
Peoples playing like multiple peoples. He's everywhere
DEFENSE GOTTA PICK UP THE OFFENSE EARLY AND AT LEAST KEEP IT CLOSE TO START
Even if we break all their WR, we still won't win unless we can stop the run.
Snap back to reality I guess...
I mean, we obviously have a chance, but we aren't in a place where we can get mad at them for not beating top 15 teams.
Pretty bad start all the way around. No adjustments on defense yet... that is disappointing. Sell the farm to stop the run. As stated multiple times, Plummer cannot beat us.
This team still not ready for the big stage. We must psych ourselves out on the road or something. Just look flat.
Let's forget that quarter happened.
For what it's worth, it was better than the first quarter against fsu.
We have no chance unless we start tackling better.
Louisville is fast and hard to tackle.
Especially if you refuse to wrap up...
That was a quick first quarter and feels like we're already down 4 scores. Keep it together D and let's hit some quick passes to get Drones going.
Never mind.
Anybody else watching on YouTube TV? What is up with the commercials, did ACCN get no sponsors? Just 3 minutes straight of enjoying the zen.
Was about to say the same thing. I thought maybe the first time it happened it was a TV timeout on top of a called timeout or something, but nope.
After the start to this game, I'm not complaining, I need some zen...
Our best chance was always going to get up early and force them to have to throw it more to try to catch up. That has not gone to plan. Don't feel good about this one.
SO MANY BROKEN TACKLES IS VERY FRUSTRATE
Welp... The early season Hokies are back. Poor run fits. Refusing to actually attempt a tackle.
You get a missed tackle, and you get a missed tackle, and you get a missed tackle.
missed tackles, miss the same.
Welp...that's game.
Didn't come out ready to play today. Dunno what happened to the team from last week...guess it got left in Blacksburg.
Weak scared ass play calling on offense. Emptied the clip against Syracuse and play like scared kittens against Louisville on the road.
Defense marve is happy keeping everyone in their heels and getting blocked out of the play instead of playing aggressive and selling out to force the pass like Louisville is doing to us
Already seen a couple of chickenshit "tackle" attempts. Not a good sign
Think my streak of undefeated TV watching is coming to a close.
Okay with that. On the road against a good team. But want to see the fight and adjustments made to improve and keep things close. We're not a good team yet, but are building. We need 2 wins in the final 4 regular season games, and that is still very possible.
Someone is going to have to explain how we can actually look decent run stopping and then just forget how to play. Our LBs just refuse to fill holes.
We are all kinds of f'd up todsy
Sorry guys, I forgot to do my pregame wild turkey. Just snuck it in at that commercial break. Should get a TD here.
Damn, that made it worse.
Why are not even trying to pass?
Their lines are dominating us.
Targeting?
Really hoping Louisville is this good and this isn't VT regressing to September.
They're definitely better than the teams we've been playing.
Faster, anyway.
MAYBE SYRACUSE AND PITT AND WAKE ARE JUST THAT BAD
Well, it's pretty clear they aren't Louisville.
🥲
God this offense sucks.
And welcome back to bad Bowen playcalling. Constantly behind the sticks.
Bowen and Co. are regressing back to the mean
This is that Wells playbook. Weird runs. No rollout passes. Slow developing pass plays for an OL that cannot block.
Hard to play with confidence when you're getting your ass handed to you.
Louisville is fast and VT is missing assignments.
How do you beat a fast defense?
Not with these slow developing plays.
You need misdirection, but it has to be simple and quickly executed.
I didn't expect to win but also didn't expect to be completely dominated.
by mistakes.
I thought the call was going to be roughness for piling on after the play. Turned into delay of game.
I knew it wasn't going to be good.
OL has to give him time. People complaint about play calling but Drones has no time to throw. OL needs to step up. Along with defense.
I'm complaining about play calling because Bowen is asking Drones to do too much right now.
Excellent punt.
It's gonna be an ugly day lads. Try not to be too hard on them though...we still have time to adjust
Shoulda gone fishing
Great punt.
This is gonna be ugly.
I don't have a problem losing to Lousiville..they are a better team than us.
I do have a problem looking like an utterly inept shitshow with OL false-starting every other play and not pass blocking at all. Then the LB back to the same wandering nowhere near the hole and patty-cake tackling.
