Virginia Tech won a sloppy game in West Lafayette 51–24 against Purdue. The Hokies had 11 penalties for 87 yards. There were miscues in all three phases of the game. In spite of that, Tech went on the road and did what they were supposed to, they soundly beat a team they were better on paper than.
The rest of my post-game report is a hybrid of refined stream of conscious and bullet points. I didn't have the benefit of easy-access replay in the press box, so I tried to limit in-depth football observations. Most of these thoughts are in chronological order.
Adonis Alexander started at rover over Desmond Frye and made the most of his opportunity. He notched an interception and led Tech in total tackles (7, all of them solo).
Defensive tackle Woody Baron started over Corey Marshall. If my count and eyesight were correct, I believe Marshall made his initial appearance on Tech's third defensive series.
Purdue took advantage of a plethora of Hokies' mistakes on its first scoring drive, its only non-garbage time offensive touchdown. The Boilermakers drove 74 yards, and 2 of its 4 first downs came by way of Virginia Tech penalties. Greg Stroman seemed to get picked in coverage on Austin Appleby's 27-yard completion to Cameron Posey. Kendall Fuller got frozen in man coverage on a fade route to the corner of the end zone and drew a pass interference flag to prevent the touchdown. Ronny Vandyke got sucked inside on a play-action inside zone read, and Appleby overthrew an open receiver for six. However, on the next play Appleby made good and scampered in for an easy 2-yard score.
Greg Stroman made an interesting decision to field a bouncing 69-yard Purdue punt that look destined for a touchback at its 2-yard-line. Without the benefit of replay or his account, I can only fathom he thought the ball might have hit him and he wanted to field it to prevent a turnover.
Motley engineered two stellar drives back-to-back after Stroman's head scratching punt return. The ball made its way into the end zone both times, once for the Boilermakers and once for the Hokies.
Tech marched down the field from two-yard-line to two-yard-line. Motley completed a big-time 20-yard pass on 3rd-and-7 from Tech's seven to spark the drive. He kept the possession alive with a dazzling 61-yard completion to Isaiah Ford. Motley's protection quickly broke down (Jonathan McLaughlin), but he eluded pressure, bought himself extra time and found Ford who snuck behind Purdue's secondary for the bomb pass. The promising drive abruptly ended after Purdue's Antoine Miles clocked Motley from the signal caller's blindside, forced a fumble and Danny Ezechukwu made a 90-yard Purdue house call.
Motley and crew cooked up an answer on the next drive, and prevented a major momentum shift. Tech went 75 yards over 12 plays, ate 6:03 off the clock and scored an overdue touchdown. Motley was in complete control of a more efficient Virginia Tech offense—not only on this drive, but the entire game. Tech finished with 471 total yards (238 rushing, 233 passing, 20 first downs). Two good quarters against Furman is not enough evidence to thoroughly convince even the most optimistic members of Hokie Nation Motley could carry the offense in Michael Brewer's absence. However, Motley's line of 15 completions on 23 passes (65%) for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns against a Power 5 team on the road might be enough to win over some naysayers.
I muttered, "Gone," in the press box as Der'Woun Green trotted past the Purdue 39-yard-line on his 82-yard kick return to open the second half. But nope, he was caught from behind. It is rarity to see a Tech returner in space like that and not stick it in. Tech couldn't recover from an illegal substitution penalty on first down and had to settle for a Joey Slye 42-yard-yard field goal on the four play, -7 yard drive. (I haven't done the math either, that was the stat given in the press box.) Slye has a howitzer for a leg.
Virginia Tech sniffed around a punt block all afternoon. Terrell Edmunds' block and Anthony Shegog's subsequent scoop and score rekindled the lost art of Beamerball.
Mike linebacker Sean Huelskamp was inconspicuous for most of the afternoon. Whether the walk-on would sink or swim in the middle of Bud Foster's defense was a major storyline once he was named starter in the wake of Andrew Motuapuaka's MCL sprain. In his first game out, he appeared to do neither. He brought down an interception, but only added one tackle. It's hard to conclude whether or not this is good or bad. More than anything it will be interesting to re-watch the film and see how Foster utilized the green mike.
There were a handful of pass attempts after which Motley was scraped off the turf by one or more of his offensive linemen. Purdue got its licks in.
Virginia Tech never felt like it wasn't in control of this football game.
Comments
Joe any idea where i can get the film? I really wanna rewatch the game but cant find anything.
ESPN has a replay feature on WathchESPN.
thanks!
Much as Motley looked alright today, it felt like some of those passes wouldn't fly against our Coastal opponents. Other passes were spot on and incredible to watch.
I'm kind of on the seesaw between hoping Brewer makes it back and wanting Motley to stay in even if Brewer returns.
