Who: Virginia Tech Hokies (4-2, 1-1 ACC) at Pittsburgh Panthers (3-3, 1-1 ACC)
When: Thursday, October 16, 2014 at 7:30
Where: Pittsburgh, PA | Heinz Field (65,500)
Watch/Listen: ESPN (Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack) / Virginia Tech IMG
Spread: Moved from -2 to Virginia Tech +2, now -1.
Weather: 30% chance of rain, 50 at kickoff
Series: Virginia Tech leads, 19-11-6. Hokies won the last meeting 27-17 at Lane Stadium in 2013.
Reppin' TKP: French and Joel will be in the stands. The rest of the TKP staff will be watching from its respective watering holes.
Tidbits: Virginia Tech ranks first all-time in ESPN Thursday Night Football appearances with 27. The Hokies have never won at Heinz Field.
Discuss today's game and festivities here. Avoid leaving play-by-play, we're all watching. Remember to follow the community guidelines.
Comments
Got stuck in traffic south of Morgantown and our car decided ot would be a good idea to start yelling 'Go Hokies' at the car with WVU stickers next to us. Only response we got was 'Kick Pitt's ass!'
Even the cousins know who the good guys are for this game.
I'm expecting a close game, hoping we have enough healthy players to go strong for 4 quarters
Agree with whoever said it earlier (either Joe, french or GuitarMan) that if our offense can put up 21 tonight, we will win
Really don't know what to expect tonight
What the hell is up with the line this week? Geez.
Sam Rogers told it not to get comfortable.
This about sums up how I feel.
....and I'm opening a beer. Although Heinz is my favorite brand of ketchup, I disapprove of their field. Play fast and mean boys. GO HOKIES!!!
I predict a similar result to last year in which Dadi goes for the tap out!
Nice picture from the Syracuse-Duke game last year. That is soooo weird that they also have a guy named Dadi Nicholas.
Can't do the usual game day drinking tonight, ...so I'll have my one beer and behave. Sigh. (Running in the AM)
ANYWAY, ...screw Pitt. Let's shut down Connor, and pound the rock. *fingers crossed*
24 - 16 good guys
Hah, those of us with the gift of foresight took care of running today!
I had to rest! Did sprints yesterday, tomorrow is delicious distance (my favorite)
what is this 'running' thing of which you speak......like 'running' out for more beer?
My thoughts exactly.
I have heard of this "running in the AM". I have it on good authority that 7-11 takes the chains off the beer coolers at precisely 6AM.
Just got off the phone with my mom (WVU alum) and aunts (WVU alum), visiting my parents, and ended the convo with "Eat Shit Pitt!". They all agreed.
Well let me just quote the late great Colonel Sanders, who said..."I'm too drunk to taste this chicken."
Working on it!
Does anyone else feel like this??
I hope we go all offensive on them right away.
Jump on them, get a lead and run them off.
I hate playing Pitt.
I honestly got so busy this week, that I forgot it was gameday there for a bit this morning.
My mother in law is in town for the week helping my wife out with the marketing conference she puts on every year in Scottsdale (and I actually like my mother in law), so she is taking care of the grandbabies tonight and daddy gets to go get wings and beers with the boys!!!
Kickoff is 4:30 here, gonna dip out of work early. Go Hokies!
Missing the first half probably. I tried to convince the client to put off tonight's maintenance until early tomorrow a.m., but the client preferred to get it started @ 7pm.
With some luck, I'll get done in an hour, and back to the hotel in time to catch most the game.
What a shitty client! Haha but seriously is he associated with loluva in any way shape or form?
The immediate liason is a Bammer. He probably would have understood, but I'm a chicken when it comes to putting food on the table for my fam, so I didn't want to risk irritating anyone upstream that isn't as big a fan of football as me.
Let's go HOKIES!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe the last time we won in Pittsburgh was when I was a freshman at VT. That being said, I expect Brewer and Caleb to step up tonight. GO HOKIES!
Fellow Hokies,
I touched the silver HokieBird statue outside Hotel Roanoke and am watching the game from my downtown Roanoke apartment and taking a shot of honey bourbon at kickoff in my Kendall Fuller jersey .
We are 2-0 when I do these things.
Favorite Hokie: Deron Washington
Leg just for that
Leg back at ya...and tea bag Paulus
Herreeeee we gooo babbyyyyy!!!!!!!!!! Immm sooo pumped and ready to see how we play!!!!! IMO the offense/Brewer needed a bye week to get things under control and really focus on the game plan!
Key to game: get the ball to Bucky. Oh wait, that should be the gameplan every week
Man, this time difference is going to kill me. Oh well, can't miss the game, GO HOKIES!
I am currently enrolled in a police academy. As I was showering after my early morning PT I realized I'd been whistling. Further more, I found that there was a grin on my face. I realized, I was in an incredible mood for how early it was and how little sleep I'd gotten. I retraced my thoughts to see if I could figure out what had put me in such a mood. I then realized...it's gameday, all I'd been thinking about is the Hokies and I subconsciously found myself pumped for the day as a result. So proud to rock the orange and maroon. Thanks for making my morning hokies, now let's make my evening by Killin some cats!! GO HOKIES!!
Keep on keeping on my brother, good luck in the the academy. I remember it like yesterday even though that was 5 years ago.
Mark May is wearing a yellow shirt, blue tie and mini skirt on CFC. Guess what his analysis is going to be?
Btw-on SVP during the sign off he (SVP) said Hokies would roll. I like him.
Meh, I fully expect May to be a Pitt homer and have some fun with it.
Who among us, if given the chance to be on camera, wouldn't be totally in the tank for the Hokies? I would be a cross between Corso and Baghdad Bob - just singin' Hokie praises.
"Shameless homer", is a badge of honor to me, lol.
SVP has always seemed to be pro VT. I remember when Greenberg was still here SVP said there was no way we were a bubble team for the NCAA tourney and should make it
Paul Chryst approves http://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/reply/7656/197409
Wasn't last year's score 19-9, Joe?
Looks like he skipped a line in last year's results. That was the score of the UNC game the week before.
Excited but also nervous for tonight's game...
LETS GOOOOOOO!!!
DID THEY REALLY JUST SAY THAT
He just called us the Cousins.
Freaking ESPN just called us WVU
You gotta be shittin me, calling us wvu
West VA?!?!?
...tonight we exercise our demons.
we gonna start them off with a little cardio the follow that up with some weights?
..swype disappoints me so often I don't even correct my typos anymore
haha i hear ya. I'm in a constant battle with swype as well
ESPN is such a joke.
Do we look like inbreds to you??!
Never won at Heinz field...fact check?
Pitt hasn't been playing there too awfully long
I'm so nervous. I'm so nervous. I'm so nervous
There is nobody there. The stadium is empty.
Hmmm...watching skycam on ESPN 3.
Appears to be a "gold out" game.
Same here...ESPN feed keeps going out on me. Don't like the camera angle but at least I don't have to listen to Reece Davis.
SACK CITY
The Nard Dog!
BOOM!!
thats a fumble!!
BOOOMMM
wooooo huge d there... Bud definitely had Clarke spying voytik!!!!!!!
Do they keep emphasizing to pick on Kendall Fuller? I'm either misunderstanding them or really confused...
Damn it. That was a sure TD with an accurate throw.
Brewer just can't hit a deep ball
Damn... He had some room to drop that pass in there just a little too deep
"Freakishly talented" OK...leg for you ESPN
I've got the panic button beside me. I have I don't have to use it.
Wow that fan base really showed up tonight....just embarrassing for a Thursday night. Bet they don't see another Thursday home game for a long time.
Damn circle button...
Maybe it's the absence of the crowd, but this game feels lackluster.
Fuck.
terrible terrible help by kyshoen there damnnn
Smurf
Edit: theres energy.
Negative energy
butts
Not often Jarrett misses like that.
Oh, Jarrett...
feels like the typical buttsburgh game ...
I hate Pitt.
Well...let's not go 3 and out again
Wow. Bad angle by Jarrett.
Ok, lets clean that up and get this game going!
I hate Pitt and their shitty 1/5 full Heinz Stadium
We better come up with some aggressive offensive play.
And NOW.
Honestly I think Jarrett had two options move out of the way and make a swipe at the ball or hit a defenseless player and get ejected... Jarrett doesn't make these mistakes often
Balls.
WTF...
Dare call Sam for a hold?
Ommggggg. Tell me the whole night isn't going to be like this. Fccck.
This is my fault. Not wearing my favorite game day shirt. Stuck on plane in DFW on delay. Bad karma!
Weak arms. Logan would have overthrown that.
This is depressing.
Love how #20 cut it back up the middle there.
Jesus Christ.
Not exactly the start that I had in mind...
This is just pathetic. I mean really. We come out and play like chumps against shitty Pittsburgh
No flag? This is not gonna be a good night.
I hate third and California.
I really hate hearing Jesse Palmer say it!
Damn it Sam. I can't believe I'm saying that.
How does 1-2 in the ACC sound y'all?
Not good at all.
Ugh, too soon. So much time left
but...maybe I'll have another beer
How did THE Sam Rogers just get knocked off his block?
sigh, not liking how this is looking so far
I wish we still had the Brewer with all the confidence he had at the beginning of the season.
Rodgers got trucked, can't have that!
Our offense is so damn predictable.
Lefty needs to realize you don't run a jet sweep to the short side of the field
This!!! Stiney loved that too.
This!!! Stiney loved that too.
Still our best play of the night so far...ugh.
Let's pump the brakes a little, it's only the first quarter.
We will get it going by the fourth!
doesn't help when brewer steps into the pressure.. he had all the room in the world if he shuffles left..
ohh and since when did running into the kicker not become a penalty??? absoulte garbage by the ref crew so far and im not one to normally complain about that
I was impressed with Brewer against OSU when we would run away from pressure to keep the play alive. That aspect of his game has dissappeared since he started to consistently throw INTs.
Damn this is off a bye week...typical VT. Hoping for a solid D from here on out. We look bad.
Offense is awful and the defense is AAT best struggling...
Gonna be a long night
When does basketball season start
Lol I know we're all excited for Buzz's eventual potential but I hope you're not reeeeally turning to our basketball team for relief.
Pit getting ahead, then running the ball down our throats is my perfect nightmare.
And here it comes.
finally get a call, they have missed some obvious penalties
#goaccrefs
Bud is fired up... good idea to call a timeout and get everyone settled down .
Big 3rd down. Let's keep them from getting points here.
Oh my God. Kendall dropped a sure six.
Our own half yard line...
143 to 6 in total yards. Ouch. Let's get something going!
I swear. The football gods are after us tonight.
Dear god...is this for real?
No push on O Line.
Gotta love that play calling...
DON'T RUN SIDEWAYS ON THE GOAL LINE!!!!!
The QB sneak would have gotten 8 yards on first down there...nobody in the middle from my skycam view.
3rd and 8 shit let's throw a side line 6 yrd out route
Poor punt.
Our offense is a joke along with Loeffler.
Ok, seriously.. where is the reset button?
we're not even trying to run. if our o can't do anything were screwed
VT better wake up before its too little too late to come back.
Scott Loeffler better wake up. The dude is calling plays like he's scared. Next man up, if you don't believe you don't belong.
Agree, keep hearing about the genius...still waiting
It could be worse than 7-0 right now. Count your blessings, Hokies.
Thank God. For Bud. Foster!
Is it 2012?