Whoops, you beat me to this comment. I'll drink.
Yeah I didn't like the run call on 3rd and 14 from mid field, but this isn't on Bowen. They are just kicking our asses on both lines of scrimmage
I can live with the loss. We should lose. What bothers me so much is:
Coming out really flat
Mental mistakes blocking
Bad tackling
Numerous useless false start, delay of game offsides penalties
Bounced back against Rutgers and FSU to make it a game. Really want to see that here.
And then want to win 2 of the last 3 as well as a bowl game.
Still wouldn't mind parting ways with Bowen after this year. I mean realistically, Crist is developing Drones as far as mechanics, Davis has had a big hand in fixing the run game, and we're paying Bowen $800k to call good plays at home and revert back to his ways on the road I guess. Not very inspiring.
I mean, it's hard to call good plays when your line can't hold up for more than 2 seconds on a pass play. Don't think he's called anything differently than he has the past month
Pressing too hard for a big throw, too many drop backs which isn't our strength. And Marve is getting taken to the woodshed today which isn't helping.
Let's start with a stop. No more spotting them points.
I wouldn't expect to see UL throwing more than 15 passes today.
No one expected us to be where we are at the moment this season. I didn't think we would win this game anyways or at the beginning of the season. Agree with above. Let's not be hard on them. Still rebuilding. Don't care about ACC champ game anyways. Would be happy to win the rest after this week.
9.2 yards per run.
Oof. I hate that.
We need to call thumbtack.
Good god.
WELP
Ball game ladies and gentlemen. Neither coordinator prepared. Players have regressed to early season form.
Pitt beat this UL team 38-21. They're good but not great. We just psych ourselves out on the road and go turtle mode.
Pitt also beat them when they were without Jordan
Jordan won't be in again today. And we're still gonna get housed.
Jordan isn't the one beating us today.
Louisville fumbled like 11 times in that game
Thank God for that flag.
There was holding all over the place.
I thought the outside cornerback got held also.
Looked like it to me.
With the multiple penalties on Louisville, this has to be where you get a stop and stop the bleeding.
Edit: well, so much for that.
If you're not going to get any pass rush, how can every WR be wide open? Shouldn't we do one or the other?
Tight end threw the defender to the ground to get open there
They're starting to make dumb mistakes now too.
We're going to need a lot of that, I'm afraid.
Why are we playing so far off the receivers???
I was wondering the same thing.
Our pass rush and blitzes are not getting home at all
Our dline didn't get outplayed that time.
Through 1.5 quarters we have 19 total yards. This won't be on the d unless we get something going on O
...and Louisville hasn't punted.
That is embarrassing.
Time for a big stop
I'm gonna need a beer and a bowl of chili.
Lucky to get the miss, let's get our shit together!
Missed FG.
That was nowhere near the marker.
Yeah what are these announcers watching lmao. If anything they spotted him closer than it was.
I'm not convinced he caught it. They haven't been reviewing those close calls.
Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust a bit outside
I haven't paid much attention before this game at the corners but does Tech not press anymore?
A missed field goal! maybe that is the break in their momentum that we need to catch fire.
Definitely saw Brohm saying "you had one fucking job", presumably to his kicker. Yeah, that'll instill confidence, coach.
Gotta hate the Brohm.
What an ass.
Amazingly, VT is still in this.
Come on offense. We need some.
D stepped up on that drive (after being bailed out by the holding call). Now the O needs to return the favor.
Let's turn this around
Dear lord it's an hour and we are six min till half time. Feels like is should be 28-0 but somehow only down 14
🤣🤣🤣 They shot off fireworks afterthe missed FG. I will take any schadenfreude I can at this point.
I changed shirts and we started catching some breaks. My bad I was wearing the wrong shirt in 1Q
Good catch.
Nice 10 for Drones.
Open that defense up.
Hmm. drones designed run. Neato 👆
There ya go.
We have doubled our number of first downs.
1st down!
I like it.
Get aggressive
3rd and 2.
1st down!
Moving the ball!
Great call or great read by Drones. That would have been a sack
Getting settled down. Keep driving, boys
Still no incompletions in this game.
Great camera work
You know what? These announcers might be watching a different game.
Shit, shake it off Drones!
