[Mark Umansky]
Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (6-6, 4-4 ACC) vs Minnesota Golden Gophers (7-5, 5-4 B1G)
When: Friday, January 3, 2025 at 7:30 PM ET
Where: Charlotte, NC | Bank of America Stadium (74,867)
Watch/Listen: ESPN | Virginia Tech Sports Network
Spread: VT +10
Weather: 37°F Clear
Series: It's the first-ever meeting between Virginia Tech and Minnesota.
Reppin' TKP: It's a couch coverage night.
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LET'S GO
HOKIES!
Gobble Gobble!
One last ride this season. Let's do it!
CHUMPS!
Finally a game that will not get my blood pressure up!
Yep. I have no delusions of winning. I just want to see a score by us to keep that record intact.
Excellent news, it's still intact!!!
When does UVA have their bowl game? I can't wait to laugh at them mo- OH RIGHT HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
They lost their bowl game to their Big Brother - The Commonwealth Cup.
Row 13-45 yard line! Great seats!
Stay warm out there!
Got the WT101 ready
Let's whip these Canadian fockers
Coach Pry's pre-game speech
So are they holding our game until this o e is over? Dont see it bumped onto any of the other e$pn networks...
7:40 kick on ESPNNews and ESPN3
Nevermind. Now they're saying we are bumped to e$pn news at 7:40
These Texas teams apparently refuse to tackle once our game is ready to start
That was a heck of a 70 yard run by the QB. Great block by the WR on the outside.
Did they just blitz all three downs or is our OLine doing the usual thing?
O line
I hate this split screen crap. Both shots things are too small to see anything.
I agree
It's awful
I think that's only on ACCN. Not that way on ESPNews
Put it on espn now
If that stands that is awesome!
NICE! Hokie ball of the point muff!
Not a good start for the OLine.
I don't expect anything from the Oline this game. I expect the MN defense to blitz every play.
Gonna be a long night fellas
Yup
It's possible we don't convert a first down tonight
Weeeee!!
Don't understand this offensive playcalling at all...too long developing in backfield.
With the skeleton crew up front, we might need a defensive touchdown to keep the streak going.
Wheeeeee
Let's hope we see alot more of that from the defense
Third times the charm?
I see Ali Jennings changed his number. I'm sure that won't be confusing for the coaching staff.
Looks like he changed it to match the number of games he's played since he transferred.
Thought it was bc Lawson entered the portal and he wouldn't be able to be called for dual numbers anymore
Nice quick strike. And a Nice move by Green to get a few more years.
I don't see us going for it with even only one years on our side of the field.
A couple early observations. The weather is absolutely affecting Moore, and we can't get help on the OL fast enough.
Thank god this is the last game with this sorry ass O-line. Moore can't get here fast enough.
This is definitely giving me Pinstripe Bowl vibes.
I don't think I have enough beer for tonight.
Man you can really tell our OL is massively depleted. And it's not like they were real good to begin with
Feel sorry for Pop out there. He's a sacrificial lamb
Davi & Colin better start warming up, Pop isn't going to stay healthy for the entire game.
Looks like we are starting to heat up their QB as well. We aren't the only team missing OL starters.
Well I've never seen a center do that before....
God these jerseys are so nice.
And the Gopher on the side of the helmet is nice too.
Oh, wait...
Man, Minnesota tackles so well.
I have to admit, I 100% expected that this game would be over by the end of the first quarter. Good job by the team hanging in there. Especially on defense.
OMFG! A FIRST DOWN!
Mason looks good.
Mason looks pretty fast and shifty out there
He also looks like a high schooler. Can't run him inside all night or he'll die
Greene is legit. Only guy who can get open
Nice catch by Greene.
The streak lives!
SCHLEE!
Point streak confirmed!
1ST QTR POINTS!
Yay we scored. No shutout. All bonus after that.
Yup. I'm satisfied.
THE STREAK LIVES
Which, given who isn't playing, I'm actually impressed it happened in the first quarter
Hell yeah Schlee
So how do we get Schlee a sixth year of eligibility?
Ask DC. He knows the drill.
It can't be that hard anymore!
Nice play calling all around for that drive. That Greene catch and run was a great route.
Are we allowed to start a FAM thread for taking the lead and not getting shut out?
Having a lead and any point in this game already exceeds all my expectations.
Feels like how the team is playing is another piece of evidence that the right coaches were let go. Bowen is scheming around a wet paper bag of an OL again and the defense seems to be flying around
We just need one big play per drive setting up a short TD and we're golden
Banana and Mayo sandwich? GTFO
I'm expecting worse combos coming up later in the game
Can't wait to see what they put with some kind of spicy mayo, like a Sriracha mayo.
Gotta love the broadcaster instantly saying the mayo part sucks... in the mayo bowl
I've had banana and mayo since childhood and they are a favorite
Those Mayo hard hats were pretty good.
"Love you, Dukes. Don't do that again." LMAO!
Announcer is just ragging Dukes.
Getting zero penetration on defense
If I'm Minnesota, I don't throw another pass the rest of the half. Just pound it.
