Inspired by this thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/CFB/comments/33fbga/who_is_the_best_qb_wr_rb_and...
I wanted all of your fine opinions on who thebest Offensive skill players VT has ever gone up against, either based on their college careers or Pro.
My thoughts were
QB: Rodgers in 2003 or Leinert in 2004
RB: Reggie Bush or Mark Ingram
WR: Andre or Calvin Johnson.
Forums:
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Comments
QB MV7
RB RMFW or KJ
WR Andre Davis
Ya know during the spring games
At first I thought you didn't get it.
But you do... you do.
QB: peyton manning
RB: edgerrin james
WR: calvin johnson
When did we play tennessee with Peyton?
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/stats/showstats.html?5892
Yeesh, after looking at that stat line, I wanna go with bar1990. Peyton Manning at Tennessee? We never played Manning while he was at Tennessee. Nope.
Related:
I heard a rumor that the night before one of the times we played Cutcliffe at Duke (maybe his first) Peyton called him up and rattled off every blitz that Foster ran on him in that game.
and it still didn't help
QB - Brett Favre
WR - Larry Fitzgerald
RB - Reggie Bush
Agree with Fitzgerald. He ate the Hokies lunch on at least 2 occasions I remember. Gotta go with Luck at QB he was very sharp and their battering ram running game took over in the second half. RB - Edgerrin James
QB - Matt Ryan (Man I hate that guy)
RB - Reggie Bush (Wait. according to the NCAA we never played him)
WR - Peter Warrick (SO DAMN FAST)
I like this list. Ryan carried that team to a victory.
QB: McNabb?
RB: 3 headed beast at Miami- Frank Gore, Clinton Portis, and Willis McGahee. Ingram ain't nothing
WR: Larry Fitzgerald or Johnson or Santana Moss?
I forgot Phillip Rivers is decent...
I was going to say McNabb. That game he beat us where he and Vick basically switched off running the field scoring touchdowns, gunslinging the whole way, evading sacks and tackles. Damn impressive.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Vick and McNabb didn't play against each other in college....McNabb left after the 1998 season, Vick didn't start until 1999.
also, we never lost to Syracuse during Vick's years
I went to that Syracuse ass-whippin in 1999 as a 6 year old. 62-0!!! I remember it clear as day. Still, to this day, one of my fondest Hokie memories.
GOOD GOD "6 YEARS OLD"!!!! How the hell did I get so damn old. No no you lie!!! I will not be slapped with oldism yet and certainly not from the likes of you.
That was my first game at Lane...needless to say, I was hooked after that.
I was there as well at that cold, cold game. Thing is, we were really worried about that one so it was all the sweeter for all the trepidation. Also one of my fondest home game moments.
Definitely was one of Kirk's greatest hits lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouyff8wc3Vo
Shit, you're right. that was Clark wasn't it? damn... thanks for the correction
For a second I thought maybe you were thinking of the shootout at the Carrier Dome where Bryan Randall broke just about every single game passing record at Tech in the loss.
Hmmm.. I think you're confusing Donovan McNabb with Troy Nunes and confusing Michael Vick with Bryan Randall.
McNabb was great, even when we won.
IIRC Bud's unit absolutely p*wnd McNabb's azz when Cuse came to Lane in 97'.
Yep. If I recall correctly myself, we split the four years with 'Cuse during McNabb's tenure. We beat 'em at our house, they beat us at the dome.
QB- Matt Schaub
RB- Tiki Barber
WR- Herman Moore
PFFF.....yea right
Matt Shaub may be the best quarterback that we ever played, he was actually able to claim a commonwealth cup at Charlottesville CC.
/sarcastica
How has Andrew Luck not been mentioned yet? He played um, pretty well against us I suppose one could say
I would say so.
Stanford Passing
C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT QBR
A. Luck 18/23 287 12.5 4 1 87.7
...I still think the outcome would've been different if hosley holds on to that int which would've been a pick 6
How? The offense wasn't doing shit. Stiney was still OC. It was like almost every possession in the 2nd half was a 3 & out (Stiney's signature scheme besides the bubble screen).
It's a momentum thing. I think (could be wrong) they scored that drive. So that's a net 14 point swing. Now Stanford is playing from behind, and we're playing with the lead. I think everyone plays/calls plays better if we have that lead.
