Alex will have a post-game story published in a little bit. I'm dejected and frustrated by that loss, so I wanted to pen some gut reactions.
Michael Brewer trusts his arm too much. Forget the three interceptions for a moment. There were several other balls he completed into windows draped with Georgia Tech coverage that looked like interceptions when the ball left his hand. The picks are unexplainable given the circumstances. Brewer threw the first when VT was up 13-3, that lead to a GT touchdown. VT led 16-10 when he tossed the second, a Bees' pick 6. The last came at 24-all. Georgia Tech used the generous field position to ice the clock and bang a game winner through the uprights. He completed 72% of his throws on the day for 297 yards. Given how well he moved the offense throughout the afternoon, the risks he took were unnecessary.
Brewer seems to be a mix of game manager and gunslinger. This offense is more talented than last season, but not good enough to recover from its own mistakes. If the quarterback competition was as close as the coaches made it out to be in August, Brewer should have to earn his job in practice this week. This offense won't consistently be successful with a quarterback that averages two interceptions a game and is careless with the football.
Scot Loeffler must trust Brewer too, because he kept giving him the opportunity to air it out. On the Virginia Tech series before Georgia Tech's fourth quarter game-tying drive, Shai McKenzie ripped off a 6-yard run. There was about 6 minutes and counting in the game. This was the time for Loeffler to feed the beast and manage the clock. I'm no more than a knucklehead with a Computer Science degree that writes about football, but I thought Loeffler would go back to Shai two more times. Instead he dialed up a bubble screen that lost 4 yards and was almost jumped back to the house. That play's been moderately successful for the Hokies this season, but given the time and score, why risk the throw.
Thus far this season, the short passing game has picked up the slack for the struggling run game, but Georgia Tech trotted out the worst defensive front the Hokies have faced all season. I loved the way Tech opened the game: rush, rush to setup a manageable third-and-six 17-yard completion to Rogers out of the backfield. I thought the would signal the Hokies leaning on the run in early downs more often, but that wasn't the case.
According to cfbstats.com, Virginia Tech averaged 9.3 penalties per game through last week, only 8 teams averaged more. Twelve more flags (79 yards) today, will keep Tech among the nation's worst. I don't know if Tech's attracting all that laundry because it's careless and undisciplined, or because the coaches don't have sufficient time to teach during the week. Practice time in college is a precious limited resource, and many of the penalties have come before the snap because Tech tried to substitute too late. Knowing when to be on and off the field is a basic requirement for playing football, but Tech's schemes are complex and there are a multitude of packages.
If he's healthy and can carry the load, Shai McKenzie should be the starting tailback, no questions asked. Not only does he pass the eye test, the kid can cut on a dime, then rev up his legs to run through a tackle, but he's got the stats to back it up.
| RUSHING | ATT | NET | AVG | TD | LONG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shai McKenzie | 35 | 182 | 5.2 | 2 | 39 |
| Marshawn Williams | 51 | 171 | 3.4 | 2 | 21 |
| J.C. Coleman | 15 | 35 | 2.3 | 1 | 13 |
| Joel Caleb | 5 | 19 | 3.8 | 0 | 6 |
| Trey Edmunds | 2 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
I don't know how anyone can look at those numbers and not conclude he should be getting the bulk of the carries. He's earned it.
Everyone else who writes about Virginia Tech is going to roast the defensive backs, so I'm not. Bud's demanding a bunch from his back-end playing in man coverage, and unfortunately when there's a breakdown, it's magnified because the defensive backs are on an island without a rescue ship in sight.
Former Virginia Tech clipboard holder (quarterback) Jeff Beyer provided spot-on analysis for the Bees' game-tying score.
Gotta hand it to Thomas there, threw into the blitz, and a little pump fake to throw off the db.— Jeff Beyer (@jbeyer16) September 20, 2014
Bud brought the blitz from the boundary, one of his favorite attacks because he's had plenty of success with it. Neither blitzer can disrupt quarterback Justin Thomas enough. Donovan Riley is in man coverage, and he gets fooled for a second too long by Thomas' pump fake. That's all it takes.
Thomas played a gutsy game today rushing 22 times for 165 yards, credit him for making a subtle, yet back-breaking play.
