- It looked good early and I thought we were going to run all over UNC. It was disappointing to see UNC stop the run as easily as they did after the first couple of drives
- OL penalties. I hope Searels has them running this week. Way too many false starts
- The coaching staff wanted to control the clock and they succeeded. We had the ball for over 2/3 of the game? That's impressive.
- I had to keep telling myself the previous point throughout the game when we weren't throwing the ball down the field. I was expecting Phillips, Ford, and Hodges to have HUGE days. While they did make some BIG time catches and Hodges had a TD, they didn't get the ball a lot. I was hoping to see some play action on 1st or 2nd down. We had heard about how bad's UNC's secondary is and I was surprised that we didn't go after it. Again, back to my previous pt...I understand the coaches wanting to keep the ball.
- Ekanem was a BEAST. You couldn't ask for a better start to the game. 3 sacks? Great performance.
- I was surprised at how often UNC threw at Fuller, and did he make them pay.
- Injuries. I hope Williams can make it back soon. Really sucks to see Edmunds get hurt after just getting to 100%
- I know a lot of people rip on JC Coleman but it is nice to have his experience right now. I think he can have an impact if they don't always run him to the outside. He showed that he can get some yards running north to south.
- Did Malleck play much yesterday?
Game Thoughts
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Comments
We relied way too much on the run this game. Look I know we dominated TOP but our offense completely sputtered that second half after moving the ball nearly at will on them in the first. Even worse we leaned on our RBs so hard we got both of our top 2 runners hurt, possibly knocking one out for the next game or so and the other for the majority of the rest of the season, right after relying on the run so much last week we knocked possibly our best rb out for potentially this year and next with an ACL tear. I appreciate controlling the clock but we ran our rbs too hard yesterday against a defense that for the most part was able to contain it in the second half. Screen passes and quick passes underneath would have accomplished the same thing and we might have healthy rbs for the rest of the year. Now, what was our biggest offensive strength is now gutted to a complete weakness due to injury, and we did it to ourselves by leaning way too hard on 3 guys coming off bad season ending injuries from 2013.
Yep.....the jet sweeps were also pretty effective as well. If I remember correctly, I think we got good yardage every time we we ran them.
I couldn't disagree more here. After jumping out to a big 14-3 lead, and especially after Fuller did Fuller things to end the half, the absolute last thing we wanted to do was start throwing the ball around and prolong the game. You can only use the short passing game so often before DBs start jumping routes and forcing you to throw deep, low-percentage throws. The coaching staff did exactly what they needed to do: control the game, keep your thin defensive front off the field, and wear down UNC's defense while killing the clock. As for the injuries, you can't expect a guy to break his clavicle on any given play, that was just a freak injury. If Loeffler had started throwing the ball around, we would have heard endless calls for his head because he refused to run the ball, kill the clock, and ice the game with a huge lead. This game didn't have to be pretty. It had to be a win, and that's what we got.
We went up 14-3 and then sat on it destroying whatever momentum we had by focusing solely on the run against a team that adjusted to take the run away. We controlled TOP because our defense nutted up and shut them down during a time when our offense did absolutely nothing from essentially the Bucky TD to about midway through the 4th. We got away from what was working and tried to force something that wasn't. We didn't adjust to what they were giving us and in the end, we were down to playing our 4th and 5th RBs because everyone else was hurt. You can't do that at this level of the game. Our playcalling yesterday was insanity defined and only bailed out by a great defensive performance. We run a game plan like that against someone like UVa and we will be lucky to score.
You can't just sit RBs because you're afraid of them getting injured. College RBs are often expected to carry loads of 20-30 carries per game, so I really don't see how you can keep blaming the playcalling for players getting hurg. And again, throwing the ball would not have been the way to go. It's not like the passing game was unstoppable. Beamer and Lefty had a clear plan to do little more than play keep-away once they had the lead (hence the 3 4th down conversions), which is exactly how they should have done it. They knew their chances of winning would go down significantly if they ended up in a shootout with UNC. The way it was, UNC was unable to generate any momentum because their offense was sitting on the bench for 6+ minutes at a time throughout the day and our thin DLine was able to rest up, go full-out every snap, and play their nuts off for 19 minutes.
Our playcalling yesterday was insanity defined and only bailed out by a great defensive performance.
Couldn't agree more. Even though we were winning huge during the 3rd qtr, I was getting very impatient with the playcalling after about the second three and out. You could tell Beamer was ready to get on the bus after the first half. I'm also sick of relying on our defense as much as we are right now. That's probably the most frustrating aspect to football, is when your defense puts you in a position to win but your offense can't do squat. 34 points ain't squat, but we should have been winning by at least 4 touchdowns during most of that game. Glad to get the win, but I agree with the guy up here ^^^, who said that could cost us down the road. Offense is still a concern to me
I think everybody poo-pooing the game plan and execution is crazy. We held one of the most explosive offenses in CFB to 17 points, and you can't put every bit of the praise on the defense. You guys remember how much Mike Vick threw the ball? Less than 16 times a game. Bryan Randall - just over 17 times a game. Tyrod Taylor - just over 17 as well. Those are the 3 most successful qb's in the Beamer era, notice a trend? Get on board - this is how WE WIN!
