It seems Shane and the Pirates are pretty confident they can roll into Blacksburg on Saturday and play us better than they did last year. While he's not exactly speaking with arrogance, I think he is a little overconfident in his receivers and a little naive about the ability of our #dbu. While he does give credit to them being "very good", he goes on to say that his receivers are among the best in the country. I doubt they are that much better than OSU's receivers. I sure hope he continues to buy into this false sense of security.
If you don't want E$PN to get the hits, theres basically not much else I took away from the link beyond whats stated above.
http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/74317/qa-with-ecu-qb-shane-carden?ex_cid=espnapi_public
Comments
I seem to remember a bunch of fans over at 11 Warriors thinking how cute it was that we were confident in the ability of VT prior to the game...sooo...I'm not going to make any further comments on his confidence until the game is over.
To be fair, they were saying that after Ohio St struggled against a mediocre Navy squad, not coming off a win at the #8 team's home venue
Good for him.... William and Mary & Ohio State were confident as well, as we saw how that turned out.
They are in another league than W&M, literally and figuratively.
I just read that and got the same impression. Glad he's confident. Will be that much better when Dadi hits him with a belly to back suplex and he fumbles the ball into the awaiting arms of one of our DBs.
He was also confident last year. Then the defense brought him back to earth after 3 INTs.
I do think it's interesting that he threw 3/4 INT's for the entire season to one team...VT #dbu
He threw 10 interceptions last year, not 4. Someone pointed it out to Joelestra and he fixed it.
3 of 10 is still a lot for 1 game over a whole season
What about 6/10 in two games? He threw 3 against Marshall as well in 2013.
Add in the fact that he threw 2 against USCe last week, it seems like better/faster defenses cause him problems. That being said - I fully expect him to have a decent game this week. He is a good QB in a good system.
Carden's looks great until he comes up against competition that can expose his limitations. It's kinda like Georgia Tech - they can score 73 on a lesser team, but that system gets exposed vs a certain level of talent and/or preparation.
Isn't that true of any offense ;)
So far not the 2014 Hokies' offense ;)
I think that's the difference between a "true" offense (for lack of a better term) and a systematic offense. The latter has a much harder time adapting once the system is subverted.
Getting inside leverage on the receivers (not letting them get an easy release to the middle of the field) is absolutely the biggest key to the game. Second is getting pass rush. Because ECU uses so many swing passes, the Hokies have to get more pass rush with four guys than they have the last two weeks.
And the offense has to finish drives. They have been amazing so far. But I would be stunned if ECU scores less than 21 this game. The offense has to sustain drives and finish with points.
I don't know, French. I am just not seeing it with this ECU offense right now. Yes, they put up points against S.Carolina, but the Gamecocks have looked miserable on defense this year, especially in the secondary, which is our biggest strength. If they put up 21 points this year, they would come close to matching their total output in points over the previous 2 years combined (24 points). With our defense absolutely flying to the ball right now, I'm not sure I see that happening. After giving up 25 in our first time seeing the Ruffin Spread, they have scored 24 in their previous 8 quarters combined. Foster adjusted after seeing what they have to offer, and our deeper pool of talent has been essentially overwhelming them since.
USC's defense looked terrible against what very well may be the best offense in the land.
I don't think people appreciate how good Kevin Sumlin is. aTm is a monster. Anyone's defense would look awful against them. We'll see what USC does against UGA this weekend, but I think eventually we will find out that USC's defense wasn't that bad, just that aTm (and ECU's?) offense is that good.
Oh, I meant that as absolutely no disrespect to Sumlin at all, but that SCar defense that night was atrocious. Their secondary looked absolutely lost on a vast majority of the passing plays, and their defensive line was ineffective at best at getting pressure on Hill. Yes, aTm had a really good gameplan set up for that game, but SCar made it look far easier than it should have been for them to move the ball downfield with ease.