Start praying boys and girls cause we're only going to win this game with pick 6's, fumble 6's, and special teams.
good lord... breathe just breathe phew i wasn't going to drink bourbon but i might pull it out..
Can't do anything with the ball at the 1, that was definitely damage control there. ohh and that angle espn gave us on 3rd down....lol ACC Network puts ESECPN to shame
This is the most PETHETIC and HORRIBLE 1st quarter play calling I have ever seen. Lefty really needs to do a better job at what he is being paid to do. If I performed at my job like that....I would be fired!
I agree. It's a joke. We are so damn predictable
Looks like our team still thinks its on a bye week
It's really bad that my dreams for the offense consistently consist of defensive turnovers that give us great field position. Every play I'm hoping for a stripped ball or a Fuller pick-six. I have very little confidence in long offensive drives.
Put in Motley. If we can't throw the ball at least he has his legs to use. Brewer is a waste. He's got no more confidence
Can we please isolate Bucky Hodges and throw it (at least semi-)accurately to him? Plus, don't crush Leoffler, he called a few nice plays to open up Ford but Brewer couldn't hit him in stride and/or the line has struggled to give him time.
Sack city baby!
Impressed with D, other than the one big mistake. Wish our offense would step up with an effective short passing game they showed earlier in the season.
This is why the GT game stung so much. We needed a little cushion for a sh*tfest on the road like this
I don't know what aggravates me more. The fact that our offense is anemic or that we make every defense look like the Seattle Seahawks
*cough*Cowboys*cough*
If we're going to try and run so much, why don't we had Teller in?
Those 5 yards penalties will get after ya.
Biggest play of the night and it was 7 yards. Another 3&out.
Nope. The 15 yd penalty is our best play.
This playcalling is straight garbage.
WTF...why the hell do you throw it short of the first down? Anybody not beyond the first down stripe should get benched. STUPID
Hopefully our D can keep us in the game until the O realizes that we are actually playing the game now.
Why are we throwing 3-4 passes when we need 8-9 yds? Geesh we're making Jesse Palmer sound like a genius.
WTF.......3rd and 8 and you throw an incompletion that would have been short of the sticks anyway.....Flipping ridiculous......and the ball was not even catchable. Why do we keep doing this stupid crap.....David Pollack said it too...why do they keep throwing short of the sticks!!!!
Wish we were allowed to pass on 1st down
unreal that false start had a huge hole to the outside there. bucky was standing there sealing the edge..
At least we hopefully switched field position but on 3rd and 8 we run a 4 yard route.. i get it that he is trying to get brewer some confidence but still urghhh
Oh Dadi!
Holy shit Dadi.
DADI
Can we just play defense the whole game? I think we might score more points!
Loved Bruce Smith's expression there.
Wooohooo. Dadi with the hit.
I see that had Bruce Smiths approval, lol
Our defense is straight pissed.
I would be too.
WHAT A HIT!!!
DADI'S HOME!
I think our defense woke up!
dadi drilled him.
Awesome block and awesome return!!
My goodness Ekanem is getting held every damned down. He is tugging at his shoulder pads. Goodness.
No block in the back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Offense, we just gave you great field possession. Get it done!
Let's see what they can do with a little field position
Lets go!!! That looked like the slowest return haha.
Let's hope Stroman just gave them a spark. That was vintage Beamerball on that return.
Maybe tonight is the night Stroman houses one
Stroman!! Really need that gents
greg stroman on the move. is tim settle watching?
Get BREWER OFF THE FIELD
Momentum, folks
Guys Brewer just doesn't have it tonight......very inaccurate.
Not these again...
ALRIGHT. 20 yards to the endzone. Maybe walk away with a FG!?! A Hokie can dream!
Dream came true!
Son of a bitch.
Just wondering when they stop making excuses and address whatever it is that has caused this offense to be bad for so many years. They obviously had a staff shake up which didn't work, what is causing all of these problems? I get that people see bits and pieces that they like, but the offense as a whole is not good. At what point is bits and pieces not good enough?
Sorry, my ESPN stream is a bit behind. Oh boy.
I like the Dadi hit, defense stepped up, and the special teams play. Hopefully that gives us a spark!!
Oh, hey guys an offensive penalty. So weird.
man, should've had that one
Damn almost a TD.
Brewers decision making, if I called it suspect id be generous
He had the heads up to throw it in the end zone when he saw the flag, should've been a TD
Cam is gimpy.
let bucky hodges play some QB.
AAAAGGGGAAAAIIIINNNNNN......short of the damn sticks......STUPID
Why can't the receivers just add two yards to their route when we need 5 yards?
They are just running the play that's called..
This is flawless logic.
Wish I could up vote this multiple times..........my thoughts exactly!!!!
Field Goal. Woot. Yay.
I knew I COULD dream!
I cant believe we still havent picked up a first down...
And the not shutout streak continues... Hells yeah
I would rather take a offensive coordinator with some balls rather than Loeffler. Jesus.
He took a shot earlier and Brewer missed him. How is that Loefflers fault?
Why is he calling under routes continuously? Can you really justify his play calling?
Either Brewer is making the wrong reads or there is absolutely nothing downfield. Play-calling has become a scapegoat. My bet is that Brewer is not making the right reads or Pitt's secondary really is locking down. Coupled with the fact that the O-line is still getting zero push so we have no ground game, everything is failing.
It's been one under route per play. You see that on 90% of pass plays as a way for the QB to get the ball out quickly in the case of a blitz.... The problem is that Brewer is not reading that Pitt is covering the underneath route when they blitz, and instead is leaving a guy open down the field.
whyyyyy are we running a 2 yard route on 3rd and 5 jesssusss....
Joey baby!!!!! thats huge having a kicker that can make it to help put some points on the board.. but come on we have to understand the magnitude of this game...
ok bourbon time!!!!!
It looks like Brewer isn't planting his feet before he throws. Is anyone else noticing that?
Yep.
Still no 1st down
I really don't get the route running here. Is Brewer making bad reads? Is Pitt's secondary really that good that it's shutting down our receivers further downfield? I'm just not getting it.
hard to tell without replays, not seeing a whole lot of the field live
That's my problem. A lot of plays are breaking down quickly and then suddenly the play is over and I'm disappointed.
"Pittsburgh's defense is playing lights out." No. Watch any Tech game in the last 3 years.
Yeah but I don't think even the offense under Stiney was this anemic in the first half...
Let's not get carried away now. sarcastica...
21 yards. I don't care how well the defense plays; that just isn't going to get it done tonight. The defense needs the offense to sustain some drives.
Me after that Dadi hit stick:
Me after that lack of routes past the 1st Down Marker:
hurt qb = attack
Brewer is missing his Juice.
With miraculously only being down 7...we should go back to trying to run the football first like again Carolina. Give JC and JC a chance.
BALL!
Is it still raining there?
Hahaha beast mode? Yeah right.
FUMBLE
This replay crew is terrible
Jesse, it doesn't matter where the elbow is. It matters where the ball was.
Conner's elbow came down on someone's foot, not the ground.
Di Nardo's been in on both fumbles. That guy's a player.
I don't know that you can say for certain the ball isn't out before he rolls over. But we've been burned by "indisputable" before...
Massive defensive play by D-train!
I'm also sick of the Notre Dame hype...screw them
Was the ball moving when the elbow hit?
When was last time we blocked a punt?
Marshall game last year?
Was it Marshall last year?
Should Lefty come down out of the booth so that he can be with his QB's to coach them up during the game?
Sigh... glad I made that margarita.
Even though he didn't make anything of it, that was a good stiff arm.
I would just like to see a first down...
Breaking out the Woodford, if this offense doesn't start moving I will be following it with some anejo
If I wasn't a Hokie I might be looking for something else on TV right now. Awful.
Is Ohio State this bad? Cause right now they look like the worst team we've played.
first first down, hallelujah.
great cut by JC.. understanding a simple jump cut and 1st down!
this is just horrible
FRICK!
1st Down!!! Stop game, award ball to offensive staff
God damn it.
...and the hype is short lived.
We should've taken a knee and punted.
we should have done everything in our power to snap that ball before the replay.
I thought that was an incomplete pass myself...
2nd down
This offense has regressed to the point of ridicule
Every bit as bad as any offense under stiney
WE ARE SO LUCKY!!!!
Correction: Unlucky
Wow. Not what I expected, but okay.
Didn't see that coming, but I'll take it.
Hopefully this rain will force Lefty to let us run the ball a bit. Right now we're a one dimensional football team. It's ugly.
Welp.
JC should not be in the game at tailback. Also that was a clear facemask.
Unfortunately, we have so few bodies...
Yeah, but I thought we would be seeing the Joel Caleb show.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT PLAYING PITT?!?!?!!?
UGH.
JESSUUUSSS this is such a PITT game.. Please lets get to halftime and I'm sure CFbeamer will have another talk with SL
goodnight JC. its time for Caleb to take 1000% of the carries I am sick of this
Frank looks pissed - fittingly since this is so pathetic
BEAMER SLAMMING HEADSET DOT GIF PLEASE!
Only FosterBall can save us
God dammit Coleman
Are you fucking kidding me? Right after we lucked out?
Bench him
Where's Caleb?
So tired of Coleman.
Really Coleman?
so jc has done what to show he's better than Caleb????
jet sweep
God.
Beat
That was pitiful effort.
he's older....I guess
JC coleman should not see the field the rest of the game.. how many chances is he going to get? Burn McMillian's redshirt and lets freaking win the god damn game
Still have a healthy Caleb, if we are gonna go 3 and out every time we shouldn't have to worry about him getting tired
I just yelled the exact same thing. he doesn't deserve to touch the field the rest of the game. Shane loves him too much it's hurting the team
Our defense is going to wear out if our offense keeps doing literally nothing.
They could help themselves by stopping the run for once
I am sick to my stomach. When will this VT Football nightmare we've endured for 3 years stop? This has got to stop somewhere
Our defense sucks every bit as much as the offense
Leg to even you out. I see nothing offensive with this post
I mean...when your offense has less than 50 yards nearing the end of the first half it's putting extra pressure on the D. And when a first down catch and a 10 yard run equal a touchdown, especially right after watching our pitiful O, it makes the other team's O look like Oregon.
They played decently in the 1st half. The O is doing them no favors. Hell Pitt had the ball inside the 40 twice and came away with no points.
I want to throw stuff and yell all kinds of nasty shit, but until we get a competent offense we're kidding ourselves that we can compete in ANY conference.
I just finished doing just this, then I poured another drink. No way Jarrett and Bonner are going to bring that guy down by themselves.
Who cares about interceptions. Open the offense back up. It can't get any worse at this point.
Our upperclassman RB fumbling trying to extend a play (he was lunging sideways anyway - wasn't gonna gain any yards by staying up) leading to a TD for a 2 score lead? Sounds like a Pitt game
We have 31 ducking yards!!!!!!!
We were in position to get the ball starting the second half only down 4. Oh well.
Can we start our defense on offense?
Corey Marshall can catch. We just need a QB that can get it to him. It ain't Brewer.
Good Lord.. Kevin Jones needs to get into that locker room and come up with some sort of speech to get this team believing.
There is 0 reason why we're losing 14-3... there's 8K fans there so its not a rough game.. But we can't seem to do anything on offense. I bet Marshawn and Shai are sick to their stomach watching this game so far.
Change everyone's gloves out!
Time for a new quarterback.