Those are good points, but Brewer isn't a threat to run like all those three. Yeah they were all very good QBs, but their legs were just as much of a weapon as their arms. They also made better decisions with the ball than Brewer, but still running the ball I believe is very important. And it wasn't even the running the ball that I hated; it was how uncreative the playcalling was. First and second down yesterday were almost always a run up the gut. Even though I said Brewer isn't nearly as quick as MV7, Randall, or TT, some QB bootlegs every now and then would be nice. Thought there were several occasions where Brewer could have ran the ball for a decent gain without getting killed. I'm not even opposed to the jet sweep thing we do with Newsome. Gotta mix it up more than just shoving the ball up the gut every time. Very predictable. Just my thoughts
The poo pooing of the play calling seems to not recognize that we could not run OR pass AGAINST UNC in the 2nd half. Brewer had no time and quickly lost his confidence in his protection when he did have time. Our receivers weren't getting any separation. Our running game was completely inept.
How much you run or pass doesn't matter if you can do neither effectively.
I disagree with your observation that receivers weren't getting separation. They actually were all day if you look at the film. Brewer was just rushed on a bunch of throws, and missed wide open dudes. Also, I think he's a little gun shy right now, because he hesitated several times in trying to be cautious and missed several opportunities there as well.
As far as play calling, I thought the coaches did what they had to do to win the game. The third qtr was definitely frustrating to watch, but when they had to, the Hokies made plays. While the offense makes ALOT of mistakes right now, the ceiling is high, and they will improve.
The Hokies will heal up and work out a bunch of kinks during this week's matchup against Brigham Young East.
Brewer was clearly focused on making safe plays this game. If he thought it was a risky throw, he put it only to where his guy could make a play and if they couldn't, it went out of bounds. Cam Phillips catch was one of those. He was focused on playing error free football. After 3 weeks of "he makes horrible decisions...he cost us the game...bench him" he was trying to leave little chance for errors. I'm sure the coaches played into that too. Give him simpler reads to build his confidence as well as the rest of the offense.
When you're only asking your defense to play for 19 minutes, you can ask a whole heck of a lot of them and expect good results.
Not really sure what you are referring to as working, but as I replied to you in a post last week, the coaching staff was very likely to come out and run the ball vs UNC, and with good reason. The D started the year thin, and is stretched nearly to the breaking point... and against a hurry up offense VT simply couldn't come out and pass the ball like we were forced to vs ECU, it would have left our D worn out and vulnerable well before the end of the game. Running the ball 50+ times gave us the best chance to win. The "great defensive performance" was a direct result of the offense dominating TOP and allowing the D to be well rested throughout most of the game
Respectfully disagree with the notion that running a bunch of three and out running plays and turning the ball over is going to give our Defense a break. Maybe its my lack of football knowledge, but please explain the difference between going three and out via running plays versus going three and out via passing plays is different? Do we gain that much more time overall to rest-up the "D"? The only way I know of giving the "D" a break is by getting three or four 1st downs while on offense.
I think a part of my frustration with yesterdays game plan was that it was obvious that the running plays were going nowhere in the second half. I thought we were setting up a "rope-a-dope" series, but it never appeared. We just ran it up the middle. It was obvious to me that UNC was dedicated to stopping the run. I want run plays like everyone else, but if it isn't working, throwing some passing plays isn't going to hurt. The vice-versa also applies. If the passing game is going nowhere, add some running plays.
P.S. Some one needs to call Shane Beamer out. Williams was grabbing his legs a couple of plays before he was eventually rolled-up and carried off the field. Why exactly was he left in the game if he was already hurt?
You're right except for the fact that our running plays didn't result in a bunch of three and outs. We moved the ball and got first downs, even if it meant converting third and long plays.
In the second half? I recall the third quarter was a series of three and outs by both teams.
Nope.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=400547797&period=3
Not exactly right either. Four drives in the third quarter, two of which were 3 and outs. But I take the point. I was also wrong. My thanks for the info.
I can't help but feel like that link doesn't prove what you want it to prove. In the second half we had 9 drives - only three of those were longer than 2 minutes and only two were longer than 3. Conversely, 4 of the drives were three and out or worse.
We punted the ball 5 times that half. We gave them the ball without scoring 6 times that half. We did the exact opposite of keeping their offense off the field and we usually didn't flip the field position in the process.
We kept asking them to beat us. "Explosive" offense don't need time, they just need opportunities and we kept giving those to them. It was by the grace of Bud and the fact that they are a dumpster fire of a team that we didn't blow that 2nd.
The original comment:
The response:
The link shows that the third quarter had one 3-and-out for UNC out of 3 drives, and 2 for VT out of 4 drives, and none were back-to-back.
All he's trying to prove is that the third quarter wasn't just a series of 3-and-outs. It doesn't matter that it was a series of punts.
OK, that specific statement was wrong. I feel the link factually supports the notion that the approach to the second half from the offense was practically begging UNC to get back I. It and beat us.
If the goal was to keep the ball away from them in the second half, I would argue that we weren't successful in that goal.