Im going to have to agree, that aTm offense is just... crazy. Some of the routes/techniques the receivers were using was just indefensible it seemed. They made it look so effortless.
USC's defense isn't great, but it's good enough to show that ECU is no slouch. Those boys can play, and if they played in the ACC they'd be a top 3 or 4 ACC offense for sure.
Nobody is going to beat aTm until they outscore them. So Cal really missed the boat last year when they couldn't lure Sumlin. That guy is wayyyy more than Johnny Football.
Nobody is going to beat aTm until they outscore them
"Hey, thats my line"
-John Madden
FYI, I think the total is 23 in the last 10 quarters:
2010: 49 - 27 (24 first half points)
2011: 17 - 10
2012: DNP
2013: 15 - 10
Moar plz:
Really? Thats even better.
Looks like Foster was caught offguard in that first half, and adjusted very well to the point where we have been holding them to under a FG a quarter ever since.
With our offense looking to be finding its legs again, and our defense flying, I have enough faith in Bud Foster that we'll have a gameplan for tomorrow that should keep us fairly clear of ECU tomorrow.
Tomorrow, tomorrow? It's only a day away...
French, given that ECU tends to throw in the 10 yd range, would you expect to see more of our DBs pressing at the line to disrupt timing as well, with the rover playing a bit shallower than normal in robber coverage?
100%. If Foster can take away those in-breaking routes than he makes that passing game one dimensional. If he can force them to throw it vertically, he can focus on attack that part of their game.
Short of a couple broken tackles for long TDs or short drives due to TOs, I don't see ECU sustaining drives and scoring >21 points vs a fairly healthy VT defense.
I'm also not convinced that aTm is the offensive juggernaut that they've been made out to be so far (and thus I'm not convinced USC-e's D really isn't that bad...).
oh, well isn't that cute
To his credit, he's got at least one of the best WRs in the country and the ECU passing attack is much more sophisticated than OSU's (aka: it isn't "chuck it deep and hope Kendall forgets he's a Fuller").
Honestly like it has already been stated above, we already covered this with Bill & Mary. What else is he supposed to say? No I think we're gonna lose? He's a competitor, of course he's confident. Power to him, I just hope we best them soundly
For real. I don't understand all these people being condescending and saying it's "cute". Like you said, he's a competitor and believes in his team, as he should. You have to have that mindset no matter who play if you want a shot at winning week in and week out.
Agreed.
Yup. How would we reacted if we heard one of our players saying "I think OSU will beat us but I hope it's a least competitive." We would blow up.
I'm happy he is confident. I think it is great. I want to play confident teams and confident players, and I am sure our team feels the same way.
As a wise man once said, to be the man, you got to beat the man.
......................................................................................
I'm not saying ECU is "The MAN". Obviously, on paper, we have the better talent, and we have the better results this year. Come gametime however, you better bet that ECU isn't coming into our stadium feeling like an underdog, nor playing like one. They will give us their best.
So the sentiment holds. You don't get to make any sort of claim to greatness if your competition walks into the arena already knowing they lost.
Give us your best shot, and may the best team win.
This may be a minor opinion but I think his receivers quite possibly could be better than OSUs. I think about it much like Tech's recruiting in the past; we had athletes not necessarily pure players. OSUs WRs were athletes that they are trying to make into WRs. If Hardy were at the other end of some of Barrett's throws he catches them whereas OSUs receivers didn't. As others mentioned they have a more sophisticated passing game and have seen us every year for the last 528 years so they are familiar with us.
All that being said, this team just feels different in terms of not looking ahead. I've never heard Frank in an interview while still on the field basically shrug off the win and say we have to focus on next week. This team feels more mature than past teams. I'm always a little nervous when we play a game as a favorite, but I think we are exorcising our demons this year.
Somewhat unrelated, but the exact opposite of this is why I get annoyed with Dabo. Had Clemson been in our shoes, Dabo would have made an ass of himself and the ghost of Woody Hayes would have appeared and punched him in the face.
