Wrapping up the action from Virginia Tech's 42-24 loss to Ohio State on Monday night.
In-Game Observations
Early on in the game, QB Michael Brewer was slightly off the mark and threw behind some of his targets, namely to WR Isaiah Ford, TE Ryan Malleck (who bailed him out), TE Bucky Hodges and RB Travon McMillian on a screen pass.
OSU's Cardale Jones is one strong player. He was pressured and hit squarely during the game by Hokies' DEs Dadi Nicolas and Ken Ekanem for would-be sacks, but refused to go down, and kept plays alive. There were also opportunities for backer Deon Clarke and mike Andrew Motuapuaka to make plays on Jones in the backfield, but he eluded them as well on specific occasions. Jones was treating defenders like rag dolls.
On a positive note, when Jones did get lose, CBs Kendall Fuller and Brandon Facyson were able to make open-field tackles.
A few people in the press box questioned the health of Fuller's knee (which he had wrapped during the team's second scrimmage). He gave up and uncharacteristic pass interference and got beat on a stop-and-go by OSU WR Michael Thomas.
You must give credit to offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler for some of his play designs and calls which fooled OSU's defense. Most notably, his scheme effectively slipped FB Sam Rogers and Ryan Malleck away from the defense and wide open for touchdowns.
You might also want to question some of his play-calling, it appeared from press level that he called many identical run plays on first and second down, whether they worked or not.
Speaking of Rogers, if there was an award for Hokies' offensive MVP, he would certainly put up a case for it. He had some very tough runs, was solid pass protection and did most of the work on a 51-yd TD pass early in the second quarter when he juked a would-be tackler to find the end zone.
The injury to Brewer is extremely unfortunate and almost seemed bound to happen with some of the shots he was taking in the pocket. That being said, QB Brenden Motley certainly looks capable of taking the team under his wing. While he made some mistakes (which are inevitable when thrown into a situation like he was), he proved to be a capable runner and a guy who can make some tough throws (the 17-yard TD pass to WR Isaiah Ford was a beauty as he threaded the needle between two defenders in the end zone).
Tidbits from head coach Frank Beamer, offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler and defensive coordinator Bud Foster
Frank Beamer
Beamer referred to H-Back Braxton Miller as "really special," and added that Ohio State has a lot of special guys on the team.
He emphasized there's a lot of work to do on the team's lack of execution.
He has a lot of confidence in QB Brendan Motley and feels he handled himself well in a tough situation. "He's a good player, a heady player."
Beamer added that QB Chris Durkin will get reps this week.
Scot Loeffler
Loeffler was very emotional (seemingly holding back tears) when discussing QB Michael Brewer and his injury.
On Brewer: "I put that kid through hell and he played his tail off today."
He noted the team had its best preparation from a mental aspect, practice and effort he had ever seen.
He said the team will rally around Motley and the team will find a way to win, adding the team has the character and tenacity to overcome the injury to Brewer.
Loeffler said FB Sam Rogers is "one of the top five leaders I've ever been around. He's a five-star guy.
Bud Foster
Foster thought the defense came out tight early on in the game, pointing out that Ohio State did a good job of out scheming the defense.
He noted the team worked extensively on defending option plays and double-moves in practice, but it didn't translate to the game. "We gave up a couple cheap plays at the end."
Foster said Ohio State did a terrific job with their protection with the Buckeyes dedicating a blocker to the mike linebacker.
On the lack of defensive pressure: "We were probably overly concerned on them slip-screening and draws. We didn't bring as much pressure and we folded our guys. We probably outsmarted ourselves a little bit with not getting some edge pressure."
He was very surprised by how little slide protection the Buckeyes used on their offensive line.
Player Quotes
FB Sam Rogers
ON LOSING QB MICHAEL BREWER TO INJURY:
"Well first of all, Michael (Brewer) is one of my better friends on the team. I love this guy. It's just tough to see how much work he's put in and to have him go down. I feel for him from a friend standpoint. Obviously, it hurts the team, but I just hate to see that happen to him. But, I love QB (Brendan) Motley too and Motley's going to be great for us and we're going to rally around him. He's going to be a great leader for us."
ON WHAT IT'S LIKE TO GO FROM A WALK-ON TO SCORING A TD AGAINST THE DEFENDING NATIONAL CHAMPS:
"Uh, it's a team game. At the end of the day it's a team game. It's not about me at all, but they gave me an opportunity to make a play and it was my job to make a play. (QB) Michael (Brewer) had a great pass and there was great protection up front, but at the end of the day it's a team game."
DT Corey Marshall
ON OHIO STATE'S OFFENSIVE LINE:
"They actually didn't do as much slide protection as we thought they would. They kind of moved the pocket around and got those guys comfortable. I think when they did go man, we were comfortable in our situations and we actually did get pressure, but they've got some playmakers back there. The scoreboard says it all, it was a tough loss and it's going to take a little bit to get over it."
ON BOUNCING BACK QUICKLY WITH A SHORT WEEK BEFORE FACING FURMAN:
"Just use this as motivation. The whole world saw this and this is just something you've got to use as motivation and move forward and rally around each other. The signal caller goes down, but nobody's going to feel sorry for us. Nobody in the ACC is crying tears for us tonight. We just have to focus and come together as a team."