Man the production value in accn is balls
LOL IT WAS SO BAD
Yeah, that was some spectacularly horrible camera work
The safety just tackled him.
Yeah one of the times it's really annoying college isn't spot of the foul on something that blatant.
Need an egregious PI penalty for when the defense blatantly interferes when they are beat. Give the offense the ball at the spot.
Agreed like some sort of personal foul pass interference that's spot off the foul
That camera work was something
Tuten for Heisman.
Finally good Bowen shows up. Run the damn ball.
See how different the is game feels when Drones is part of the run game?
I don't understand, it's like Bowen is just hellbent on doing what he wants with playcalling.
No matter how it finishes, good drive.
Can't win this one with field goals.
We also can't win if we don't score.
Was there targeting on that play?
That's what I saw-Gosnell almost lost his lid
I got killed for this weeks again. But we do t throw the ball into the EZ.
Why not try a fade to Felton? I don't get it
I've been screaming for that since ODU. He was matched up against a 5'7" DB ant they didn't even try one jump ball to him.
WE DID LAST WEEK THOUGH IT'S NOT LIKE JUST REFUSE TO
Did we? I remember a lot of catches that they took to the EZ, but not any where the WR is in the EZ when the pass is thrown.
This is going to depend in the spot.
Is this the quickest half ever?
whack ass red zone play calling I swear to god
DEFINE TICKY TACK
That's some weak ass bullcrap
That was a poor call.
That looked like a normal pick/ standard pass route stuff.
Such bullshit opi my ass
Especially when they missed the offensive PI earlier on Louisville when he literally knocked down our guy and then received the catch for a first down for no call.
Ugh..and now we have to kick FG because we let the clock run down with 3 T/O in our pocket.
I have no problem with the clock. We have time to take a shot or two and Loserville's O doesn't get the ball back.
Idk if I agree with that OPI call but why was the clock running coming out of it? If thats a regular rule why isn't someone telling Pry to use his timeout right away??
I'm more surprised Louisville didn't use timeouts. Realistically, they could've gotten the ball back with 50 seconds to a minute left.
Just got in from working outside. What have I missed?
LOUISVILLE PHYSICALLY DOMINATING YET IT'S SOMEHOW JUST 2 SCORE GAME
We can come back now that I'm watching. I can dream right?
PLEASE AND THANK YOU
A lot of after the whistles late cheap shots on Tuten and the refs are acting completely blind to it
Why did the clock start running after the OPI call??? They even had to put time back in the clock after our TO like they didn't realize it either.
I don't get why you don't call an early timeout when they were on 2nd down. If you miss, you can kill the clock either way
Also, some straight ref BSing to end this half.
Seriously. Missed personal fouls, fouls after whistles, missed offensive PI call on Louisville, lined up in the neutral zone multiple times... no calls. But they call that crap offensive PI on us. It's BS reffing.
Looserville trying to ice him.
Did finally get a stop on D and a decent drive. Now need some points to get some momentum into the half. We are - amazingly - still in this.
Agreed.
This will be a new pr FG attempt.
The streak lives!
Fantastic.
Yay. No shutout
Scoring streak preserved!
That was a crazy short half
All in all, we escaped that half.
Now, get it together, man.
All I am asking,...
... give Drones a chance.
Ok Mr. Lennon
Need to get a stop on Louisville's first drive in the second half. Get the ball back in decent field position. Keep that running game going and we do have a shot. Certainly will make it a game. Louisville drives down the field and makes it 21-3, that will be it.
OL needs work, tackling needs work. We need to fix those things before we can play great against ranked teams. Play calling looks a whole lot better when the OL can protect the QB and the defense makes the first tackle, not the fifth.
Bowen's red zone offense:
First down, run up the middle for no gain.
Second down, run up the middle for -1 yard in a different formation.
Third down, attempt pass on obvious passing down.
Fourth down, FG
To be fair, Drones looked like he might have been a little gimped.
And coming away from that without points was not an option.
This has been every game though! Not just this one. We clam up on offense in the redzone and take zero shots at the end zone
Yeah, I'm not making a general statement. Just looked like it might have been a little dicey.
Felton had 1 on 1 press on the first down run in the redzone too
Too be fair the pass got them a yard away and then a ticky tack OPI.
Imagine doing that on first or second down and then having one yard to gain!
so the OC needs to be fired again, got it.