Hand is one of the LBs in the portal right?
0800wrong threadNo way that's a catch
It will absolutely be a catch lol
I agree unfortunately
He did not complete the catch at the ground...that's bullshit. That ball pops up as soon as his back hit.
Pry has to challenge that one, no fucking way that stands
That should be overturned. Don't you have to "survive the ground", or is that just the NFL?
Definitely didn't complete the catch, needs to be reviewed and overturned
Yup.
After watching the replay, it does look like a catch but then it was fumbled and recovered by VT
They are reviewing that, right?
That was not a catch.
Pry needs to challenge that. Totally pops out as soon as Hume hits the ground.
Welp...i see that getting rid of Marve hasn't changed the custom of giving up 3rd and longs...
We have also lost basically all of our starting secondary. So.
Silly take. The CB was in perfect position, but didn't make the play. Can't whine about the DC for that. Also, it wasn't a fucking catch.
on what planet is that a fucking catch
That was embarrassing. Our defender was right there and made zero effort for ball. #8 just flat footed on ground.
Sheeeeeit
What was Johnson doing on that? Could he not jump that route?!
If you can't get the ball...tackle him. PI is better than TD
My dude. Jump.
You're a defensive player.
Jump.
Jumping costs extra NIL $$
I laughed.
Thank you for that.
Did the WR tear his ACL on that (non)catch? Knee buckled badly
How can you not find that lollipop and make a play..???
Thank god we are bringing in some Portal safeties
What the heck is Braelin doing?!!! Hit the guy! Jump and try to hit the ball! Do something!!!!
Love that the guy is still ragging on the banana and mayo sammies.
I thought he was going to at least jump up and try to catch that turd of a pass.
Nice stiff arm on the return
The announcers are in pain eating mayo with... any other edible thing.
Painful to watch too
They're not even calling the game anymore. This is disgusting
Dilly bar dipped in mayo might be the worst thing I've ever heard.
Oh wtf no, no that's, noooo
Ice cream bar in Mayo?
This does NOT make me want to buy Duke's Mayonnaise.
Heaving on TV. Classic
What's up with the yorking sounds?
He spit it up in the trash can, LMAO!
Offsides, PI and late hit
How are neither of those DPI?
Unreal no call
Defender just ran right through Wiggins
Does the BIG10 not have PI?
Another PI
Most acceptable unsportsmanlike I've seen
Pry earned those 15 yards
Love the cheer by the crowd on that.
Loudest it's been in the stadium
Fuente did that at Notre Dame and the team responded. Hoping to see that happen now.
Wish he would've done that months ago.
They gonna T up Pry?
How much have the officials been paid?
Love Pry getting that. Need more of it.
Yes!!!! Get 'em Pry!!!
Though they didn't call way more on Shane Beamer earlier in the week.
Matt Austin can fuck himself
With a jar of Duke's Spicy Mayo.
I don't know that I'd wish that on anybody.
I hadn't, until now.
On an ice cream bar
yeah... they can stop having the ref experts... they most always take up for the refs
Apparently "intent to impede" doesn't include never turning to find the ball and running straight into the receiver.
Expected a better punt from Moore there with the wind at his back.
Who's our jumping coach? Because our receivers and defensive backs don't seem very good at doing it.
Pretty sure he just got fired
John Ellis was hired in August for jumps and multis. A little cross training would be helpful. Ayden Greene aside
Refs gonna B1G this game
I'm here and this is the worst series of officiating I've ever seen. The refs aren't watching the game at all.
Checking in from a hotel outside of Columbus after driving through a ton of snow all day
You might want to go back to your car
Hey, when I first turned on the game on my phone, Minnesota missed a kick!
Get a beverage and decompress.
Hands to the face on Min OL. No call
They aren't calling that today.
I yelled the same thing, clear as day.
Who's calling th me D for this game?
Quinn
3rd and 6
td incoming
Can't blame Marve for calling the pressure package on 3rd and 6 with zero run defense baked in
Marve?
People have been angry at Marve all year for those sorts of calls - me included. Idk who made that call, but we can't blame him anymore.
I mean it's not like that's the scheme he's been coaching them the last few years, but ok sure
Scheme does not equal play calls. It's also in the scheme to have 4 normal DL lined up with a zone coverage behind it and a standard single gap run fit assignment. I'm frustrated that the situational play call doesn't make sense, not upset about the Pry/Foster defensive scheme.
I wasnt sure if you meant generic representative 3rd and 6 all year or a specific play in this game. Marve isn't coaching in this game so i got confused
Fair. I could've been clearer
Allowing that run is just a fucking bone headed play
9 yds per carry damn
Not anymore.
Desperately need some Portal LBs who can penetrate and fill a gap.
Phrasing.
Daaaamn, Pry called timeout when we had an unblocked rusher.
And Minnesota was in illegal formation. Only three in backfield
They weren't gonna call that on Minnesota, are you high?
New beak looks good.
Four fucking Hokies staring at each other
Spenser has made a few plays tonight.
Edit: I meant the Hokies' Spenser. 🤦♂️
They figured us out.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Will see if the offense can respond.
