There are six guaranteed games remaining, Tech still controls its destiny to Charlotte, can become bowl eligible, and beat UVa. I'm not overly confident that all or any of these will happen, but it might be a little early to panic.
I've read and heard a bunch of different opinions from various Hokies on what they want to get out of the rest of the season. Here are a few examples:
- Lose out to hopefully force a coaching change, assistant or otherwise;
- A win over Virginia is the only thing that matters;
- Play the younger kids (which may or may not include burning redshirts) in preparation for 2013;
- Continue to try to improve and play for a successful 2012;
How do you want the rest of the season to go down? There are no right or wrong answers.
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Comments
Continue and try to improve for 2012
I think to compete right now, your offense needs to be able to put up 40. I would like to see us release LT and the passing attack and put points on the board. I could see:
- VT 43, Duke 31. LT accounts for 5 TDs.
- Clemson 47, VT 38. Late TD puts us away...Tajh is jus so good.
- VT 38 Miami 35. A repeat of last year.
- FSU 34, VT 28. Last play of the game heartbreak loss.
- VT 44, BC 30. They did lose to Army...
- VT 41, UVA 35. I expect their offense will improve under Sims.
Then beat FSU in the ACCCG.....beat Rutgers in the Orange Bowl....
Why do you think we would play in the ACCGC in your scenario? We would have 3 conference losses and Miami will not have 3 conf. losses. Miami will play for the ACCCG
5-3 is going to win our division (whichever division we are in)
Miami may lose out. (VT may as well)
That team has been hammered twice and needed a miracle to beat GT. They beat NCSU.
Miami is going to lose this weekend to UNC and next weekend to FSU. Then, if we beat them, we're in at 5-3. Miami also plays Duke and uva on the road...both losable.
What I DON'T Want
I don't want to burn redshirts, because that could bite us in the ass later (see: Tyrod Taylor)
I don't want to lose out without a guarantee that it would bring change. If, and only if, we see sweeping coaching changes afterward, then I will accept a 3-9 season in the name of future progress.
Part of me thinks it'll take a loss to UVA to make change happen, but I can't bring myself to actively hope for that outcome.
Fuck this season. Lets just start practicing for Alabama now.
I second that.
2012 was to prepare for 2013
I was saying that before the season began, hoping the underclassmen would win all the key spots. I thought VT would have a really good chance at a strong BCS run in 2013, but I've begun to temper those expectations. I think it is still possible, but I'm beginning to think the O-line and Secondary will not be solved by 2013.
So, I would like to see more playing time for Manning, Bonner, RVD and Cole. Grey needs to figure out who can play corner and who can play safety. Right now, I don't think he has a free safety, so maybe he needs to try Kyle there and switch Bonner to corner. I don't know. I would also like Via to full-time back-up, spelling Wang and Benedict. Those two guards need a lot of work. I would like to see what VT has in Gibson and Shuman, but I understand it is unfair to Painter and Becton, both of which have the body size to be late round gamble in the NFL draft. Selling out on them would not look good.
I would move Fuller to FS too
I don't think he's a great CB. He's good, and with our current talent, he's certainly better than everyone else. But, as Foster said in the post-game this week, he's a good "freelancer" and hasn't really been asked to play a traditional CB much before.
I think he could be very good at FS. That would leave Bonner v. Manning to start at CB, which isn't awful. Bonner scares me a lot less at CB than he does at safety.
It's a new problem every week
Personally I don't think our secondary played that bad last week, it was the D-Line. We moved Exum back to safety, and it worked. With the recruits we have coming in next year, and with (hopefully) no one leaving I think our secondary could be pretty strong. I feel that if we can get manning game ready, we'll have the depth we need to compete next year.
All I want is to beat the piss out of UVA and hopefully continue the bowl streak, but with what the team has shown so far this year I can't really get my hopes up for anything else.
All I want is to....