Why weren't we successful in keeping the ball away from them? Sure, we had a series of drives that were all a bit short, but reality is that we held the ball for 20:49 of the second half, 69.4% of the time. I say that's a success. Our first two drives of the third quarter netted -5 yards total, accounting for penalties and whatnot, yet burned 40% of the time in the quarter.
I'm not saying the game was pretty. I was rolling my eyes at our lack of success for stretches during the game. But I never really worried about the outcome. The clock was rolling steadily. The defense was playing out of their minds. We held the ball at about a 2:1 advantage the entire time. That's enough of a recipe to win when you start the second half up 21 points.
That's not to say that I think we should phone it in when we're ahead, but it seems like there's no pleasing this crowd some days. Didn't run enough. Ran too much. Ran the wrong backs. Bad play-calling. Should pass more. Brewer can't throw well enough. Brewer's a hero on the next drive. It's just ridiculous and you can cherry-pick any item about any game about any team and find something wrong.
We weren't successful in keeping the ball away from them because we kept giving the ball back to them. Having the ball for 20 minutes of a half is great, but meaningless without context. 3 average of 6.5 minutes drives is keeping the ball away from them. 9 average of 2.1 minute drives isn't.
The only reason it worked this time is because UNC is really really bad and they kept giving the ball back in kind.
I don't care about number of runs or passes. I care about the lack of sustained drives in the second half. We ran against stacked boxes and punted a lot. That's not how you beat competent teams.
Sustain drives and you'll keep the ball away from the other team. Gaining 20 seconds per play on a 3 and out against a team who can score from anywhere feels like a bad idea.
It's a heck of a lot better than throwing a pick or having an incompletion ruin any chance to run a single second off the clock. There was nothing at all wrong with the strategy, and it worked. I really don't see why you see the need to blast that decision. Again, had we started throwing the ball all over the place, or had an untimely pick, this place would've gone back into full meltdown mode. Yes, execution in the 3rd quarter was lacking. However, the offense turned it on when it mattered (along with a few personnel changes) and put the game away for good. The game was never really in doubt and the coaching staff made all the right decisions to make sure it stayed that way.
^^^^^^^what this guy said
I'm not "blasting" anything, I'm disagreeing. sometimes I don't understand why we can't have more level-headed objective discussions where people disagree on here without unnecessary emotionally changed language like "blasting."
I'm not "ripping" anyone, I'm not enraged, I don't "want anyone's head" or anything like that. I just disagree. I feel like I stated why and used facts to support my statement. You disagree with me and that's cool too.
In that third quarter all I saw was us giving them the ball back over and over again while "draining" less than 2 minutes off the clock more often than not. We were begging them to score and were lucky that they are a really bad team. Had they broken one or two of those plays, everyone would have been on here ripping on the defense for losing the game while excusing the offense for "putting us in a position to win."
I think a more balanced approach that got first downs and extended drives would have done more to burn the clock than running three times, burning 1.5 minutes and punting the ball back to them over and over did. You disagree and that's cool too.
I posted this in more detail below, but there wasn't a single drive in the 3rd quarter where we called three running plays to start a drive resulting in a 3 and out. Each drive included at least one called pass play, though many of them ended in sacks or in one case Brewer running for 3 yards after not finding an open receiver.
The difference is usually about 20 seconds or so per play (an incompletion vs a running play). It doesn't sound like much, but it adds up. Plus, running plays are much, much safer. When we pass, there's always the chance that the QB gets blindsided and loses the ball or has an errant throw, a receiver can tip it to a defender, a corner can jump a short route, the QB can just make a bad decision, etc. Simply put, a whole lot more can go wrong. It wasn't 100% about the clock when we were running the ball all second half. It was an effort to play keep-away and not give the Heels cheap points or field position, and it worked beautifully. Additionally, I think the entire staff wanted their players to go out and be bullies and execute. In the fourth quarter, especially after the muffed punt, they did exactly that to ice the game.
(Tip of the hat.) Thank you for the information, I always appreciate learning more of this game. Go Hokies.
You can burn 2 min off the play clock on every possession by by just letting the clock run. We are up by 3 scores, burn the clock. Why take unnecessary risks? Move the chains when you can and put the pressure on their offense! Our d is at their best when the opposing offense is trying to force things.
I really don't understand what everybody's issue is with the play calling. Execution could have been better. In my mind Mcglaughlin had a real tough day. If he foes better you will see more of those run plays o a little better.
One thing to point out is that we were very evenly balanced between run and pass plays in the 3rd quarter, the coaches weren't relying solely on the run to try and move the chains.
1st drive: 6 plays, 3 runs & 3 passes, 1 penalty
2nd drive: 7 plays, 3 runs & 4 passes, 1 penalty
3rd drive: 3 plays, 2 runs & 1 pass, 0 penalties
4th drive: 3 plays, 2 runs & 1 pass, 0 penalties
Quarter Offense Total: 19 plays, 10 runs, 9 passes
*note: I didn't inclued punts in the play count and counted sacks and a 3rd and long scramble by Michael Brewer as passing plays.
Defense doing defense things is great but there is a point where they can't keep carrying the team. Look at VT def stats for last year. Went from TOP team at the beginning (against Bama to boot) to mediocre at the end of the season. The defense just had enough and each game carried the team a little less each game. We need an offense.