Ehhh refs won't let 'em
Awful, awful Zone coverage...
4 VT players...nobody within 5 yds of the WR who falls backward into Endzone
Having half the team out or not - getting embarrassed on national TV is always a good time
Yes, I am pleasantly surprised we are close. And if not for the BS non-call on the pass interference, we might even be ahead.
We have been half a step off a sack all year on big plays!
Is small ship cruising better than tac lights and spurtles?
Yes.
K sweet I'll invest
Christ Two TDs in a bowl game ties a Minnesota Bowl Record...
Angle of attack from the LBs has been bad all night tonight. Anyone know what Adibi is interested in coming home, or if Rouse wants to give up the political life?
Xavier Adibi is literally the assistant LB coach, and basically has been the LB Coach for bowl prep.
Not sure he's the answer
Make him the head LB coach?
Good play by Pop.
Kinda cool seeing pop throw to chanz wiggins and keylen adams
Lol our OL is resetting my expectations on just how bad a team can be
OL is doing Watson negative favors tonight.
Parker Clements missing a block? Say it ain't so.
OL slanted away from the blitz on 1st down...
Embarrassing
Oh look another PI
Holy crap!! How is that not PI!?!
"He came in unblocked!" Oh look it's not even one of the backups, that's our 4-year starting turnstile
Well ben, that's because he sucks
A turnstile at least slows you down. He's more like a wind tunnel aimed at the QB.
As they say in twister, he is the suck zone
Not even attempting to get a first down....no bueno.
At this point just put ten receivers on the field. OL might as well not be there
I gotta admit the buccees helmets are pretty cool
Do not defame Buc-ees like that.
Parker Clements is a football terrorist.
Pretty subtle yet obvious block in the back in that return
Bud Foster is drafting up his resignation letter watching this defense
I know this game is full of green players and don't have huge expectations but here's what bothers me...
We still don't do the very basics even adequately...
On D, we don't even understand the basics of Zone coverage.
On O, we can't even set the OL correctly to counter a Blitz.
Its basic coaching and its not a good harbinger...
Edit: cant tackle either
Lol how is that not DPI on us
Well at least they're being consistent on PI
PI is just not a thing in the BIG.
As a Midwesterner, why would there be. You don't pass in the B1G, it's too cold
No edge discipline, huh?
How many fucking times are we going to let them run around the end with no one there?
My only regret is not putting a bigger bet on Minnesota (-6.5)
Man I was excited to see some of the younger players. We need to flip most of this roster still, just not seeing it from nearly any defensive player.
You can coach a G5 talent to set an edge or pass off a WR in zone.
This team has been coached awfully.
Save an absolute HR D.C. hire, I think this is pretty much what we are gonna see under Pry.
I'm afraid you're right. I just think regardless of who the DC hire is, time has just about run out for Pry.
Yeah that's enough for me
I can't watch a team this thoroughly outclassed. Feel bad for the players, but without 13 starters we look like a JV team right now
Jeez. Our entire d on that side just sucked inside. No outside contain.
Man, Lovett looked lost there.
Might have helped if their left tackle didn't drag around our DE by the facemask
As much as I know the situation we are in this is painful to watch.
Here we go again....wasted 25 seconds not calling timeouts and now we don't have enough time
Imagine if we had 25 seconds after that pass.
The clock management is so mind-numbingly stupid its comical at this point.
Who's that coaching up the OL during the timeout?
Let Love kick
I think the kids say: Let Love cook. /s
And he did....imagine if we let him do that in the final seconds of first halves in three of our losses...
YEAH BABY!!!
Well, I thought it would be over by the end of the first quarter. They hung in there for almost a half.
Good night all. Sorry, I am not the glutton for punishment. Looking forward to a few things for next year as keys:
(1) Better OL play. Should not be too hard, but interested to see by how much.
(2) Better LB aggressiveness and fits. Not sure how much can be done, but would just like to see incremental improvement.
(3) QB development. We have not had a QB show improvement since Tyrod Taylor year-over-year. Had another opportunity with Drones this year and he regressed. Let's see what Pop develops into.
(4) Better clock management by Pry.
They are going to kick-six us aren't they?
NOPE !!!
Probably tapping out and heading to bed to get a head start on the weekend after a rough work week
Mrs Chumps asked me why I was looking forward to watching a game i was so certain we'd lose. I said "even bad hokie football is still hokie football. It's kinda like pizza".
Looking forward to next year
Having said that, SIXTY YARD FIELD GOAL BABEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Wow. What a hold. What a kick.
Yes! We don't have a problem at 1 position.
60 yards worth of Love!!!
Does Fleck call all 3 timeouts?
Can only call on Timeout at a time.
New rule this season
60 yds!!! Hell yeah Love!!!
60!
Way to go, Love!
Get John Love his money!
What a kick by Love!
60 YARDS OF LOVE
"All we need is Love"
Imagine the 3 or so games we mightve won if we had made that kick at the end of the halves early in the season.
At least 2
Rutgers, Duke and Syracuse. All three first halves ended with Hokies at midfield or closer with no FG attempts and Pry took 5 timeouts to halftime in those games. Duke they had two chances.