Negative, don't mind Bowen when he's in his bag. But it's obvious he has not figured out red zone play calling yet...and this is not just an anecdotal observation
This is a fair criticism. We are predictable in the red zone.
If we'd thrown incomplete passes on first and second down, people would be bitching that we didn't run Drones and Tuten.
If the play was successful, our players are great. If the play was unsuccessful, the OC is a bum. I've been watching this exact conversation for 20 years and it's pretty tiresome.
Couldn't have said it better
Love you guys and appreciate you cheering for the same team as I and entertaining my drunken angry rants!
Maybe we all need to be drunker?
Agree, thus is the way of fandom!
Although, I would bet we have run on first and second down all year, and as others have pointed out we almost never try a fade to our 7ft WR Felton over storm duck and cam ron 800% committed Kelly to the end zone.
If I'm looking at the prior attempts and seeing what didn't work that made us rank in the bottom 10% of redzone td scoring percentage in the country I would want to change it up and find something drastically different that worked
For sure, a play action pass in the red zone would probably fake out the whole D.
Hahaha and have Drones murdered!
Not true! I wish they would run up the middle first and second down. It's been too much nonsense out wide that has killed us on the first two downs.
All things considered 14-3 ain't bad!
This game feels like it should be 24-0 or something. We've got a chance to turn this around if we can play like we did on the last 2 series.
Also, watching GT run all over UVA brings me joy.
Their bowl hopes die with a loss today.
Nice.
I love to watch Hoo hope die.
That first quarter and change might have been my fault. And if so, I apologize. I took my four year old out to shoot his BB gun while I sighted in a few other things. We slid in right before the game started; I didn't change clothes. I remedied this during the second quarter. I donned my 2000 vt football camp shirt. Things have gone better since.
Again, my apologies.
My wife had to leave just before we had the first good stop so, it might have been a combo thing.
Mine too! Sounds like we need to have a tough conversation with our respective wives.
This is the kind of fan support that makes Hokie Nation #1. You are a goddamn hero, sir.
Our dline needs to start generating pressure by themselves. Plummer has all day back there. In my completely uninformed opinion, we need to load the box and make him beat us with his arm.
Offense is fine, needed to settle down and I think we finally did towards the end of the half.
BEST WAY TO SLOW DOWN A PASS RUSH IS TO RUN THE BALL EFFECTIVELY AND THEY SURE HAVE BEEN
Fuga is out for the rest of the game. Not sure when he got injured.
Not the best time for a short kickoff. 🤷
There's some pressure! Now don't give up the third
Come on D!
Is that our first sack of the game?
Yes.
Perfect 2nd half start.
Sack!
I JUST TERRIFIED MY CHILDREN AND MY DOG! Fantastic sack, boys!! 3 and out for Loserville!
Interior OL got bullied on that Tuten fumble
NO INTERMEDIATE PASSING GAME IS FRUSTRATE
Been waiting on slants the way they're sending rushers
Well, perfect start for the defense. Not so much for the offense. Need a good punt to flip the field.
Would like to see some of those quick passes on 1st or 2nd down.
Ok, defense keep doing the same exact thing. Offense, stop it, do something better.
That Tuten fumble totally screwed that drive. We just cannot get behind the sticks, we have to have positive yardage on first downs.
SUBOPTIMAL
... Just don't go down 21-3, please
Sorry.
3&4 and just not even gonna cover one of the best ACC RBs? Cool
Welp, we still aren't very good at all. Was an exciting October at least.
Welp. This is brutal. Prys gotta figure out how to get the team to play better on the road
Can pry win on the road?
Really struggles with it. The team now almost two full seasons just looks listless on the road.
Was hoping win or lose to see a competitive game today. Did not see that. So far our rebuild looks like:
Year one: extremely shitty
Year two: still pretty shitty?
Year three: just shitty?
Geez I expected a bit better than this.
And now I'm sad
Sad Trombone Noise Intensifies
Looking like the fuckin' Keystone Kops out there with as many times as our DBs have collided trying to tackle someone today...and every time it goes for a big play.
I just switched to FSU / PITT
I may catch the last minute of the GT UVa game. May cheer me up a little.
Not ready for prime time...