Stats to show? Before VT's game
UNC ranked 116th in Pass Defense in all D1 teams
Per game passing avg - 353
VT - 186
Rushing UNC ranks 76th
Per game passing avg - 190
VT - 170
Rushing Per Attempt
UNC - 4.6
VT - 3.0
Points per game UNC now ranks 123rd
Per game Points avg - 44
VT - 34
UNC didn't lose to VT it lost to itself with a good defense from VT.
VT SHOULD HAVE CRUSHED UNC AND EVERYONE PLAYING SHOULD HAVE HAD A RECORD DAY AT THEIR POSITIONS
Edit rushing per game info
Don't mean to be a jerk, but to say "EVERYONE PLAYING SHOULD HAVE HAD A RECORD DAY AT THEIR POSITIONS," is a ridiculous comment. Maybe all caps is new code for Sarcastica and I am not savvy on that?
We are playing one of the worst Power 5 defenses and you don't think it should have been a record day for players.
12th worst passing defense you expect lots of offense similar to the 12th best defense (Louisville) you expect very little passing offense. Total yards allowed UNC is the 5th from last place
What happens on the exact opposite in the next 2 games, Pitt 8th in Pass Defense and Miami 6th in Pass Defense
Their stats are bloated from what ECU and Clemson (both way more effective on offense than we are) did to them.
I don't know the stats but I'm gonna bet that 1) VT also ran a lot fewer plays from scrimmage than other teams have run against UNC. So you're simply not going to see big offensive numbers.
It's not fantasy league. The game plan was (and should always be) to maximize VT's strengths vs UNC's weaknesses and minimize VT's weaknesses vs UNC strengths. And it worked to the effect of a 17 point margin of victory and a doubling of the points scored by UNC in a must win game.
FWIW, the 5 of the top 10 passing yardage teams last weekend lost...and only 1 of the 5 wins was by more than 4 points. And four receivers had more than 200 yrds receiving...3 of them in losses. Record passing numbers look great on paper but are often a pyrrhic victory on the scoreboard.
Totally disagree on the injury front. Part of the game plan. We executed a winning game plan yesterday which is what I want to see every sat. We scored points and held the ball allowing our defense to keep the pressure on.
There are definitely things that need to be cleaned up but as fans we should recognize how much better the team play is now vs last season. Using freshmen!
So, a few weeks ago all we heard was "Pound the rock," "Why aren't we running the ball more?," etc. But now, we question why we aren't throwing the ball more. Maybe it's just me, but I don't understand this never satisfied way of thinking. You can't have your cake and eat it too....That's why you eat pie. Always.
There is a such thing as a healthy mix of both.
Doesn't have to be all run or all pass. Just because you don't want to see our RBs literally run into injuries, which we've seen the last 2 weeks, doesn't mean you don't want to see us run the ball.
Well, I have to agree with everything you said. I think what pissed me off more than anything else though, are the friggin' offensive line penalties. It's down right embarrassing!!!! THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT!!!!! Here we are, half way through the season and it's not got any better. If anything, its gotten worse.
I'm not sure where to place the blame on this, because its not just the newbies doing this. I'd have'em doing up-downs till they collapsed. NO EXCUSES!! We cannot continue to shoot ourselves in the foot. Those are not things a good football team does.
Another plus is there were no illegal substitution penalties.
The team had to keep trying to run the game. Brewer has had too many costly INTs so taking the pressure off him in this game was important. He still took some serious shots when he had to throw the ball.
Oh and how about the sideline catches by Ford and Phillips? These guys are fun to watch. The one by Phillips was amazing!
I don't post often, but do read a lot on the site. All points are solid. The one thing not really talked about is the kicking game. I really think the field goal situation should be open again. Last year, fans were blasting the FG situation, with good reason, but it really hasn't improved much this year. Just my 2 cents.
When you had three true freshmen competing for the job in the fall, that should tell you just about all you need to know. For the most part, Slye has been solid from short-to-medium ranges and definitely has the leg to hit some long ones too. 7/11 isn't bad for your first go-round.
Especially as all of his misses are from beyond 40 yds. He has the leg, just needs to get the accuracy.
Are you implying that freshmen aren't expected to make kicks?
We gotta stop with the excuses. This is big boy college football. Freshmen make plays all the time. Coordinators come in and run effective units in the first year. Offensive line coaches find five guys who know what the fuck they are doing and execute.
We need a higher standard around here.
Couldn't agree with you anymore. The excuses are ridiculous.
What's the excuses?
We have a true freshman kicker that has missed a few longer kicks. The kick at the end of the first half had a freak wind gust that came out of nowhere right as he kicked.
It's not called excuses, it's called realistic expectations.
Not referring to the kicker. I'm referring to excuses for our offensive production in general. Lefty just doesn't understand how to adjust his game plan. I have no faith in him. I don't think that our offense would put more then 2TDs on a top 25 defense.
OSU is #17 in total defense as of this week. Our offense put up 4 TDs on them.