You also never seen Frank hang 70 on an opponent- Dabo's a douche.
I won't ever complain about the day we have an offense that can put 70 on a team.
No, no, no... You have that backwards....
Dabo gets 70 rung up on him, not the other way around
I can't leg that in good conscience because 'Eers.
THIS!!
I agree that ECU probably has better receivers than OSU. They might not have the same speed and athleticism, but they aren't going to drop all the well-thrown balls that OSU's receivers did.
ECU is always a tough game for us. Hopefully, we play at the same level and intensity as last week instead of our usual "play crappy against East Carolina for no apparent reason" technique.
A qb is supposed to be confident. Fans are supposed to be confident.
I was confident that we would win against ECU when we played in Charlotte.
Guess that is why the game is played. Hoping VT is ready for a midday affair, sometimes teams can come out sluggish when the game is so early.
ECU's no joke. If Tech struggles offensively with penalties or if Brewer's third down magic runs out (both are legit possibilities) this game is going to be a problem. The defense is good enough to keep Tech within striking distance but that ECU offense is good enough to win it for them if the Brew Crew takes a step back.
Tech has to establish the run, keep the Pirates offense off the field.
Hopefully, if/when Brewer's 3rd down magic runs out, our running game will be back to what it used to be to take some pressure off of him, help us control the clock and give our defense some rest.
If Brewer's magic runs out we will use this play
That has dork magic written all over it.
Bingo.
Gotta run the ball this week. I'm worried about this game. For one thing, that 10.5 pt line is haunting me. That's some serious karma swirl.
Also, looking back at the OSU game, we did not dominate that thing. (To credit the defense, though, they really did stuff the run game.) It was one of those deals where EVERYTHING went wrong for the Buckeyes. They missed two field goals and dropped a sure TD catch. The Hokies also had great field position on all of their scoring drives.
I agree with 3rd and 31on his synopsis...I need to see the Hokies consistently sustain some long drives, and hit a homerun or two against tough competition before I'm comfortable.
Brewer's magic never runs out, he is fully dipped
If the running game doesn't get some traction, it's not a question of if but when the 3rd down Magic runs out. The rate at which we converted third and longs against OSU just isn't sustainable. Having said that, I think we'll have a lot more success running between the tackles Saturday which should cut down on the 3rd and 10+'s. A lot less magic is required to convert a 3rd and 1.
This post, and its replies, are examples of how a not-overconfident fan base reacts before a game; and more examples of what the starting QB might not want to say.
I actually think ECU is probably a better team than what we will face in the ACC this year (until the ACCCG of course). I don't think anyone on our team is going to be overlooking them.
Also, good for him for being confident in not only himself, but also his teamates. Seems like a pretty good kid and leads his team well.
Pitt looks pretty good, that rushing attack scares me.
Just about to say that. I mentioned in another thread that Pitt is scaring me right now. Plus we play them at their house on a Thursday night...dare I mention GT 2009?
We never went to Atlanta in '09 what are you talking about...
/s
I was there in 2009. I told Lane Kiffin to shove it up his pie hole.
I don't know. Yeah, right now.
But they let their RB play deep into garbage time that last game. What, 35 carries? If they keep feeding Connor the ball that many times a game, they are going to get him injured.
I hope they don't do that... that kid looks like he's got a pair of million dollar legs.
Does anyone know much about the ECU defense? Is there a strength or weakness we should be looking to exploit?
We've seen this ECU offense, I don't think they are gonna do anything to surprise the VT coaching staff, they have some people that can make plays but they aren't gonna just march up and down the field against the VT defense.. can't see it happening. I think the games comes down to the VT offense vs the ECU defense, and if the same 2014 VT offense shows up again this week I like our chances
TSL had a decent article about their starters. I believe the front 4 are pretty new as well as most people in their secondary.
http://virginiatech.sportswar.com/free-content/2014/09/10/hokies-welcome...