Not saying it's a guaranteed win, but that play had the potential to be game changing.
Nope. That wasn't the play they scored. That missed INT "pick 6" was in the 2nd half. Even if Hoseley took it to the house there's no way the team would have sustained or built upon whatever momentum it caused. No, the momentum would've been minimal at best. Stiney's units would've gone 3 and out again. That's the inevitability of his game management. I'd say the max would be 1 more TD and a FG. But that's it. Plus, that was a down year for Foster's unit.
yeah Stanford kept sending both interior linebackers on a blitz and we could not for the life of us pick it up, I counted the blitz i think 9 times that game 5 of which resulted in a sack, the other 4 resulted in a hurry/incomplete pass as a result
That the first time I ever saw the team flat out give up. Hard to watch.
Was that before or after the season opening game at LSU? That was the first time I remember VT giving up, honestly
For me it was the Orange Bowl vs Nebraska. The 2nd time was against UNC in the Gator Bowl.
I still think that LSU got ahold of our playbook before that game. They knew everything we were going to do, on both offense and defense.
We didn't give up.... we wasted Tyrod's red shirt which eventually cost us having him in 2011 for what could have been a magical season.
He played flawlessly, but I don't think he dominated or took over the game. Their run game is what dominated us. I still remember their oline toying with our dline at the end of the game by moving around formations for fun.
Because he's not as good as, say, Peyton Manning, Brett Farve, or Aaron Rogers (and arguably Donovan McNabb)?
Yet.
I'll take that bet.
He beat Peyton in Denver to get to the AFC Championship game THIS year
I didn't even realize Tech played against Favre. When was that!? Also, are you referring to college Favre/Manning/McNabb vs college Luck or pro Favre/Manning/McNabb vs college Luck?
The original question was who was the best QB to play against VT -- either based on the pro or college career (which makes little sense to me...how can someone be the best based on their college career? But nonetheless that was the question). Not who played the best game against VT, not who was good in college and the pros, etc.
So to me what they did in college is a moot point. Saying you were a great player because you were great in college to me is like saying you were a great baseball player because you were great at AAA ball.
As a pro, Luck is very good, but I wouldn't go sculpting his bust for Canton just yet. At present, he's arguably closer to Matt Ryan and Matt Stafford (who both also played against VT) than to Manning, Farve, and Rogers.
Tech played Southern Miss when Farve was QB there.
No way, Luck is incredible. Name a RB, defensive player, etc for the Colts and he is still making the playoffs. He does more with less than anybody playing right now. Stafford and Ryan have two of the best WRs in the game and can't make the playoffs, Ryan did once or twice, in twice as many years as Luck
He's making the playoffs... but it's not like the division they play in is exactly tough. Not saying he isn't a good player, but he's not the miracle worker ESPN makes him out to be.
A couple of those years they won 10 games or more. Yes their division is a little soft but the Texans have JJ Watt Andre Johnson, etc and were picked to break out, and Fisher at Tenn is a very good coach with a poor GM. It's still the NFL and making the playoffs ain't easy regardless
And the Texans had Matt Schuab self-destruct spectacularly, and haven't had a QB since.
They made the AFC championship game and beat Peyton in Denver this year. He has made the playoffs every year and was one win away from the Super Bowl.
Luck was drafted in 2012. Fisher's last season as coach of the Titans was 2010.
And yes, making the playoffs is easy when the other three teams in your division are the Titans, Jaguars, and Texans.
Since 2012, when Luck was drafted the Titans have gone 6-10, 7-9, and 2-14. The Jaguars have gone a putrid 2-14, 4-12, and 3-13. The Texans have gone 12-4 (franchise best and won the division), 2-14, and 9-7 (missed the playoffs due to tie-breakers). Not exactly a murderers row.
True. But Luck has beaten other playoff teams in the playoffs. Not like he was 1 and done even year.
If you're going by overall careers, including their Pro-careers then I'd have to go with:
QB: Aaron Rodgers
RB: Miami's backs of the early 00's, probably Edgerrin James if I had to choose one.
WR: Calvin Johnson
If you're only going by their performances against Tech, then I'd go with:
QB: Yes, Aaron Rodgers again. He passed for a mile on us.