Rutgers loss by 3
Duke loss by 3
Syracuse loss in OT.
Honestly, full props to the holder. That snap bounced. For him to get that down in time for Love to get that kick off without being blocked?
That shit makes Frank proud
Alright if Bud can help make those adjustments we might have ourselves a game
That FG is a big deal. O got the ball down the field for range. Love nails it off a not so good snap. We go into the half with momentum. Down 11 sounds so much better than down 14.
GO HOKIES!!!!
Imagine if we had gotten 2 deserved PI calls on deep balls.
Having watched those plays in person, if I were Pry, I would have pulled my team off the field until some sort of order was restored. Throw a Bob Knight tantrum and refuse to let the guys go back on the field until someone can give me an explanation and then play the game under protest. I know it's just the sandwich jizz bowl, but personally, I cannot stand that level of incompetence from sports officials. From that "catch" the Minnesota kid made into the next series where PI wasn't a thing, the officials spaced out and stopped watching the game.
Biggest travesty of the end of season was Love not even being a finalist for the Lou Groza Award
You gotta love Love
I think they like the Minnesota QB, but I'm not sure.
A third down stop. What a novel concept!
Letting the punt roll to the 1 yard line doesn't help though.
Rewarded with a punt downed at our 1. Brutal. Wonder if we can make a 99-yard drive!
A 99 yard pass!
Let's see if clements can block somebody on the one yard line and not get our quarterback killed this time....
backs against the wall
Itspoopagain.gif
99.5 yard tiddy drive coming up
Have to figure Schlee in this drive
Welp nope
I wonder if Bud was able to make any adjustments during the halftime. We did get a stop and force a punt.
Cannot believe they ate the flag on obvious facemask!/PI for SG12
This ain't quite the 2021 Maryland game, but who would have thought 3 years later we would be having a very similar game with a similarly depleted roster.
Man if Pop didn't burn that pass on 1st down that would have been a huge gain. There was nobody there
Clements gives up another sack. He's gonna break his own record.
Was that another Parker Clements sack?
Parker Clements is total trash. Do we not have another warm body to put at RT? Would probably do no worse.
Parker Clements is reminding us why the OL coach was fired
God how are you this bad with this much experience
I just want to see him benched at this point. No accountability all season continually trotting him out there. Just enough already, put anyone else out there.
His feet are just dead. Just stands and tries to bench press guys.
A turkey leg with mayo doesn't sound that bad.
At least it was actually a barbeque sauce and not mayo.
Can we do anything on D to create any havoc? We're just sitting back. We literally have nothing to lose. Try some fun stuff.
Like, karate kick everyone on their offense at the snap of the ball?
I like where your head is at
I was picturing the scene from the movie unnecessary roughness..
Linky
Man, going to the way back machine there. Hadn't thought about that movie in decades
Send Clements home. He's useless. Give the reps to someone else
Do we even have anyone else to give the reps to?
Let Love play and threaten to kick anyone who comes near him.
Literally put an anyone else. From any position. They can't be any worse.
If anything tonight is at least having me look forward to next year because hopefully our OL won't be complete dog piss
Moore doesn't have to do much to improve in what we saw last night
To be fair (shoutout Letterkenny) that last sack was Garrett
The year to year regression of Parker Clements needs to be studied. Just do the opposite of whatever we did to him and we're set.
53 year old Jim Pyne would do a better job blocking by himself than anybody currently on our offensive line.
Sorry fam, I've been prepping to move tomorrow morning, which is a universally understood terrible experience, but I HAVE been watching.
Moving is starting to sound more fun.
At least one of Minnesota's OL is hooking a defensive lineman in every run play
Yup I've seen Gilliam hooked 3 plays this drive.
The defense sucks as well
But again, that is why Marve was shitcanned. I actually expected a worse result than we currently see.
I have seen Braylon Johnson get embarrassed so many times tonight. I know the highland springs connection is important, but man, he is woefully unprepared.
I think this points to a safety coaching issue. He looked ok in spot duty as a CB last year.
Basically none of those young DBs in that class are showing much development. Braylon, Lovett actually looks like he's gotten worse.
Lovett is having a poor showing tonight as well. I had high hopes for him.
Sigh. Their varsity has now worn down our JV, and it's never going to be closer than it is now.
Spent most of the last two days dropping my son off at NCST. Got back in time to watch this game. Apparently I have to cheer for the Wolfpack now too.
No, you really don't.
If he complains, tell him, "If you wanted me to root for your school, you should've gone to Virginia Tech."
I'm impressed we have 10 points!
We kept the only streak that Fuente didn't break alive. Scored in every game since 1998.
It's shocking that Corny and Fuente never got shut out.
1995. Cincinnati 16-0. Right before the Miami upset. My freshman year.
Thomas Williams looking like some old school DBU. Tears in my eyes!
How did that much time just run off the clock? Did the play clock reset twice?
They had a full play clock and let it run down. Looks like Fleck didn't want to kick into the wind so he sacrificed game clock to get the wind in Q4 if they have to settle for a FG here.