Agreed, what in the hell is it going to hurt
Good Lord. Please let us do SOMETHING.
6 completions for 30 yards are you kidding me?!
Holy balls what the hell is going on?
EVERY FUCKING PASS IS LIKE 5 YARDS!!! WHY????
5 is long at this point, looking more like 3 ypa right now.
Seriously. I thought the "third down passing routes short of the sticks" was a thing of the past...
I've seen enough of Brewer... I'm not sure I want to see any more of him
This team is hurting my eyeballs right now.
Pathetic offense.
Seriously though, I'm not the type who yells for the quarterback to be benched... But I'm all in favor of it right now.
WHY IS BREWER STILL IN THIS GAME
Whoever was donating for every punt is going to make St. Jude's really happy.
Corey Marshall!
DEFENSIVE TACKLE INTERCEPTION
That should count as half a FAINT.
Yes! I love it when the big guys get interceptions.
need a TD in the worst way here
Can Corey Marshall play QB?
Who in the hell was he throwing too, regardless of the defensive foul, no one even close
15 yd penalty is still our best play.
Our offense tonight has only been defensive turnovers and penalties.
If he's not throwing the underneath pass into the ground he's overthrowing deep by 5 yards...
More like 10
Penalties gon be our MVP this game
no more excuses for this offense!
Batted pass. Because of short QB or offensive line not providing passing lanes?
We can't hit a deep ball (all season), we can't run, so really all the defense has to do is cover the short passing game.
Oh hey, offensive penalties.
Obligatory false start. *Drink*
This not lady-like at all... but I'm so fucking sick of penalties.
Snap infraction? That happened last game too?
C'mon brewer redeem yourself!
edit: nvm
GET HIM OUT! GET HIM OUT NOW!!!
WHAT are you looking at Brewer?
Wow. What?
Did Pitt just do a Pitt thing?
Lucky break on a terrible throw
soo embarrassing we can't run the ball in from the 3 yard line.. are you kidding me???
Why are all our receivers running routes to the same side of the field?
Delay of game...
I feel like we're running with a shit in our pants. Also I wonder if Brewer's arm is hurting or something. It's like he's scared to let 'er rip.
unfuckingbelieveable
Its been a while since I've cursed out a QB like this during a game
What does seareals do in practice with this O line?
I can't help but to blame some of this on the coaching.
By some, do you mean all?
What the heck, man? What is the line doing?
We are the most undisciplined team in the country. Wth is with all the damn false starts, delay of games, substitution penalties.
Omg..
What the hell with the procedure penalties?
Wang saves a turnover.
Beamer clearly can't manage a team anymore. Our team looks like a joke. Whit better have a nice new coach lined up
3rd and goal from the 13 and you run a 7yd route. Did Steiny sneak back into the booth?
I don't think that was the primary route. I think Ford was a checkdown.
Wang got the ball, at least.
This is so bad. Even the dog left the room.
Does frank think he can take those timeouts with him in to the locker room?
Cam drops one in the end zone, Malleck fumbles (ruled incomplete apparently), JC fumbles, Byrn fumbles out of bounds, Cam nearly fumbles again. Is there anyone on offense who can respect the football and hang on to it?
This is disgusting.
I guess they went out drinking last night
Hahaha, I actually referenced that exact part of the movie earlier. Told my wife it looked like Brewer and the boys must have paid Miss Davis a visit last night.
We coulda had 10 points. TEN. A FUCKING 10
they threw that flag .0000000000001 seconds after the playclock hit 0.. i mean seriously this is pathetic.. we can't run the ball for a god damn td from the 3 yardline. Run 3 QB sneaks and thats a TD.. instead we decide shotgun is a great idea..
Our OL isn't playing that bad, Brewer is just awful tonight
eh, false starts, false snaps, lining up in the backfield... not giving the OL a pass tonight
Your right, he has time
And we're still only down by a possession. Wow. Feels like we're down by 21
Pitt is not good
We did have extra time for this game right? I.e. an off week. I mean what the hell?
WORST HALF OF VT FOOTBALL I CAN REMEMBER
Bowl game against Rutgers would like a word with you
Within a score at half despite millions of mistakes.
I had a pint of turkey 101 to last me through the game, it's gone and I'm out of booze
I tweeted the same sentiment at TheFifthFuller earlier - my bourbon is already gone and it's not even the second half. Yet, I still want to drink even more... heavily.
It's a good thing I'm out, if I had more I'd be crying by the end of the 3rd.
...a pint of wild turkey through one half? Sheesh
What a terrible half. I will support them to the end but this years team is just not in it mentally. The youth excuse loses water 7 games in
This is absolutely ridiculous. REAL football schools fire coaches for consistent performances where they prove that they cannot CONTROL their football teams. I want to make innumerable examples of schools that would not TOLERATE being FUCKING sloppy. Do I really have to? As a leader you can do nothing but blame yourself for this performance...Frank.
Geez......VT offense is as bad as I've seen. Only Foster has kept this program relevent for past 20yrs...and Mike Vick
Analogy: Watching our offense is like playing a video game for the first time, not understanding / not being familiar with how to use the controller.
This Pittsburg "Gold Out" is killing us.
those seats in heinz field are a pretty bright shade of yellow
We better see no penalties and some semblance of a football team in the second half.
Michael Brewer is no longer my #mcm
Ugh. I fell into that trap following the Ohio State game... my friends list is not letting me forget it right now.
we're lucky we have any points. give it to Caleb and let him try to do more than anyone else has...since that's prob not going to happen lets wild turkey it and let Bucky do everything
Hey guys, just remember that we're supposed to continue to trust in Loeffler because... well, I don't really know why.
what is it about Heinz Field?
VT is always playing "ketchup."
1st Half Analysis:
Proper instructions for those of you following at home
I think I understand why ESPN hates VT. In games like these, what else can they say about VT? I mean seriously, there is only so much praise one can heap upon our "D" before they just repeat ad infinitum.
Seriously. The halftime comments but SVP and the gang were actually generous.
This vanilla boring shit isn't working. Play your game. If it's TTU short passing, do it. If it's running, do it. BE THE BETTER TEAM!
...and for Gods sake...how about a fake or double move??? We're telegraphing everything.
I didn't think we hated on Paul Chryst that badly, but looking like bad karma is killing us.
Agreed. We may have over done it.
Fire Beamer and Loeffler. Hire French, VTGuitarMan, and Joe
whitt!!!!! please read....(whiskey hiccup) please!!!!!
I'll take a one point win just to have Mark May shut up!
I'll take a win even though there is no way in hell we should get it...
This Bulleit Rye, just purchased, clearly does not contain the dork magic I was hoping for. I must journey onward
You can add Ri to that list as well...
I knew the offense would struggle this season, but even I underestimated how bad they would be. The number of dumb penalties is completely inexcusable. Just... wow.
Alright, everyone change what you're drinking, what you're wearing, and where you're sitting. That should about cover it.
Done. It was pointed out to
Me not long ago that can't tell the difference between gold and yellow. Tim touch... F....
just realized I was wearing the same shirt I wore to the ECU game. My bad everyone. The correction has been made.
Switched from my Wild Turkey 101 and Ginger Ale that I had when we played Ohio State (although I had it with coke....I have no coke here....just pepsi) for beer (Sam Adams), changed from my white (away) Captain America VT shirt (also worn for Ohio State....I've gotta keep my VT lounging shorts on though...), I should be good to go.
Just changed to my RMFW Jersey and they kicked it OOB.
EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!
If I'm a big time defensive recruit (Sweat, Settle) I'd be looking at this game shaking my head and having second thoughts when the camera keeps show Marshall after the interception shaking his head in disbelief that the offense can't move the ball 5 yards into the endzone.
This is, perhaps, the saddest part.
Truth.
I guess the good news is that we played about as bad as possible the first half, and it's still a one score game... if we can find an offense at halftime it could be a tie game by the time our D takes the field again
Microsoft paint has seen better offensive plays drawn up
Oh god. Did we hate on Chryst too well? This is our fault.
In trying so hard to be reasonable with my response.
So hard.
Watching Brian Griese be animated at halftime reminds me of Craig (the trainer) from Night at the Roxbury.
I don't know, trying to take my mind off of what just happened.
I don't want to see JCC get another snap... ever. And I know M. Brewer usually throws soft passes, compared to LT's rail guns, but it seems to me like his arm turned to jello.
We should have healed up during the bye. Looks like we rusted out.
on a positive note, pumped to see that dadi head-hunter gif
Not GIF'd yet, but this is a look of pain:
http://photos.thekeyplay.com/Virginia-Tech-Football-2014/2014-VT-vs-Pitt...
beautiful, thanks. and congrats on the mod status!
I'm hoping Marshall talks with the coaches, escorts them out of the room and then the "D" just unloads all the pent-up frustration on the "O" and demand better performance or else they will just tank on them.
Brewer hasn't looked the same since OSU...she he took all those blows to the head.
He's lost that toughness.
I'm watching on TIVO, had fire training for EBOLA, WHAT THE HELL is happening!
This is what I imagine happened between Beamer and Loeffler at halftime.
Always upvote Archer
I only hope
Btw-we shouldn't blaming JCC. He's just a kid and is trying his best when in there.
Now Shane...if he puts him in again...unemployment line.
Exactly, I respect him for trying his best, but he's just not good enough to warrant any snaps, whether at RB or kick return.
2nd half... Good start thanks to Pitt
ALL ABOARD THE CALEB TRAIN IN THE SECOND HALF! CHOO CHOO
If we run 38 more times this half, history will tell us that we will win.
Hopefully just had the wind knocked out by the ball.
Shit. Bucky. No no no no no
Please be OK Bucky, please be OK. That was epic!
Virginia tech fans are not holding our breaths. ...we're collectively sighing.
I will only complain about one thing before the end of the game - In all seriousness, why in the world have we had such a huge number of false start & illegal substitution penalties this season? It's just week after week. Undisciplined doesn't begin to describe it. The coaches, from Frank down keep promising to fix it, but it just continues.
I'm done with the complaints now.
BEST OFFENSIVE PLAY OF THE NIGHT, AND BUCKY'S DOWN.
THIS CAN'T BE LIFE.
idk, I think he just got the wind knocked out of him
Yeah, I was relieved to see him get up.
I don't know how they could overturn that call with the camera angles on TV.
Pac 12 officials from the Sugar Bowl called: They beg to differ
I am already on the edge tonight after the first half. Now you bring up old wounds . . .
It's happened before. Thankfully not this time.
Pollock just compared Bucky to Jimmy Graham
Was Jesse Palmer but yes.
They just confirmed that Danny COALE caught the ball. "It's okay if the ball touches the ground as long as he has control"
Too soon
it will always be too soon
The most frustrating thing about the offense in the 1st half is we all know they're better than that.
C'mon punch it in!
WTF is going on down there????
Caleb rest of the way
Timeout whyyyyyy
Better than having Cam try to realign and be totally confused right before the snap.
We can't line-up on the correct side of the ball?
Stick it in, Stick it in, Stick it in
Seriously, this Buick commercial is enough to drive me over the edge
Bucky is a man among boys, dude is gonna play on Sundays.
Bucky is the next Gronk - on the field. He's going to be a Pro Bowl caliber TE.
I am a fan of football, so my opinion comes from that direction. But maybe we should chill out on all the shifting pre-snap. It seems to confuse our players. At least that's how it appears on TV.
Damn.