ON HOW DEFLATING IT IS TO LOSE QB MICHAEL BREWER:
"It's really difficult to take. I think the work he was putting in, he was going to show a lot of people and get that monkey off his back where I think a lot of people were doubting him. That's (injury) just terrible. There are a lot of injuries going around. We've just got to make sure we do the best we can to prepare every week with the next guy up mentality, but it's going to be a blow."
DT Luther Maddy
ON WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE BUCKEYES OFFENSE COMPARED TO LAST YEAR'S GAME:
"We were pretty sure they were going to change it up. I'm sure they were preparing for the 'Bear' (defense) and they did. They schemed us for a little bit in the first quarter into the second quarter. We adjusted, but we didn't execute. Coach Foster had a good plan for us, he adjusted and we didn't execute. That's what it came down to. They got the better of us."
ON THE FINAL OUTCOME:
"The score really means nothing to me. They have a great team and a lot of good players. We're going to look at the film and come out to practice and try to get better and get ready for Furman."
Comments
Buckeye fan here. I really enjoyed the matchup with you guys. I'm a member of eleven warriors, and the guys over there referenced this site prior to the matchup. I've read a few articles here and the comments. Just wanted to let you guys know this is a quality site and most of your fans have been pretty classy in the build up to the game. I feel bad for the injury to your quarterback. It was a great (and nerve racking) game until that point. Hope he has a speedy recovery. I also hope you guys win the ACC (and not FSU or Clemson). Good luck on the rest of your season.
Best of luck for the rest of the season, that's a hell of a football team. Looking forward to watching them play someone else so I can actually appreciate all the talent.
I'm proud of how this team played. Regardless of the outcome, Ohio State is good. They are really good. There is no denying that. Players stepped up that helped out the team. Between Sam Rogers, Ryan Malleck, Deon Clarke, and of course, Michael Brewer, the team was fully functioning. It's unfortunate that injuries exist in games like these, but like the coaches said, focus on the present.
My thoughts exactly. They are going to beat a lot of teams this year.
My thoughts (worthless ofcourse)
QBs- Brewer looked much improved. hoping for a speedy recovery. Motley- Dear in headlights comes to mind. If Lawson is anywhere close burn the redshirt if not take our lumps with Motley/Durkin.
RBs- Sam Rogers is a MAN, JC- woulda liked to have seen them give him some touches after the fumble but he gets extra credit for Swag with the gold watch, trey looked solid, need more McMillian hes a big play threat every time he touches it.
WR/TE- Bucky wasnt Bucky, Malleck reminds me of Jeff King soft hands. Ford solid as always, didnt seem much from Cam or newsome.
OL- Much improved, this unit will be solid (cant believe im writing that) Nijman especially impressed me.
DL- Dadi blew up one play in the backfield before they could hand it off otherwise they didnt standout, ALOT of missed tackles i know Cardale is huge tackle him low!
Linebackers- 54 hurt us, thought that may be the case. Good to see RVD on the field though.
DBs- couple of shady pass interference calls on us. Thought Fuller/Facyson didnt look right, liked seein Adonis in the game he looked good so did frye, disappointed not seeing Donovan Riley more.
Overall with Brewer this team has ACC title game potential for sure without him it could be 7-5 or 4-8 only time will tell but for a Half they knew they were in the Terrordome.
Sidenote: Cardale is a Piece of work between the ears, But a great football player
I agree with everything except your take on Trey. He didn't show me much last night. On the second and goal, he had a walk in touchdown if be had cut it left off his block. With the way JCC ran and McMillian's flashes, I think Trey might wind up odd man out once Shai returns.
I agree, if he had followed Teller's block he walks right in.
i was sitting in the west stand right in front of that goaline sequence but from my view i couldnt see the cutback lanes thanks for the help
irregardless of last night's turnout, i'm still proud of how our Hokies performed on the national stage. i love what our team is made of as we took each punch from OSU and counterpunched back with a lead going into halftime.
i will always love/support this team no matter what and my loyalty to the university knows no bounds--GO HOKIES!!!
regardless
or irrespective.
antidisestablishmentarianism
jess h christ my head hurts.. can we stahpp with this game of crazy word telephone
Irregardless has actually found it's way into the dictionary as a non-standard use of the verb regardless. Leg for both of you, irregardless.
This makes me so, so sad. If enough people do something wrong for long enough, it becomes right...
What part of your thought did you omit at the end there? ;)
Sorry, couldn't resist the improper use of ellipses! You can feel free to slap me at the next tailgate.
The trail off was "...which sets a terrible precedent for our language."
Whoa whoa whoa! Is "Irregardless" really a fucking word? Does it mean "not regardless," in which case it doesnt need to exist? Holy shit
Am I the only one who was not encouraged by Motley's TD pass? He threw back across his body, on the move, into double coverage, and it happened to work. Sure, it's nice to have a TD but I can't imagine that's a play I want to see him try to make more often.
Completely agree. I remember thinking, "there's another INT" when he threw it up there. Terrible looking pass, albeit one that worked.
I feel for Motley. Great kid from what little I know about him. He just has never looked great in what we've seen.
It was really wobbly and risky, not impressed by it at all.
He's very evasive though, I'll give him that.