Virginia Tech did positive things too. Chase Williams flew around Worsham Field like a man possessed and wrapped up just about everything in arm's length of him.
Corey Marshall made this million dollar play.
The freshman wideouts danced again. Isaiah Ford caught 8 balls for 114 yards. Cam Phillips hauled in 6 passed for 79 yards.
Unfortunately, the only thing that'll be remembered about this afternoon is the loss. When Hokies took the early 13-3 lead, I thought they'd push Georgia Tech around bully their way to a victory. Instead, the Yellow Jackets took advantage of three unforced errors and snuck out of Blacksburg with the 'T' and 'W'.
The regular season is a third over. Put your hand up if you had Tech winning in the 'Shoe then dropping back-to-back games in Lane; moving on then. Tech's 2014 campaign isn't a lost cause yet, not by a long shot. The Coastal Division is going to be a bumpy ride for all teams involved. Each team is flawed enough to where a sweep, or even finishing with a single conference loss, seems unlikely.
However, if the Hokies don't nix the penalties, take care of the football, and improve in coverage, this team won't win on the road in Chapel Hill and Pittsburgh. Tech could reach the halfway point of the season in October with nothing to play for except a win against the 'Hoos.
Comments
As much as I agree that Brewer needs to be more careful with the ball. I don't for a second think that benching him for Leal or Motley is a good idea. He's established some chemistry with Cam and Isaiah who are the best talents at WR we have and his confidence in spite of the interceptions is what makes me feel like he can bounce back from this. The pick six was a terrible decision and the last pick was a terrible read by him on a basic zone busting passing concept but he has shown he can make plays with his arm which is more than anyone else we have. However, I am very concerned by how we have been stepping on our own feet with penalties, killing many drives without their D even having to make plays.
I agree, so many things have gone wrong the last 2 weeks to blame it on one guy.. I don't have any faith that Leal could do any better than Brewer, but he's gotta cut down on the INTs. I'd really like to see more of the hurry up, under center running game they showed for a few plays today - get some kind of running game going and I think it will drastically change the entire offense
If I wasn't clear, I don't think he should be flat out benched, but he shouldn't be de facto QB1 either. If Leal performed as good in August as the coaches indicated, I don't think there's a downside to play the guy that practices best this week. Like you said, Brewer is plenty confident, so I don't think it shakes him there.
At the end of the day, this isn't a LT3 situation where there aren't other playmakers on offense. There are, but not to the extent that the QB can carelessly toss picks.
If things keep going like this, either play Leal or Motley, burn one of the redshirts to Ford or Durkin, or just admit this season is a warmup for the future.
Brewer is straight KILLING us out there. Those 3 INTs today were awful, awful throws that you simply cannot accept from anyone at any level of the game. Kids in high school get benched for decision making like that. You cannot be a successful football team with a QB making decisions like that.
Remember when last year everyone was calling for LT3 to be benched and for Leal to be put in, and then the Sun Bowl happened? Yeah... I'd say 1) No redshirts will be burned this year at QB unless we have devastating injuries and 2) considering none of us are in practice or meeting rooms, I'd say we all have very limited opinions of who should or should not be playing.
I dont remember anyone calling for LT3 to be benched...
You must have been on vacation that month
What has anyone seen from Leal to think he could do any better? And who knows if Motley is fully up to speed from his injury - he'd be going through the same issues that Facyson would be dealing with in that he hasn't really practiced much in the fall, and unlike Facyson he doesn't really have any game experience. The true freshmen are highly unlikely to be ready for big time college football.. our best bet might be to stick with Brewer and hope Lefty can get through to him that he just can't make those throws
Too spot-on it hurts. Another reason Shai gets the nod to start: he doesn't put the ball on the carpet. Sure, Brewer bailed out Marshawn today, but in the Fumbles/Fumbles Lost category he's still behind Shai (if my bourbon-riddled memory serves correctly).
No, Brewer bailed out Shai on that fumble.EDIT: I'm wrong, sorry.
I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Nope it was Williams
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines.
I stand corrected. I guess I didn't have enough bourbon today. It throws me off when Shai is in for a couple plays, does well, and suddenly it's someone else in the backfield. RB rotation, sigh...