If bucky ran that outside to the left he would have walked in.
If he wouldn't have had to lay out 6 yards it would have helped--sorry just seen that was on the run not the pass
He had a hole just closed quickly
I don't know if you guys knew this, but Notre Dame and FSU are playing this weekend.
ESPN is keeping it under wraps
For goodness sake.
-.-
God dammit.
Facemask... PI.... no flag.. The db wasn't even playing the ball... ahhhh
Is the offensive line getting worse as the season goes on?
We're gonna need a bigger boat
We should be up 17-14 right now. But we're not.
because we can't run the ball inside the 5...
laughable
Or down 2 TDs
That was close.
Fuller type play.
Thats a Fuller open field tackle
Kendall Fuller is a fucking beast.
Let's Go...
HOKIES
What is Jarrett back there fielding punts? Did I miss something?
Both he and Stroman were back, they just kicked away from Stroman.
Major craving for Hardee's....
I think you mean "major craving for hot flight attendant."
^this
Maybe Frank just decided to play it Slye this game?
How long have you been waiting to make that pun?
Oh Jesus, why did Jarret return that?
Is it just be, or is running backwards if your name isn't David Wilson a bad idea?
Can Fuller play QB or RB?
95 yd drive....or 6yds, 3nout
haha horsecollar to bring him down.... jeessussss
SMH Wang got driven straight back 10 yards there.
On the plus side, we've now got two, count 'em - TWO - backs with double digit yards gained.
I believe this 3rd down performance is called "crashing and burning to the mean"
Going to take a lot of crap at work tomorrow
:/ Chase Williams.
I just want to say that we are losing to the team that lost to AKRON at home. And I wondered why ESPN hates the ACC so much. The ACC just has no explosive offense except for a few teams.
Great defenses, but few and far between offenses.
ESPN doesn't hate the ACC, they just realize what a lot of ACC fans refuse to realize - the conference is made up of a lot of teams that are mediocre at best. That results in a lot of televised debacles like this. Trust me, if ESPN could switch away to a cricket game right now, they probably would. And I wouldn't blame them.
Torn meniscus? :\
Just so used to having Tyrod then Logan...when I don't see Brewer running with green grass in front of him I'm constantly screaming at the TV. I don't know though, feel like sometimes he should take off and run even with the little to no speed he has.
That was an ACL check by the trainer, and it did not look good.
Let's see how many times they butcher Andrew Motuapuaka's last name. Count's at 2 already.
Moatapuaka
yupp wide open middle of the field... easy qb scramble.. tick tick tick
plenty of time to manage 2 more FGs
Bad assignment football by the D. Wide open for the QB to pick up the easy first.
Running out of time and lucky breaks
Game Over Man!
I know we're not even on offense right now, but i hate or offensive line
Big spot for another freshman to have to play. When is the last time we have had this many injuries?
I have a sick gut feeling that one of Brewer's deadly errors is about to come. I don't want to jinx anything. But I feel it coming
Maybe Pitt bailed us out of his bone head play. Without a running game they can pin their ears back and come after Brewer.
woahhh delete this come on....
the law of averages demands that a fantastic play is made by Brewer. I have no idea how it applies to football, but i'm hoping it does.
Call me whatever, Bad Hokie etc....
But I think this drive is going to determine if I keep watching or go to AHS: Freak Show.
There are better uses of my precious entertainment time than this.
Ouch. Come on, it's on on demand man. Think of it as leaving Lane early down less than a TD...
I have twitter if the game becomes worth watching again.
False start, illegal shift...SMH.
Damn, Ford Mr. Fantasticed that one out of the air.
Not sure... they've been so bad through three quarters I'm kind of feeling a back against the wall baller 4th quarter gutsy win. Brewer's mistakes only come when we're pulling a chokie.
Are we playing the 85 Bears!
No, their is good but we're shooting ourselves in the foot as much as anything. We have what 3 procedure penalties , 3 or 4 false starts and a delay and had to waste 2 time outs to avoid another one.
I did get more optimistic when I saw him smiling on the sideline.
wow . . . another penalty to kill momentum.
Two! Turned a 2nd and 1 into a 2nd and 11!
Now we just burned our second timeout of the half before the 4th quarter even started.
If we played at a LOLuva spring game we'd get spooked by the crowd noise
the entire staff deserves to be fired at this point. the lack of discipline is horrific....
I've never seen anything like this in my life.
Dude are all these penalty calls legit or do the refs just want to play the game for us?
The pre-snap stuff, it's actually happening.
Facemask?! What the crap, refs?
Jesus fucking Christ. I'm done making excuses for them. I don't care how young you are, there is no reason for this many pre snap penalties. And another useless timeout.
Beamer is the worst clock manager this side of Timecop. We have 1 timeout left for the 4th quarter. I wonder if that's going to come back and bite us in the ass.
Nice -1 route
If there isn't 3 shifts per play, you know Lefty isn't the coordinator
is the coaching that bad where these penalties are so effin common?
These penalty mistakes are the kind you correct after the first week vs an inferior opponent. These kind of mistakes are inexcusable this late in the season
how was that not an illegal substitution on rogers?
If you no-huddle, it's not a penalty unless you are in formation (which he wasn't).
Ball also hadn't been put in play. Ref was still standing over the ball.
The correct answer is, Because Sam Rogers.
I think because it was out of a timeout
That's the brewer we saw in osu, taking hits but making plays
Let's keep this version of Brewer. I like him a lot.
I'm sure I'm wrong and French's reviews will prove otherwise, but is David Wang completely worthless?
He literally blocked nobody on that 3 rd down that Brewer converted by the grace of god.
mental lapse on his part... all part of the Newsome hangover...
I've been saying I'm done with the excuses for the last couple of years and get down-voted every time. Because little mistakes grow into big problems.
People don't like the truth.
Why?
We were doing fine this drive and now this . . .
4th and 2 and we line-up in shotgun and run the most obvious play call in the nation.. times like this makes me miss logan soooo much..
We're losing to Pitt in the 4th quarter. This is not the time to run trick plays.
5 yrd over thrown, who would have thunk it
Is pitts secondary spectacular and im just unaware?
Who is running this offense?
Terrible terrible play calls
Ghost of Stiney
Same one who ran Auburn's into the ground 2 years ago..........
Beat
Of course
Poor call.
Great play call Loeffler...
This. Fucking. Play calling.
Too damn cute. I like the long-ball to Cam, but the toss-back thing was a dud.
Damnit, these mistakes. Is football season over yet?
What the hell
annnd that's game
nice pick by the zebra on that one
Fuck this team right now. Just fuck em
that seems to happen everything we do something like try to go for it on 4th down. give up another big play and blow our chances.
Two plays. Holy shit.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the TV is off.... G'night all
Our defensive strategy this season
Shut em down 2nd and 3rd qtrs.
Let em run loose in the 1st and 4th.
Daggone #goacc ref screening Jarrett on that Voytik run...
... and then that happens.
Unbelievable
Game over.....we Suck.....I quit......Loffler and Brewer suck!!!!!!!!
Fuck Beamer. Fuck Loeffler.
You might want to take a few deep breaths.
We made that look easy for them.
I want to break something
I prefer punting Baxter off a bridge. To each his own.
Not to be that person, but I do believe this game is over.
i am soo sick of this shitty play calling. its the reason we're not even close to winning this game.. i would rather run the god damn ball 2 times on 3rd and 4th down than run those moronic plays.. really disgusted right now
our o-line is high school quality, our offensive coordinator is middle school quality and our qb is lost
Loeffler showed that he has some dumb ass in him. Why when something starts to work he goes away from it is beyond me. Then that 4th down play call, how freaking stupid. Even if Willie catches it he doesn't pick it up.
Because we have the RBs? I don't think so.
Does anyone else think this game is almost exactly like BC last year? Hang a little close despite being pummeled, then blow a couple plays and it's damn near impossible to come back.
We need 2 more wins to get to bowl eligibility. Who will they be? I'm not sure we get there.
We might show up for Miami next week and we might show up for UVA (just for pride, not that it even matters)
4th quarter defense strikes again
Yeah, I seriously don't get it
Welp. A promise is a promise, I'm out.
Oh that QB run really sealed it. SMH.
More of the same. Maybe next year. go Hokies.
I'll tell Jessica Lange you all said hi.
No no no no...this is not the defense's fault!
Lol whatever
The offense was controlling the clock and kept them off the field... Went for it on 4th down and within 3 plays Pitt scored... From their own territory.
Yeah that's on the defense
Team loss. 100% on all the coaches. Bud will take blame for not being prepared and being schemed. Frank will give all the credit to the other team. Lefty will say we're a couple of plays away and didn't execute (blame players).
No excuses. Everybody has injuries. Everybody has 85 sochillies. Play to your strengths.
That drive is definitely, but the fact that the game isn't 35-9 right now is also "on the defense."
If the offense does their job at all all game, that score at worst puts Pitt up again and more likely gets them to within a score.
Controlling the clock with three and outs...great strategy!
The defense is the only reason this game was even close at the half.
That said losing williams really hurt he was playing well, and some REALLY BAD assignment football started as a result, opening these giant holes in the middle of the field for their QB to run through.
Yeah I'm talking about not blaming the defense for the entire game, not that one drive.
Time for that "vocal minority" to start again.
I don't think that thinking this offense is terrible puts anyone in the minority
Goes back to the Stiney days. Frank said everyone supported him as OC. Only a "vocal minority" was against him.
Funny everyone I knew was a minority.
Sigh... and I was hoping to avoid the week in schadenfreude. This team has just looked bleh, bleh, and more bleh tonight, with some serious bad thrown in.
Pathetic.
-15 yd return. Take a damn knee. This team is just poorly coached.
I know they said this year was going to be some growing pains, but I didn't realize it was going to be this painful to watch...
Still taking the kickoff out of the end zone I see. Guess you gotta try and make something happen.
meanwhile we start inside the 10 instead of the 25.. this team is not the normal VT team I am accustomed to seeing. its soo painfull to watch.. even the commentators are saying wait til 2015...
We need to play like we are down by a lot of points or we'll run out of time.
Injuries injuries and more injuries.
no way.. our o line is middle school level. our o coordinator continues to prove that he has no idea wtf is going on and our defense can't continue to hold the offense every damn time.
twice we have gotten the ball inside the 5 and we have come away with 2 FG's.. thats some shit right there
I'm embarrassed.
It is absolutely amazing that we beat OSU.
Frank Beamer is getting out coached more often than not nowadays.
Its sad to see, but he just isn't the coach he used to be
another terrible pass by brewer in the god damn dirt.. can he not throw the ball? malleck was wide the f open and he throws it at the ground???
GAME_OVERRR it might be time for beamer to retire before his legacy gets taken to the shitter
Malleck fell down. The pass was fine.
I know its too late this year, but in two years from now when we play Pitt at Heinz again, how about we call that witch doctor, okay?
I just don't understand. Where is the team that beat OSU? I know we're banged up, but Jesus. FRUSTRATION.
they're uh....banged up? 0.o
Why the Fuck is Malleck still playing, he fucking sucks in the clutch. He fumbled and got lucky and drops passes, and why does he keep tripping himself up. Put in Bucky and Kline.
I just don't know. I don't know how to make anything better.
French if you are reading this.. Love you're write ups but just don't bother after this week, there just isn't a point anymore.