Seems to be a matter of perspective. Motley supporters would say it was an outstanding, very difficult throw he made. Detractors say it was ill-advised and lucky it ended the way it did.
I don't know where I stand on him but he got thrown into a tough situation against the most talented defense he'll see all year. The performance last night isn't something that gives me concern for the rest of the year. With that said, if the coaches feel someone else is a better option it's hard not to defer to their judgment.
It is a team sport and a player on the bench has a role to support those on the field, but dammit coaches got to instill that secret desire in backups that the guy playing out there breaks a leg. You got to have a burning itch to play. That's your real role and how you help the team. Loeffler must instill the belief in Motley that it is his time and he must run (and pass) with it like he is the next coming of a braxton miller.
I agree. Maybe it was just my perception, but Motley did not looked prepared, comfortable or confident enough to throw the ball, period. It was painfully obvious after the injury why Brewer got the starting job, (which I agreed with all along). The kid, (Motley) or kid(s) (Motley, Durkin, or Lawson) have big shoes to fill with Brewer's injury. This will be an interesting week for the coaching staff and players for sure, one I don't envy. Either way they all have my support.... Saturday will likely tell us a lot!
For me, it was like Brewer's sideline flip to Rogers into triple coverage against OSU last year. "NO NO NO NO NO ok that worked."
Absolutely, it looked like it had nothing behind it and 8 times out of 10 gets picked, but I can only hope it boosts his confidence moving forward. You've got your first TD and it came against a hell of a team, now keep doing it.
It wasn't as bad of a decision to make the throw as it looks initially. In the part of the replay that focuses on the receivers and DBs, the corner who is initially covering Ford pulls off to cover Cam Phillips who has been released by the corner that starts off covering Phillips in the slot. (it looked like Sam Rogers was leaking out into the flat and the corner was moving up to cover him).
When Ford settles into the open spot in the zone and calls for the ball, there is about a 5-7 yard gap between him and the corner who was initially covering him, but is now trying to split the distance between Ford and Phillips. I suspect that putting both Ford and Phillips into opposite sides of the corner's zone was what the play was designed to do, to make the corner decide which of the Hokies two best receivers he should cover and leave the other one open.
In this second image below the ball is already in the air, visible as a brown blur near the sideline at the 4 yard line, and Ford has gained even more separation from the DB who has (what looks like) the deep 3rd, it appears to be about 8-10 yards when the ball is thrown. #7 for anOSU looks to be in the best position to affect the play, but his momentum is a little too east-west and he ends up running in a bit of an arc towards the play and can't get there in time. The DB who appears to have the deep 3rd makes a very athletic attempt to get back to the ball and is actually closer than #7 when Ford makes the catch, but he has to change direction and close about 8-10 yards in the time the ball is in the air.
Overall, I think it was a pretty good decision by Motley, the corner seemed to be a little more focused on Phillips than Ford prior to the throw, and it only looks like he was throwing into tight coverage because the secondary closes on Ford very quickly.
The more I see of Lefty's route designs, the more I love them.
my main concern with the throw was that it was off balance and back across his body from what I remember. the throw to Phillips is the easier throw and less dangerous.
Something that has gotten lost here a bit: Ryan Malleck. Holy crap. Some of those catches he made were insane. I wonder how 2013 might've gone with him healthy..... Easy to see why he was the focal point of Loeffler's plans.
It was clear last night that Malleck is the #1 TE. Blocking, catching, etc.
Absolutely agree. On the other hand, I was shocked we didn't throw to Bucky more often. His defender often had safety help, essentially doubling Bucky, but it seemed that we used him more to clear out the defense than as a weapon.
I love the attitude of Sam Rogers. "Uh, it's a team game. At the end of the day it's a team game. It's not about me at all, but they gave me an opportunity to make a play and it was my job to make a play. (QB) Michael (Brewer) had a great pass and there was great protection up front, but at the end of the day it's a team game."
We lost to a good dang team who was doing their best to run the score up. We hung with them until injury took us out of the game. Now we have 3 days effectively to get Motley/Durkin/Lawson ready for the next game. In the end, it was an OOC game and is in the past. Next game up, Furman.
We know from history, the loser of the aOSU-VT game, runs the table and wins the national championship. Time to put on the big boy pants and get to work.
I don't buy that they were trying to run the score up. They went into the 4th Q with an 11-point lead. That's a pick-six and a fumble recovery from losing. So they drove down methodically and scored.
Now they have an 18-point lead. They get the ball back and run-run-run-run-pass (TD).
They get the ball back and run-run (fumble).
Their last possession: run-run-run (end of game).
Hmm I was hoping they might give insight about Lawson, but I guess they'll wait until after the Furman game to evaluate their options.
I'm all for burning the redshirt if it means achieving a better season. The future is now, we have been mediocre for 3 years if we wait and longer to give it our all to right the ship it will be very difficult to bounce back.
I'm wondering if the 4-6 week timeframe became an 8 week timeframe after these questions.
if you tell me Brewer will be back by the Miami game, I might lean towards toughing it out with Motley. If you tell me Brewer won't return until the GT game or later, I'm playing Lawson.
4-6 was always optimistic for a collarbone injury IMO. Realistically we're looking at 8-10 weeks.