The only thing I'm sure of is that Lawson isn't ready yet
Pause just a moment to think back to the QB situation in 2011, and smile...
Lawson only passed once - every other play he handed it off or it was a QB keep. From what I saw at the end of the Furman game, he's our best actual QB I've seen in awhile at tech (seemed to actually read through his progressions properly). Jury is definitely still out, but I think we see big things from him next year.
Most talented for sure but not the best QB. If he was the best QB he would be starting. There is a good chance he is the best next year.
Who are you talking about?
What progressions? He only passed once today.
Not agreeing or defending his position, but he said he was referring to last week's Furman game.
Motley may have better arm strength/height/mobility than Brewer, but a lot of today's success I think is on the players around him and Loeffler's offense. Motley rarely moves through his progressions, often telegraphing his passes. Some of his throws today that should have been easy were off-target. The only reason he does well under pressure is that he can run away from defenders, and because of that he bails early and often using his legs to escape. That keeps defenses somewhat honest, but a poised QB would try to make a play with his arm. He looks stiff but has been more than serviceable so far. However, the way the rest of the offense looks makes you wonder what it would be able to accomplish under Brewer.
Lefty has done a fantastic job rebuilding the offense around his backup QB. He has consistently played to Motley's strengths while concealing his weaknesses. I'm a little concerned about the high number of designed QB runs -- I would rather save some of those until Motley is QB2 again. But Lefty deserves a ton of credit for game planning to Motley's skill set and supporting cast.
You can't handcuff your mobile QB by shying away from letting him run. Motley lacks Brewer's accuracy, but makes up for it with arm strength and mobility. I would personally prefer a zone read on QB runs instead of designed QB draws, but maybe they don't trust Motley or the current stable of backs to run the zone read effectively. You have to make defenses respect Motley's run threat to open up his downfield passing options.
Loeffler is balancing it correctly. The last thing VT needs right now is for Motley to go down and have to rely on the #3 QB. Don't shy away from it, but don't allow D's to dial in on it either. There are enough playmakers on offense this year to show it just enough to keep D's honest, but not rely on it.
So much this. And consider the 90 yard scoop and score was basically a 14 point swing. We let them hang around way longer than they had any business being in this game.
Yeah, that play definitely sucked.
I'm actually glad it happened. Let's get shit like that out of the way and dealt with now, I'm the preseason, and in games we win by 27.
I think that play was the same one that we score the go ahead TD against anOSU. Mallack was just inside that guy that hit Motley. He didn't touch him and went out to the flat opposite the play motion. I'm not sure why Motley didn't set the play up like Brewer did, maybe Brewer had a bit more time. Motley didn't even look Mallack's way.
That blindside hit happened twice, both resulting in fumbles. That's gotta stop. Easy way for a QB to get clobbered and knocked out of the game.
Motley can't look that way immediately or it ruins the fake. When Malleck moves out on his route Nijman was supposed to take the end but instead he was left looking for a guy to block. On the other blindside play Rogers didn't block the rusher but slightly redeemed himself by picking up the ball.
Anyone else sit back when it was all done and say "suck it, Vegas?"
I was relieved that Tech had the game in hand as time ran out...then I realized it was just the end of the 3rd Quarter.
Not really. But I was saying that to Bear and SVP on ESPN who said to take PU and the points.
Motley had A LOT of time to throw the ball today..most I've seen the O-line hold up in pass rushing in quite awhile. Also, when was the last time we scored over 50 points? (looked it up - 2011, opening the season against App State w/ 66)
Considering all the penalties and the turnover (and Beamer's directive to try and NOT score a TD in the 4th) this could've been a 60+ point offensive effort by VT, against a Power 5 team.
Weird. The announcers said it was the first time since 2010 Wake. Maybe they said "against a power 5 school," and I just didn't hear it.
2010 Wake was the last P5 school. Appy State was still 1-AA in 2011.
That is the case...our last 50 point effort against an FBS school period. But also, those announcers sucked, and could have gotten their info wrong. Actually, their stat guys probably screwed it up. I definitely saw one point where we got flagged for a penalty, but the graphics were showing the Purdue player with that number.
The color guy was particularly brutal.
That was the most biased Hokie hating color I've ever heard. Then someone told me it was Ahmad Brooks and it all made sense.
Not that Ahmad Brooks. They said he was from Texas and he played WR. I don't know who he was.
Oh really? I just assumed it was that one because the Hokie hating was strong with that one. If I heard one more time how Cardale "carved them up on the ground" I was going to throw a shoe at the TV. Cardale got yards, but I don't know anyone who watched the game can say he carved us up.