It throws me off when we do a misdirection toss to our 4th best tailback after recovering a fumble at the 10. Or when we get second and 2 and then lose 6 yards on a wr screen instead of running it again.
Man, did that screen ever piss me off. Shai was doing great on that drive, just keep feeding him. That kid is going to be stellar once our O-line figures out what the heck they're doing. Right now, he's getting by on sheer athleticism and nerve, but if the blocking can be consistent...
Not a bad play design and not a bad run. Somehow, a GT defender got through the interior and knocked him out of bounds. I thought that play was gonna score, but that guy got there a whole lot faster than I thought he would. Having a different RB in there would not have changed the outcome.
I agree that the tailback wouldn't change the result, 'twas for emphasis on how much I hated the play call. After a turnover recovered at the 10 I say you shove it down their throat (like our last trip to the red zone) or take a shot at the endzone.
The last guy I would have had in the backfield was JC. I have to question the coaching staff on that one.
The coaching staff as in the RB coach? Because it is his decision.
It was terrible
Which makes 2 fumbles for Williams this season. Fortunately, one was incorrectly ruled down by the refs and the other resulted in the touchdown, but it's something to watch.
Nah, it was Williams. Just saw it again on the "highlights"
Pretty darned sure it was Marshawn who fumbled. Like 99% sure.
Yes, and I've been corrected three times over. Sorry for the mistake; I was sure it was Shai after he had been in on the previous plays, and all I saw was a "2" on the jersey as he was going down.
C'mon man, it was definitely Williams.
Well played, bag man.
Didn't mean to pile on. When I responded, I hadn't refreshed the page in a while. So, I didn't see anyone else who had corrected this. Sorry.
It's cool, I was just sort of laughing at it - jeez guys, one mistake... ;)
Oh by the way it was Williams.
i really think people are sleeping on trey edmunds. excited to see more of him in the RB rotation as he gets closer to full speed again.
Agreed. I agree with Joe that Shai has looked the best out of everyone so far, but a healthy Trey is really, really good.
Edmunds' ceiling is below that of both Williams & McKenzie. As the season rolls along, that will become more evident.
I don't know how you can say that with any sort of confidence. I mean, maybe you're right, but Trey was awfully good last year and I don't think we've seen his ceiling yet, either.
This was about the ugliest I can remember a VT team being since....well maybe BC last year.
But it was ugly pretty much from top to bottom.
Coach Beamer has got some work to do this week.
I don't even know where to begin. Between Kendall Fuller getting shed like a rag doll by Smeltzer, to Jarrett losing outside leverage on a rollout, to Brewer throwing to Bucky when GT had been dropping deep on smash routes all game long. There were stupid penalties and again the seemingly (I need to see the film to be sure) stubborn refusal to mix in any zone. There is the lack of trust in the front four to generate a pass rush.
For me, the biggest issue I have impacts Brewer, the OL, the back rotation, and those penalties. Scot Loeffler's emphasis on attacking matchups and tricking the defense has generated loads of yards. The Hokies pretty much did anything they wanted in the passing game when Brewer went to the right place with the ball. But, is the same emphasis on tricking the defense so strong that things become too complex for the offense to execute (substitution penalties) or when the Hokies have to just win a physical battle, they can't? I don't know right now.
Defensively, I thought you saw a tired, beat up group. And that worries me, because they were not on the field nearly as much as they usually are versus VT.
Any word on Facyson? They went with Stroman ahead of him today, seemed very odd... also, do you think VT would be better off going under center and running? seemed to work when they went hurry-up, not sure if that was the element of surprise, or if they could really get something going from under center
How much do you think mental/game preparation is playing into this? I may just be a drunk bum of a 21 kid, but it seems to me like they're not all there in certain situations. There's gotta be something off the field that we're not seeing. Nooners blow.
And, you can't blame the youth. The offensive line is experienced except for Conte. Jarrett, Bonner, Maddy, and Kendall are experienced guys breaking down. And Brewer may be starting his 4th game, but he is a QB for life who was born and raised by a family of QBs.