If that is the case, play Lawson. There is literally no reason why not to. There's no point dragging down the talent the rest of the offense has because we don't want to burn a redshirt.
I am 100% confident that if Lawson is ready to play competitively in a D1 game, then the redshirt is burned.
But, that's the thing, I just don't think he's ready to play. True freshman QBs just don't go out there and light it up. This is going to boil down to a 4 day competition between Motley and Durkin. Motley's going to win that hands down.
i dunno man that true freshman for Louisville burned Auburns lunch saturday. He does run a 4.3 40 though
UCLA's true freshman smacked UVA around as well.
Precedent for starting a freshmen against a FCS team.
I see what you did there.
key for a freshmen to succeed is have tons of talent surrounding him and have the O coordinator get him in the grove early with a couple quick throws and run the ball on 1st down. We have tons of talent in Bucky, Malleck, Cam, Ford, McMillian and others.
I know everybody's different, but I broke my collarbone playing intramural soccer sophomore year, and it was more like 8 weeks for me. I sure wasn't ready to play in a month.
I have a feeling that Brewer will be on the shorter end of the range, he's tough as nutz.
I also have a feeling that he could get it broke again. He's still tiny and he still has a questionable OL.
True... It's not a stretch to say that I am kind of a puss.
The problem is what Brewer will be endeavouring after he's healed.........getting occasionally (hopefully) slammed into the ground. This injury will linger in his mind and his body. I wouldn't bank on the exact same Brewer coming back and I wouldn't bank on him staying healthy afterwards either, unfortunately.
There was a lot to be encouraged about...until Brewer got hurt and we had no ability to pass the ball making it very easy on the OSU defense. I think it took the team the first quarter to settle in, and Loeffler had a good plan that was bolstered by improved Oline play once we moved Hansen out of the line up. There were lanes to run into (although Trey for some of his burst didn't see things great esp during that goal line series). McMillian is going to be a good back. I think if Brewer wasn't hurt we still would have lost, but by around 1 score instead of 3. Those guys across from us had too much speed and talent to grind it out in the 4th especially once our defense saw the slow death of the offense's 3 and outs coming.
Despite some of the good stuff I also thought the coaches had some really odd personnel choices. I really didn't understand why Stroman saw so much time (got burned and had separation against him all night), or why we tended to go with only 3 natural D linemen adding extra LBs to set the edge, Ken Ekanem didn't even seem to appear until the 2nd quarter. Riley not until the 2nd half. Deon Newsome who was way fast on sweeps last year didn't even see him in the game, but Stroman got at least 2 snaps on that same sort of play. For a team with a bunch of options on defense, we played a ton of Freshman; Alexander, Reynolds, both Edmunds bros, all saw time over older players. I understand the schematics of why we went with the double eagle coverage, but I felt like we didn't mix up the defensive look enough over the course of the night, felt like the ECU game last year where we just sorta hoped it would start breaking our way. The film guys will have to speak to that though perhaps we had the right tricks, but didn't execute them. I also didn't understand the lack of adjustment to their motions singling backs against trailing defenders, if OSU executes those plays better this score would have been way worse. How there was no hand off or exchange with the motion man is confusing to me.
Our biggest problem all night long was still the points we worried about coming into the season, Rover and Mike. Neither position played well and it cost us all night long. Maybe part of this is a recruiting issue (losing Reavis turned into a huge huge blow he seemed like he was way headier and in position from what we saw of him vs what we saw last night), but it became obvious by the late 3rd that those positions didn't have strong enough caliber players at them to execute what we needed to do. Motu played ugly all night long, I don't remember him having one decent tackle last night while Williams was all over last season. Frye had the good int, but got suckered out of position on at least 2 big plays. Just getting guys on the ground was a struggle last night.
This was the same story we've seen played out over and over again with our Hokies vs top flight teams. It was just sad that we had to see it happen due to injury this team. Offense ground to a halt, and the defense gave up big plays down the stretch to turn a competitive game into a W of a comfortable margin for the more talented squad. While some things looked up, other stuff looked like it was more of the same we've seen the past few years. It's gonna be a long year I fear, I doubt Brewer is back before we are more than half way through the schedule, and without him making the right reads and timely throws like he showed he could last night I'm worried.
And while it pains me to say this, the lack of high end talent on the recruiting trail showed up last night. Once it got deep into the night the OSU athleticism and speed out did our guys, it was especially glaring when looking at their compliment of backs vs our LBs. 3* talent can only do so much when up against that level of depth of 4/5* talent. The lack of strong LB recruiting hurt us last night.
- Malleck is gonna do some work this year.
- JCC is still a really limited back and while I love his effort, please can someone else tote the rock (yet another JC fumble at the worst time)
- Deon Clarke was hit or miss all night, he made a bunch of deflections and played the option strong, but also wasn't quite fast enough with his extra bulk covering out in space.
- Motley sure as hell looked confused and scared out there, maybe there was no separation (hard to see with the TV angles), but that was downright ugly play from him. No conviction on anything once it was all on him.
- Nijiman really surprised at LT
- Oline in general was a nice surprise compared to years past
- Lack of other WRs was noticeable in the personnel we put out.
- Fuller/Facyson looked good until the 4th when something happened injury or cramps something slowed them up.