I agree. If he said Miller carved us up, though, I'd probably have to agree...that kid torched us
Cardale got yards because he is a massive human being built in such a way that finding the proper leverage to tackle is a challenge.
And that is what I kept telling that announcer.
I was also calmly explaining that to the announcer as well. I was watching with my 5 and 3 year olds so I couldn't "explain" it to him the way I really wanted to.
We should look at YPC for our RBs and dish out playing time accordingly? Aren't the Mc/Mac attack the best yard per carry of any of our backs? McMillan and Mckenzie are the best backs right now! And that can only help Motley!
YPC is heavily skewed for McMillian by a single run of 63 yards. He's explosive, but you can't use YPC as a criterion.
MacKenzie seems to be only seeing garbage time. My guess is he's still in the doghouse from the offseason.
I don't think Shai has regained his explosiveness. I'm expecting 2015 to be a lost year for him.
Possibly. Just struck me that he's not getting any opportunity during meaningful time.
We are already playing too many RBs in meaningful time. I support a 2 man rotation. Not sure which 2.
We're playing three backs. Would two be preferable? Maybe. But who do you take carries away from? JCC, Trey and McMillian are all contributing to the run game.
I like McMillian playing in the slot for sweeps or screens. JCC and Edmunds still can get the bulk of the carries (leaning towards Edmunds at the moment).
Yeah, he showed last year he has something to offer.
He looked a step slow in person. So does Trey. Those long runs (great blocking!) at the end of the 2nd Q were LABORED.
I agree they both looked a step slow. Edmunds looked really slow on a few of his bigger runs. What happened to that 77yd TD against Bama speed?
From scrimmages it looked like Mc clease is far more explosive than Trey or JC. Really think McMillan needs to get majority of pt
Edmunds has always looked slower than he is because he doesn't run efficiently...body parts flying in every direction. Carl Lewis he's not...
I get he feeling we keep Trey in the rotation because he's bigger than JCC or McMillan, but Trey doesn't run forcefully. JCC isn't bouncing off first contact anymore. I would stick with JCC and McMillan with Rogers for power.
Even without that play, he's almost a full yard per carry ahead of everyone else.
McKenzie doesn't even look remotely close to the other backs to me right now.
I guess we need to report YPC mean and YPC standard deviation?
Or median, instead of the simple mean.
YPC can be very deceiving this early in the season -- especially against opponents that are all over the board talent wise.
motley got hit quite a bit
I was impressed when after they scored that td late that we put Motley back in and drove down and answered. I thought "that's not like Beamer". I think he was sending a message. A message to the team and to our future opponents that we're playing for keeps now.
Yeah, I don't think Beamer didn't want to score. It was a change from the past. When Lawson and the 2nd teamers were in it was just to get them comfortable, and hopefully they could move the ball, but when they didn't Beamer/Loeffler sent a message, like you said, to the 2nd teamers that if you can't produce you won't play, even in a blowout.
I felt like it was just your typical "we're up by only three scores, we can't let them get a miracle here."
I think that in the past, with a comfortable lead, the 2nd teamers would have stayed in, but someone on the staff said "Oh hell no, we're winning this one by 20!" And that impressed me. I felt that it was a statement that this is not the VT of old, this VT is not just out to win the games, we are here to beat you.
If Motley can do a better job of feeling pressure, then he might be our best QB. He definitely looked better in the last two games than he did in the previous 2 Spring Games.
I'm feeling pretty good about the offense now which is crazy when I think back to how I was feeling immediately after the Ohio State game. I'm guessing a few others share this sentiment. ha
Right there with ya.
Overall, I'm pleased with the performance. I thought Motley made some good throws and showed some good composure. The run game worked and we had a great balance of run and pass plays. The defense was a little suspect in the beginning, but how many times do we see Foster's defense start slow out of the gate?
Looking forward to our next opponent, who's next? /checks schedue
51! We need to be dropping 51 on sub par P5 opponents like this. The last time we did that was 2010!
Impressive score. Disappointing execution in the 1st half. Expect this team to have several fights on their hands throughout the rest of the year. This was a bad matchup for Purdue. That has to be the second worst team we'll face all year.
Eh, believe it or not they are actually improved from last year (they were that bad). I think they could beat UVA; who by the way nearly lost again to William and Mary today.
Between this and the Lambert at Georgia posts, the schadenfreude towards loluva is strong here. I love it.
I think you mean third worst. Don't forget about the final game of the season.
regular season.
Oh right. Sorry, was including the powderpuff game at the end.
Looks like ECU had their hand full at home against Navy this week.
Let's hope they spent too much time preparing for that offense. I heard that can lead to home losses the following week
There has been a stat going around in years past, about teams' records the week after playing Navy. They play such a physical brand of football, it takes a toll on a team.