All game we are throwing to routes that are 2-3 yards short of first down. This offense is very frustrating. Really wish Marshawn were able to play. Brewer looks like a beaten down unconfident QB. Defense hasn't been bad, but still giving up huge plays.
Brewer is on his 4th or 5th game in a row of playing bad... He's just not a good qb
That said more concerning is our defense is terrible tonight
It hasn't been good in the second half, but it was good in the first half.
You know they're not throwing it force him to
This offensive line. This play calling. These penalties. Our quarterback.
I don't like Loeffler. Not one bit. (Could be a knee jerk reaction)
I was never a Leal truther in the past, but I'd like to see what he brings to the table. Brewer is just awful with the deep ball. How many missed opportunities because he's over thrown a receiver who's got his man beat? Hodges literally had to superman to bring that catch in tonight. We've got some play makers and we're not getting them the ball!
Sorry guys, my thoughts are all jumbled. I'm sober. Tomorrow mornings run I'm going to hit HARD.
/rant
Here's a neat idea...TACKLE THE FUKCING QB!!!
its embarrassing to see pitt run the ball down our throat.. our team has given up because our offense is absolute garbage loeffler needs to be held accountable and dare i say Its becoming FSU&Bowden all over againn.
haha downvote is funny, and another one.. sometimes the truth hurts its ok
this QB is chewing up Buds defense
This team lost at home to AKRON
...lost to 1-AA Younstown State in 2012 and hammered us.
I mean, I love Frank Beamer. I really do. He's one of the greatest men I know. But, guys, this has been adding continuously since 2011. It's going to get to the point where we don't even resemble Virginia Tech anymore (I'd argue that we don't tonight). I honestly think these problems are only going to pile higher and higher, unless some serious changes take place. It's just going to keep adding up to where it will take YEARS to reverse this mess. This coaching is pathetic. Michael Brewer is pathetic. Many other factors are pathetic.
..honestly, we don't even look like a middle of the pack ACC team. And that kills me.
Offense is mediocre, Defensive lineman has an interception, and special teams blocked a FG...
Looks like a Frank Beamer team to me.
STOP. TACKLING. THE. FUCKING. BALL.
Remember how we all thought we had to get an early lead so Pitt had to throw and couldn't wear down our defense pounding the rock? Yeah...
The "D" is so gassed.
They should be... They haven't been able to stop them tonight
Injuries... hurting defensive depth. Offense can't maintain a drive to let the defense rest. Not a good combination.
We suck. We weren't prepared, we aren't able to move the ball, we're taking awful penalties, etc.
At least my Cowboys are a pleasant surprise this season.
...typing that killed me a little
Being a former Marine, I'll just say this.... If our OC was a general, we would all had to take off our pants on put on skirts..... He play calls like a @itch!!!! Who the freak doesn't call play calls beyond the sticks!!! I think he may have an identity crisis.... Who are we on O? I've tried to figure this out and still cant. He needs to find an offensive identity and stick with it.... Hell that's junks so bad now it's rubbing off on the D...... Get that shyt together!!!
They look like they've given up.
I think we have an NFL stadium curse.
Have Loeffler or Searles earned their paychecks this year? No. That is what you get when you're cheap and hire someone who was just fired from another program since they're getting money from another program
The reality is VT is not an elite enough program (right now) to lure a coach away from a top 25 school (unless we want to promote a QB coach/position coach to OC). I think Loeffler has done relatively well. This season has looked better than the last IMO.
Who else would you have preferred to hire?
Thats fair; good point. My point was really that Loeffler and Searles were parts of teams that were not successful, they were fired (or part of an administration that was fired) and we snatched them right up. I like the idea of hiring people away from lower programs who have success with lesser athletes
Lefty had a ton of success previously as a QB coach at Michigan and Florida, then as an OC at temple. His one bad year at Auburn was his first year there. He was ordered to run a pro-style offense with spread players. I believe his starting QB is now a safety. As for Searles, he too had a proven record at UGA and Texas.
I'd also like to add that our only true playmakers on offense are very young. No David Wilsons or no Ryan Williams this year. Brewer might not be a heisman candidate by any stretch, but I genuinely believe he is the best QB we have right now. Our coaches know what's at state, if they thought we had a better chance of winning with another QB, that QB would be playing.
He had average success at Temple...
He Blewitt!
Very very VERY lucky.
There is not a single reason Scot Loeffler should be our OC come next season. I don't care what he's "building," the guy is so fucking awful at being consistently good. He wouldn't know a good offense is if he slept with it.
Here here!!!!!!
Here's then problem. dumping Loeffler right now isn't going to fix anything. Then all of a sudden you're dealing with the "new system" turnover crap again.
Loeffler is the horse Beamer is riding into the sunset. In having trouble envisioning a scenario where we lose Loeffler as OC without losing Beamer as HC.
That said, it might be time to start seriously working on the dreaded "succession plan."
2012: 3-9 overall with a 0-8 record in Southeastern Conference
Left(y)overs suck.
Not to say I told you so, but after the UNC game I was pointing out how poor this offense's production was against one of the worst defenses in the country and that I believed this was in no way a good offense. People were still asserting that it was a quality win against a good team that showed our improved ground game.
As fans, we cannot allow ourselves to always believe that what our team is doing is good or correct. After this game it is evident that this offense lacks any shred of discipline, has no rushing presence, and is headed by a coordinator who has no idea what he is doing. We are six games into the season and coming off a bye week. There are no more excuses. This offense is a dumpster fire. We can't let this go on one more season. Everyone except Moorehead needs to be let go and this offense needs to be restructured completely.
Call me a pessimist, but look at the footage from this game and tell me I'm wrong.
Offense play calling tonight has been terrible!!!!! I coach my little league team better than that!!!!!! Defense is wore out from being on field!!
Guys when we get to 666 comments, we should consider selling our souls to the devil in exchange for a win.
Why wait?
Edit: This was the 666th comment, so sell away
True.
I'm on board
Two TD's in 7 minutes with one timeout left? I like to think I'm an optimistic guy, but they way we have been calling plays and how gassed our defense looks, I just don't see it happening.
I understand this wasn't the year to get excited about with how young we are, but this is straight embarrassing.
How in the hell did we beat OSU?
...and our O looked so good.
OSU did not adjust to what our defense was giving them. If they had, they would have burned us for playing Cover-0 the whole night. Their lack of coaching adjustments, more than our good play, allowed us to win.
Honestly, brewer looked a lot more fluid and mobile vs Osu, which opened a lot of things up.
Now he sort of just tucks and takes the sack
We're down 12 and throwing 5 yd passes. Deep pass? Double move?
Here's the problem, I don't think Brewer can throw it deep. Remember the play to Phillips before the floodgates opened? He had single coverage and was inside his defender. A throw by an average D1 QB and that's 6, worst case he gets tackled inside the 10. Brewer threw it 10 yards over his head.
There's no reason Mark Leal shouldn't get a chance to run this team next week. Brewer is basically LT minus most of the upside.
They're throwing it 5 yards with the hopes of getting anything and having a play break open for a big gain. It's not the best strategy in the world, but it beats "have your QB who can't throw accurately deep huck 3 incompletions."
Edit: and while I was typing that he apparently threw a TD. Shows how much I know about this stupid sport.
He does seem to have about a 25 yd range, anything longer gets spotty.
Where the hell has this offense been all game? What the hell?
Hurry up offense? Maybe that was the spark?
More like actually making his reads and hitting the check downs for positive yards.
Touchdown.
Too little, too late?
There's that ohio state brewer!!!
Where the hell has this been all night? Hokies, you just want me to believe. I can't quit you.
It's like a bad relationship, man.
You stay because you know they change. Lol
That was an excellent drive. By all parties involved.
Why the hell didn't we run this O all game? Move the pocket. Down field routes.
WARNING: THIS RESPONSE IS INTENTIONALLY GLIB
All I've been told all season is that by design we want to run a lot even when it's not working to bleed the clock and keep the opposing offense off the field. This is preferable to running a hurry-up is offense despite it's relative success because we might move the ball down the field and score "too fast" which is apparently a thing....
:)
So close but still so far. Where was that drive the rest if the game??
Who are you? Oh the offense. Do you have a hot younger sister? Oh, she's injured.
Whoever sold their soul up-thread, thank you. Hopefully it is worth at least another TD without Pitt scoring again.
I'll sell my soul as well if necessary
Soul selling is this game's charitable donation
And my ulcer fires right the hell up
Seems like Loeflers offense is just too complicated for these youngsters. A rocket scientist doesn't make a better highschool physics teacher. Brewer and Co. seem more comfortable in a simplified uptempo system.
Why wait for the last minute of the game to show signs of life? Why not something novel like scoring in the beginning of the game?
This game...
#MobileQB's COMEEE ON DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!
Could really use those 2 timeouts we wasted right now
*watching the clock*
BIG PLAY
WATCHHHH PLAYYYY ACTIONNNNNNNN/ QB SWEEEEPPPP
Will this team ever be able to stop a running qb
Don't break my heart, Hokies
This times 15 years
breathe breathe breathe breathe breathe ohhh man my heart is racing
What?!
Could he be any more like Brett Favre?
Umm... I'll take Brett Favre for $500 Alex.
This drive is for the season. There is no way Georgia Tech loses two more ACC games. Lose now and lose the Coastal.
Dude, we are not winning this division one way or the other.
HA! We are playing for the music city bowl now.
Doubt we're even bowl eligible.
Glad we used those 2 timeouts earlier
Shit fuck damn it all McLaughlin. Come on man.
you're kidding right?
ahhh that was a Dadi nicholas type play for that DE.. phew ok we have 3 downs to get the 1st lets not go for it all in 1 play...
brewer is catching his own pass to move the chain.
another 2-3 seconds and that's an easy catch for bucky.... :(
No flag for the hit?
sadly that looked clean to mee... no way we get that call with the shitty refs tonight
For what?
Night folks
Season over. Can't wait for everyone to start saying "wait until 2016"
Sure is. Next year will be the same thing. Probably 2016 too.
wait until 2016
Been saying that since lefty was hired
Of course he overthrows on 4th down
Brewer is fucking awful
dude, wasn't on him alone. Penalties, coaching, O-line. Im as pissed as everyone else, but not by Brewer alone. I still like Brewer for beating anOSU. That will change depending on how he uva game goes
I hate everything.
That's the season. No chance Georgia Tech will lose enough for us to get back into the Coastal now. High likelihood this team finishes 6-6, possibly even 5-7.
Fire everyone but Moorehead, please.
We have been getting worse for 3 straight years now. Not sure if there is any denying it at this point. Sure we will get some more half assed excuse from the coaching staff.
Our only hope: seven-way tie breaker with all teams at 4-4.
That would be the most #goacc thing ever
On our last two drives it's like our offense executes 10x more efficiently when they are under pressure and winging-it. Whatever our offensive coaching strategy was during the first 95% of the game was pathetic. Can't wait to hear the coaches' excuses this week.
I still feel like we can beat every team on our schedule. That being said, I also feel like we can lose to every team on our schedule.
we can't beat a team that lost to AKRON.. freaking AKRON.. that's a MAC school.. and they have a better O-line than we do... and a better O coordinator at this point
As anti-VT-style as it is, a run-and-gun offense appears to be the only thing that works for our team (such as the last couple drives). Even though there is the higher risk of interceptions with that style we moved the ball there at the end of the game. Either the play calling is horrific or the players cannot run the coaches' offense. Why can't the coaches realize that and adjust??! So frustrating. We do the same thing over and over again with no success.