OH YEAH HEY CAM PHILLIPS RUN UP THE FUCKING FIELD NOT BACKWARDS. Forgot about that, but it's the most infuriating football play ever to move toward your own goal line.
Deon Clarke didn't play well either. He had two important tip passes, but lost his leverage numerous times on QB scrambles.
I thought his bigger issue was guys not getting free off blocks to clean up the QB as the outside guys were frequently asked to play the pitch man. Wherever the alley guy was to play behind him rarely showed. I can't fault him for being on an island against the players OSU had with no support. Some of that to me was just their guys showing out over ours, lots of okay position ruined by athletic plays.
I'm with you on everything except JCC. I thought he ran with some authority and frequently churned out extra yards. I've rewatched the fumble a dozen times, and it still looks like a fluke. Good ball control, covers with the second hand going into the tackle, it just gets stripped before he can get down because he lands on a defender. I'm not ready to pull him for that. I saw the JCC from the last four games of last year out there against OSU. I think he's turned the corner.
The back who did nothing to impress me last night was Trey Edmunds. Tripped in the backfield and wasn't seeing his cutbacks all night. Between the two, I feel more comfortable with JCC carrying the ball right now.
Sadly I think I agree. But before last night, I thought Trey was going to be the GUY.
I did too. That 2nd and goal from Trey really soured me on him. I expect Shai will take his carries quickly.
I've never been high on Trey, which seems to bewilder a lot of people. My top two RB on the roster right now are Marshawn and Travon, if we had health and a choice, they'd be my guys.
I do love JCC, though. Even though I think those two are the best, I believe in him as much as anyone, even if there isn't any evidence to support it.
Do not give up on the guy who missed significant portions last season. Trey might surprise you. One game does not a player make.
nailed it.. I wouldn't be mad if we gave McMillian some more work too.. He almost took one to the house and looked very very quick in space and making his cuts.
Trey was a big disappointment last night. He showed some burst, but had really poor field vision seemingly missing creases and not following blockers. Maybe he just needs to get back into form, but he didn't earn a lot more touches with his game last night.
I stand by what I said about JCC. He's limited. He can't pass pro that well due to his size, and against the size of a lot of the LBs he went against he was not going to be breaking tackles. We've seen that for all 4 years of his college career. He's an immaculate Hokie, a true team player, and he's proven he can come in and give you something, but I've never been sold on him as a starter. The fumble may have been flukey, but it's also something he's struggled with in his career. JCC is alright, he's gotten to the point where I'd say he's serviceable which he was down the stretch last year against a bunch of not very good defenses. I think we have better RB's on the roster and I'd prefer to see them get more touches is my point. Not that JCC was bad, just that what we get from him is a known quantity of effort, leadership, and <4 ypc. Great guy, limited running back.
I think Shai looked like the best back last year, if he's really ready to go then I'd like to see him and McMillian get a lot more touches moving forward.
You know, I really hate seeing the ball stripped away.....it's football, not rugby dang it! Getting knocked loose is part of the game, but I wish they would outlaw stripping.
I should probably go back and watch it again, but in real time I was pissed that he wasn't ruled down by contact. When the runner is lying on top of a defender and can't touch the ground but is no longer moving forward, the play should be over.
Devil's advocate, even by NFL "down by contact" rules, you aren't down on top of another player. Are you sure you aren't meaning ruled down by loss of forward momentum?
Also Devil's advocate, we've had several touchdowns that would be taken off the board by your recommendation, including Shai's TD vs OSU last year.
Yeah, meant forward momentum. You can't touch the ground and you can't go anywhere, you've stopped moving forward, yet the defense can still take the ball away. I don't like that.
I don't believe that Cardale is a very intelligent QB from what I saw last night (some of his throws, also that interception should have been thrown away). I also noticed he was incredibly timid about being hit below the waist. He would ragdoll if anyone hit him low so if I was an enemy defense I would be throwing defenders at his knees to force him into bad throws.
We left our corners out on islands way too long last night. I know it worked well for us last year but I think we would have benefited from running some zone to allow our corners to come in to help contain when Jones would scramble. They took Fuller out of the game for good (I think) when he got that PI call in the end zone.
Facyson looked rusty to start but seemed to settle in a little more as he got to make some tackles.
The second touchdown for Ohio State probably should have been called back due to holding. I never rewatched on TV (and never will), but I believe it was Dadi as he was attempting to turn and run to chase the play and the lineman had him held.
Andrew was way too hesitant and any edge blitzes were often slowed up because the defenders were worried about containing. There was one play where 37(?) had the cleanest shot to hit Cardale from the blindside that was wasted because he pulled up to try to contain. I could see his thought process as he was hesitating to run at him.
I think Scott called a good game and I think they really could have punished OSU in the second half with Brewer. The defense never changed formations much and Bucky frequently had a mismatch. Which leads me to Bucky who seemed lost. I don't think his head was in the game and he almost seemed exhausted. I know there's a lot of pressure on him to perform but he seemed to be going through the motions out there.
Sam's juke to score should be made into a gif for permanent admiration. Not quite the level of the Braxton spin, but that defender got roasted. Never forget about Sam!