Hope they don't do GIFtory after that last one
This coaching staff is showing us who it really is. When we face a decent - good staff we simply can't get out of our own way; we are always one step behind. For Bowen, as good as he has been the last few weeks, is easy to figure out (apparently). And Marve's group is what it is at this point. Good against really bad teams and awful against teams with a pulse.
I'm happy if they can win the games they SHOULD win.
Yeah, I'd like to see them play better today, but I came with no expectations.
I came in with the expectation that we would compete, regardless of the outcome. That expectation is not being met by a long shot. And I don't think my expectation was unreasonable.
What the fuck was that?
I believe that's a bounce pass
Well, there's that quick pass.
How do we always end up with the stupidest, flukiest interceptions???
I don't know how this team lost to Pitt. They are way better than us.
Just so little energy on both sides of the ball.
Should we go ahead and start the vent thread?
I think some folks already did, in this one.
Could the defense have rolled out the red carpet any easier there?
Marve ain't it FAM
Allllrigght. This just stinks.
Dropping expectations and just watching to see how we respond
On the bright side, we play another bad team next week. Maybe we can play better on the road against a bad team.
BC is 6-3....i don't think they're great, but they're playing hard and at home. Not ideal
I know we need to be patient with the staff, but this is a fucking bummer.
Know people are disappointed. I am too. But keep things in perspective. At the start of the year, I expected 4-8 and said I'd be real happy with 5-7. We have a great chance at 5-7 and 6-6 is very possible with 3 winnable games on the schedule. Get into a lousy bowl game and 7-6 is a very real possibility.
This is 1 really bad game against a good team on the road.
We had a meaningful game in November.
Team has not quit fighting in any other game. Let's see what happens the rest of the game.
Recruiting is getting better.
5-7, 6-7 or 7-6 are all better than 3-8.
Yes, it's bad today, but the team has gone from Fuente funk to terrible in year 1 to respectable in year 2 (assuming we don't lose that last 3 as well) and there is plenty of reason to think next year will be better still.
Let the team take it as a learning experience and get back to work.
I don't know... I wouldn't call beating the worst teams in P5 football respectable. It's obvious that we haven't grown/evolved. We are who we've been the last season and a half. A bad P5 football team who can compete with other bad P5 football teams (and even beat them). We have been outclassed today by Brohm and his staff. We weren't mentally prepared. Our adjustments are a tad slow. And the defense that we've been accustomed to with Pry/Marve is what it's always been - bad.
I'll stick with going 6-7 or 7-6 is definitely respectable if you are in a P5 conference. Even if it is the worst P5 conference. 1 game - and yes, it is a real bad game today - is irrelevant. We were 2-7 this time last year against probably an even weaker schedule and we are going to be 4-5. That's a step up. Know people want more. I do too. But I certainly didn't expect more on the season.
Agreed. 5-7 and 6-6 were reasonable expectations for this year. People getting their panties in a wad when we aren't off track for that are being a bit ridiculous.
We look like absolute shit today. Its okay to be honest.
Both can be true
We really need someone or someone's at LB who can make the correct read on gap fits.
Friendly reminder that it's only year 2. There are going to be growing pains. Offensive line is absolutely our biggest weakness and we're on our third ol coach in as many years. The roster is still not where we want or need it to be. This loss sucks but its not really surprising. It'll be interesting how the last 3 games of the season pan put. Louisville is a good team. Nc state and uva are beatable
Folks we got beat by the best team in the league and getting beat today by the second. We were picked to finish 11 in the league.
We can still beat BC, Nc State and loluva...I'll take two out of three of the remaining games and go bowling and consider it a solid year two rebuild
I would accept a good, hard fought loss. But we look like complete shit on offense. No way to spin that into progress. This team really struggles on the road and has some issues. Good October, but hard to spin a positive out of this turd.
We were a huge steaming pile of shit last year. If we have upgraded to a single turd, I'll take it. lol
We've dominated three of the worst in the ACC and have been handled easily by the best...hell Purdue, Rutgers, and Marshall would/have competed well against acc competition.
I'd also mention this is exactly the environment we have thrived on at home, so not shocked at all that UL is playing at a high level.
I don't care about score. Can our coaches respond and get the players in a position to respond and be competitive.
https://media.tenor.com/VRJ-c6w57KMAAAAC/isildur-no.gif
We aren't as bad as we look today.