Yes, but as a counterpoint: Navy, Cincy, Maryland, Kent State. I think they'll be ranked even higher by the end of the year because Rutgers, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota with Michigan State and Christian Hackenberg the only potential outliers.
Valid. That's a big reason why a lot of rankings should be looked at with a bit of caution, and normalization is always appropriate. I'm just seeing so many dismissive statements, or absolute declarations about things that are quantitatively false. It's been a while since I've seen people so upset with a 17-point conference win...
Considering your comment was in a direct line of comments about the kicker, the confusion on my part is understandable.
My point was that no one who was on the roster last year had any shot at winning the job this year. That should tell you what you need to know for why last year's kicking game was, to put it delicately, sub-par. Still, it's not a stretch at all to say that experience counts for something. Yes, our freshmen can and do make plays, but there are some periods of inconsistency. It's gonna happen with younger players (and older ones too, for that matter).
As to inconsistency and youth....absolutely!
For all those who are unsatisfied, think about when you were 18-22 years old (if you aren't that age now). How consistent were (are) you at anything?? I don't think I've ever known any 21 year old who can be consistently excellent at anything.
When I was 21, I was consistently excellent at being 21, but even that only lasted for a year. Someone should have sent me the memo.
I was consistently excellent at mistreating my liver at 21.
Now a few years later, and one drink knocks me off my ass.
I respectfully disagree. Slye has been an improvement to our field goal unit. The one he missed yesterday was not much a surprise considering he was kicking into wind. That thing just curved right out of the picture.
Yeah, Slye's solid, no doubt about it.
Frank knew exactly what he had, a guy that's good to 40 then has the length but not the accuracy after that.
Kid is a true freshman.
Frank decided it's better to have a kid learn accuracy after 40 yard than to trade out FG kickers.
I agree, teach this kid accuracy and we've got gold on our hands. Frank is looking long term here. If Slye just straightens it out a bit....
Meanwhile I bet they are Gentrifying the other guys to produce the distanc we want. The competition will open back up in the spring so we don't burn a redshirt.
That being said, the long miss yesterday was in not playing the wind properly. That ball was well towards the top of the goalposts.
Don't know why someone downvoted you when you only have 6 turkey legs.
The misses that Slye has had were mainly from 40+ yards, which I think is forgivable.
As for the false start penalties by the OL, I only have one question:
Wang are you new here?
He was only 2 of the 7 false starts.
And how long has he been playing?
Six years!
It seemed like the whole line was out to lunch during the middle two quarters.
it's all these lunchtime kickoffs screwing with everybody
They're big guys! They get hungry. 12:00? Lunch time!
A couple of things I noticed after watching Phreak's highlights (knowing the outcome of the play really helps me to watch other things):
1. I have criticized Detrick Bonner in the past for his coverage skills, but that man had himself a game yesterday. The broken up TD pass in the first quarter was outstanding.
2. Sam Rogers was blocking beautifully on just about every run play. The pitch-back to Cam Phillips had a great block from Brewer and a great one from Sam.
3. The athleticism of Ford and Phillips continues to impress. They may not have had huge stats overall, but they came up huge at important times. Can't help but continue to believe these guys will be top performers.
Yes, those catches to stay inbounds were Sunday catches from true freshmen.
Yep, this was pretty much me when that happened:
The catches themselves were absolutely highlight reel material, but don't understate the throws from Brewer. He was placing those passes in spots where only the receiver could make a play on the ball. That long pass to Ford was basically thrown right at me, and you could see how the two of them realized a play could be made and then executed it. It was the kind of play that seasoned veterans are able to make. A go route 1 on 1 with a pass delivered OB and a WR who knew when he turned the pass would be right there. All around excellent plays by everyone involved. The defense had no chance on those plays.
Yeah, a guy at my house was arguing the WR bailed him out, my point was that it was perfectly executed and twice means it's not a coincidence.
It was conscious effort to reduce INT.
Cam's catch 5 feet out of bounds was a thing of beauty.
I'm starting to realize what we have in Brewer, not what I hope Brewer can be.
Yep, credit to Brewer on those sideline plays, too. But I'm also thinking more about how Ford always seems open right beyond the sticks on 3rd down. Phillips is shifty enough to make people miss in the open field for just a few extra yards that can make a difference. Both of these guys just seem to be doing a ton of things right.
Byrn did a great job of knowing where the sticks were yesterday too.
The job Moorehead is doing at getting these guys aware of the situation and what they need to do on a given play cannot be understated. They know to locate the first down marker and get passed it on 3rd down. Simply doing that will bring your team a lot of success over the years, and it has always stunned me at how frequently you see it not happening.
Can we talk about our punt coverage for a second? I only saw the very end of the first half and the second half but man we made their all American punt returned look silly, we beat the tar out of him several times (tarheels....get it?) and I think I only saw him get ahead of the spot where he covered the punt once for like 4 yards. I was gushing about that and our coverage looked GREAT. Kudos to VT special teams
Any coincidence that he fumbled the punt shortly after he got blown up on the pass reception...beautiful hit?