The running game was a little too scattered. I think Trey could have made some big plays but he also struggled on the stretch plays to break the edge. JC was solid for picking up yards but Ohio St just had his number. They had too many people in the box to allow him to slip through.
Cam Phillips was trying to do a little too much last night. He wasn't targeted much but when he was he ran east/west.
If motley is going to start he needs to pick up the pace. The play action fakes took forever to develop and by that time the defense was in his lap.
I didn't expect to win the game, even when we were up at half. The defense gave up too many big plays and it felt like Ohio state could score at will. I think you'll likely see the Edmund brother getting more reps at LB from here on.
I think that this team can be good but the hype was just too much this week. I'm hoping to see a more level performance on Saturday and get everyone comfortable with their roles.
I haven't read every thread but some things I haven't seen mentioned:
Hughes punted VERY well, and Slye showed a very strong leg.
Love kicking off thru the end zone.
Whether by design or necessity the little bubble screens were much reduced if not completely absent...and the yards per completion for Brewer were much improved over last years' season average as a result. Yes I know it was a microscopic sample size but that was very encouraging.
YPC for the backs was 3.6. Not good. They seemed much better running straight ahead than trying to get to the edge.
Good points.
OSU's speed was too much for us on both sides of the ball. Running sideways worked well for them, and not us.
Special teams was the only part of the game we won. Kicking was solid.
We've got an offense this year with big-play ability; some of those runs were picking up 8+ yards on first down against a VERY good defense. I was surprised someone didn't break one for 20+ yards. The question was how much of a drop-off will there be without Brewer.
Lefty had a good gameplan, perhaps better than Foster (although you could argue OSU's offense was better than the defense.) This game was done after Brewer got hurt, but would have been a lot closer with him.
Lefty now has to re-vamp the offense and get the QBs up to speed. Figure out what gives them the best chance to win. Motley did have some decent throws, but looked to have happy feet in the pocket. A read-option game is likely to be the plan from here out.
That's 3.6 OSU yards. That should equate to about 5 ACC yards per carry.
And up from 2.6 ypc a year ago, without Shai available. Marked improvement.
I know Sam Rogers reached stratospheric levels of TKP fame before he even played a down & we got to know him, but damned if he hasn't blown away my wildest expectations. Humble, blue collared, killer work ethic, that man is cut from Hokie stone. If we could field a team of Rogerses...
Truth! You gotta love that kid.
Surprising athleticism -- of a fullback sort, of course. ;)
Pretty good wiggle he put on the OSU kid on his TD.
My son texted me this: "That move was white-boy-awkward & the Buckeye didn't know what to do with it!" Ha!
Before the injury we had a good, if longish, shot at winning the game.
17 unanswered points is impressive.
Let's count the number of teams who do that the rest of this yr? I'll set the O/U at 2. (I'll take the under)
So, there was no quit in the team when led by Brewer.
What was not impressive? ESPN's incessant excuse-making for tosu.
They seemed to be looking for a storyline -- just in case the Hokies pulled out another one.
We get outside and the only comment is, "If Bosa had been here..."? Really?
Over and over, on and on about the suspended players.
Nobody @#$%^ cares!
Btw, the next comment they make about us "losing" CJ Reavis will be their first.
Not to pick on kids, but Rover & Mike - ungood.
If Frye wasn't out of position, he was late or taking bad angles.
Motuapuaka seemed to disappear post-snap all night long (until he reappeared for the downfield chase).
OCs looking at those two may find something they can work with. :/
Now a huge decision: to burn the shirt or not.
I'm guessing none of our healthy QBs can lead us to a Coastal this year.
Not being defeatist, but if I had to bet my babies' food now, that's what I'd bet.
So, the Key Q (imo): given all we know and intuit about our QBs, which one is most likely to be under center @ Bristol?
That guy would be my guy this year.
wasn't clark playing rover in this game and they moved frye to free? Clark was the best player in our secondary by far.
Have Frye at Rover in my brain.
One interesting comment I saw at another site was to move Sam Rogers to Mike linebacker. By golly his leadership would be useful in that role. But he is needed more than ever on O, where there is now a leadership vacuum - Motley seemed to totally lack leadership and poise (which Brewer overflowed with). Motley has no excuse, he is a junior for Pete's sake. Look at the poise Tyrod had in 2007 when his redshirt got burned and he came into the Saturday nite LSU game as a true FR (I think) and led the Hokies to their only TD of that game against the eventual champs in a uniquely hostile environment. Sorry, but with two + years to prepare, and with obvious skill and athleticism, Motley still seemed woefully unprepared, and I don't see how anyone really believes that will change in four days when it hasn't in two plus years.
Tyrod was also a 5 star recruit that is about to begin his 5th season in the NFL. No shade at Motley but he's a local kid from Christiansburg that had 3 scholarship offers. Not a fair comparison, if you ask me.
Acknowledged, but the quality of LEADERSHIP (sorry for the shout) I'm talking about is one that (former) walk-on Sam Rogers has. And again, one that Michael Brewer (not a 5-star recruit either) has in spades. To me it's not about Motley's throwing and running skill set per se but how is he leading and motivating in the huddle and on the sidelines. I admit I only saw what ESPN allowed me to see (which too often was not the snap of a ball while we were on O), but Motley simply wasn't showing me much of that quality last night. Not trying to hate, just observing a trend, or rather a lack of an upward trend, in this area.
