We knew that this was their big game. We knew that they were gunning for us. I expected us to come out flat but not in such a big way. Say what you will about us being unprepared, and to some degree, I would agree with you, but this team at least showed some fight and was able to come back to tie with some very young talent. That last defensive series was a nightmare, and it seemed doomed from the moment the kickoff went out of bounds. All they needed was 3 to win, and getting the ball at the 35-yard line was essentially game over.
Hell yes, I'm disappointed, but there is some part of me that expected a let-down. Maybe I didn't think it would come so soon after such an emphatic victory and outstanding performance against a top-10 team, but as I've seen several others comment in the Open Thread, at some point this season, a let-down was coming.
At the same time, the comeback showed that we have a lot of promise, and a lot to be excited for. Isaiah Ford, after dropping two would-be touchdown passes, put the bad plays behind him and made a great play to get us within 7. Then Cam Phillips, another true Freshman, makes a great sideline catch, then a few plays later freezes the DB with a double move and is wide open in the end zone for a TD. On the final drive, he also made a great play over the middle, then broke a tackle and got out of bounds. That was absolutely necessary to keep the drive alive, even if we came up short in the end.
I will be driving 10 hours up to Virginia next weekend for the game against Georgia Tech. I hope that it's going to be worth my trip.
Stay classy, Hokies. Even in a loss as ugly and devastating as this one, made even worse by the hope of a comeback, this team still deserves our respect. And remember, you're only upset because of how much you love Virginia Tech. Don't forget that.
Comments
Good post. Isaiah Ford had some crucial drops, but ended up with a bunch of critical ones and 2 TD.
Cam played well, Facyson didn't, Chase played great, I though.
That DT they had was a monster, good thing he got tired later.
Marshawn looks like our best back (again), and I think the more touches he gets, the more dominant he's going to get.
Their WR looked very good early, but given the rest of the game, I think Kendall, Donovan, and Facyson were just a little slow to get started.
Brewer didn't play well, I don't think. Overthrew a few guys down the field, tossed two picks in our end, and what on Earth was that hail mary? How do you throw it out of the end zone? This was absolutely baffling to me.
Credit to ECU, they took it to us in the first quarter on both sides of the ball, generally sustained the defensive side in the second, and managed to do enough to come away with the victory.
Our defense really bailed us out in the second quarter and played well through almost the entire second half. The flow of this game reminds me of Boise St a few years ago. We sleepwalked through the first quarter, evened out in the middle of the game, came back, and then fell short at the end.
Not a bad game. But obviously not a great one.
Brewer came out looking horrible, I honestly believe something was wrong physically .. he was hesitant to make throws, and when he did they were way off. Seemed to drastically improve as the game went on, hope it's not an issue going forward
His deep ball has not looked good thus far
Brewer is a very accurate passer for about 25 yards or so. Once you get beyond that and he has to start putting some arc on it, he's all over the place.
I'm not sure he was within 5 yards of the receiver on any of his deep balls today. He badly overthrew everyone on each and every deep pass he attempted.
Great job Sir couldn't have said it any better myself.
great post you summed everything up exactly how I would've. I'm just still shocked at how flat we looked
I feel sorry for Alum07 and anyone else down in Carolina. Enjoy your friendly and sportsmanlike interactions with other purple Pirate fans.
Thanks guys. There is frustration, but I believe that we're on a learning curve. The freshmen got a lesson that it doesn't matter who you beat last week. Also, as it always happens, we live and die with the offensive line and running game. We looked awful early and getting behind didn't help us set up the run game. Searels on the sideline demonstrating pass pro was a bad sign obviously, but it looked like protection was better during the rest of the game. We came out in the second half and got some good push and nice runs by Williams, but we couldn't have methodical drives if we wanted to complete the comeback. From about mid third quarter, just about every offensive play was a pass because of the need to play catch up.
Learning curve. Hopefully the curve takes a nice upward spike next weekend against the Bees.
beamer has had this lesson for what 4 years now, after a big win we shit the bed.. what can be done to stop it??? Maybe play less aggressive on D, maybe play slower on offense so we don't go 3 and out in 2 minutes.?
We haven't really had a big win in the last four years, and especially not one with a bad loss afterwards. The closest two examples are losing to Maryland after beating Miami last year, and losing to Clemson in the ACC CG after 38-0 bro in 2011. But neither one of those wins was even on the level of last week.
What big wins over the last 4 years are you talking about?
4 years?
Winning a big game like we did against OSU is emotionally draining. It takes time to recover from it.
Let's not all start jumping off cliffs. ECU is a good team. We showed up a quarter late, but give them credit where it's due.
Thats my only hope coming out of this game, the experience of needing to bring it every week just got shoved front and center to every young player on this roster. It doesn't matter if its Ohio State, East Carolina, or Western Michigan... if you come out firing on only half cylinders because you've bought into the hype being said about you, you will lose that game.
I hope these guys take this lesson to heart and we never see this kind of performance again over the remaining 4-5 years these guys will be on the team. You have to be ready to play before every game, and there is absolutely no excuse if you're not.
I think it's our Offensive line. They are really struggling! With out good Oline....
I know! I was expecting Teller to come in and maul that big DT. I've got this schema of Teller that when the chips are down and there's a guy just shredding us, Searles would just tap him on the shoulder, say, "Wyatt, you're not the offensive lineman we deserve, but you're the one we need right now," send him in, and boom, problem solved.
But I do believe he is the type of offensive lineman we deserve! We really need to put all of our efforts in Oline recruiting! I can't see why you wouldn't want to come and block in a scheme like Loeffler's. I think (3) 4 star Olineman can make a bigger difference than landing one 5 star (defensive or offensive recruit).
I just don't understand how they did a good job blocking OSUs DLine but couldn't block ECU. This game brought back the nightmares of the last two season. I thought we were done with that. Mentally draining to watch
They didn't do that well against OSU. Pass protection was better, but they got barely anything on the ground except for when they got the big TD when OSU blitzed the wrong side. Also, we were up in the game and didn't have to pass 50 times to try to win.
I'd rather take this non conference loss now and be better prepared mentally for ACC play. There are a combined 22 guys who are either true FR or true SO on this team - not counting transfers like Hansen and Brewer. A small low like this after a high the week before will teach this team about the balance between success and failure. It will also be a great experience for the group to learn how to come back from a deficit ( which they almost did). So stay positive, fellow Hokies! This team still has a much higher ceiling than this loss seems to suggest.
Speaking of Wade Hansen, ESPN's box score has him taking a kickoff return for 14 yards. Get after it, big guy!