Edit: as of last September teams are 43-45 the week after playing them. NJ.com
We beat OSU last year after they played Navy I believe.
I realize they lost by 24. The point is still there, they will be beaten up going into our contest.
We play GT every year that runs a similar type of offense.....
I think you double missed the joke.
See: Ohio State, Excuses
We got better from Furman to Purdue. Need to get better next week.
Hope we stole their BG drum
I'm not sure we definitely "got better" this week. When you consider all the mental errors/penalties, I don't see that as getting better.
Happy with the win, but a lot to clean up out there today.
Much sharper in offensive and defensive execution. A good win with multiple things to correct, doesn't get much better than that.
I'd say we got better, but we still have a long way to go. 51 against Purdue is better than 42 against Furman, both in quantity of points and quality of the opponent.
It just hit me that we've scored 93 points in the last 2 weeks.
Yep. We're already nearing the "scored more points in the first X games than all of the YYYY season"
We've scored 117 points in the first three games. (Against 69 points.)
We scored 114 in the first four games last year. (Against 85. -- 58 in the first three)
Not sure if there's any significance there.
A solid win, especially considering the mental errors. I love seeing us chew up yards on the ground, once again. This game brought back fond memories of VT obliterating opponents, no matter their reputation.
GO HOKIES, BEAT THE PIRATES!
I know Appleby had a tough day, but his new burgers look great.
51 burgers always taste good
Was nice to see VT run the ball well and keep running it when Purdue couldn't stop it.
A few characteristics of this team are beginning to show.
1) slow starts. Today was the best yet, but it took being down 14 to OSU to get going and all three game stories include "a strong second half."
2) offensive line play. When was the last time o-line was not the number one or two issue?
3) special teams are thisclose to being a strength. Stroman is confident catching, but needs to make better decisions when fielding and get up field. I love Slye's leg, but we need to hit some of those 50+ yarders. It will bite us one game. And the kickoff return was the best blocking yet, but still didn't have the legs to take it to the house or on Stroman's long punt return a block in the back penalties.
Random. It's, Adonis Alexander is a ball-hawk. He's always making plays out there. He is also much better tackler than Frye and looks to have overtaken that role already
Penalties were atrocious, felt like early least year again. Dumb things. Though I didn't mind Teller launching a boilermaker for funsies. (It looked worse than it was because of how far he threw him)
All-in-all a good game, did what they were supposed to. But need to clean some stuff up to beat BC, Pitt, Duke, etc.
"Slow starts" ,,,they didn't look like they started slow to me, more like Motley takes a couple series to get his feel...that and the "strong second halves" look more like excellent adjustments as usual from Foster, and damn good ones, and coaching points from Lefty...the QBs in games with Lefty seem to almost always come out demonstrably better in the second...reminded me a bit that Ole Miss coaches style...feel the game out, then counter like a heavyweight boxer, once they're off balance, hit them hard, and make them go down....
You're the first person I have heard that thought we had a strong second half against Ohio State.
I should have clarified, but the post was long enough. We took a punch, down 14-0 before we started playing our game. We held this mentality for two plus quarters until JC fumbled with 2:25 to go in the 3rd.
I'd argue we were shaken when Brewer went out, and Motley 's first drive was rough. But then he started moving the ball and making quick decisions. Until, that is, the fumble took the air out of us.
So more slow start than strong second half. Furman and Purdue follow the mold however.
short version: anOSU was a strong second QUARTER, the other two games strong second half.
I was skeptical of this team and said it would be an ugly game where we barely pull out 14-10. Glad to see I was proven wrong.
My only regret was seeing Lawson look so bad out there simply handing of the ball. Looked like his head was not in it at all. He did deliver a real pretty pass that should have gone for 6 if it weren't dropped.
Well. The penalties were pretty regrettable too. although the late hit called on Teller I thought was pretty much incidental contact the ref called because even incidental contact with Teller often has violent consequences.
Agreed on the late hit -- that guy tripped over his teammate and stumbled into Teller. Teller deflected him with a forearm and the guy fell down.
I missed the first half, so I was watching some highlights on ESPN. They panned to the VT section a few times and I saw a gentleman in the TKP DBU T-shirt. Looking stylish, sir.
That was me! Wife had on the Hokie headgear next to me and my son and daughters were there decked out as well. We DVR'd the game so I could watch it again when we got home (at 1:30 in the morning) and finally get to drink some beer. I will agree with everyone that said the team never felt like the game was out of their control. The sidelines were loose and they were having a good time during the entire game.