May be the answer is letting the QB call the plays instead of the OC... That drive where we scored, I get the feeling that Brewer just said "Screw this, we're scoring."
When Brewer reverts to his TTech style of play, he seems to make quicker decisions.
FIRE LOEFFLER ... that is all.. what a terrible game plan we had tonight. 2 times we had the ball within the 5 yard line and we couldn't run the ball not 1time.. wr pass on 2nd and 12...said no one ever
I can't stand the way we are losing, we are beating ourselves every damn time.. Pitt played well but we beat ourselves... There comes a time when week after week after week we come out flat and that stars up top.. It's getting sickening how flat we come out.
Really wish Beamer just punched chryst in the face there. Just walked up and Boom!!
So we are definitely losing to any team that has a decent - good rushing attack. That means we lose to BC for sure. Maybe even gasped UVa.... So bummed I said that.
You know? It might be good for us to have a losing-season under our belt.
Don't say that Hokiegal...you will get down voted!!!
Mediocre has become our norm
DAE we suck?!?!1 if we lose more games that means we must be better next season rite guise?!?!?!
No and no. Not only is it demoralizing, but the bowl season practices give our incredibly young team more time to practice. You can root against us winning if you want, there is no better draft pick to be had or anything else that is gained from a loss except frustration.
Look on the bright side, no interceptions!
Fumble, interception, it's all the same to me.
...1-2 in ACC play m
Wonder what kind of bowl game were looking at now.
I hope we beat UVA. Nothing else matters.
Go Hokies.
Looking forward to your breakdown, French.
Miami at home next week, f**k those guys.
Bowl game? I'll wonder about that if we can figure out how to win again for two games.
Teams playing like the Hokies (and Pitt for that matter) don't deserve bowl games
Sick of the excuses, sick of hearing about how great we're gonna be in the future, and most of all sick of the poor offensive performances. Pitt didn't even play well enough to win that game, that's the worst part about it. We're quickly becoming just another ACC school
We are just another ACC school.
Which is sad because tonight proved how mediocre a conference it really is. Pitt gave us multiple opportunities to win that game and we never took advantage of them. Sad really. That game reminded me a lot of the GT game, Pitt being the Hokies in that situation. Unfortunately, good teams find ways to win and bad teams do other things
it could be a good season if this is the last game the hokies lose.
Better be the last game we lose.
Soooooooooo... The Heinz Field thing... it really is a thing.
well, we have found lots of ways to lose games this year. This game simply comes down to execution and with young guys, plus your top three backs out of the game....things like this are going to happen. The thing that no one on this board or anywhere else can deny, is that VT has a future as a real top 25 team and boy, did I take that for granted.
I'll deny it. So long as we keep this offensive staff we have no future as a ranked team. We will not compete for National Championships, ACC Championships, or even Coastal Division Championships. This team will be in the pile of 7-5 or 8-4 teams of mediocrity until we make some major changes.
We just did make major changes a few years ago. I disagree.
What do you think Loeffler will be able to do? Under him our offense has actually regressed. You can't keep giving someone time in today's climate. Either we keep up with the landscape of college football, or we will fade into irrelevancy.
Wittimus. I hear you, man. I won't ask you to have faith....because you don't need faith. This team has talent all over the field and sooner or later, those young and inexperienced guys will begin paying dividends. Isiah Ford is a monster and Cam Phillips will be as good as any VT receiver you can name from the last 7 years. It's just young and/or inexperienced talent, and with that comes mixed results until the game starts to slow down for everyone.
Michael Brewer is not as good as the early and irresponsible results indicated, and that's probably why he wasn't starting at TT.
For all my positive perspective in this post, I will also admit that I wanted to choke/kill/smash/break something for the majority of the game. We executed poorly and I am not sure we can chalk all of that up to offensive coaching.
for the 100th time... not scoring a td from the 5 yardline is FCS level.. we had 0 chance of scoring due to the play calls. Why not throw it up to Hodges 3 time.. heck they might even know it but still Hodges has proven that he can make the big plays..
Or if you worry about a interception let brewer sneak behind the oline and have rogers/caleb push brewer into the endzone from behind. There are so many play calls that I can think of to get a TD and I saw 0 of them inside the 5
Is that because you saw a bunch of pre-snap penalties before the play inside the 5 even started?
the first drive we had we didn't have any penalties. We ran a wild-turkey play for a loss of three. then another run for a loss and an in completion.
How hard is it to have the online hike the ball and have brewer to throw it up? a middle school team can do that, our team can't because we have to be too god damn pretty
Not sure if it was Arnie who said it but there's a wise quote from a famous golfer (no sources, and not a quote, just believe me cause I know the game).
'lots of golf coaches teach their students to swing slowly when they start. I disagree. swing the club as hard as you can and if the student works hard enough, we'll figure out the details later'
This approach doesn't work for every student, but it works for students with real talent, and I believe that's what this team is.
Here's the thing, the young and inexperienced talent isn't the problem. They're arguably the only people in offense making plays.
The problem on offense is the experienced QB who isn't very good, the experienced OL who isn't very good, and the experienced RBs who aren't any good.
The "youth and experience" excuse doesn't pass the sniff test.
yes yes yes.... and an inexperienced O-coordinator that doesn't know what type of offense to run/call because we have such a bad o-line.
Michael Brewer is in his first year as a full-time starter. Is that experienced? I don't think so. That dude threw quite a few passes tonight and there were zero interceptions...trending down 1 INT over consecutive weeks. He didn't KILL us and near the end of the game, we had a chance to win when I thought we had no hope. As for the o-line, this is year two and COACH 2 in a new offensive system. there was 1 experienced RB on the field tonight and he played only a few snaps. That's not a recipe for success and that's not an experienced group in my opinion.
We have been making excuses like this since 1999 and it's so over-used. Stop saying this isn't perfect and that isn't perfect. You will NEVER have a perfect team so how about our coaches coach so that we can improve or hide those imperfections. That is called good coaching which, sans Bud Foster, we lack severely.
They're all juniors and seniors, the excuse train needs to stop, it's nonsense. The proof of actually inexperienced players like Ford and Hodges is a testament to that.
No more excuses, bad players need to own their bad play. Ditto for coaches.
You've pointed out exactly why this team is so frustrating to me. I love my Hokies more than anything, but knowing how talented this team is and then seeing a performance like tonight is just disheartening. We have three seniors along the O-Line and plenty of talent at all the skill positions (despite being down to our 4th and 5th string RBs, I really don't think we'll seem much of a dip as long as Caleb is getting the bulk of the carries).
The last few years have beaten me from optimism to realism (and to some degree, pessimism). Even with tempered expectations, our team will show flashes of brilliance that get us all excited only to be brought down to earth the next game.
Still, I will be in the stands next week cheering for our Hokies against Miami. Even if my faith in this team wavers, I will still go to the games out of dedication to this team. Who knows? Maybe miracles will happen and we can make it to Charlotte. I just don't want to set my sights on that and be disappointed.
That's about what I thought would happen... Just not there yet.
Can someone explain how that last vt play wasn't a PF for launching? The pitt defender had both feet off the ground going towards the chin of our receiver.
He led with his shoulder, simple as that. That's a good no-call. Can't blame the refs for such a poor overall performance by the away team. Simply put, we absolutely suck at Heinz Field
He led with his shoulder AND hit with his shoulder. Clean hit. Gotta let the boys play.
On the plus, I was willing to sell my soul tonight for a win, so I guess I'm grateful I didn't lose that.
How am I supposed to sleep now? Thanks Hokies. I'm too pissed to sleep a now I have to stay up and watch whatever until I calm down. It is painful being a Hokie fan. Of course I'll be back next week jersey and all rooting them on.
As negative as I've been on this forum I'm right there with you. It's a love hate relationship. I'll have my jersey on next week for Miami regardless. Just tough to watch. I wouldn't be pist if I watched us lose swinging. But instead we punch ourselves
I just keep adding to the glass if I can hear the ice rattle
well at least brewer didn't throw an INT
unfortunately we will hear that this week from the coaches as our only success of the week.
Ok, please stop. Life is not over. Play calling wasn't great, but look at who was playing for us during the second quarter... our team is completely depleted right now, we didn't have much chance with all the people out with injuries. Stop with the "fire Loeffler" nonsense, how on earth would that be the right move? I know there's a lot of kneejerk reaction tonight. But this is your team. This is the best time to own the failures your team, because it will make the inevitable and eventual good times that much sweeter. There may not be much to play for this season, but show up next Thursday night and scream your everloving lungs out for the team you love.
I'll show up screaming for them every week but I refuse to make any excuses for them.
There is no such thing as "inevitable" in sports.
I think us Hokies keep telling ourselves that, and that attitude has protected a lot of coaches jobs for a good while now.
Oh I'm going to cheer for them, but JC Coleman better not be on the field with the offense. Return team sure. Offense, NO!
As for the "D", nothing but love for them. Playing hurt and banged up, they still gave us a chance to win this game. We just need to recruit more players like Luther Maddey and D'Anthony Hopkins for our interior D-Line. Go Hokies! Beat Miami!
I think a lot of the knee jerk reaction for some is they don't see a lot of separation in "stats" and "performance" relative to the Stiny years.
I think a lot of what is lost in translation is Loeffler does what Frank Beamer says...ball control, safe plays, grind it out. Look no further than the UNC game.
It's also easy for folks to coach from their recliners and couches.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has made that observation concerning Loeffler and Beamer. Just pure speculation on my part, but I think part of the problem is that our OC and HC have a fundamental difference in offensive philosophy. When Loeffler deviates too far from Beamer's comfort zone, he yanks the offense back into his comfort zone. Maybe the yanking happens at bad times of the game or maybe its a hybrid approach at the beginning of the game and that leaves everyone dissatisfied...
Oh hell, I just dont know anymore what's up with our offense. But I do think it was unreasonable to expect our offense to establish the rush when our top three RBs are out for the rest of the season.
If I hear Frank Beamer say "Well, we have to give Pittsburgh credit" I will scream. No, they don't deserve credit. Someone on this freaking team needs to take credit for being awful, whether it's the coaches, the players, anyone.
Actually, PIttsburgh did some things in the run game that worked pretty well. But... yeah, playcalling was mystifying to me to say the least. Especially 1st qtr.
I hate Pittsburgh. I hate Heinz Field. I hate how much I care about a college football team winning or losing a game.
There there, Beard. We all feel your pain, my friend. Beer?
Whoa. Did not expect to come back and find my moment of darkness green'd. I'm not complaining though. Don't worry Reese, many beers were consumed in the making of that post.
Drinking time
I'm pretty certain I've contracted Ebola, because after watching this game I have begun to bleed out of my eyeballs.
Aaaaaand quarantined.
Out played & Out coached .! We cannot win a game after a bi week
It sucks for sure but let's all remember that it was without our top 3 running backs, the only 3 guys big enough to push the pile against Pitt. And Brewer isn't good enough to beat a Pitt defense without a running game.
Yes, that is 7-5 staring at us from the other side of the room. No, she's not all that pretty and we don't have to acknowledge her just yet but she's the one we are going home with. That blonde in the corner, I didn't think Paul Johnson would be taking her home either, but he sure is smiling funny right about now
we were without our top 3 rb's but we still failed to score a td from within the 5 yardline twice... TWIIIICEEEE... that FCS level of football. IDC what you have to do have brewer do a qb sneak 4 times and we score.. have bucky take the snap from center and we score.. throw the god damn ball up to a 6'8 TE in Hodges and get a PI and we get the ball at the 1. Instead we decide to crap the bed.