Shai was running so hard he was bouncing off defenders, I don't think the first person to touch him brought him down today. Watching from the south endzone it was obvious how good he is. Marshawn is good, but had been iffy with the rock and isn't quite as quick yet.
I said it in the game chat and I'll say it here.
This is not a bowl quality team
What we saw at Ohio State was a fluke. It was a team that was playing on pure adrenaline and was playing well above the level to which it has been coached. What we've seen the past 2 weeks is this true Virginia Tech football team, and thats a team that lacks focus, consistency, and even worse, is supported by a coaching staff that, to put it mildly, is struggling at best. By my count, this is now 7 Ineligible Substitution penalties in the past two weeks. SEVEN. Most teams go through an entire season without a single one. That right there points to a coaching staff that is absolutely utterly clueless. There's no excuse to have even one of those penalties, but to have SEVEN over two games?
Look, I get it, Brewer had a bad game. He made absolutely awful throws that you simply cannot have from a starting QB at any level of the game. He did more in this game to lose this one on his own than I have seen out of a player in a very, very long time. But at the same time we shouldn't have even been in a situation where these mistakes would have cost us the game. This coaching staff once again failed to successfully adjust to what the opponent was doing throughout the course of the game, and when it mattered most, we went back to the simple screwups that will cost you a game every single time. At a certain point, the coaching staff has to put us in a position to win a game, and for the second week in a row, they have utterly failed as a whole at doing so. Forget calling any of our coaches elite at this point. Right now, as a whole, they are coaching a team that is in trouble of losing more games than they win and is in SERIOUS jeopardy of losing control of the commonwealth to our neighbors to the north.
Ohio State was a great win for the program, but to drop back to back games in the fashion we just did completely undoes all the goodwill that one game got us. This program is an absolute mess. You cannot bank on selling the fans the whole "but we get up for big opponents" when you consistently lose games like this. This is the kind of up and down shit that got Seth Greenberg fired from our basketball program. These coaches HAVE to do better.
The ball's in their court. I'm still not gonna rage quit on football just yet. Now put down the box of matches and gasoline, and fill up your double cup. We get to see how good FSU is without their main man tonight.
Well, Seth got fired for being a disrespecting asshole.
Again, it is somewhere in between. The offensive gameplan was fantastic. If Brewer was accurate and made the right read, VT could get whatever they wanted in the passing game. The scheme worked.
The situational stuff wasn't as good. The screen call, the counter pitch to Coleman, a 3rd and 1 with two tight ends who are at best suspect blockers?
Bud, to me, has been more frustrating. No team can play man the whole game. Nobody. The Hokies didn't today. There were some zones mixed in. BUT in crunch time, there was man coverage.
The Ohio State result is becoming more and more of a mystery each week now.
There are 4-5 potential losses left on this schedule. I think it's not doom and gloom to say that. If this staff can't get it together I don't know if it's a stretch to see a young team just go completely in the tank.
I 100% disagree. This is a team that has a lot of young players in very important places. We have to hope the coach sort out whatever the hell is going on with them. I see us improving every week hopefully. A football team at the start of the year =/= a football team at the end of the year.
and the younger guys are not the ones struggling
Yeah, some of them are our best players. I'm not convinced with the freshmen RBs though. They seem to make bad decisions sometimes. I swear there are times when a hole opens up and they just run into a defender instead.
Shai tends to find the hole, but Williams almost looks like he is looking for a defender to run into. It's like he'd rather hit someone than get the yards.
I agree, we are much better than I thought we would be. We are making correctable mistakes. The 22 we put out there are good enough, but we lack depth. It reminds me of 1998 or 2004. We will be in a lot of close games, win some, lose some, and get better for next year.
I'm going to say it but Shane is not a good RB coach. if he was shai wouldve played 3/4 of the game followed by Williams. jc being in the game is a joke at this point, I love the kid but we use him on jet sweeps and its predictable so he gets no yards.
we may not make a bowl game. watching this game live I was shocked after we went up 13-3 and crumbled
I love this team there's so much talent but we just simply are not very good right now, I want them to show me they are. I'll cheer til I have no voice and let my wife drive so I can type this every weekend, but I want them to step up so bad I know everyone, fans players and coaches included.
this is a game we should've won and it sucks
Do you really think that this team is worse than 2012? They made a bowl game and had JC as the starting RB. All new receivers and a defense that struggled. The defense is struggling a bit this year, but the offense seems to be better.
talent wise no, we should be much better, but for some reason things aren't clicking, the simple simple mistakes that were made today were just frustrating as hell. I do think this team has potential to be much better than the 2012 team.