Side note that helped make this a great day: got to say hi to Bruce Smith, my youngest daughter was given Nigel Williams gloves (which really pissed my son off to no end) AND (maybe most importantly) my wife now wants to go Blacksburg to watch a game.
Edit: and I shook Sam Rogers hand after the game.
And you still have a hand?
Yeah but it looks like Jason Pierre-Paul's now.
Just be glad your wife didn't shake Sam's hand. It would be a long ride home by yourself.....
While we were watching the game, my wife says to me "look, that guy has on the same shirt as you". I said, "yea, that's my people".
Sluggish start or not. Penalties or not. We've scored 50 three times since 2006! This is what Virginia Tech needs.
I was really bored the entire game.
Why?
I was pretty entertained
I don't know why. I think it might of been the setting. NO energy after the first quarter. Kind of like blah.
The last time we played on the road against a Power 5 team, we scored 3 points and 0 in regulation. Today we scored 51. Improvement.
From
to
We might need to keep an eye on Frank's choice of jacket. Wasn't he wearing a white windbreaker against OSU last year? Might be a pattern?
White starts with a W.
Win starts with a W.
It's a slam dunk.
And some folks want Beamer gone? I really hope he stays around a while, for his coaching and for stuff like this. (Hopefully we dont have to re-live the Wake image, but damn that pic is funny)
As soon as I saw that, I turned to my fellow Hokie fans and said "There will be a screengrab of that on TKP. Book it."
Purdue even has the same school colors as Wake
!!!LOLUVA!!!
Greyson Lambert shatters passing records for Bulldogs
https://www.dawgnation.com/football/team-news/greyson-lambert-shatters-p...
Lambert lighting it up. Color me impressed.
Meanwhile in Charlottesville
Hey, guys! Anyone want a Cinnabon?
In fairness, Matt Johns hasn't really been all that bad this year for UVA. They can do some things offensively. Their d-line also got creased over and over by W&M which may be a bigger issue.
Yeah sucks Johns is actually a pretty good QB. If it was some of their QB's of the past, they would have lost to the Tribe today. Which would have been worth a trip to the Sabre. Plus I would think theyd have to fire London on the spot. 0-3 with a loss to William and Mary? How can you ever salvage anything from that? Buut they will live to see another day, and London possibly another season.
I just don't see this happening. Which makes me sad.
We are 2-0 in these new helmets outscoring our opponents 93-27 in the process
Yes, these need to be in our permanent rotation
I've pretty much created a fresh batch of superstitions for this season.
Why is it never the really cool helmets that we play well in?
I agree that black matte was awesome (I also loved the matte maroon Fighting Gobbler lids vs Rutgers) but I am definitely a fan of these lids. I just wish the rest of the uniform was a better match for the design.
I liked these nuggets from Andy Bitter's story:
Full story: http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/va_tech/virginia-tech-rolls-in-ro...
38-0, Bro!
Also, I credit a Nole for bringing this to my attention going into the week:
Beamer has now surpassed Bear Bryant in wins at the program that made them a household name.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/30071125/hokies-rout-purdue-51-24-as-beamer-p...
On Purdue's 1st TD, I think the secondary was confused. Fuller had to run across the field and the receiver was uncovered. Fuller never got into position before the snap and the receiver had a clear path towards the corner. Fuller had to play catch up fro the snap. Honestly, we should have called TO there.
Yes, there have been some serious communication issues in the secondary these three games. As well as the D has played, they have the talent to play quite a bit better. We all knew replacing Kyshoen Jarrett and Detrick Bonner was going to be tough. I'm impressed with Adonis Alexander so far, and Chuck Clark has been a beast. But the communication still seems to be a work in progress.
I hope against ECU we will see more outside leverage from the corners with Alexander running loose in center field. We shouldn't need as much run support against ECU, right? It would be good to see picks instead of PI calls when the ball is thrown deep.
edit: don't know why my fingers typed "Chuck Smith" when my brain was thinking "Chuck Clark."
Chuck Clark?
... Maybe we have a super hybrid defender comprised of Bruce Smith and Chuck Clark?
Is there a list anywhere of who is ahead of him? He's one win away from sixth. Wondering how close he is to the top.
This one doesn't list Ault (guess Nevada doesn't qualify as "major" here), but parsed from this list:
Bear Bryant - 232 at Alabama
Tom Osborne - 255 at Nebraska
LaVell Edwards - 257 at BYU
Amos Stagg - 270 at Chicago
Bobby Bowden - 302 at F$U
JoePa - 409 at PSU
You're doing the Lord's work, VTGuitarMan.
Going way back to Bryant, Osborne and Stagg. Do we need to consider how many games and bowls they DID NOT play during a season?.....Nah!