Where are the 3 wins?
Every team left on the schedule can beat us, and has beat us in the last 2 years save UVA
We can also beat every team left on the schedule if we have a serviceable running game, and hopefully Marshawn's return provides that. UVA is the most difficult game remaining, and the rest save Wake will not be pushovers. My guess for the 3 are Miami, Wake, and I will say until reality proves me otherwise that will will once again beat UVA.
Still, it was so ugly when we had the ball that I would not have enjoyed it all that much even if we would have won. Hard to say the team you love so much is hard to endure but it was ugly tonight.
I think it's safe to say we denied ourselves a lot of pussy touchdowns tonight!
I guess Tim Brant was right, a lot of guys do!!!
Back at it again next week for Miami. My soul hurts tonight, but I'll be rooting as hard as ever next week. Such is life in Hokie Nation these days. High highs and low lows. A few too many lows lately...
Good night. Go Hokies.
Be nice to each other.
what this dude said.. i will wear my chicago maroon and burnt orange next thursday and be ready to support the best school on the effing planet.
I just Hope Chase Williams is OK. Andrew Alphabet isn't quite there yet.
I thought Andrew looked awesome with what he got to work with. Just wish both of them would think about getting haircuts
Completely disagree on the haircuts thing...
Never been a fan of the Troy Polamalu and Mark Sanchez hairdos
My hair reaches past my belt, so... to each their own, I guess.
Couldn't have said it better. While I like his potential and his intensity, his read-and-react keys were off. He made a couple of nice plays as he has in ST and spot duty early in the season, but honestly was out of place on key plays- one of which was the final score (if I'm not mistaken). It goes to show how in tune bud is with his #squad. I remember hearing how Bud was gushing over the guy, but was worried about his inconsistency.I think everything he has said about his guys has held true. The good in all this is that is an experience/ film thing that can be fixed and allow him to play instinctively- correctly, that is. Gotta worry about the Mike spot though, with Miami looming.
Keep in mind that Bud almost never rotates guys in at mike and backer so they have very little experience when a situation like this arises.
Another bright side, Beamer has even more film to learn from!
Ouch...heartbreak yet again...does anyone ever have that terrifying thought creep in that our 10 ish year stretch of being good/really good was our "little Appalachian" schools brief glimpse at the big time, and that we are returning to the level that we were for the hundred years before and will be stuck there forever? If not, how do you keep these thoughts out? I am being very genuine in my inquiry as i am in too much pain for effective sarcasm.
Most definitely my biggest fear. For as amazing as the 90s and 00s were for us, we haven't established a name like Notre Dame, Michigan, Alabama, Florida, USC, etc. where it's always just a matter of time before they bounce back. "Powerhouse" and "Virginia Tech" aren't cemented together, and I don't think we can afford to have a bad stretch of years like those schools can. That's where the "fire Beamer" debate actually gets real... There would be no VT football without Beamer, but do you let him hang onto the reigns until the point where the Glory Years start and end with his tenure?
Parity is too strong a force in CFB to be this mediocre/bad forever. We will be good again, it will just be cyclical, as opposed to the continual goodness we enjoyed over that period.
That said, I'll take to the grave my opinion that we had a real shot at true greatness during that 10 year period had certain obvious decisions been made at the proper time(s).
I'm so drunk, I just accidentally closed the window on my 15 minute drunk rant. Long story short, I'm pissed, I'm drunk #whiskey, and i will have my whiskey glass cleaned in time for next week. #effmiami We should never have to play in Shittsburgh again. #icouldhavetakenabetterangleonthatpasstdIm300lbsandcouldhavemadetheplay. i love you guys. the key pplay is the best. q. you know whats better than winning in shittsburg tonight? A. Not being famous for a sandwich smothered in french fries. ok.. that wasnt funny.. #whiskey. i'm sorry
I think we're all drunk at this point. You go #vtsaltydogg.
Is it just me or does Brewer not play better the faster the offense goes. That's the only time we look like we have any offensive identity..... thus one hurts....... Hurts real darn bad. This isn't the pros it's college. Find something that works and do it well. AUBURN DOESN'T DO ALL THIS PRO STYLE JUNK, but they do what they do WELL. If we are better uptempo then go uptempo.... Jeesh it's not rocket science!!!!!!! That's was an offensive cluster $uck!!!!
Brewer plays better in the fast paced offense because that's what he has run all his life - at TT & in HS & probably before since he grew up in Texas where they're at the forefront of modern offenses pre-college.
Now he's come here and is having to slow it down a lot on most of the plays. It goes against his natural pace.
At least we didn't lose to Akron or someone like that although GT is close. What frustrates me is that if Conner blasts us all night....got it. He's a good running back. But voytik?? VOYTIK!! He had more rushing yards than our entire team.
Good news is we face duke Johnson next Thursday.
The main thing that went wrong tonight was Brewer. His game was off, and I think it just threw everything off.
Defense played great. Dadi and Cory Marshall were lights out. I feel so bad for those guys losing after that effort.
Wrong - the main thing that went bad tonight was the rushing game. Understandable that it did, but by having virtually ZERO rushing threat, it put far too much on Brewer as Pitt knew what we had to do to generate offense. It wasn't Brewer, it was the complete lack of a rushing attack.
I agree. Did anyone notice how well the passing lanes opened up in the 3rd? Well, that was the only quarter we tried to run the ball with any real effort. That loss is on Lefty and the OL. Hands down
Angry
This song will make you feel better I swear.
I still can't figure out why we have the slow games after bye weeks
Now that the coastal is out of our hands, we still have a shot to a bowl game. Wake is a dumpster fire so we will win that. We can beat Miami on a Thursday night in Lane Stadium. I have faith we'll be able to finish the season strong and beat LOLUVA at home.
It's officially Muck Fiami week so let's take out all of our aggression on them!
That video did make me feel a little better but if williams isn't back I don't know. They refuse to give Caleb a meaningful amount of carries. Can see us dominating in some freak fashion but also seeing us get dominated as well.
I found it humorous that when Sam Rogers ran, he was productive, yet they still called a pass play on 4th and 2 out of shotgun formation.
SMH........Frank and his mini-me look sad throwing their headsets and yellig at players they have failed to coach up
I love Frank, but coaching has been the problem for a while. We play down to our opponents too damn much.
Wait...I've seen this movie before.
Makes me respect Logan Thomas and what he did for 2 years with no running game. Brewer can't handle that kind of load and he shouldn't have to.
Logan had a far better rushing game complement than was offered Brewer tonight. It was poor, but tonight was horrible. Logan never had that little help. He didn't have a lot, but he certainly had more than what we saw tonight.
No runner tonight even reached 20 total yards. We only had 26 yards rushing total tonight, 41 if you erase Brewer's sacks. That is worse than what Logan endured. Brewer was left with an almost impossible task because of that.
EDIT - Any particular reason this was downvoted? Other than someone wanting to just be mad?
And how many attempts? Running was very poor. Didn't try to establish anything. Got down by a score and decided it was time to run once and then throw 2 yard outs the rest of the game.
22 rush attempts, 18 not counting Brewer. That's about 20 below what we consider ideal. Of course, we were getting about 1 YPC, so it's easy to see why we had to pass more often. That's not saying the right passes were attempted, it's just explaining why we had so few rush attempts - when we did try, we were horrible at it.
The problem is the time and places those carries occured. I feel a lot of those were in deep goal line situtations and in less than ideal to go situations due to snap/ formation penalty. lefty did no favors for our backs tonight and never really tried to establish a ground game. I form and pistol sets and this game is different.
BTW Lefty-when in doubt:
May I just leave this here?
Did you honestly expect the running game to just chug along with 1,2, & 3 TBs out? The running game complaints following this game are baffling to me.
Brewer still has so much more talent around him than Logan had. I'm not blaming this one on Brewer in any way, but Logan had no help for 2 years. Sure he made mistakes, but he was 70% of the offense for 2 whole seasons.
But this game, Brewer had no RBs, that was what I said above, and you know that's true. When healthy, McKenzie & Marshawn are indeed much better than what we've seen from the past two years. But they were absent this game. So - this game, Brewer had nothing from the rushing game, whereas Logan always had a little something. Again, like I repeated above - not a lot, but more than this game.
what makes you think Caleb/Brewer can't score from 5 yards out RB/QB draw 4 times??? Again another game where we have the chance to score and we get too cute and end up kicking a 30 yard FG when we stared the drive at the 5.
LOL
The penalties hurt us as much or more than the playcalling did inside the red zone. The playcalling was 'odd', to say the least, but the penalties not only gave us negative yardage but forced us to try something other than running up the middle.
so then even more reason to try and throw a fade to a 6'8 TE or the 6'6TE.. we didn't throw the ball in the endzone once... whats the worst that will happen?? an incomplete pass.. or maybe a PI and we get it at the 1.. I mean it seems easy to say but when you look at what Sl called its obvious he has 0 idea what to call.
I'm not arguing the playcalling. I'm not defending it, I'm not even going to review it, because my only point above was that the penalties continue to kill drives for us. Until those are stopped, the rest will always be hampered. The penalties are just inexcusable, because they hurt us in multiple ways. That's all I'm saying.
PS miami is better than Pitt and has just as good of RB and O-line...
PPS we played with our 4th and 5th string and tailbacks and played the most physical, smash mouth team in the ACC with an undersized front everything in the 9th Circle of Hell for Hokies.
We play Miami in Lane on the 23rd. Start drinking.
Our first 3 RBs had success because we had holes because we ran a downhill run game for them. We could have done the same with Caleb, Rogers or even Coleman but we didn't and the offense struggled because of it. Look at the games we ran a lot, we win EVEN when the YPC were not great.
Our first 3 RBs didn't turn the ball over and had an O-Line that didn't wait until the start of the 2nd half to start getting a push off the ball, I'll give you that. JC is 5'7" and we know what he is and is not. The clock ran out on Caleb and Rogers in the 2nd half, such that their plays had come and gone in the 1st half with no help. You cannot reasonably expect us to attempt the same number of runs with a desecrated backfield, predicated on power. We win games where our undersized front is not playing a DE with the ball in his hands who is bigger and faster than they are and playing with a purpose. Voytik was put in a position to exploit Bud's defense and thus the stats state.
The Defense had weaknesses exploited and the offensive style of play practiced and coached was not implemented, circumstantially. The odds of a win going into the 4th quarter were slim to be gracious, and many in the know saw these mismatches coming, which speaks passively to Chryst's gameplan.
I'm not sure if you did, but I don't know how you saw Tech winning handily with the injuries this team has faced.
I'm sorry but I don't see us having the RBs to implement that kind of offense right now. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your comment, but you're suggesting that we hang our hat as a rushing team even though we are without our top 3 RBs and we have an O-line that could only open holes for them some of the times when we did have those three RBs? If that is your comment, then I have to disagree with your opinion.
I think we all want VT to have an awesome rushing attack, but we currently do not have the personnel to properly execute that style of offense.