Finally blitzed and good things happened.
Oh we've blitzed a lot but nobody's gotten home. Or they have whiffed on tackles.
Well, as far as 3rd quarters go, that wasn't the worst of the season.
Our defense is still very leaky. On the positive side, we didn't lose any ground during that quarter; we are still down eleven. How long can we last?
Doesn't look like it's going to be long barring a turnover
Our defense also looks tiny compared to everyone on Minn's O. Small and not physical enough.
I mean half of them are Fr and rFr
Need to get ready to hit the weights this winter
Of course we cant stop a 3rd and 10
D is suddenly blitzing and playing fast. Wonder why we waited to do this?
VT football and giving up a huge play on 3rd and long - name a more ironic duo.
Finally a sack!
First sack
This is honestly going well given how easy Minnesota is moving the ball and how hard it had been for us. It'll probably end as a 14-21 point loss, but hey we're missing basically all of our best players and they at least have a few of theirs.
Exactly my thoughts the two stops in plus territory we have on defense are keeping to respectable
I'm not as low on this defense we can only do so much. The front 4 is doing okay. The LBs are getting sucked up into the wash a lot which we've seen for the past 4 years. The young dbs have looked okay with blown coverages here and there.
With my expectations I actually think we're in line or slightly better than what I expected on defense.
When you consider we are down 8 normal starters on defense aren't we.
At least on any given rotation I've seen tonight
BRODIE
...and we finally run outside. Good things.
Adams has to learn to let his blocker get out in front there
Hasn't played in many games where other players are closer to his speed
Love the announcers also being baffled how bad our OLine is.
I think that one play has really summed up our season rather succinctly.
Yeah it's pretty apparent and a good thing now that Brent Davis didn't get the OL job. Need new blood and fresh ideas there from Moore.
Keep the playbook open.
The offensive line is so bad. We need to find some horses to put up front.
I honestly don't understand why we would try to run anything around the LOS anymore. Our OL is overmatched, our only hope is off tackle or out wide. And passing, bootleg everything
I guess our coaches are just focused on getting Pop as many reps as possible, because if they wanted to win then I don't see how they can't put Schlee out there. He's had few plays but like 80% of our offensive success.
4th and 7 and you throw a 3 yard slant that is in blanket coverage
Our QBs are just bad
Targeting a WR that wasn't beyond the sticks...where have we seen that before
Bowen...the king of the 3 yd route when you need 8.
Genius move by Pry. Not winning so you don't have to get doused in Mayo. I would do the same thing.
I know we are young and depleted, but man it's really, really to see how Pry gets this turned around in time to save his job. I know teams can turn things around fast with the portal now, but there's just a lot to turn around with this team in short order. Consider me surprised if we are better than 6-6 next year.
I'm very invested in who the guest mayo is. Dagonit.
Maybe it's the big reveal for our new DC /s
I ain't hear no bell
Something something Bud Foster!
Show some love for Lovett.
FINALLY a turnover
Huge!
Come on HOKIES
Lol
Yeah Pop ain't ready. My goodness, hes completely overwhelmed
Yeah...Pop looks real bad playing a team not named UVA. And what the hell are we doing there pulling QBs every other play?
Idk I can't be too upset at him. He's under pressure within one second on almost every play because the OL is atrocious. It's basically try and make a play or get nothing
Run. Outside.
Take a knee Pop. Or throw out of the back of the end zone. Don't get cute with the ball hanging out.
Fucking awful. All aspects. Play calling. Execution. Prep. Fucking pathetic
I think it illustrates they really didn't develop any of the young players this year.
Horrible play calling that series
Yeah Brian was right, Pop sucks
Not sure why so little Schlee? I would have liked to see him on that 3rd and fourth.
I think they are looking at experience and not actually winning
Getting your ass pounded for 4 quarters probably isn't the experience we want him to have. He's going to have PTSD over this game
My only guess is to get Pop game reps, Schlee is done after tonight, right?
Correct
Offense gifted a turnover by the D and absolutely shits the bed. I'd be shocked if it wasn't the same story for the last...for ever.
That was.....not good.
Zero pass attempts into the EZ.
Against a non-uva defense, Pop hasn't been able to read the blitz correctly, hasn't made the best decisions, and has looked lost. I know the OL is bad but we are certainly seeing him show his lack of experience as well.
At least he threw the ball...
That's. Something.
The haphazard QB rotations are FUCKING TERRIBLE for everyone.
We need to go portaling for a QB pronto. Pop ain't it and Drones needs competition.
Drones back (healthy) with a decent OL. Could be good. Pop is a solid backup/change of pace.
Portal for LBs and OLs.
Also, we haven't been able to run it all night so why not just go to the end zone on first and second?
DL back in roller skates. Think the tank is on E
will that might have been the worst 4 downs of offense I have seen all year. 1st and goal at the 4 and it's 3 plays for -10 yards and an INT on 4th down. WOW BAD
These are some wild overreactions about a red shirt freshman not being ready
This.
Exactly.
He has literally no O-line.
Tom Brady would look like ass behind this line
^This. The starting center is a true freshman.