This list tells me he can probably make it to 3rd before he retires. That's legit company Frank, so don't get greedy...or do, you know, as long as we're seeing double-digit wins we prolly won't mind it...
It's usually listed in the game notes for each game, posted on Hokie Sports .com.
Great win all around. Only major negative from today was penalties. Very happy with Motley's play. Really stepping up to be a leader.
Dear anOSU,
you're welcome.
also, great game. first half sloppy, second half sloppy. but damn if we can get rid of the mistakes. to be honest defense has me more concerned than offense. just not seeing the sacks from our DL that I expected. and pressure seems less this year.
Dadi has gotten in the backfield a lot this year but has missed 90% of his tackles when he gets there. Don't know what is up with that.
I'm wondering if he's having trouble wrapping up with his hand injury.
was thinking that too. But overall we just aren't dominating like I expected us to.
which is odd, given the number of 3 and outs we had today
I actually chalk this up to two of the three teams we've played having poised QBs who escaped pressure. How many times did one of our D linemen bounce off Cardale? Appleby escaped some pressure that I think most QBs take a sack on. I think you'll see sacks go up. We're already getting into the backfield consistently on D. Eventually we'll face QBs who can't juke our DL.
Yeah, I get it but this DL is meant to dominate. I expect a QB and OL at OSU to be a tough match up that doesn't give up much, but not Purdue and certainly not Furman. An elite line should be destroying teams like that, elusive QB or not. again, not saying we aren't being productive in stops. just not the best line in country... yet. just feels odd to me. but i'll take the W sacks or not.
From my vantage point in the end zone, the DL was dominating. They completely shut down the inside running game, which facilitated everything Purdue does on offense. They generated pressure. And it was all against an offensive line returning all five starters that was lauded as a strength of the team. Minus one or two breakdowns on misdirection, Purdue didn't piss a damn drop. That was as good as the D has looked so far this season, and it isn't even close.
This is great to hear. Having the DL dominate in whatever-they-need-to-do-to-win is fine with me. If they did jumping jacks at every snap, I'd be okay with it, as long as it helped us win the game.
Applby seemed to be getting hit a lot. I think h was picking himself up almost every play
I think this is similar to what has happened with Fuller from his freshman year till now, once teams know and prepare for star defensive players, the stats on those players are going to go down because teams aren't challenging them anymore. Ohio state aside, QBs we've played this year have been really jumpy in the pocket and have been bailing out or throwing it away a lot more often. If you watch, our Defensive line is hitting the QBs quite a bit, but the ball is normally gone at that point, already thrown away or high to a receiver.
Maybe we are keeping a lot of our defense scheme vanilla until we get into conference play. I feel like Bud hasn't brought in a lot of pressure lately.
That's true, forgot about that. He seems to be coming in, arms out, chest high, instead of driving into the hips of the QB. But that hand could be a factor in the "wrap up" department.
I think he doesn't understand his own speed. He comes flying in going upfield and as he tries to make the tackle he's still going 120 mph. He needs to go to Tokyo and learn how to drift.
Darrell Hazell gets barbecue at Wendy's.
Comment of the year. All those late game injuries were karma for that idiot going for it on 4th down down almost 30.
By the way, in person they let former coach Joe Tiller address the crowd, and he lauded the crowd to get back into the game and make noise as many were heading to the exits before the start of the 4th quarter. Talk about kneecapping your current head coach. Man!
I watched the game with a former Purdue player who was recruited by Tiller but played his career for Hope. Great guy, but never felt that Purdue stood a chance. He actually cheered for Tech quite a bit. It was just kinda funny that he showed up to the local VT Alumni Association game watching party. Seems to be a lot of apathy in their fanbase or at least acceptance that they aren't that entertaining.
Stat of the game:
Wait. When was the second pass?
Not sure where they got a second pass. ESPN has it in the boxscore but not the play-by-play summary.
Hokiesports list Rogers as 1 for 1 passing.
Could it have been that triple reverse play that was snuffed out?
I'm not sure the art of Beamerball was lost as much as teams just figured out how to counter it. Beamer was leagues ahead of everyone else, and really pioneered the way teams did special teams. Coaches just caught on to his tricks.
Isaiah Ford is up to 266 yards receiving on the year. If he averages 81.56 yards in the remaining 9 regular season games or 73.4 yards including a possible bowl game he'll have the first 1000 yard receiving season in VT history. #recordwatch
You're forgetting to factor in the ACCCG.
And the playoffs.
Did he get all 128 of those in the first half??
Close to it. He got dinged up at the end of the half, and they doubled him some in the second half.
French that is what scares me:
"He got dinged up at the end of the half"
He is playing so many downs that one of these times he will get clobbered.
