Nothing real substantial but anything football related about the Hokies I try to read:
The Hokies offense can't get much worse, and any outside help is a reason for optimism.
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/77883668/college-football-transfer-...
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I probably should have quoted this instead of the above:
Blocked from going to another Big 12 school, he ended up in Blacksburg, which, despite the offensive problems of late, is a solid landing spot. For one, he has a pretty clear path to the starting job. Two, the offense doesn't need to suddenly become Texas Tech-like and score 50 points per game. This is a defense-led team with the nation's best secondary and an active front four, and even a jump from awful to mediocre on offense will make the Hokies frontrunners in the ACC Coastal.
Good to hear that people respect D-Block. Hoping these guys can stay healthy, because it will really help the D-line to be able to have 2 lockdown corners playing man-2-man.
Justa Fan - the fact that you pulled out the most insightful and far-reaching comment of this write up, and posted it here for emphasis is reason enough to give a leg. BUT......IT IS ALSO TRUE.....that the words above, the message you have pasted here are GOLDEN. Yep, the above will happen, and the Hokies are going to sucker punch a lot of big teams who underestimate them this year.
It is a fact. I see it coming like an approaching weather system. I do not have the details. I see the clouds. I know a storm is coming, and I know people are unprepared.
Our team is under the radar. Our team has no respect. Our team is loaded with talent. Our team has coaches. They are salivating.
It is almost not "just". To come out like this.....so overlooked, and ruin the dreams of top 5 Ohio State. Then march on and force ESPN to get back on the "Blacksburg Bandwagon.''
It seems unfair. To make "The Neck" retract her love for the U... To be forced to acknowledge the possibility that FSU is going down...and that a team with a lunch pail is dominating the ACC landscape... It seems unfair !
Unless you are a Hokie
Then all is right with the world.
Sam Rogers - Booyah
Don't call me a fare whether fan, I am really looking forward to seeing this whether system develop!
Sorry, that one was teed up.....
I'm not sure if Big John is more likely to be accurate drinking or sober
Holy crap that video made me nervous.
I'll have what Griffer's having.
" VTs offense doesnt need to score 50 points per game." But I wouldnt mind 50 points against LOLUVA .
All I need is 38-0 bro
The comment seems to point out he has a passing knowledge of VT football and no commentary regarding reasons for a poor offense last year.
Looks like he watched the Alabama game and that was it, no other knowledge other than we have a good defense and couldn't catch a pass in the season opener.
Disappointed in the writer.
This is just my opinion, but I think you're being a little hard on the writer. First off, he is a national writer who doesn't have the time to watch every game. Second, he doesn't have 2,000 words to dedicate to the 2013 VT offensive issues. I think he does an adequate job of providing necessary background in a limited amount of space.
Too much information out there now for a keyboard stroke to let these guys slide.
He's a reporter, he needs to gather and report. If he's going to report on a topic, I would think that an article on QB transfers would require a little research on the offense the QB is going to.
It's not like an indepth stroke on VT's offense, it's 2 sentence evaluation.
He is so cursory as to say the QB transfer is apparently what we are relying on, nothing about new OC and staff and all the completely freshman making thier first game against Alabama.
Our QB last year was good enough for mid round draft but a transfer QB will cure all ills?
That's what he makes it sound like.
Poor research, poor tone, poor understanding of the offensive problems.
I don't see where the guy said anything incorrect. The offense was awful last year and we just need it to be mediocre.
As opposed to this writer, I know a lot about VT football and I would summarize the situation similarly.
Our offense was awful, but it was also devoid of talent, and the talent it did have was very young.
That talent now has a year of experience under its belt. Our OL has more depth than we've had in a very long time. We have a couple true bruising high profile RBs, the likes of which we haven't had since our last ACC title run. So while, yes, we did have a bad offense the last couple years, all the pieces are in place for a new QB to come in and play well right away. We don't need him to be lights out to win the division, but if he shows any kind of competence, we could have one of our best teams since the one that ran the table in ACC play.
Remember, these are the same sportswriters who, only a month or so ago, roasted VT basketball and Buzz Williams for the hire, saying it didn't make sense at all for Buzz to take the job, as it was quite possibly the worst basketball coaching spot in the country. One month later, with a very solid recruiting class coming in, the tune has changed, and these same writers are saying how VT is awakening and how great a job Buzz is doing. Mind you, this is the same program that has knocked off 3 or 4 different #1 teams in the country over the past decade. Its just reactionary journalism, which has infested the sports world (stemming from the ever-getting-lazier ESPN).
Correct. Or you could summarize your 255 words with these 18:
Even a jump from awful to mediocre on offense will make the Hokies frontrunners in the ACC Coastal.
Succinct is best.
I miss the days where we were scoring 40+ points per game against solid opponents...
The Miami game this past year was a blast from the past. Here's to more.
I couldn't agree more.
While this is a stepup from the last two years in terms of outlook; we should always be frontrunners for the ACC Coastal. UNC is an inconsistent mess even when they have talent, Duke has come on strong but staying on top is harder than breaking through for one magical season, Miami can't get the playmakers the used to and always fall flat, LOLUVa, teams have figured out GT for the most part, Pitt could grind out some games but I don't see them going 6-2 or 7-1 which is what it will take to win the Coastal outright.