I think this is a great game for us to play the week after Ohio State. We will really see if our Hokies "are who we thought they were." By that I mean that I feel like this Hokie team is different from past teams that might not have taken this game as seriously. It's the same feeling that I had when OSU tied the game up in the 4th quarter, that this is a different team and that we aren't playing as some of the Ghosts of VT past that would lose a close game. That's not to say that I believe that we ever rolled over in the past, just that sometimes we didn't have a killer instinct. After the last game that's how I feel about this team, that they think they are pretty damn good and want to go out and show it. They're not doing it for anybody else (besides maybe the fans), they're pissed off and they want to step it up for each other. It seems as if nobody on our team wants to let anybody else on the team down, so they hold themselves personally accountable for every single thing that happens. If we continue to play with that type of conviction we will continue to do well. I think this game is close until midway through the 3rd quarter and then we pull away with a win. I'll say 31-17.
There is a different intensity with this team that I feel like I haven't seen in awhile and it's awesome. I agree, if this really is a different team we will find out Saturday quick.
This is the quote I took away from this "They might get a sack here and there, but it leaves a lot of open grass with some very good receivers that I have against some DBs. SOME DBs?! Dude, I get being confident and all and you believe your receivers can go up against anyone...which you should. But just some DBS huh? Ok...
This was a major point of my interpretation for the OP.
Also..you're 69th T-leg
Hopefully this was posted on the defenses lockers. Especially the DB's. But also the lb's and dl as he said "they may get a sack here or there". May get a sack?? We'll see when Dadi and Clark and Maddy and Di Nardo are in your face all day long.
I don't see why people think it's funny that he's confident ECU could win. We would never want any of our players going into a game thinking they were going to lose.
That said, I think it will be a tough one. ECU is a good team and they cave USCe a run for their money.
I'm so pumped for this Saturday!
Leave it to the ACC blog to interview a player from the AAC...
But you shouldnt expect anything less than Carden being confident in his team.
Did you guys read the comments that were posted on the article? If you think Carden came off as pretty confident.... I'm sure I'm biased, but I just feel that VT has the best, down to earth fans in college football. I love my Hokies and will pull for them to the end, but I'm certainly not in anyone's face about it and could honestly care less about what others think about the team or the university. You hear all kinds of comments from other teams about who's the best and why this happened and whatever else, but in the end who cares what they think? Who cares what I think? If it's a football game we're discussing, let's talk about what we need to do to win, provide some informative insight and analysis, and buckle our damn chinstraps. It seems to be the way TKP and the bulk of the fanbase operates, and I commend you all. GO HOKIES!!
What do you expect him to say, that they are way outclassed and do not have a chance? A QB needs to be cocky and confident, goes with the teritory as the team leader. They have a very good offense and a suspect D, we should be able to take advantage of their weaknesses with our dominant D and emerging O but this game defintely has me worried.
Naturally, as a Hokie, I expect them to give more credit to our team's strengths and provide a broad generic idea of what their team will have to do really well to come out with a victory. Thats the Beamer mantra. There's no reason for any player to ever be cocky, ever. Its called good sportsmanship. But thats just my opinion.
What kind of QB/leader would he be if he said "I don't think that we stand a snowball's chance in hell"? Big Lu was confident in VT's chances going into the OSU game. Was that bad? Cardin knows that he's going to face the best D that they'll face all year. He also should know that their "1 sack allowed" is a skewed stat. USCe's D has a grand total of 1 sack, this year on close to 100 passing plays run against their D (prob 100 if you count the times that QB's pulled the ball down and ran for yardage). He also knows that the ECU D has been less than stellar.
In the end, any qb who isn't "confident" in his team, needs to get off the field.
To be objective, if Brewer had said those things prior to our game with OhState, we'd be thrilled. What team doesn't want their QB/leader to voice confidence? Now, that doesn't mean they WILL win, but I have no problem with him being confident. He wouldn't be much of a QB if he wasn't.