That's actually maybe not a bad point... kudos to Riley for layin' the lumber, even if we didn't see the results for a few plays. Hats off to Beamer as well. He clearly saw that there were issues that needed to be addressed after last year on the punt team (hey look, new gunners!) and he addressed them. Now if we could just get our kick returners to drop to one knee when they're 5 yards deep in the end zone....
The Cincinnati Bengals need help in this department too.
I don't understand taking the ball out of the end zone after the rule change. Even one yard deep. I know they want to try to make something happen but it rarely ends with the ball beyond the 25. Not for VT anyway.
here here.
It was a wonderful thing to see. The lack of heroics was evident. See the punt where Rogers got downfield and wrapped him up and then just waited fro help with the gang tackle. The point there obviously was to simply keep him from going anywhere and wait for help.
Agreed! The one good return he had was even called back for a block in the back. Beamerball was in full effect yesterday.
I just watched the entire game and I agree with the comments around how well the two freshman wide receivers are playing. They block well, catch just about everything, run nice tight routes and are almost always where they need to be.
Our "D" just seemed to be explosive at the snap of the ball the entire game. Maybe the best DE speed rush in a few years and both DADI and KEN played an exceptional game. We need to get "The beast" back for Pittsburgh. He broke some big time tackles early in the game and can really be a difference maker running the ball between the tackles.
Go Hokies, Destroy PItt!!!!
The good:
Our defense played their nuts off. Can't put it any better than that.
The bad:
The offense. Can we PLEASE come out and play an entire game consistently? So tired of seeing the offense come out flat and sloooooooowly build up. I know the turnover bug has hurt us but still.
The ugly:
Penalties. What. The. Actual. Fuck? That many penalties in a game is horrific. It's been that way all season. We're six games in, sort out whatever problems you're having and get your mind right. At least there weren't any illegal substitution penalties. But that many false starts is more than just disturbing, it's maddening. Especially when it's in situations like yesterday where my cat can make more noise than the UNC crowd.
You must have missed the fact that we were up 14-3 less than 10 minutes into the game on Saturday. Also I'll give you this, from another thread I started:
We've scored well over 50 percent of our points in the first half, and the quarter we've scored the most in is the 1st. So I don't really know what you mean by "come out flat" and "slow buildup".
After the 30 second mark and before the 4 minute mark, at the beginning of the game, we don't score very much. /sarc
Apologies, I meant to say after the half. Maybe I'm wrong, if so then so be it but after the half we just seem to be dragging offensively. The main point which I clearly failed to make was that I want consistency across the board and I don't think I'm terribly wrong for saying that this team hasn't exactly been consistent in......well, anything offensively. I know defenses can make adjustments, too and the offense (read Loeffler) has to make adjustments back. Now, allllllll that being said, we won and even on this rainy, dreary, yucky day in Blacksburg that makes me very, very happy. Go Hokies
Take out the Western Michigan game and the Bill & Mary game and we've haven't scored in the 3rd quarter this season. In six games, we've punted the ball on 10 drives in the 3rd, scored on 4, turned it over on 5 (including once on downs), and have ended 2 drives with missed FGs.
So that's 21 total drives so far in the 3rd quarter and we have scored on 4 of those. Again, all of those scores came against W. Michigan and Bill & Mary. THAT is what I mean by coming out flat and slowly building up. Again, my apologies for not saying that I meant after halftime that was, obviously, my mistake.
In addition we've been the team to score first in 4 out of our 6 games and only been shut out in one 1st quarter thus far.
some of the comments on this thread have taught me that we're never going to be happy with this offense...the last couple of weeks we've been complaining because we haven't run enough..now we're complaining because we ran too much? The grass is always greener on the other side I suppose...ridiculous!
why can't you guys just enjoy the fact that we won. Before this season started many people billed the UNC game as a toss-up or even a loss..and we came in and won decisively..I'm more than satisfied. Glad we have a bye to get rested up and I'm looking forward to watching the Hokies take on Pitt.
Go Hokies!!!
Exactly. Last week Shane wasn't allowing any RB to get in rhythm, now he is playing them too much and risking injury? I was really worried about this game coming in, and we dominated most of the game. I think the offense scores a couple more times without all of the false starts slowing the drives down. We won a conference game on the road, I'm gonna enjoy it.
Exactly! I don't understand the complaining. We won by 3 scores and we committed to the run come hell or high water! That shows done balls which is what the offense had been lacking. Lefty and Frank are trying make it happen. Lefty's intermediate passing game is the perfect compliment when executed.
Sounds toasty....
I'm happy for the win and believe me, I'm still rooting for the team. But the thing of it is, I would have been happier if the Offense had scored the majority of the points in the game, but by my count, the offense was only responsible for 13 points. Allow me explain what I mean:
1st score: TD, I'm giving credit to the Defense because they caused the fumble at the UNC 16 yard line, setting up the score on a silver platter.
2nd score: TD, I credit the Offense since they marched through the length of the field and scored.
3rd score: FG, credit to the Offense since they marched through the length of the field and scored.
4th score: TD, credit goes to the Defense because of the interception by Fuller. :-) God I wish there were more Fuller brothers.
5th score: FG, credit goes to the Offense since they marched the length of the field and scored.
6th score: TD, credit goes to the Special Team since they recovered the fumbled kick return at the UNC 10 yard line.