Have the excuses stop. tired of hearing the team say "we are better than that" hello! You are not better than what you've accomplished. One can get better but by no means are you better because if you we're then the outcomes would be different. This includes the coaches! Recruiting is the key and has been well documented here. Coach Dream can recruit although he can't coach a lick! Which has hampered our progression and until that is addressed each and every year we will be left pondering these question. Wholesale changes in the coaching staff must and should happen. Most important is to be the dog mess out of UVEEA.
BEAT THE HOOS
That is all. It would also be nice if we didn't lose to effing Duke and BC.
I want us to right the ship and win the rest of our games. Is this realistic? Probably not, but I don't think the players have quit on this team so I think its possible that we can get much better. Most importantly though, beat uva.
Win, win and win some more
I think that we should be able to beat the Dukies, BC, Hoos, Miami and keep the FSU and Clemson games close. Win ACCCG and force Heather Dinich to eat yet another pile of crow.
Too optimistic?
TO LEARN
Toughness, resilience, and perseverance are all things that can't be taught; they must be practiced.
Our coaches haven't struggled like this in some time, how are they supposed to know how to react? How do they coach when they don't have the talent they're used to?
Our players haven't seen times like this either, how are they supposed to know how to react in this situation?
This season is still salvageable, but in the long term, I just hope we learn from this season. Whether it be a recruiting changes, coaching changes, practice changes, game plan changes, etc. We've been due for a rebuilding season for sometime, hopefully that's all this is.
The 3 oldest coaches in FBS (Spurrier, Snyder, and Frank Solich) are all currently UNDEFEATED. There's no reason Frank Beamer can't bring us back to the glory days!
I just
want to see some passion and some fire. Watching other games on Saturday seeing the entire Florida team energized because Matt Elam killed anything that moved on the field including his own teammates, and the entire Texas sideline jumping up and down as they scored to tighten the game against the cousins in the 2nd quarter. Our sideline looks like a silent auction at times. If we are going to lose at least lose going 100 mph and flying around on the field and start having fun again and not worry about whats already happened this year.
Opinion
After reading French's article, which gave me a ton of perspective on this season (and possibly next), I've decided to shift my focus.
I was talking with my father for a bit yesterday, who is a proud PSU alumni, and he said he was enjoying this year's PSU season. Why? Because he said it was nice "just focusing on winning the next game and not worrying about bowls or anything like that." I think I'm going to adapt that approach, at least until 2014 when all of the crap will start to flush out of the system.
All that being said, I still want to beat UVA. A loss to them in lane could drive me to the edge. I could get over a loss in Scott Stadium, but to lose to them in Blacksburg; I don't want to even think about that.
In 2003
I was a fledgling in the world of Hokie football. I had no idea what to expect of the team or school. I loved being in the middle of everything at the time, but wasn't involved in the world of high expectation coming off the 99 and 2000 seasons. I went to games, watched the one's away on TV, and was just happy to be constantly around people I just assumed as family. I went to the aTm game more excited to drunkenly cheer amidst a hurricane. Then later that season I watched the magical demise of #2 Miami in the Terrordome.
That season always stands out to me because we were underdogs again. Teams took us lightly instead of painting a target on our back. I'm sure many fans were just as disgruntled and embarrassed, but I was in a fish bowl of sorts.
Over the last 6 or 7 years I have become that fan. The one who sees success and just assumes that it should continue. I've screamed and yelled in fits of rage over "the yearly bad losses" and even ruined a few work Christmas parties over watching the ACCCG on the same day. I had forgotten to just cheer for our guys and realize its just football, shit happens, and we have the ability and backing to get better. If it's this year I'm excited, but if it has to happen later I'll just watch this team like I did on Saturday, cheer like a mad man when we do well and after a slight curse hope the next play will be better when things don't go so well.
I'm not jaded, i'm not apathetic, and I certainly have not lost faith in my Hokies. I'm just glad to be back again, if even for a brief stint, to be that fan who lives in ignorant bliss hoping for another big moment.