But he was all-ACC after the UVA game...
/s
Come on guys, end the game giving up no more than 24.
I know it probably doesn't matter at this point, but why on earth did he call his time out with 3 minutes left!?
Probably things he has the carry overs from the first half.
Also think in all the urgency to fix the defense, and rightfully so, Pry might have overlooked that Bowen is highly suspect as well. Pretty poor last series there and he's had a whole month to work something up.
Bowen is so confusing, he has moments of greatness...then series like that one
He was better than Marve and not as high on the need to fire list, but still I don't think good enough to improve this team.
Not a whole lot positive to take away from this game looking to next year. Unless Pry has a grand slam offseason, we totally flip the roster and bring in more blue chippers, and nail the DC hire...yeah I don't see how this ends well for the Pry era.
That was my take. Overall not angry at the game. Thought we played well given how overmatched we were. Just don't understand the play calling on that last red zone possession.
I think it's a lot harder to run an offense with basically zero offensive line as compared to what our defense had. Bowen has shown some stuff in terms of playcalls, but things would open up a lot if we could rely on getting just 3 yards on an inside zone
The first half of the BC game plan is the template. Go watch that again. It was great play calling. That's what we need every week!
Chaplin got hurt after that and iirc we lost another OL but maybe I am imagining that
I don't care if it's Bowen or someone else - with THIS OL no offense coordinator is going to be successful. We've seen some really good games from a Bowen offense, but the OL has been the bane of his tenure here. If we can get the line fixed we owe it to ourselves to give Bowen a full season to really show what his offense can do.
Well I expected to lose something like 40 to 7 so I guess this was better?
Yea, it actually wasn't as bad as I expected.
I know that we're looking foward to our new DC, but we also need to make the right hire for our S&C coach too because our guys look very small compared to Minn. I know a lot of the guys are young, but still, we got some bulking up to do.
We lost by 14. But should've been much closer. We had what, 2 or 3 redone possessions with no points.
Which, honestly is absurd. Minnesota should have boatraced us.
I don't know if you heard, but their qb was the second coming of Montana!
Offensive play calling atrocious
Sort of, I bet Bowen really wished he had an OL and RB bigger than 200 lbs on that 1st and goal from the 4. First play was a run and 2 defenders got to the RB as he was handed the ball. Tough for a an OC to do much with that.
literally just qb sneak it 4 times
With a 300 lb Fuga! 🤣
Agree, I also think both can be true. Bowen called a terrible game and the o line was atrocious
It's hard to call plays that are going to work behind a bad O Line, ESPECIALLY since Bowen uses them differently than standard pass protection of being a wall of meat (because they definitely can't do that). Given our two best linemen left, the offense was going to struggle, especially after seeing how good their line and LBs were. This is also why we need a good S&C coach.
AND their line and LBs were being VERY aggressive. There's a reason they got a number of offsides calls against them. They were going or starting to go before the ball was even snapped in a bunch of plays. I don't think we faced pressure that was that aggressive all season. It gives even less time for the QB to make plays or the OLine to do anything because they have to be motionless before the snap. So guys already in motion have an advantage (gotta love physics).
I was thinking a few RB screens would have settled them down and then thought our OL works have probably picked up illegal man down field penalties each time so it was probably not in the playbook.
No doubt, and surprisingly we had two more chances in the red zone that we did nothing with. Could have easily been in the game even more with a ragtag group. Maybe that speaks to talent over synergy and plan?
Nice job by the young defense only giving up 24 pts.
It could've been much worse
I watched all the way to the end and didn't even find out who the celebrity mascot was, wtf
ESPN3 or the app is showing it. I'll let you know who.
Edit: Flavor Flav.
I thought it was supposed to be an actual celebrity? Who is Flavor Flav?
Really? Or ////S?
Public Enemy?!
Public Enemy was a rap band I think. I guess he was in it. Probably why never heard of him. I don't listen to rap.
He sponsors the US women's water polo team.
Flava flav is one of those guys who's been around so long that people forget how his career even started. Kinda like Ryan Seacress or LL Cool J or Will Smith. Kids today don't even know that the latter two were prolific rappers way before they were actors.
Will Smith was an actor before he was a rapper then went back to acting (see Fresh Prince of Bel Air)
Actually rapping came first. 1988 Parents just Don't Understand won a Grammy as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. That inspired the Fresh Prince TV show.
Ya beat me to it. I'll drink.
You have your timing off I think. An occasional guest on the show was DJ Jazzy Jeff who Will Smith collaborated with singing before the show as DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Will Smith then had a solo singing career after the show. Then started acting more.
Hahaha case in point
Would be willing to bet that you wasn't listening to him before he was on Fresh Prince...
My cousin burned me a CD with Parents just Don't Understand when I was 8, then that led to limewire rabbit hole looking up fresh prince/will smith music.
So I didn't listen to fresh prince and DJ jazzy Jeff before the TV show came out, but by the time I first learned of the TV show, I knew will smith the rapper. Obviously I knew will smith the actor from Independence Day and men in black first. Definitely took time to connect the dots.