I actually have a pretty good feeling for that game tho. The Hokies don't get excited to play Pitt, everyone gets pumped to play Miami at home, especially on a Thursday in late October. Hindsight is 20/20 (or 50/50 according to Cam Newton), but I never felt good about tonight. I feel great about playing Miami next week. Not sure why, but I just think next week Tech is gonna make a lot of noise against a team they flat out hate
I can't even.....................................................................................FUCK........................................................................I got nothin'.
Oh shit Batman! My 90's senses are tingling!
I think there are two heads on offensive thought at the moment. The "run, run, run" and the "up tempo downfield" trains of thought are polar opposites and what I see is a team doing only one and failing at it and switching to the other when it does, a lot of times to success. It makes me wonder if we are game planning for the opponent we are playing or planning for the type of offense we want to establish on that week. It also makes me wonder if there is some dissent between Lefty and Beamer on what the offense should be doing. My feeling is Lefty wants the up tempo while Beamer reverts back to Run when things are not going smoothly.
I've seen comments from coaches about telling Lefty to run the ball. And I've seen comments all over TKP wishing for both. But really we just need to be one thing. The problem with Stinespring is that his offense was nothing. A simplistic mix of things that had no identity, and that's what I see now. No identity and no commitment to be an identity.
Personally, I like the up tempo. We don't need to be completely spread out, but I like up tempo offenses that move the ball. That's just me. Others like run first, and that is fine too. But be something.
As tough as this season is, what gives me constant relief is hearing commentators say one thing every game: they have freshman playmakers all over the field.
yeah, we lost and it sucks, but we are heavy on injuries and laden with young explosive talent. If you thought this season was going to be championship time then yeah, this season really sucks. But logic dictates that this year is experience building. We have a new offense, a new defense and freshman starters all over the place. Sometimes to make a giant leap forward you take a step back. I see the giant step forward in these underclassmen. I see rings and playoffs, but.... I REALLY want us to establish our identity. Learn it now, so we can exploit it later.
You can run the ball in a tempo offense. Oregon is one of the best rushing teams in the country.
The people who want us to "run first" want us to line up in power formations and "impose our will" on the opponent even though the OL is a dumpster fire who can't do that, and the non-injured RBs we have left can't either.
haha soo true our o-line is high school level.. our 4th rb can't hold onto the ball and our 5th rb doesn't get a chance to play... our qb has to be the magical houdini every week and our defense can only help so much..
clarification, the "power run" was implied in "run, run, run". my point still stands
Tempo clearly matters with Brewer as well. He's a much better QB when he gets in rhythm. The fits and starts and lulls between plays seem to kill his momentum.
Im not a real superstitious kind of guy, but maybe I messed up the teams mojo tonight when I misfired a poopie diaper into the trash can at lunchtime. I always make that shot! I shoulda known something was in the air...(and the carpet)
better option is to just stop wearing diapers, you seem too old for them
The running game looked like shit because Leoffler wouldn't commit to it. We tried to run every now and then out of the gun. RUN SOME POWER FUCKING FOOTBALL FOR FUCKS SAKE. It is infuriating to watch us not even try to establish a running game. When we have committed to it, we have had success. An incompletion on first down, a east-west run on 2nd down and we are in 3rd and 10. We were 10th in the country in 3rd down conversion because we had been getting to 3rd and short because we were running the ball.
Also we are thin on the DL so we needed to control the ball and eat up some time to rest our defense and the results of our tired DL showed in the 2nd half.
Not 1 fade to bucky when we were down near the endzone? WTF are you thinking Leoffler? JFC this game drove me mad.
The running game looked bad because we had 3rd & 4th string RBs running the ball. It wasn't because of a lack of commitment, because it was horrible from the first rushing play through the entire game. If we had a decent RB to carry the ball, then it might have been a different story. As it was, we got a reminder why Coleman & Caleb were buried so deep on the bench.
We never put them in a chance to succeed! Caleb is a good back. He hits the hole harder than any other back we have. He was never given the chance to. Any RB can run through a hole and the OL makes holes when we line up and run it at them. It has been a theme all year but we haven't committed to doing it much. We kept running east and west tonight and Shai and Marshawn all struggled doing that. Rogers had success running right up the middle tonight. He was going for 5-10 yards at a time doing it.
It doesn't matter that our RBs were hurt, that is just an excuse.
He hits the hole harder than Marshawn or Shai? I doubt it.
He plays faster. He plants a foot and goes to a hole. Marshawn struggled with that a lot especially on stretch plays.
I concur. I missed the first half while at scouts tonight, but Caleb looked quick and decisive when he did get a chance to run.
Even when we had Shai, Marshawn and Trey our O-line never consistently opened holes for them to run through.
I'm just shaking my head because so many fans keep making this statement. Maybe I'm missing something, but we only have Coleman, Caleb and Rogers with an iffy O-line that really only seems capable of pass protection most of the time.
Look at the film from the games where we lined up in power sets and ran the ball. They had some nice holes to run though. We haven't opened up holes on the outside zone all season and it has failed all season. Watch the 2nd half against WMU, watch against UNC when we decided to pound it. The holes are there.
hahaha what a typical response.. THROWWW UPPP IN MY MOUTH.. No way Saban, Miles or any of the top coaches say something like this after an embarrassing loss.
We made a lot of plays on the second to last drive but that's about it. How many points off of turnovers?? 3?? Embarrassing. Voytik running all over us?? Embarrassing.
Yo dawg. I heard they're still taking applications for the last bandwagon to Tuscaloosa. I sure hope you're drunk like I am.
Well with Beamers comments like that we will continuously lose to bad teams. Two weeks ago loeffler took some credit for a bad game, it was refreshing to hear. Oh look We flat out played tuuurible and this is after a bye week.
We're a mediocre coastal team now, and yeah I'm not asking for Beamer to throw a fit. But whatever he/the rest of the coaching staff is saying isn't working because this was a carbon copy to the GT game.
Frank has been giving "coach speak" answers to post game interviews for like 28 years now, regardless of the outcome of the game. I'm not sure why you would expect anything different tonight.
I hope yall never do this but if you ever go to the bar to watch a game never leave your people alone after you left. Fuck people who do that
I don't know how to embed YouTube videos #budlight so here is the only thing that can bring joy to my life right now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo2wFptAX3k
One quick note and then I'm out: give Sam Rogers the darn ball. He is one of few on our offense who truly values possession and just flat out gets it. Quit screwing around with Coleman and Newsome, give the big fella the rock. We're a power run type of team so there's no reason to try to get cute. Thought there were several times on the goal line we could have just gone no-huddle and let Rogers stomp over defenders. Instead, we burned timeouts, jumped offsides, and let the defense get set instead of just plowing ahead. The one thing I really miss about Logan was how we just knew he could get to the sticks when he needed to. The same goes for Rogers: he is our third down back (or should be). Even when Williams returns, I would give the ball to Sam on 3rd and short every time, until it stops working
and fix the fucking penalties please
last thought..
Pitt has to play GT, Duke, UNC , Miami and Syracuse... could there be 2 more losses. UNC and Duke
GT has to play- UNC, Pitt UVA, NC State and Clemson.... Def 1-2 more loss there UNC, Clemson, NC State?
soo if for some crazy way we win out there is still a slight chance we can do this.. slim chance but possible
A lot of people forget 2008 when: our QB situation started out a mess since Tyrod was supposed to redshirt that year, again; we started a lot of young bodies (couple of breakout freshmen playmakers in Danny Coale and Jarrett Boykin anyone?); and we definitely lost some games we shouldn't have, including one due to unfortunate injuries - our top 2 QBs went down against FSU. We went 5-3 in conference that year.
That also happened to be the year that Tech recorded its only BCS bowl victory (for some strange reason I can't find official records of our Sugar Bowl victory...). By all means, hold the team accountable for bad execution/playcalling/whatever went wrong tonight. But the season isn't a loss yet; anything can still happen.
Here's my thinking for the rest of the season... two paths:
1) This team continues to mystify us, with poor playcalling, baffling lapses in execution, and just crummy play. At this point I think we need to honestly and thoroughly consider coaching change(s)
2) This team improves throughout the remainder of the year, with improved execution, fewer penalties, living up to talent, etc. At this point I am disappointed with how the year went, but I would be hopeful/excited for next year.
Which is it going to be?
As for the penalties - we're 7 games into the regular season. It's obvious now that we're not getting better about them, since we had 7+ false starts called on us tonight. So we're just going to have to accept that the entire coaching staff is unable to teach the players how to stop doing that. From Frank on down, the coaches are responsible for instilling the discipline into the players to not do that. Even HS teams don't have that many.
As for the other, I don't want to complain about that, it would take all night, so I'll just avoid it.
I dont think we can honsetly expect anything but option 1.
People said the same thing after ECU, and then after GT, and now after Pitt. We are not mentally tough to fight back from getting punched in the mouth and appear not to have the skills developed enough to fall back on that when up against it yet.
I don't think I said anything about my expectations for which option it will be, just that it's the only two paths I see that could possibly unfold.
I didnt say you were implying one or the other- or at least didnt intend too!
Just observing that we have faced several large crossroads already this year and have consistently chosen the path away from relevance. Beamer was right in saying tOSU win wont mean much if we cant build on it, we are past half way and havent built anything. It stands to go down just like 03 Miami, fun to watch but slightly lessened by not using it to go on to greater things that season.
The last time we lost to a team 21-16, we won our remaining regular season games. Just as history played its part tonight, perhaps it'll play a little more.
The sky is falling, the sky is falling. Oh wait, no unfortunately we just the same team we have been all year.
Yet again, the opposing team has generated points off a Virginia Tech Turnover (why do we let Coleman touch the ball, again?) Congratz to Brewer, thanks to a penalty, he has completed his first game without throwing an interception.
The penalties have killed all momentum in how many games now? Are we leading the Country in penalties per game, we must be leading in pre-snap penalties. This is a coaching issue at this point.
Welcome to the new world! We aren't very good!
See yall in the gummy bear bowl...just wait till 2050 we got it then
OK I'm over it...back to CNN's continuous coverage of Ebola!
I typed something about working at the NIH campus and then I couldn't figure out how to delete it. So here's my edited comment.
Obama did it, Bush did it, Clinton did it, Bush did it, Reagan did it, Carter did it, Ford did it, Nixon preserved his head.
Well, I realized I left my debit card at the bar. Fortunately got it back, otherwise this night would have been much, much worse.
That's better than getting it back realizing you spent almost 100 bucks drinking the irrationally that is 2014 Virginia Tech Football away.
They looked like those 1970's teams against teams they weren't supposed to beat. Gave a good fight but were never really in it - except in this case they left most of the fight in Blacksburg.
There are a lot of injuries, but my gosh, this team needs an attitude adjustment, Beamer. All game plans must necessarily be come out storming.
Loeffler is a glorified Brian Stinespring
I still think the defense played as well as you can possibly ask of them. Don't know TOP, but without Bud's group we would have been down 21-0 early, similar to ECU. Not saying our defense played great, especially in the 2nd half where we got run all over by two RBs essentially in Voytik and Conner, but their playcalling gave us chance after chance to get back in it. Couldn't believe Pitt threw the ball twice within 5 minutes to play, much less the third down that was close to 2 minutes left. A good offense would have found a way to win the game with the opportunities we were given, and again there were more than plenty to take advantage of. And not to sound like a sore loser, but you can have Voytik. I would take Brewer over him honestly. He's a great runner but a pretty bad QB
Now that I am sobered up, what the hell is with the formation and substitution penalties? Those have killed us every drive every game this year.
Every game since Ohio State.