Not to get to nostalgic
Dont recommend having the the audio on because there is some bad static
Also notice that the uniforms are solid maroon...not saying but I am saying
Oh god what has happened
Optimism balanced with realism
First, I'm optimistic that we can and will play better. Virtually every other season under CFB has shown that his teams play better at the end of the season than the start. That being said, there are LOTS of areas to improve upon. I think if we temper our expectations for some very young talent positions, we can hope for winning all but most likely two of the remaining games (Clempsom & FSeww). I don't think winning any of the remaining games will be a cakewalk, though.
After the end of the season (hopefully a bowl game...and I never thought I'd be hoping for "just" a bowl game!!) I would hope CFB sees the need for wholesale offensive change. One comment that I saw earlier this year gives me hope. I remember Stienspring recounting a conversation with Beamer, (I think this was in regard to job security at Tech...wish I remember where I saw this, because I don't remember the exact wording) and Beamer told him the best way to stay co-ordinator was to score points and win games. I think Frank is a lot more steely-eyed CEO than we perhaps give him credit for at times. He realizes that this is a business. I don't think he's opposed to rattling the apple cart, although it's not something he particularly likes doing. I think we need to do some house cleaning on the offensive coaching staff. I think O'Steinspring, Newsome and Sherman need to be shown the door. I've thought that Newsome needed to go for several years now. If any of the four survive, I would hope it would be Sherman, but I think you bring in a new OC, and let him build the staff for his side of the ball. Re:Lil'Beamer, the jury is out, and recruiting pluses could be a great reason to keep him.
I think one thing we need to do is re-assess our recruiting philosophy as well. I know we have some speed guys, but we need to recruit speed on both sides of the ball for every position. Think DE's like Jadevon Clowney. O-linemen the size of houses that can move. Running backs that pack some punch (we've had a few of those, and may already have some in-house as redshirts) TE's who can run, catch AND knock sombody's head off. (While we're on blocking, in my mind the first two priorities of a WR should be to 1. catch the ball when it's thrown to you, and 2. hit someone really, really hard when it isn't. Our guys haven't really done either this year, so it kind of grates on me.) Speed kills in any sport, but perhaps more so in football than any other game. Let's go get more.
I've never coached, and I'm not an X's and O's guy. I treat all suggestions of coaching changes with a lot of skepticism, who am I to judge? Also not one to give up without a fight.
That being said, if losing out (with a win over UVA of course) and staying home for the bowl season results in the type of changes that we need to get back to where we were not so long ago, then once again attempt to take that next step beyond that, I could live with that and won't be as heartbroken at this point as I would in years past.
These changes could be a change in philsophy, recruiting methods, defensive schemes, coaches, redshirt policy, whatever...but change is good in my opinion. Again can't speak for football, but in life a little kick in the ass is good every now and then.
What do I want?
I want a change in attitude. That's it.
Don't pull a Clemson
beat #newHoos .
I'm Torn...
I want to see changes in the coaching staff made, and I feel that only having a record under .500 and not going to a bowl game will get that done...
Additionally, I agree that it would be great to get the younger players some time on the field so that they have some experience if they must be thrown into the fire that is the opener against 'Bama next season.
However, on the other side of the coin, it feels almost sacreligious to just give up on this team. We're all Hokie fans and we would prefer to see success rather than failure. I think a better time to decide what we want to see will be after our next two/three games... Which in my mind SHOULD BE a W against Duke, and at the very least, a hard fought close game against Clemson.
The extremely hopeful side of my Hokie Fan Brain says that we go into Death Valley and shock the Tigers, but I won't truly believe that could happen unless we come out against Duke on Saturday and play MISTAKE FREE FOOTBALL. PLEASE AND THANK YOU.
Get us to the end... quick
This is getting ugly. My suggestions:
1. Burn the shirts; if Ekanem and Caleb are as good as touted, they are not going to be here for four years anyway.
2. Play the young guys; this year is a goner but next year could be pretty good if those guys get some snaps.
3. Make the switches as suggested at corner. Bonner needs to be a safety. He looks scared at the corner.
4. Consider the JUCO route for corners and o-line. If I remember right, Corey Moore went JUCO because everyone thought he was too small. That worked out pretty good.