RB: Gio Bernard, never seen a back run over a Bud Foster defense like that....EVER.
WR: Peter Warrick in the National Championship Game '00.
Duke Johnson in 2014 would still be running free against VT if the game didn't have a set time limit.
Duke Johnson is still running - he just ran past me down I-95 in Philly...
QB - Peyton Manning
RB - Ricky Williams
WR - Calvin Johnson
TE - Jimmy Graham
Shockey was better than Graham in college at least. Graham only played college ball a year or so right?
One year. Shockey was terrific. Graham was such a novice you can't compare the two.
QB: Aaron Rodgers (so many yards...)
RB: Willis McGahee (unstoppable pre injury), Reggie Bush (slightly more dynamic than Duke Johnson)
TE: Dwayne Allen (would pick Winslow or Graham if they did anything against us)
WR: Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald
Calvin was amazing, but had Reggie Ball throwing to him, imagine if he had a capable QB who could use his skillset (yikes). Larry Fitzgerable haunted my nightmares for awhile, we had games where we had what seemed like 2 guys on him with another guy shadowing him deep and he always could get to his spots and come down with it. It was like being buried head deep in sand and waiting for the inevitable tide to roll in. Slow and predictably painful.
QB: Luck
RB: Ingram (Bush didn't really do all that much damage to us that I recall)
WR: Warrick
Bush had 258 total yards (12+ yards per touch) including 127 receiving yards and 3 TDs. He single-handedly won the game for them, especially once Adibi got hurt and Brandon Manning was trying to cover him.
No, that ref that threw an offensive pass interference on Josh Hyman won that game for USC. Im still salty over that call/game....
Only it happened in the 3rd quarter. Xavier Adibi ripping his bicep won that game for them.
I dunno. It just didn't feel like it to me.
QB: Luck. Any other QB, our defense would have eaten alive that game. He made some throws that should have been pick 6's that went for big gains.
RB: McGahee. May or may not have been the most talented back we played against. Hard to compare him especially post injury, but man did I hate him that afternoon in 2002. He was on another level.
WR: I think Fitzgerald killed us more than any other WR I can think of. We let Calvin Johnson have some moments one game, but we did have games where we shut him down pretty well. We shut down Sammy Watkins once in a loss as well. Fitzgerald killed us every time we played them and I dont think we beat Pitt anytime while he was there. And he was most of the reason.
And for a TE I'd go with Shockey, he was a problem.
I remember the 2002 night game @ VT. Fitz looked like a Pro Bowl NFL player at that time. D-Hall had no chance.
My attention to VT football started in 2000, so I've probably missed some, but:
QB? Luck, Rogers, or Matt Ryan. I think Luck was the best player, Rogers had the best day, and Ryan was the most hateable
RB? I can't recall a game where I was more impressed with someone than Roy Upchurch, who we could not stop
WR? Fitzgerald or CJohnson
What the hell ever happened to Roy Upchurch? Other than being chased down from behind and stripped by Cody Grimm, which I mean isn't too bad considering Cody forced fumbles every other snap. I remember thinking that dude had the potential to be a better version of Brandon Jacobs.
I don't know, but I do remember him running over Cody Grimm, pummeling him straight into the ground. As that game wore on, he was unstoppable.
I always say that dude gave me nightmares.
If you said Larry Fitzgerald, you remember how frustrating that game was to watch.
Ronyell did not have a good outing that night
still pissed about that game. He gave the 15 yd unsportsman like AFTER we had stopped them on like a 3rd and 8 around midfield. I believe the next play was a corner route the fitzgerald against ronyell in the endzone. 6 points. Thanks ronyell. Pretty sure he had some other 15yd penalties agaisnt FSU in the gator bowl one year.
Im glad someone else remembers that well. Everybody on the message boards seems to praise Ronyell Whitaker, but he isnt even a top 10 DB for us since 2000. He made mistakes that cost us games, not in his play as much as after the whistle.
That loss to Pittsburgh was especially hard to take because it was so avoidable. Whitaker shouldnt have played another down.
I'm pretty sure I, and others, have talked about Ronyell's antics here before. He was the king of extracurricular activities on the field.