It is a huge issue. Assante came in for Ford, and Motley didn't even look his direction. There is no faith in Asante or Knowles, and they don't really have any other options.
Could they go with Cline, and just use some 3 TE formations to compensate?
Practicing
I didn't see the game so I'll have to ReWatchESPN it. Instead, I listened to the radio broadcast on hokiesports.com. Sounded like we had a lot of procedural penalties, and a buddy I was texting with said that it looked like Motley has no pocket presence whatsoever. His stat line looked fine, and the announcers singled out a few of his passes throughout the game that they said looked great, but then also emphasized that a pass Ford caught on his thigh was very not good. Time to go review some TapeOnATreadmill
Gotta copywrite that "TapeonaTreadmill".
No pocket presence? I would disagree we have seen plenty of QBs that instantly leave the pocket if the wind blows in their face to strong. I though Motley made a lot of great throws when he stepped into the pocket.
Motley has good pocket presence, but he doesn't feel backside pressure yet...that's all learned...game reps...but until he feels it, we may see more of the strip-sack 98-yard fumble-return TD for the opposing team.
Remember how good Mike was at that? Eyes in the back of head.
I disagree on the "pocket presence" thing. It seems to me like Motley is getting better with every quarter that he plays. I didn't see a ton of mental mistakes yesterday. Obviously he isn't Tom Brady just yet, and there is obviously room to improve, but he is getting better.
I am a bit surprised and quite pleased with his progression so far
I agree with your disagreement. It isn't like he was sitting back there for 4 seconds before he got hit. It was a DE that wasn't blocked. It is hard to feel a missed assignment on a 3 step drop. He did a great job in the game going through reads and then if it wasn't there, moving the pocket and keeping his eyes down field until he tucked it and decided to run. I am very happy with his performance and improvements.
I'm glad to hear that there is consensus disagreement. I 'watched' the game this morning [Read: Put the game on and did Sunday Chores], but I didn't notice anything particularly untoward. I'm still uncomfortable with how Motley throws sometimes...he'll be running and stumbling away from pressure and toss up an awkward-looking pass that generally gets near the target, but makes my heart stop every time.
How about our offensive balance the last 2 weeks. Great stuff
Furman: Rushing 299 Passing 284
Purdue: Rushing 238 Passing 233
Not enough talk about this. Lefty is doing a fine job with his play calling, making the most of the weapons he has to work with. The offense hasn't been put to the test the last two weeks, but Lefty has made good use of the opportunity to build things. I am really getting excited about the rest of the season.
We have 4 votes in the latest AP Top 25
Toledo, Temple, Miami, and NCSU have more, among others
Up 2 points, but still ranked 42nd, the same as last week.
Regarding, Coaches poll, up 4 points and ranked 42nd, from unranked and zero points last week.
It's progress. But, probably won't get ranked until back-to-back-to-back wins over Pitt, NC State and @Miami, if that happens. Losses at any, and probably won't have a chance for ranking until GT.
If VT continues to win...and score while doing do...it may happen sooner than that. Voters love points...it really doesn't matter who you score them against (see Tech, Georgia).
Serious question and I don't want to make this a topic... but with Phreak not making highlight videos on his site how is everyone watching highlights right now... I miss the 10 minute clips of the games...
First off, got a lot of compliments from VT fans on my Sacksburg shirt. From my first person account, Scott Loeffler deserves a ton of credit for the scheme, guys were getting open in gaps all over the secondary and the OL was buying time and making big holes for the run game. Motley looked like a guy starting his second game, he doesn't quite seem like he could carry the team if needed. Fuller's man seemed to be in motion a lot, maybe teams are hoping to get him out of position by switching receivers around?
From the seats we "found" 3 rows behind the Tech bench, Tremain Edmunds is a monster. Lawson could be LT3 in secret, definitely looks the part. Made eye contact with Brewer and asked him "you good" and he gave me an approving nod. Nijman looks like a LB, he could easily carry 50 more pounds before looking the part of OL. Deon Newsome made a hurried run to the locker room right about the end of the 3rd, but was back on the sidelines in the 4th, seemed to be fine. During the game Dadi was giving out high fives to the fans and Wes Worsham tossed someone's gloves to a young fan, I hope they were extras and I am sure he will buy them another pair if they were not.
No more halftime chili for him.
i'm not sure how you can say this...I think Motley has played really well, better than most expected, given the situation. Granted, it hasn't been against the best competition but Motley has produced on a level we haven't seen in Blacksburg in a long time. What more do you want from the kid?
8-0 in ACC play would be nice. :)
I'll let Homebrew speak for himself, but from the tenor of that whole paragraph I think he was talking about intangibles more than stats or actual production. I agree that Motley doesn't look as much like a team leader as Brewer or Lawson. That's not a knock on his performance, and it certainly isn't a knock on his character. It's just an observation.