Exactly. Independence Day and Men in Black was waaaaaaay after Fresh Prince debuted.
My point being, at least 99.5% of the human population never heard of Fresh Prince or DJ Jazzy Jeff until after the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire TV came out
I mean he did win a Grammy before the show ever aired lol. But I get your point.
99.5% is high unless you aren't counting 80's kids. Parents Just Don't Understand was super popular before the TV show. Pretty much every kid I know had "I'm the Rapper, He's the DJ" on cassette tape. Will Smith's style of rap was pretty accessible for kids who weren't that into hip hop, and it was a funny song.
If you're only talking about people in their 30s or younger, you're probably right, but most of the 40+ crowd heard that album (or at least the hit single from it) before Fresh Prince ever aired.
Eh, he said total human population, which is 108 billion. 0.5% of that is 540 million people, whcih is more than double the US population in 1987 (243 million) Now their 2nd albums did chart in UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Austrialia but no where close the 4th it charted on Billboard 200. Those countries no where close to acount for the remaining 300 million people that knew this fact so I am likely inclined to believe that 99.5% of all humans did not know this fact.
He was using a very US-centric version of 99.5% of the human population. I'd say he ignored 5 billion of the rest of the world because he hadn't heard of him before the TV show.
I honestly just missed the "human population" part of the comment. I assumed US-centric because that would be more relevant to the conversation than trying to argue the awareness levels of non US people re: US music and tv media. The latter is a different conversation than the one we were having, but it is a pedantic way to "win" a discussion so yay.
I'm 45, grew up in the 80's with everything 80's. Sorry to say I had never heard of him prior to the tv show nor heard that "super popular" song 'Parents Just Don't Understand '. It wasn't because I was sheltered either.
Oh yeah, he was the only rapper I liked. It was funny stuff. He had a rap about going through the McDonald's drive thru.
I watched Fresh Prince the first time because I enjoyed him as a rapper.
What about all the other times you watched it?
I had also known of him as a rapper before those episodes also.
That would be wrong for me. I was listening to him early as they did some performances with BoyzIIMen. Both groups came up in Philly.
Are you from Philly? I was growing up in South Jersey around then, so wonder if proximity to Philly made it more likely that I'd have heard him. Granted, hard to win a Grammy if you're only appealing to people around Philly, so I imagine he had a very wide listener base, and a lot more people had heard of him than 99.5% of everyone NOT having heard him.
Was in Hoodbridge in middle school. Being from Philly they did several DC area concerts back then.
Okay, I guess 99.5% of people knew who he was before the Fresh Prince TV show came out. I'll be the .5% that didn't.
I grew up in the 80's and my sister is 10 years older than me and neither of us nor anyone in our circles knew of him before the show.
Good to know, learn something new every day.
I was in San Diego and knew of them.
If you were the right age, EVERYBODY heard Will Smith - per bar1990 below, Parents Just Don't Understand was immensely popular and on all the popular radio stations, not just what you might consider a "rap" station. Everyone from like 8 to 20 was probably listening to him.
Edit - bar's comment is above - gotta learn how these comments get placed 🙄
I was hoping it was Paul Giamatti
Feels like the Defense did better than could be expected. Serval plays we had the guy there they just couldn't make the play for whatever reason. Feels like the offense let us down in this one. Minnesota has a good Defense tho. And that o-line oh boi. We need Moore and those transfer boys in there quick like and in a hurry.
Pry's face there at the end of the game...I think he's just out of answers and in too deep, and he knows it now.
He's out of answers for being down 14 starters and being in between two coaches and an S&C coach. Don't read too much into it. Also, the refs deciding not to call pass interference other than on that first one against us.
Pry seems good about getting our good players to stay and, if I recall from last year, to play in the bowl game. This year, I think it was probably harder because the players knew we were going to be between coaches so decided to transfer or sit out because they probably figured it would be an L and so they'd go to their new teams or declare for the draft.
Actually beat the spread and could have been closer if we decided to kick FGs. (Obviously I understand why we didn't)
What did the spread end up being? It was 6.5 when I got in on it
10
No ACC team covered the spread
Barely any acc teams won!
I saw it on ESPN betting at 16.5
I thought we'd lose by 30+. Enjoyed watching some of the young guys. Felt bad for Pop; if we had a hot route called to counter the blitz, it was well hidden.
Shoulda just put Benji in the wildcat at the goal line.
At least we have basketball season
I'm assuming you meant to add the /s
There's a lot Pry needs to do to get this program to where it should be, but this game wasn't really going to tell us anything about that besides seeing if a few guys could be bright spots.
I was encouraged by Mason, Brodie Adams, and Greene on offense. All of them showed flashes. Pop was inconsistent, but that makes sense when he was facing pressure on almost every drop back. He also showed some good flashes when he had a bit of time like the corner route at the end of the 1st half or the dart to Greene on that awful last red zone possession. Give him half an OL and I can see him being a solid QB.
On defense we really need the DL and LB to grow up fast. Safeties, too. If Poindexter really is the DC, then I hope he can get them playing right. CBs had a few issues, but we didn't really see them get beat often. Lovett was tight in coverage for a 15ish yard completion that looked like a really good throw and catch. We'll see what happens on that side.