5. Head to Texas and scout for high school coaches for the offense. Seems to be working for Dabo.
My prediction: 7-5, Sun Bowl v. Stanford
Bonner.
Already is a safety. I think you got your words switched around there, but otherwise, all good points.
Beat the teams you should beat. Don't sweat the rest
The losses to out of conference teams don't bother me too much, other than whatever the heck conference pride is supposed to mean (as if Tech could make enough of a difference in that with teams like BC losing to Army et cetera) as far as I'm concerned if the team isn't a national championship contender (it wasn't) then the out of conference games take a way back seat to winning the division. Whether that is still realistic I'm not so sure but there is still a lot of football yet to be played.
What I want to see is this team get back to its identity, even if the talent isn't what fans would like it to be. Playing solid defense which gives the offense a chance to win the game is not unreasonable, even with a young/injured/inexperienced/leaderless(?) D. The offense played better Saturday, especially LT but they have to figure out a way to get the run game going, though I don't know how that's going to happen. Special teams needs to play with more discipline, that at least should be fixable.
Improvement doesn't need to be too dramatic to still have an okay season, even if already below expectations. If VT can come away with a win in just one (at least) of the next four, not unreasonable to expect though it's not out of the question to lose all four the way they're playing, they then have the opportunity to finish strong against BC and UVA to earn a bowl bid. The extra practice time afforded by a bowl game hopefully can get the team better prepared to start fresh in the Spring. Beating Duke at home will be more difficult than it appears Vegas oddsmakers seems to believe though it can and should be done. After that I don't think I can stomach a loss to Miami and if the D can figure itself out Tech's offense should have no problem putting points on the board against them. After this start I would say anything over six wins would be about all anyone could hope for who's watched the product on the field this year. Worst case scenario means LT will be back with more experience around him next year with the added benefit of lower hype and expectations surrounding the team going into the 2013 season.
One thing this team has done consistently in the past is finish strong in the regular season but leadership has always played a big part in that on both sides of the ball. I think one of the most glaring issues with the team this year is lack of leadership from players with experience who have inexplicably regressed since last season.
If this team can get its head together, a win this weekend can do a lot to restore both confidence and momentum. The ACC is nothing if not unpredictable week to week which team will fail to show up and all of the teams left on the schedule have meltdowns in their pedigree. I still believe these coaches can coach and I know these players can play. The team showing up on Saturday to kick the crap out of Duke would be a great way to get the ball back rolling.
I want to see some attitude out of our players. Now im not talking about cheap stuff, but i wouldnt mind some talk and some fire out of our players w/ a touch of "swag". I wanna see our defense punch the other team in the mouth. I want to see our d-line blast the other teams oline off the ball and reck havok in the backfield like we are used to seeing. Some more emotion. If we get beat deap the quarterback better be flat on his ass and thinking about it next time he drops back. Everyone needs to be flying to the ball and not "assume" a tackle is made and the play is over.
Lets start with that.
I want to see throats slit after this abysmal season. Stiney needs to go and O cain and the O line coaches need to be gone. This systme hasnt worked for a full season yet. Most of all i want to see change, and the right changes. Does Foster need to go after his defense gives up 500+ in back to back games? No, and i will tell you why, because his defense has carried us more times than not and we know he will adjust and fix it. Now the offense on the other hand will not adjust and we will keep on avg 45 yard rushing total for the rest of the year until it gets fixed. Bottom line its time to to get back to Beamerball, its been no existent, we are undisciplined and we will not execute at all.
The other change i would like to see is that the empty trophy case be removed from our athletic center, reason being, this is not the goal at the beginning of every year. So that arguement is out the window. We do not prepare like we are going to compete for it year in and year out. We do not play every game like its our last, we do not want to win the natl title. Until you start preparing to win the title quit reminding yourself how far away you are from it.