To me, it's way too early in Lawson's career to make any judgement/assumptions about his leadership ability. I do hope he develops into a great leader for the good guys down the road though.
He doesn't look as much like a team leader as...Lawson? What exactly does this look like so I can recognize it?
That was the gloves my daughter got. We were in row 5, although my son moved down to the railing about mid 3rd quarter because, well there was no one left down there.
From my admittedly non professional view, I thought Motley did a very good job. He never struck me as looking like he was lost in the offensive scheme and made plays when he needed too. I thought the only negative on him was that he sometimes seemed to hold the ball too long, like he was going through his progressions a little too slow. The score on the board during the 1st half was a lot closer than what was happening on the field, it never felt that the game was out of our hands the entire time.
I also saw Brewer and Motley talking quite a bit on the sidelines during the game. I don't know, for some reason the past few years whenever another team scored a touchdown I always worried that we were in trouble because we were so inept at putting points on the board. Never had that feeling this game, the way we played and the way the players were acting on the sidelines it seemed that they know they had this game and that they were the better team that day.
Honestly, I don't know what to make of this team. Sometimes we look good, sometimes we look lucky and sometimes we look bad. It's kinda exemplified by Motley's play. I don't know if he is someone who can lead this team to victory when we need it most but I am intrigued.
this is EXACTLY how I feel
In theory, Brewer could be back by ACC play. He is suppose to be out 4-8 weeks. Pitt is 3 weeks and 5 days. My guess, only because it's halfway between 4 and 8, he comes back for the Miami game (~6 weeks). So, let's hope Motley, the running game, and the defense can keep VT afloat, and not leave it to late QB heroics for the next 3 weeks (ECU, Pitt, NCSU).
ECU is almost dead last in run defense, so assuming we can run against them that would help Motley a great deal
Well personally I am unsure of that 4-8 weeks. Tony Romo (...must avoid his other nickname...) is expected to be 8-12. I know he is a reinjury and every person is different but we won't really how long Brewer is going to be out. Also, considering our track record of not exactly getting people back 100% in the fastest time ever I'm gonna expect the latter of the expected time out. Who knows what sort of condition Brewer is going to be in when he comes back.
Another thing to consider would be what if Motley is really jelling with the offense when Brewer is healed. Do you pull Motley for Brewer and risk that chemistry? I don't know what to expect from this season at all.
The timeline is definitely open-ended. If Brewer's first game back is the Miami game, I expect he will start, but Motley will be used early and often to get Brewer off the field.
Everything I've seen and heard has led me to believe this is Brewer's team and Motley is his caretaker. I don't think there will be two seconds of "chemistry" issues when Brewer is ready to step back on the field. But I think Lefty had a plan for Motley to contribute even before Brewer got hurt, and I think Motley will get a lot of work after Brewer is 100%.
I saw a blip on the bottom of the screen on ESPN tonight that Romo is not having surgery, which also affects the timetable.
FWIW, I was listening to the radio broadcast before the game, and they said that Brewer threw on Friday afternoon. He's out of his sling as well.
Seems like it'd be hard to throw with one arm in a sling.
Alrighty smarty pants, you win this round
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I wouldn't read too much into that simply because it wasn't his throwing shoulder that got hurt, it was his left. The problem is just being able to take hits and keep going, not necessarily throwing the ball.
0% chance they would let him throw if his recovery wasn't going very well.
Sorry guys, we have seen our team offensively inept before (i.e. LT 2013) but we have play makers. WR's, TE's, some RB''s not all, and we have a decent OLine. Our offensive numbers are high even against not so great opponents but we put the points up. I remember seasons where we would come out of Furman/Purdue-like match ups and barely squeak by. Yea Motley isn't the second coming of TT but this kid is throwing deep passes that Brewer could never make. I must be the only person but I believe Motley can carry this team as he showed after that blind side sack returned for a TD. He got back on the field and made a drive to score. I like this kid and he is showing improvement every week. The defense is finding its personality right now, offense needs to stop using Trey Edmunds on goal line, and Loeffler needs to keep dialing up the plays to TE's! ECU will be a revenge game (Especially for our CB's) and the rest of the season I think each team is beatable and that is even if Motley is our QB for the remainder of the season. We are very lucky our #2 QB is playing like this. I agreed that I was a bit worried about Purdue especially when ESPN was lookin at an upset but after that game even though Purdue was in it for a half I just felt we were the better team the whole time.
That's all teams. Especially the last few championship teams.
By far the highlight of our trip, meeting Whit and showing him our koozie in honor of him. #turndownforwhit!!!
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