Now the great thing is that we scored in all three phases of the game and perhaps this is being lost in all the noise/concerns about our Offense. But the Offense only scored 13 points out of 34. This is the root of my concern. Also, UNC is not known for their "D" so the fact that VT made the UNC "D" look so good is quite alarming. I still root for the team and I'm always going to cheer for the youngsters that have graced us by putting on the VT uniform to represent the University that I love, but that love for VT isn't going to blind me to the defects of our team. Go Hokies!
Regarding that first score, it wasn't too long ago where we were just as likely to stall out and have to settle for three. And then possibly not even get that.
Very true.
.... 2 weeks ago?
Funny. This thread has taught me that if we all started to poop gold bricks we'd complain about the price of toilet paper. Can't we enjoy the win without the "Fire _____" or "_____ is the worst _____ ever" comments?
The word "Fire" appears in this thread 3 times, and only in your post is it in the context of someone's job. the word "worst" is the same, it's in someone's signature and in your post.
I like this site because we theoretically can have objective analytical discussions about Hokie football without everyone losing their minds and accusing other people of being bad fans and all other such nonsense. This thread has taught me that this may not actually be the case, which is a bummer.
I am always looking for things to improve on regardless of a win because that's the mentality I want our program to have. A very good program becomes very good by never being satisfied with the results. They are always finding something that can be improved and perfected.
So while this may have been a good win, it doesn't mean we have to be fully satisfied. There were obvious aspects of the game that were not perfect, so we should be striving to make those parts better. It doesn't mean we aren't happy with the win, but I don't have to have blind acceptance of 100% of the performance simply because we had a W.
There's a depressing number of downvotes for opinions in this thread.
I don't care if people did not agree with what I said if they explain it. The down voters are lazy, lame, cowardly, and need to be purged from this site.
I count a grand total of 4 downvotes in the thread...
And all 4 are for disagreeing with an opinion.
I mean.... you could just ignore it. DV are not the end of the world...
I'd bet that the majority of dv's on TKP are for opinion.
What really irks me are the people who jump in and say "people complain too much about downvotes".
Nothing worse than playing by the rules of the TKP honor system, having other people habitually break the rules, mention to those anonymous others that you don't appreciate the downvotes, and then have people validate those downvoters by accusing you of being oversensitive just for bothering to respond to the passive-aggressive snots that don't have the stones to actually debate a point.
The guidelines are there to help provide a community with mutual respect. The number of DV's show that some people either don't know the guidelines, or aren't interested in respecting others despite them. Saying DV's don't matter is basically saying the guidelines don't matter.
The good thing is that it sounds like Joe is preparing to take action on the offenders.
All four could read as DBAJ... tone in text is difficult to get across properly.
seriously, who cares? I mean there will always be a few people who down vote on opinions, so be it, I am sure it doesn't change your life or your commenting habits. I don't understand making a comment about the down votes you got in past comments, just ignore it and move on.
Who cares? The owners of this site care, that's who.
Its against the fricken community guidelines. Don't do it.
Joe already posted in another thread today that he is aware and he is dealing with people that abuse the community guidelines. It is being handled.
Can't wait for it to take effect.
The sheer amount of complete ignorance and apathy towards our community guidelines is appalling at times. Its the foundation that makes this site as great as it is, and it really annoys the crap out of me to see the rules openly ignored and ridiculed.
I don't disagree with you. At all.
But this, after all, an internet discussion board. If the worst recurring problem we have is that someone downvotes for an opinion, I'd say we're in pretty good form.
Exactly. At the end of the day, like you said, it is an internet discussion board. People who down vote opinions suck, but its really not THAT big of a deal.
The whole point of downvotes on this site (as per my understanding) is that the site will moderate itself. If something someone posts really is offensive, it gets enough downvotes and blurs out. People causing a stink about a few unnecessary downvotes are making too big a deal out of it. While I agree that people should follow the community guidelines and only downvote offensive comments, if you get one or two here and there, does it really matter?
This is the internet, and you can't control everyone's behavior.
A few here and there shouldn't be a problem, and we should just move on.
this x1000000000
If they do, they will make necessary changes. Again, no need to make comment about it, they are well aware of it.
That's depressingly high considering the absence of downvote-worthy posts in the thread.
This question/observation is for french, Alex or any of great analysts on the site.
Have any of you noticed the disturbing trend of Brewer's INT's when he throws to his LEFT? It looks like we have 2 receivers--one short, one deep, running a square out or a 10 and out vs. zone coverage. It looks like Brew is having a difficult time making that read either due to pressure coming or trying to squeeze the pass between defenders. In any event, there has been a pick in the the last 3 games now coming to that side.
Thoughts?
Keep up the great work!
And we got the win! Let's use this bye week to heal up and get fired up for Pitt!
GO HOKIES!
Sweet Jesus this thread reads like Tech Sideline. I expect a better breed of football fan from TKP.
The offense stalled in the third quarter. This is not cause for panic or concern. There will be stretches in most football games where an offense is failing to execute for various reasons. In that situation, the OC has two choices:
1) Try to force it.
2) Play TOP and field position and live to fight another day.