And yes, I am not serious about moving Sam to MLB, it'd just be nice to clone him.
I'm no coach, but I don't think it's practical to move Rogers to Mike. If only cloning were possible...
Another TKP'er suggested erecting a statue of Rogers. Maybe that's a little over the top, but I do hope Lefty urges everybody on our offense to emulate Sam Rogers in attitude & effort.
Maybe a Sam Rogers "virus" can be created and the rest of the team injected with it?
Am I going to have to start beating the Trey4LB drum again?
Anyone else think Motley reminds them of Steamin' Willy Beaman?
I wasn't impressed with JCC or Trey at all, I see McKenzie working his way into the job with McMillian being the change of pace back
Not sure why everyone is hating on Motely, he did not have a full spring/summer of 1st team reps. If I remember correctly (could be fuzzy, many beers since then) Motley was CO #1 going into last fall before he got injured. Give him a few weeks of 1st team reps and he might surprise most of us. Overall our boys did pretty well considering we were facing probably the most talented team in the nation and we lost our leader less than 5 minutes into the 2nd half...
Motley is a R-JR, not a Transfer, not a Freshmen. He has been here for 4 years.
Well, we've got this going for us, which is nice.
Like everyone, I was disappointed in the result last night. I really thought there was a good chance to win. But in the "silver lining" and "moral victory" department, several observations...
1. Newsflash: OSU is really good. They have 4 players (Jones, Barrett, Eliot, and Miller) who if they played for other schools would be Heisman candidates. This is the best, most talented, deepest team we will play by far.
2. Our offensive line did a good job against a very good defense. We have several talented backs.
3. For the future, we need Motley/Durkin/Lawson to get experience.
4. I still like our chances to win the ACC.
5. I am a bit concerned about the defense, but I trust that Bud will come through. I can't understand the technique against the option where our defender tried to play it halfway between the QB and the pitchman. We got burned just about every time.
It's called slow-playing, it takes away the pitch, and then uses the superior athletic ability of the defender to stop the QB keeper, with one defender. Wouldn't work against Barrett...it's meant to compensate for having to put the safeties elsewhere
Try that in ATL and the bumble bees might run for 600 yds.
He did try that one year...2009? if I remember right...seems like Josh Nesbit? was the Jackets QB... the idea was, the MLB got off his block, and hammered the QB at LOS...but Motu doesn't look to be that kind of player...and it didn't work..."superior athletic ability," I believe was the key phrase there...
I don't recall anything like that in the Johnson era. We typically focus on stopping the A-back first, and then forcing the pitch.
It looked like we were doing almost the opposite of that last night. We were not "hammering the QB at the LOS," but were trying (or so it appeared) to make him indecisive on the pitch/keep and therefore slower.
GT will kill that. When it comes to the option, Paul Johnson eats pancakes off Urban's head.
I hear you, Whitman, but I was hoping that Bud would have adjusted out of it after being burned so many times.
Personal opinion, but I'd rather Cardale run the ball than Elliott. More hits on the QB and not nearly as lethal of a runner, just a big body to take down.
I agree, the issue is...how? Let Brax and Thomas run around in a zone? I think, with the 4DL look we could have...I just think of the way it would be done...
but it didn't work at all, even against the slower Cardale Jones...he burned us on several rumbles when our defender favored the pitch man and the QB ran unopposed up the field til somebody from our secondary could trip him up
I wish I knew who our running back was going to be
I wish I knew who our quarterback was going to be.
:(
Running backs for Furman - Shai, JC, McMillian Goal Line Back - Sam Rodgers, Trey Edmunds
Anyone else think Loeffler will bringing this look back on a short week and uncertainty at QB for the next 4-8 (possibly more) weeks?
The defense gave up 42 points. Maybe they got deflated when Brewer went out. But they gave up way too many big plays. This plagued them last year as well. I know Foster likes to run the Bear with press coverage. But one person misses a tackle and it's over. These missed tackles and missed assignments happened too much last year, and happened too much last night.
Putting it in perspective, OSU also put up 42 points on Alabama and Oregon, and 59 on Wisconsin (who is supposed to have some great defense). That is good company to be in. Also, there were a few very questionable calls, like the interference calls, and there was another holding instance that went unnoticed as well.
We actually contained Elliot very well, but it was their other play-makers who flat out just made plays. I doubt we will face another offensive player who will outright spin move on us.
I actually thought that as a team and systematically, OSU wasn't very good..they just happen to have a handful of NFL-talented guys who made some huge individual plays, otherwise they didn't have much for methodical drives.
I do think our "DBU" needs a bit of work, they may have ate up too much hype in the pre-season. I am optimistic about the rest of the schedule.
I agree. Going into the game, I was expecting the DL to really cause them some fits again. Unfortunately, I don't recall too many times where they got good penetration up front. We committed a large chunk of players to the line of scrimmage. When they didn't produce, it didn't leave too many people to clean up the mess. Half the time, those players were out of position, caught in the wash, or flat out beat.
DBU certainly didn't live up to the hype either. The scheme put them into some tough situation, there's no doubt about that. They only gave up 200 some yards, but it was on 10 catches. The stop-and-go on Fuller was pretty embarrassing, and when their receivers got open they had excess separation for the most part. Are they banged up, or are we just seeing the effects of having to shuffle people around after Reavis was dismissed?