And to top it off, that might have been one of the coldest games, outside of the 2008 Duke game, ever played in Lane. It was cold, it was windy, and it was miserable. Yuck
Fitzgerald hurt us, but Peter Warrick absolutely murdered us in the fourth quarter of the biggest game in VT history. I can still hear the chants of the FSU punks, er, students, around us...Pee-terrr Warrr-rick, over and over and...
Somebody at the Rivermill that night had a shirt on that said, "Warrick stole my shirt."
QB - Andrew Luck
RB - Duke Johnson
WR - Calvin Johnson
Is this best collegiate performance against VT (or most memorable), or the best NFL player that VT crossed paths with in college?
Best performance against us? Aaron Rodgers... We threw everything and the kitchen sink at Cal and he single handedly kept countering every single one of our scores against a really, really good defense. There have been other performances that were impressive in their own right (Warrick taking over the title game, Duke Johnson last year, Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson) but that was the only game where I came away from it just simply impressed with what I saw.
We didn't have a good defense at all that year. We had some good defensive players. The last two games before that bowl game we lost we got shredded by the quarterback of some French girls school from somewhere ne of us and gave up 200 yards rushing to the slow, fat quarterback from Temple. Factor in letting Quincy Wilson from the cousins rush for about a mile against us when we played them if day it's not a surprise Rogers killed us.
Yep, VT was ranked 65th in total defense that year.
THANK YOU! Omg, plus Foster was still doing his 4-4 thing and hadn't been used to scheming against west coast offenses (he started making adjustments after that very game that you could when we played against USCw).
We had a lot of great defensive players. Unfortunately most were redshirting. Adibi-Hall-Ellis-Powell-Booker, etc.
QB: Rodgers
RB: McGahee
WR: Fitzgerald/Antonio Bryant - Those Pitt receivers were awesome
This would have been my list.
I know it's hard to argue with Peyton, but Rodgers tore us apart unlike any QB we've ever played.
Yeah, the guy was literally giggling while playing against us.
Rodgers or McNabb are the QBs, no doubt.
RB: McGahee
WR: Fitzgerald or Johnson were spectacular, but for one day it was Javon Walker. God that was awful to watch.
and Shockey at TE
What about Heath Miller at TE? Seemed upstoppable
Heath Miller would be my number 2 TE, Thomas Jones the #2 RB
How about star players that Bud Shutdown?:
My list, without doing too much research.
QB: Matt Stafford
RB: CJ Spiller
WR: Amari Cooper
This deserves its own thread
You could go ahead and throw in the entire "thunder-and-lightning" backfield.
Was at that Clemson game in Death Valley. I would stand up and say (very audibly) to my wife "Was that Thunder-or-lightning that just got bottled up for a 4 yard loss? Its tough to tell from these seats.". I was able to say this A LOT during the game, Clemson fans remained unamused.
And then in 2007....http://www.hokiesports.com/football/stats/showstats.html?6038
QB: Kenny Kelly (*not a star but fun to watch)
RB: Shaun Alexander, for sure.
WR: Cooper is a good call
Remember that Stafford was a true freshman at the time.
Russell Wilson, CJ Spiller, Eric Berry.
Forgot about the Russell Wilson game. Pretty sure that's the last time he's lost by more than a TD.
CJ Spiller? One year he and Davis put together had negative yards rushing. I can't remember Spiller doing much ever against VT? Edit: sorry totally misread that!
Julio jones was completely shut down by us too!
We lost the 2004 Sugar bowl to an undefeated Auburn team that had Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown and Jason Campbell. All were drafted in the first round of the 2005 draft, Brown 2nd overall.
First time that year the Auburn combo didn't get 100 yds. We lost 16-13 and missed 3 field goals; Ugh.
Lest we also forget that in that game Jesse "bricks for hands" Allen dropped a wide open 4th and goal play action sell out gem, early in the 2nd quarter. I think this play set us back the next 5 years in any sort of 4th and short situation when it came to Beamer's decision making.
Randall put it right in his breadbasket.
It was slightly behind Allen. he should have caught I but it was behind hi a bit.