If we've learned one thing about this year's offense, it's that we can expect turnovers if we try to force it. Up three scores and with a defense playing lights out, Lefty made the right call and chose number two.
Then in the forth quarter, after UNC had made it a two possession game, Brewer and Co. turned in one of their best drives of the season. They bled half the time remaining off the clock and scored points to make it a three possession game again. This is what has been missing on the offense, the ability to respond and contribute. As a unit, not just as a game changing QB that takes the entire offense, coordinator and all, on his shoulders a la Mike Vick or Tyrod Taylor. So far we've see this offense respond in earnest against Ohio State, ECU and now UNC.
Our offense is becoming something that I have personally never, ever seen it be: clutch. And I'm really enjoying watching it happen.
Exactly. It was clear we were beating them in a convincing way. By now, I think we all know what can happen when we try to force plays. I was pleased even when Carolina started taking away the run, we stuck to it. The clock became a huge thorn in their side, and the Heels made mistakes because of it.
I saw the other day that Brewer is still getting used to VT, in that he must not have to put up 40+ points a game to be seen as successful. It's understandable in that he made some throws he'd like to have back now because of this, and take into account how long he wasn't participating in organized ball. He and Loeffler need to trust in the merits of running the ball.
Agree re: Brewer revising expectations for himself at VT vs the Big XII-II=X. However, at times on Saturday Brewer looked crippled by indecision, obviously not wanting to throw a pick. It's good that he's wanting to avoid unnecessarily risky passes, it's bad that he's taking sacks because of it.
Michael is learning a new way to play football. During that learning process I think Lefty should make sure that Brewer always has a check down in the flat he can dump it off to so he isn't trying to hold the ball for five or six seconds before throwing.
This should be an eye-opener for those who thought that a Texas Tech system is complex compared to VT's and the adjustment would be like checkers vs chess (sound familiar?).
VT's offensive system is actually more complex than a Texas Tech system and we're seeing that with Brewer. Remember that between now and the next game, he'll get almost as many practice reps as he did in August camp. I would not be surprised to see some rapid improvement between now and the end of October.
Thoughts on what I saw, and places that will get better:
It seems to be a different penalty every game that plagues the team.
Marshawn, before he went out, had some wonderful runs, but he also needs to learn when to cut and not try to go around the block. I saw at least 3 runs he had where there was a wonderful block and he would have a couple yards or more if he cut into it, but he'd run around looking for the outside only to be tackled for loss or no gain.
There were a couple facemask penalties that should have been thrown for both teams.
Why is it that with one of the best stables of running backs in years, we lose half of them in a two game stretch to injuries?
This team, so far, still has a bit to learn, but their ceiling, I think, is higher than it's been in quite some time. I'm really looking forward to the next couple of years.
I'm glad to see the running game going. Although, they shut us down in the 2nd half in the run game, we still managed to tire them out to the point that Caleb and JC came in late to gain some yards and eventually did get another running touchdown.
That's why we were playing a ball control game.
Our defense was only on the field for 20 minutes and relatively rested.
Theirs was on for 40 minutes and was getting gassed at the end of the game. If it needed to be the case, we were in a much better position to be aggressive in the 4th Q to gain needed points than their offense.
Out D was still aggressive and upbeat, theirs was not.
I miss the days of "We won a road conference game. Great! On to the next game. Pitt"
Now it's, "We won a road conference game but... (insert some Hokie related beef here)"
The only problem with this road victory is we lost 2 TB's in the process. I expected this team to be 4-2 and 1-1 in Conf. Granted not exactly how I expected it, but it's cool.
Blame the TKP staff for educating their readers on how to see all the game instead of the scoreboard.
Yep... Speaks well to our fanbase that we actually care more about simple wins and losses, but that we actually are knowledgeable enough to nitpick the nuances in how the team is playing each and every game.
This was not the case in the not too distant past.
VT has always had smart football fans. But in this case, the key for me: Road Conference win.
I never critique road conference wins because those are the wins that will get you over .500 if you hold serve at home. I never think Road wins are supposed to be pretty, especially against a team many Hokes were concerned about. I used to be like that. I know the nuances of the game, but I found myself caring more about them, than the actual win. So, when VT wins, I just take the win and try to stay away from the "buts". I adopted this philosophy as a Philadelphia Eagles fan. The Eagles could win the Super Bowl and Eagles fans would complain about the weather.
This applies to road ACC wins only. Kinda like "Survive and Advance".
I am much more critical of the GT loss b/c: 1. At Home and 2. lost to a team that can't really play catchup.
Remember that if VT wins every game by 1 point: That's an ugly game winning, undefeated team.
Interesting stat
But that's comparing apples to oranges.
48.2% gain 2 yard or less.
Compared to average yards before contact and average yards after contact.
These 2 groups of figures do not compare to each other in any way except they are looking at rushing yards.
This may have already come up and I just missed it, but where was Demetri Knowles in the UNC game? I don't remember seeing him. Has he simply been surpassed by Cam, Isaiah, and Willie? Hope he's not hurt.
P.s. This iPad is possessed. It keeps trying to autocorrect Cam to "scam", and he's to "Hezbollah".