All in all, the defense needs to improve if they're going to get some wins moving forward.
I for one am not concerned. We can grow as a team and make the playoffs.
lol
Losing Brewer killed us, after he left the d was on the field way too much and all their talent was just too much but still we held em to 42, I'd say those guys hang atleast 60 on the rest of the teams they play and the other good news, we won't see any teams any other teams on our schedule with half the talent osu has they are deep, talented and we'll coached.
And you can bet your @$$ Coach Meyer was trying to put 60 on the board in Lane Stadium. Nobody's happy allowing 42, especially not Bud Foster. But, OSU will put up HUGE numbers on many teams this season. That's a fact.
Some sober thoughts.
McMillan looked good. Wish he would have gotten a few more touches. Excited to see him and shai against furman.
Motley is our qb now. The team is going to rally around and we should to as a fan base. If Lawson is not ready to run the offense yet them you don't waste his redshirt year with him losing games for us due to his inability to execute the playbook. If he's just as competent in the playbook as Motely then it's another question.
Moto worries me especially thinking about GT. don't know what our deal is with not getting great LB's lately but that department needs to be fixed now. I'm sure Bud will. I just don't know if moto does one thing in practice but then thinks too much into it during the game or what.
OL was a lot better. DBU looked to get burned a lot or at least allowed a lot of seperation. Sure it will be fixed as well.
On to the next game. Can't wait for the furman preview and for-rensics. Can't wait to hear about practice this week. Can't wait to see the boys in action on Saturday. And best of all....ITS NOT A NOON GAME!!!!
Is our weakness at LB a function of moving too many guys to DE and other positions? Or do we just not recruit good high school LBs?
It's a function of the style of defense we play. In the running game, our LB's aren't employed in the standard read-and-react style. They're instead attacking gaps and helping spill the ball carrier to the free hitter (usually whip or rover). In the passing game our LB's mostly blitz, and sometimes play man coverage.
At the NFL level the LB's are 99% read-and-react systems, have to be able to play zone D far more than man coverage. So in a sense our system is almost a complete opposite for LBs. So good HS LB's either aren't going to be that great in our system or pass us over to play in more of a pro-style defense.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned; we played a pretty clean game. There weren't a lot of stupid penalties (offsides. Illegal procedure anyone?) That's a nice change, especially for such a huge game.
That said, I'm having a hard time getting excited for this season. The offense took a hit w/ Brewer out. I'm tired of watching terrible offense.
There was an offsides penalty on Maddy in the first quarter.
The most frustrating thing about this game to me was the poor officiating, particularly the missed holds on the Ohio State offensive line. Just looking at the clips of the big plays off the reddit post-game thread:
OSU's first TD has a slight hold on #54 (although it didn't really affect the play) and what looks like a hold on #50, the center.
The 80 yd TD by Zeke had one of the worst holds I have ever seen in my life on #65. #50 was also holding.
Third TD was clean.
Fourth TD by Braxton again, #50 with the blatant hold at the top of the screen at the beginning.
Fifth TD was clean.
Final TD near the middle of the screen the OL had Mihota's arms locked up.
There were many more, but those are just from the highlights. I'm sure the officials let us get by with things, but all of our big plays were clean.
Between the refs and Brewer getting hurt, this game just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Several Ohio State players also showed little class. My seat was behind the OSU bench, and #43 Darron Lee was taunting the Hokie fans. One of our fans yelled at him for the taunt and Lee proceeded to argue with the fan. Three other OSU players joined in the taunting. A number of their players acted similarly over the course of the game, although most of them were good. Still, they are #1. They should have more class than to taunt an opponent they were favored to beat.
The non-call on 65 on the Elliot TD run blew my mind. My understanding has always been if the defender tries to turn away from the block to pursue a ball carrier, you have to disengage. It's pretty obvious that Dadi could have made a touchdown-saving tackle if 65 had disengaged his block, and the blocker was not positioned between the defender and the ball carrier. 65 was clearly pulling Dadi back toward him to prevent the tackle. Ergo, holding.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that's why we lost, and we still overcame this TD going into the half, but man, I don't know how much more blatant you can be. I'm sure this will be in the package of plays Beamer sends to the ACC officials this week.
And the late fumble? That one was overturned, but it's beyond me how the side judge even blew the whistle to rule him down.
Having had a good night's sleep on Tuesday night, my feeling about the game now is that it was our best showing as far as games where we open the season against a highly ranked opponent. Few penalties until late, good play at most positions, and had a chance to win it before Brewer went down. I don't think I could have asked for a better game with realistic expectations.
And one penalty total on the offensive line. That is huge.
You know, that didn't even register with me until I read it, but yes, a large decrease in procedure penalties would be welcomed this year.
We played an entire game with only 11 players on the field at a time.
Didn't see this anywhere, but was there a good headcount of OSU fans in attendance? From TV it looked like they filled up the visitor's section but not much else. I'm just curious since that was one of the many things we were debating prior to the game.
There were sprinkled through the stadium in various locations. But really only one or 2 per row at most. They certainly didn't have the 20,000 they were bragging they would.