We aren't as good as we looked last week.
The VT football story
This 100%
SUBBEROPTIMAL
These refs are just as out of it as we are today. Should've been offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties there
You knew they were going to blitz everyone there yet did nothing to move the QB....
And no easy crossing route for him to target behind the blitz either
Exactly my beef; and it's not matched
Just score a TD, please. Just one.
Annnnnnd how about another deep sack instead.
Why do we even try pocket passes? We cannot block. At. All.
Well to be fair what play can you call that would be sucessfull when you can't block anyone?
"The Michael Vick"
I agree with you. But would love to see a quick slant, draw, screen, shovel pass at least now and then.
This offensive line play brings me back to 2006
MOVE THE QB....
Preach
They are. Moving him straight back into a collapsing pocket and than onto his back.
Drones sitting in the pocket all day wasn't what I expected on offense.
Yeah, where's the adjustment?
We need to stop this slow developing shit. Drones is a clear running threat. Roll him out. Give him a run pass option. 10-15 yards at a time.
The difference in creativity, risk taking, and competence in Bowen's playcalling this week vs the previous 3 weeks is so unbelievably astounding. Just when I was starting to feel good about him and see the vision for the offense he wants to run here, he calls arguably the absolute most milquetoast, bland, predictable game of his time here so far.
Is there a clause in every OC's contract that requires them to call 3rd down with a fucking blindfold on?
I don't get it.
We won't win games like this until we have an offensive line. It's as simple as that. You cannot beat a good defense with bad OL play.
We know that.
Pry knows that.
It's very clear.
Oh I don't know. I think some people still think it's the OC.
Having a bad OL definitely is main factor, but let's not act like Bowen calling chicken shit hand-off runs on 3rd and 20, or being absolutely ineffective in the Red Zone isn't a factor.
Both things can be true.
A bad OL just compounds everything in the red zone. Less space for cute schemes. Would your rather punt on 4th and 20 or 4th and 35 after Drones gets leveled before he finishes his drop back? Bowen might not be it but the line is bad bad today.
You ate a whole wheel of cheese, I'm not even mad.
Bowen out there not adjusting on par with my kids flag football coach
The slant was picked off and some uninspired route running. They were all over the screens. Guess he could try a roll out but Drones hasn't looked right on those. What would you recommend
Fire the OC /s
I see the /s but I do want to clarify for myself -
I don't actually think we should fire Bowen. I think we got a glimpse of his vision for the offense in the last 3 weeks, and I like what that vision looks like with Drones at QB. But just like I think Drones could be really special in the coming years if he works on his deep ball in the off-season, I think Bowen has a lot of work to do.
He needs to make adjustments better, he needs to be better in the Red Zone, and he needs to not call weak plays on 3rd. I want the staff to develop just as much as I want the players to.
I'm just having fun now. I mean we're getting beat handily. Not much to take away from this game other than we still have a lot of room for improvement.
We've seen what this offense can be like in the friendly confines of Lane against inferior opponents.
Keep recruiting talent and hitting the portal and maybe we are all singing a different tune in a few years.
Well, at least the defense hasn't quit.
Would be nice to see some offense.
Buzz meet saw = what every single one of us thought we might walk in to and hoped we wouldn't.
Louisville sure does put in a lot of extracurricular punching and nonsense.
If Drones can dial in his deep ball we might really have something next season.
You can't say that wasn't the right play call. It was there. They just couldn't quite execute it. The defender was beat.
Bowen has no idea...
Broken record.
He's sitting on a gold mine.
Loserville was averaging 42 ppg at home. They have blown us out. But the score doesn't really show it.
Right on cue. Another long run right up the middle.
*fart noise* fourth down
Absolutely awful play call.
Frustratingly disappointing outcome today. But not unexpected.
Trash 🗑️
We are who we thought we were.
I think we look better than last year and we've now seen what our offense could be if we have an oline that can block. Our wins looked like the oline got things together, our losses were looked completely out matched.
Defense reverted back to missing gaps every now and again and the big plays came back. Need more play makers there and need to get more consistent LBer play
Go 2-1 or better for our last 3 and I'll feel good about this season. Less than that and it'll be a disappointment.
Their backup RB has 146 yards, 3 TDs and is averaging 13.3 ypc. Imagine if they weren't mostly on short fields?