QB: Rodgers
RB: Tie between Duke Johnson and Gio Bernard (We couldn't stop either)
WR: Fitzgerald and Megatron. Warrick is a distant followup. But honestly, Bud and the Hokies have a played a lot of NFL bound Pro-Bowl receivers over the last twenty years.
I totally forgot about Giovanni Bernard. I said Roy Upchurch upthread, but I should replace that with Bernard.
What about the kid from Wake in 2010? We won the game pretty handily but he was shredding the D left and right.
Josh Harris, 20 carries for 241 yards and 2 tds. He's with the Steelers now.
On a side note, man that front seven was bad against the run. Outside of Bruce Taylor, that is.
I think the initial post was pretty good.
QB: Rodgers in 2003 or Luck
RB: Reggie Bush ----- THIS. He absolutely destroyed us. PI was total BS, but still destroyed us. Worst part was that we knew he was that good, but couldn't stop him.
WR: Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, Peter Warwick or possibly Antonio Bryant. We knew we had to stop all of these guys and never could. I still remember CJ out-manning our DBs repeatedly. Without Warwick, we would have beaten 'Noles.
Bryant owned us at Pitt and was an All-American and Biletnikoff winner (he was the pre-Fitz Fitz). This was back when Pitt always gave us trouble..oh wait.
Shocked nobody else mentioned Javon Walker. I guess that is a suppressed memory for most of us. 195 receiving yards on four catches... ugh.
When I think if dominant receivers against Virginia tech, my mind always goes back to Bryant & Fitz. I know they were two completely different players - but in a way, it felt like one guy playing us 5 straight years and just flat out owning us.
1999 Bryant 13 rec, 215 yds, 1 TD
2000 Bryant 9 rec, 127 yds, 3 TDs
2001 Bryant 5 rec, 93 yds, 2 TDs
2002 Fitz 5 rec, 105 yds, 3 TDs
2003 Fitz 8 rec, 108, 1 TD
yep... as good as Fitzgerald was, Bryant may have been better head to head vs VT.
Nobody gave Bud more problems annually than Walt Harris. His decent in the coaching ranks stunned me.
QB Jim Kelley had a pretty good career, college and pro. Think we broke his collar bone in Lane about 1983 or so (too lazy to look it up).
QB: .Peyton Manning
RB: Edgerine James or Reggie Bush
WR: Calvin Johnson
DB: If DB is short for Douche Bag, then entire UVa squad every year. In all seriousness, Sean Taylor was a damned good safety.
I really don't understand everybody's love for McNabb...maybe from a college career standpoint, but not pro-career.
McNabb had our number in the Carrier dome. A last-minute cross-the-field dagger in the first meeting, then out-duels Randall in an epic score-fest the second time.
Randall set the Big East record for passing yds (over 500!) and Wilford had about 250 yds receiving (which might also still be a Big East record) and the Hokies still lost.
Al Clark not Randall.
One thing that was always overlooked in Philly, ESPN, and Super Bowl history is when Terrell Owens bitched about McNabb throwing up in the huddle during their attempted comeback in SB 2004. Owens claimed McNabb was worked up, couldn't get plays in and threw up when they were driving. ESPN and the rest of the world didn't really believe his claim because of track record and none of the other players throwing McNabb under the bus.
But if you watch highlights of one of the VT/'Cuse games, you'll see the same thing happen and I believe they had to call a TO (no pun intended). The announcers then say something along the lines of "I think McNabb just threw up" and the whole thing is reminiscent of The Replacements. Not a very important story, but I saw the game replay a few years ago on ESPN Classics and it struck me as odd. Basically, I'm defending TO I guess.
edit: We can all thank Donovan McNabb and Syracuse for giving us Michael Vick. If it weren't for McNabb and Ronald Curry being appointed god in Tidewater the same year they were being recruited, he would have gone to 'Cuse.
Sorry, you're right; Randall put up those numbers against Troy Nunes and lost, not against McNabb.
MV7 and company was the first to put up big numbers against Nunes, with the famous 62-0 beat down of then #16 Syracuse.
? He almost went to Cuse because he liked McNabb so much, not because he didn't want to sit behind him. Pretty sure McNabb hosted him up there and everything. Vick came to VT largely because of Beamer, his HS coach, and because Kevin Rogers left Syracuse for Notre Dame.