Talent-wise? No, this team should be playing at a much higher level than we were in 2012.
In reality? We're getting shredded defensively, and our offense is regressing to the point where we're setting ourselves up for losses with inconceivable errors. Errors that should have been fixed over the past week when they reared their ugly head against ECU, but for whatever reason, were magnified and made even worse today.
We looked slow today, especially the DBs and RBs. Too much thinking or just worn out?
Dang, I think Brewer said it himself... take away those 3 interceptions and he had a terrific day at the office.
We are all this kid today
Why you gotta do that man?
I cannot wait to exact revenge on them next year. But first things first, gotta deal with Western Michigan
I laughed
I love the kid next to him
when you watch the last two games, the defense did enough to win all of them and be undefeated right now. Scot loeffler should come down on the sideline and start scoring more than 30 points a game.
I agree, maybe he needs to be on the sidelines and getting a feel from the players on how they're doing. Because we seem to go away from whats working on every single drive. We would have won if Shai had gotten the ball every snap in the last 3 minutes...
THIS
While I agree that we need to mix up our coverages more often. We can effectively run cover 0 and our D has made plays to keep us in both games we lost. We should score more than 21 on ECU and more than 24 on GT. Also, note that we are moving the ball this year, converting third downs and racking up yards. However, we still are struggling to score points.
I've said it before, but does anyone else get the idea that Loeffler tries to get cute with the playcalling? Like he has this play in mind and he just HAS to run it because, gosh darn it, he likes that play? Never mind the fact that it involves personnel switches that end up giving the play away?
Yeah, I'm thinking about quite a few of those WR/TE screen plays.
At the very end of the game when they were inside our 20, why not just let GT score a TD so we have a chance to match instead of letting them milk the clock then kick GW FG?
also poor clock management at the end of the first half, could have taken a shot at the end zone before half instead of settling for FG had we used all three timeouts.
Was anybody else screaming in the stands when they saw the four back rotation? I am sorry, but if Trey is now healthy enough to get in the rotation than JC Coleman has no business on the field.
Also we have a great drive going with Shai, replace him with Williams and bamm punting the ball. Keep with the frigging hot legs.
And how bout we stop running the exact same damn play every time Newsome is on the field? It worked against Ohio State... great... ECU and GT snuffed that play out almost immediately when we ran it the past couple weeks. Its time to retire that page of the playbook.
Disagree. As French has noted elsewhere, the threat of the jet sweep is integral to the success of the counter.
Also, consider this video from French's film review:
Newsome comes across as he would on the sweep, causing a LB to the boundary (ultimately the direction of the play) to move away from where we intend to go. He also causes a CB to jump up towards the line, putting another downfield defender potentially out of position if Trey can break the run. If executed a bit better, that's a huge gain, in part because (I have to believe) of the fact that GT has to respect the possibility that Newsome actually gets the ball. Gimmick or no, Loeffler's offense is derived from misdirection.
^This times 100000.
from day 1, jc hasn't impressed me. i respect the work ethic but there are next to no on-field results for him.
after seeing trey towards the end of last season, i get excited any time he touches the ball. i think he's nearing full health again-- we need to see more of him.
Trey had a 4 yard and a 6 yard run today. JC has never impressed me much either. I also know the turnover against William & Mary, JC fumbled.
The guy sitting in front of me said, they are playing JC because of the recruit we are going after is from the same high school and they don't want to do anything to lose that recruit. I thought it was a very interesting comment.
Marshawn Williams got us one of our 2 rushing TDs tonight...
Although people are pointing fingers everywhere for this loss I think it rests mainly on Brewer. His 3 interceptions led to 17 points. His pick six didn't need to be thrown. Of course the screen on 2 and 1 is an obvious head scratcher as well. Sometimes you just need to make the obvious play call. At worst it ends up being 3 and 1....and you give it to Shai again! Frustrated.