EDIT for typos
Greene and Brodie are gonna be special if we can get an oline that gives Pop more than .4 seconds to make a read and throw.
The highlight for me was that Thomas Williams kid. He was flying around everywhere and was where the ball was. Fast, good instincts and definitely not afraid of contact. He looks small though but outside of that I thought he really stood out.
Oh my God. The guest mayo was Flavor Flav.
Now that I have driven home and had time to process (left the bar with 2 mins left when it was clear Minn was just going to run out the clock)
The defense played about as well as you could have hoped. Tackling is an issue, the scheme was all over the place, guys were a bit out of position but the end result was admirable considering who wasn't playing.
Offensively... Our OL is a fucking joke. Unacceptable that it was allowed to get that bad and I really hope that this WV guy is everything we hope. Pop was brutal tonight but it's not like he had much time to do anything. I just hope this game doesn't have him seeing ghosts the rest of his career.
Excellent game from our kickers. Easily the highlight of the night for us.
Pry should dump a tub of Mayo on his head in celebration of not losing another one score game!
We didn't have a 3rd Qtr defensive collapse last night. The young guys didn't look lost the whole game to me. We for sure need help on OL but that was known before going into the game. Pry seemed to have a little better in game management. Team never quit on the game.
Overall I think there is a good foundation to work with over the offseason. Now just waiting to see how the coaching staff is filled out. Kinda surprised we haven't hired a S&C coach yet.
Only thing I can think of is the S&C coach must be on a team that is still playing as well. And there probably isn't a whole lot a S&C coach could probably do in that short amount of time, so why hire the new one away from their team before the last game?
Here's my take for everyone hating on Bowen and saying he can't call a game. He's down his two best Oline (edit: I hate the autocorrect from OLine to "online") men to the portal on an already weak line. Their defense was being so aggressive on blitzes they were called offsides a number of times, but seemed content to let that go because they were pretty good at timing their rushing to be right at the snap, giving almost zero time for plays to develop, making run plays really hard.
And for passing plays, the refs deciding not to call pass interference - wtf is that? Their corners seemed to know just how much they could push or do whatever to prevent a reception (without looking for the ball). I can't count how many times I saw a fair amount of contact by their corners before the ball reached the receiver.
So, between a hyper aggressive defensive rush that got to our line and past it probably faster than any other team I remember seeing and the corners being able to commit PI, not sure exactly how you game plan for that, even if you have a month. I mean, I guess you could have tried to have our DLine try the aggressive blitzing, but if they hadn't worked on the timing, they'd probably be bad at it. Also, I think our two best pass rushers weren't participating, so that probably didn't help the O get ready any better.
Edit to add: But really, not calling PI? That seems like it gives a team with a strong D line an extra unfair advantage because you usually deal with aggressive rushing by passing it over them. And I saw a couple plays where that's what it looked like Bowen tried, one was a reception near the ground where our receiver was able to get a hard pass, the other, was a crossing route that the corner pushed our receiver in the back before the ball got to him.
The refusal to call DPI was comical on all sides. There were obviously the calls that had Pry losing his shit on the sideline, but we also had some egregious shit we got away with as well. The worst of the night might have been one we got away with on a ball floated deep, our DB just hugged the WR, never turned around and somehow nothing was called.
Genuinely awful officiating.
Yeah, I think our CBs learned what they could get away with. But again, with THEIR OLine and RB that was hard to tackle, the lack of PI calling wasn't AS big a deal. I think our D adjusted well though and although we gave up a bunch of yards in the second half, didn't give up many points.
Hey...we gave up 3 points in the entire second half with first time starters at a majority of the defensive positions.
As for offense, we had a walk on playing center last night so any expectations should have stopped right there.
And yet Clements was still probably the worst of the bunch on OL
Just ridiculous how poorly his development went over his career. He looked so promising as a freshman.
Yeah, I was fearing major mistakes by newby center, but don't remember seeing any. Kudos!
Jaylen Jones declared for the draft after the game.
If the DC is actually Poindexter, are there any 2nd or 3rd stringers from PSU that might potentially follow him? I can't imagine a backup LB or DB from Penn State could be any worse than our apparent starters at the moment.
I'm sure dear old James is gonna put some major restrictions on that. I personally think it's ridiculous if it is Dex they couldn't announce until PSU is done. Franklin hasn't stopped recruiting against Pry and taking our recruits. And Franklin has passed Dex over twice for the sole DC gig. Let the man get his laurels.
I texted my ND buddy and said please blow out dear old James so he's out and we can bring Dex back to VA already lol. If you can't tell, I freaking hate James Franklin.
You can hate James Franklin, but for the sake of having a GOOD DC next year, I'd rather ND win in a low scoring game.
Dex ain't calling the plays, so I'll blame Allen. Lol
Nuuuuuuu
Best of luck young man. Thank you for your 5 years!
Man...it sucks to realize how few times we will be typing things like that in the coming years with today's CFB landscape.