Its about time VT had that fire back to push for ACC title games and more.
Hopefully the offensive line can get settled in. The best thing for our offense is to develop an identity running the football, which will make it that much easier for Brewer to settle in. At this point, I think the biggest concerns lie up front and with Brewer's knowledge of the offense. Are there going to be any limitations or are the coaches going to be ready to open it up? And can we run the ball? If not, it's going to be hard on him.
Establishing a running identity is going to be impossible because there has been absolutely no passing threat. I think at this point we're going to have to pass our way out of this mess. There's not a defense in the country that does or should respect our passing game, so that means they stack the box and wait for us to screw up - which usually takes three downs or less.
I am sure that this will stir the pot, but I found a link to this article on the OP page:
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/73118828/virginia-tech-hokies-offen...
Its not very flattering.......
And once again, this is what I'm talking about.
Even the coaching staff is being up front and honest with fans right now. We're not built to win in 2014. We're still too young, and we still have too much inexperience. If we contend for the ACC this year, its only because the rest of the division is crap and we have a relatively light schedule, outside the Ohio State game. And if you read what the coaches are saying, they're not even prepping this team for a run this year. They have their eyes set on 2015. They're being realistic with their expectations, so when you read crap like this, how 2014 is a make or break year for Frank Beamer's legacy... It makes you want to completely write off everything a sports writer says because its becoming clear they're just writing reactionary pieces to drive page hits. The success of the 2014 team is not going to force Beamer to retirement early. If we only win 6 games, he's not going to hang it up the first chance he gets. This is just silly talk with the purpose of trying to post something that's over the line to drive page hits and drive discussion. ESPN, between Skip Bayless, Woody Paige, the various other talking heads, the bloggers, like Heather Dinich... They've made careers out of saying outlandish things with only a whitewashing of research to base their conclusions on, and that's precisely what this guy is doing, and its frustrating to see, because it drives the national perception of this school and our program. It wouldn't bother me if this crap didn't matter, but recruits read it, and you better believe it when enough talking heads start saying if we don't win the division this year Beamer is on the hot seat, as blatantly false as that may be, recruits will believe it, and they will be swayed to go elsewhere, which will only hurt our future.
/end rant
Well, at least Magic Mike isn't on the hot seat! That gives the in-state recruits a stable and successful coach to commit to!!
Dude... this? Just... wow. I'm laughing hysterically and throwing up a little in my mouth all at the same time. This must be what it feels like to be a fan at Scott Stadium.
I'm giving you an upvote, but I'm terrified of what you'll do with it.
In Bud we trust.
I dont agree that the coaching staff is giving up on the 2014 season. The team has as good of chance to win in 2014 as any team in the Acc . The team is good enough to go to the ACC championship. The staff just doesnt want to overhype and mislead the fans knowing that they still have to put all the pieces back together to put a good team out there. With a good QB and good running game, Tech could have better result this year . It's way too early to give up on 2014
I get it, reverse psychology.
'By no means is a guy like Beamer, who essentially invented what we think of as modern Virginia Tech football, on the hot seat. He's in a different category, a 67-year-old with impressive success and longevity with a program that has a strong fan base and decent resources but still isn't a top-tier job. Barring disaster, he'll be beloved in Blacksburg for life. It's more of a matter of deciding when the time is right to move on, hopefully mutually with new athletic director Whit Babcock, and fostering a harmonious transition to a new regime. It doesn't have to happen in the next 12 months, but it will be coming sooner rather than later.
In football, there is nothing more frustrating than a stagnant offense, when you almost have more confidence in the defense's ability to score points. A year or two are easy to forgive and forget, but a larger trend is not. Regardless of what happens in 2014, Beamer's stature and reputation at Virginia Tech are likely forever secured, but that doesn't mean the season won't play a large role in figuring out when and how the era will end. After so much success for so long, an uneasy feeling is only natural.'
I think part of what Beamer & staff are doing in emphasizing 2015 is trying to temper expectations for 2014.That is quite clear. I didn't really see the article as saying 2014 was make or break, but rather an indicator of how the program was trending in Beamer's final years. Whether or not they would be Bobby Bowden-esque, or if Frank would end on a high note of ten win seasons. From the final two paragraphs shown above, it seemed to me to be a pretty honest assessment of the team the last few years. I didn't see the ill intent there. If you make the program different from VT, it would be easy to ask - 'How many years before they make the change from the retirement-age coach? Two? Four? Six?...' That was what I took from the article. Not that it should be immediately.
Go figure, I didn't click a link in the article until it was the one linked to a TKP article. And the one above is a Bitter article.
Yup, and a good article if you really look at the program
I'm just picturing Brewer discussing the Hokie playbook with teammates - 'Heck, I had a more complicated system than this when I was in high school...' At least we shouldn't have to hear the mantra we've too often heard over the last decade-plus of Hokie offensive strategy - 'We removed some of the playbook to make it easier to handle...'
I would say the current system is fairly complex. Maybe not on the level of Texas Tech or Oklahoma State, but it's no cakewalk to learn. That said, the method Loeffler utilized in installing the basics of his offense first and then building on that has definitely helped remedy that annoying mid-September problem.
I'd say it's getting there but I'm inclined to agree it's not on TTU level...yet.
The Texas Tech system is not particularly complicated. It does however require good pre-snap reads and quick decision making.