I hope GT keeps PJ and keeps GT in the cellars of college football. They may win a game here or there against us and others but they are never going to be a football powerhouse with that scheme. NEVER!!! So keep CPJ and begging for bowl bids becuase you beat 2 fcs teams and believe it should count. Man I hate that guys face.
I think if you fix the o-line to the point where they can establish the run and consistently go 50/50 pass/run like Loeffler claims to want, then 2/3 of Brewer's INT's go away - maybe more.
The situational play calls and insistence on a 4-back rotation are a bit confounding though (as most seem to agree).
In my view, VT should have (and could have) beaten both ECU and GT - maybe even handily beaten them. And the inability to establish and sustain a running game, in my peonic opinion, was the most significant failure in both losses.
If you can control the ball with balanced offense, it sets up the Hokie D to play man, get aggressive, and force turnovers like it's designed to do. When you can't, it exposes the high-risk, high-reward nature of Foster-ball to big plays.
Saying this makes me Captain Obvious, but I don't think there's much more to it. It's been Frank's achilles heal for over a decade now. He's a defense-minded coach who wants to control the game and win with suffocating defense. But without offensive precision and efficiency (or game changing big plays), the Hokies lose when the opponent makes plays and doesn't beat themselves. No college defense or defensive scheme can reliably control that, especially not one that isn't stocked with future first rounders and blue-chip all-american talent.
Recall: Matt Ryan, Calvin Johnson, Stanford, UCLA, Boise State, ECU, Kansas, etc... and most recently, Justin Thomas.
Frank is still struggling to put a disciplined, efficient, and/or reliably consistent offense on the field. Unfortunately for all, his time to do so is getting short.
The past few games we've seen a few different sides of Brewer. In the Ohio State game he was not making bad decisions with the ball yes he had a few interceptions but he wasn't in the mindset that he had to make a play to win the game. These past two games Brewer is trying to make something happen every time he throws. That pass to Ford was a bad decision yes he caught it but that defender had the ball sail right through his hands, and how were Byrn and Ford in the same place on that play. Next this defense is better then we've been seeing the past two weeks. We have not played a "normal offense" these past two games (one pass heavy the other run heavy). Now of course we have talented DBs but leaving them on an island (well everyone except Kendall) is asking for trouble. Now that we will see more offenses I think we will see a lot more zone play. Season isn't over yet we aren't as good as a the team that beat Ohio State but not as bad as the team that lost the past two weeks either.
Being knocked flat on your ass time and time again has its toll. I think Brewer had a concussion after the OSU game and just tried to play thru it. He's gonna be fine. (as long as the paper mache O-Line holds up.)
Goddamned yellow jackets!!! Stung my Hokies yesterday. Stung me today in the yard.
So on the topic of the stolen T...can the corps guard this sign in two years?
In other news, there are still Mission Accomplished shirts available :)
I was driving today pondering the season as it has unfolded and feeling melancholy. Then a calming thought came to me (and I know people don't like hearing this sometimes). Even with all the bad plays, horrible RB rotation decisions and penalties VT is 2 plays away from being 4-0 and ranked in the high teens. These problems are easily fixable minus the interceptions and O-Line. That said. It can be fixed and I'm pretty sure the coaches will get it done over the next two weeks. I have expressed my dislike of S.Beamers ability to coach RB's. Does anyone honestly disagree with me? What happened to the days when VT had 1 or 2 work horses and we had our way with D-Lines?
I like our president:
All I can say is the future is bright with him and Whit at the helm.
What I want to know is with a corps of cadets and enough security guards to choke a horse around, why weren't the GT fans just apprehended and arrested? Throwing them in jail would probably cure this tendency of theirs.
Why are people assuming a cadet wants to give up a friday night to act as security? Maybe if we are talking about freshmen since they don't have any privileges (*assuming it's still red phase and that means something) then it isn't as bad.
Well, there is always a sense of duty, of honor, of school pride. I'd think that there are more than a few Corps members who value those traits.
That is why I suggested them. Heck think of it as an alternative to the Caldwell march for one squad for one game every other year.
When I saw this link on the Facebook page, I thought they had stolen the W off the sign too. Shows how slow I am.