What I want is whats in our control
unfortunately what our team does is not within our control. What is tho is what we do as fans. I want the students in the north end zone to stay standing. I want the stadium to be packed 15 minutes before gametime. I want Lane Stadium to be the loud and proud arena that we know it can be. I see people just selling their tickets left and right because "i dont wanna watch our team lose" or "we are bad this year." AND!!??? If you wanna be there when we finally win that national championship then you had better be there when we are struggling to stay above .500. Thats what I want. I want loyalty and pride in our team. cheer loud and proud for them no matter what their record is.
What I'd like to see.
While I agree with you on all points, the chances of point 2 happening is somewhere between slim and UVa giving up on bringing Zima back. The only scenario where Beamer shuffles the staff (or gets rid of staff) is when Weaver comes to him and says that it's either a staff change or a forced retirement - neither of which will happen (and I don't think firing Beamer should be on the table).
There will be excuses about the offense being inexperienced, refs will be blamed for bad or missed calls, players not executing, etc. What won't happen will be hearing the staff taking any responsibility.
It's going to be a rough remainder of the year, and I will be surprised if VT sees a bowl game.
I dont care about our record this year, Its too late for that!
• I want to see the end of this lackluster performance. Is it me or does this team never seem excited or fired up. We have some good talent on the team, but the lack of enthusiasm is greatly holding them back.
• Improvements for players across the board and the emergence of underclassmen as potential playmakers next year. These younger kids understandably are making mistakes this year, but if they can get themselves in line for their remaining years, this years depressing display will be a less painful memory a few years down the line.
• The emergence of Logan Thomas as a more prominent leader. LT is a tremendous talent and there is no doubt that the team respects him, but I feel like he could be doing more. He is rarely seen on the sideline improving moral. He is always sitting down on the bench staring at the game or with those damn headphones on. He needs to be a bigger voice on the sideline and more envolved with firing up his teammates. Like i said, he is not a bad leader but I feel he could do more.
• I want to see the coaches take more charge and push these kids harder. I feel like beamer can afford to be tougher. But foster doesn't have to be the only loudmouth on that staff. These are college kids after all, and you cant let them get away with too much. Reform of the coaching staff after this year would not be to bad either in my opinion.
• Fans act like they should. Quit leaving at half time and quit making paper planes! These are our boys and they need our support.
I want our current recruiting class to keep every commitment and come in next year, some start, and help us get better especially on defense. side note: I hope Vincent, Kyle, Corey, and Kendall all have sons that play for the Hokies, or next year starts the end of an era.
I want Logan to learn from this year and I want our coaching staff to figure out their next move so we can get an offensive identity back and let Logan get back to being #LT3forHeisman.
Like offense, the defense needs to get its identity back. I don't know if the gap D just won't work against the spread or if we just don't have the players. Thinking more of the latter and that takes me back to paragraph 1.
I hope we go to a bowl. A mid level bowl at least but I'll take any bowl.
I want to continue the bowl streak and the ShittingOnUVA streak at all costs. If it means 6-6, then so be it.
But we HAVE to beat UVA.
Maybe we can go to Nashville?!?
This sucks...
1) I want to see the team play with heart and drive. Where's the swagger?? Come into the stadium determined to win!!
2) At the very least beat uva and get to a bowl game. As far as the rest, I want the games to at least be respectable. Losing close games to f$u and klempson won't be the end of the season.
3) start tooling ahead. If we burn redshirts then so be it. If someone is that good they don't stay til their senior year anyways. If we start recruiting properly then it won't be an issue anyways.
4) I don't know much about JUCOs but go look for some that can start next year, specifically in the awful secondary
5) Tweak the coaching situation already. Even if its just a new O-line coach...something!
This would be easier to decide
If there was a garenteed number of losses that would cause coaching change. I want to beat UVa no matter what, but at this point I'd rather go 5-7 and lose the bowl streak than 6-6 in the crap.com bowl if that's what it takes to get some new offensive coaches.
Also does anyone know who has the lunch pail this year? I'm assuming someone does, but at this point Bud should take it and refuse to let any player have it until someone on this defense steps up and becomes a leader