When a running back gets lots of yards, everyone gives credit to him, but how much of any running back's success is the result of the gaps created by the blocking. Today we saw some really big holes open up through our defense line. We saw some poor tackling also. Sometimes it is extraordinary effort and skill by the back but not always.
Crazy how boom or bust this defense is
It's been the same play all season...ffs
It's the Same. Fucking. Play. Every. Time. That breaks for big yards against us. Unbelievable.
I mean if our LBs keep vacating the gaps, UofL would be foolish to go away from it.
9th game of the season and we cannot find a LB that fills the hole and tackles. They are running away from the spill hole right into a blocked DT.
Linebackers and OL competing for worst position group right now.
That's a wrap, think I'm done here
Like that they're playing Sandman?
Louisville is now blasting enter sandman through their speaker system
Why do we suddenly give Wells time to throw?
Louisville is playing a different D now. Safeties way back. No advanced stunts
The last few weeks were not a mirage, we just aren't good enough to go up one of the best teams in the country. Our OL is a mess and our LBs get baited into bad decisions way too easily. We've known this for a while, and when the players don't execute what the coaches want, we have potential to get boat raced by anyone.
Our OL and LBs have had an atrocious day.
The LB situation is both parts personnel and coaching IMO. We have 3 LB coaches on staff and still we have our LBs 5-6 yards off the LOS sitting on their heels waiting for the second level blocking to arrive. This is what I mean when I talk about accountability. Play freshmen... play walk ons... hold an open tryout... do anything but what you've been doing for almost 2 seasons with awful results.
The young guys we have are so green that the experience they would get wouldn't be good. It just sucks that the starters are downright disastrous in gap containment.
Things will be better in the future. If they were to just stay in position most of these plays get blown up for minimal gains, but it is what it is. Same thing that Purdue and Marshall did to us.
This staff is showing why the doubters exist. We are clearly not playing to win, so why not get future players some reps? Instead we throw in Grant Wells.
He is our backup, no?
I have no problem with him getting game time right now.
Maybe he's our backup? In any event, i don't like the philosophy. Wells has no future on this team so if you aren't trying to win work for reps for guys who will be here in the future.
What in the world could Pop learn from coming into a game like this?!
That his coaches don't like him.
Hahahaha
As a former HS football coach, one hell of a lot. Every single snap is important in the development of a young QB. Again, it's a philosophical idea that I don't happen to embrace.
Putting a QB out before he's ready and when your team is behind CAN do more harm than good.
I'm not going to complain about putting Wells in given the situation tonight.
It's subjective. What was going to happen to him taking a few snaps and handing the ball off or tossing a couple of passes? It was one, maybe two series'. Those live snaps are so vital. But again, it's a philosophical difference.
I hate how lacking in physicality we are in games like this. Our guys just get absolutely blown up on returns or offensive plays. Nobody falls forward except for maybe Tuten. Everyone else just gets knocked backwards off their feet.
I would rather see Pop Watson in now. We already know what Wells brings to the table.
No way. Play Wells there. Pop isn't going to win the game. He still has three games to not burn his shirt. Save him in case you need him to play in one of the remaining ones. Put in a package for him to get some experience. He should play in the last three no matter what.
Just a pretty miserable day all around. Some older jackass who has been coming to the bar for years got so bad he started actively cheering against Tech in the 3rd quarter. Ended up leaving early just to be away from the over the top negativity
I agree and somehow I'm ok with it because I knew we were still a bad team that had beaten worse teams. Let's get those two more wins for bowl eligibility and end the season strong.
Can I get a motion for French to take the week off? I think we all know what happened!
Second
I understand we have made small (very small) incremental improvements, but this team is still not good in so many phases. Pry for some reason struggles to prepare his staff and team for road games. He has won one road game in nearly two years. Not great Bob.
Three weeks ago Mike Elko was being heralded even on this site and he walked out of UL with a goose egg...UL might actually be really good.
Pry was terrible at game management too and he's gotten better at that. He will get his road game together eventually!
UL is good but beatable. The ACC is a cakewalk and we continually fall on our faces.
How many years will it take for Pry to win road games? I know he best Biberty last year, but good lord. Every time we set foot on an opposing team's turf we retreat into our shell. Something is way wrong with our road game prep.