If you watched Tennessee struggle against Appalachian State in Neyland Stadium, do you feel differently about Virginia Tech's chances against the Volunteers next Saturday? If so, what were your expectations beforehand, and what are they now?
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No change. We're still going to kick their collective ass.
It was glorious...i can't wait to see what Bud does. Not looking past LU but...
I was honestly expecting to get rocked at Bristol. The thought of winning rang less likely than the Beat Bama of a few years ago. After watching Tennessee struggle to move the ball at all, I think we will have a ball game on our hands. I'll be looking to see how well Jerod plays tomorrow. If he can consistently connect with Bucky, Cam and Isaiah I'll be very happy.
I expected it to be a close game no matter what. The Vol fans seemed to be confident in a 3-TD victory over lowly VT. Homerism aside, I didn't think the Hokies would roll over that easily. I'm still not sure that we'll win but I do think we can keep it close. What I saw last night was that the Vols have a very porous offensive line, one that I'm hoping our defense can exploit. When Dobbs is pressured, he makes poor decisions. Against a better secondary (#DBU), a few more of those throws are likely picks. The one late in the game would have been a pick-6 against VT but App State just didn't quite get in position.
Am I more confident? Maybe slightly. But I also think the game plan for UT vs. App State was very vanilla, with Dobbs running less than he normally would. I suspect it's the same gamesmanship we'll see out of Fuente - reveal little in the first week. But the fact that last night's game was so close means you can't blame all of it on scheme. UT should have gotten ahead comfortably and cruised. They didn't. This means, to me, that there are things we can do to limit their effectiveness.
I think it also showed once again that Butch isn't the best in-game coach. It seemed like they had a game plan that he was too stubborn to deviate from it, even when it wasn't working out. Like you said, it was very vanilla and I expect Dobbs to run a lot more in Bristol.
IMO they definitely overlooked App State and got extremely lucky (missed extra point and fumble recovery in OT) and it wouldn't surprise me if they looked better against us. That being said, the game definitely made me feel more confident about our chances. Hopefully our outing against Liberty will add to that confidence as well.
I honestly thought TENN was going to keep it very vanilla and not show anything. I wouldn't have thought they would have stuck around past the first two quarters. App was up for that game and showed some vulnerabilities.
No, I thought it would be a 1-score game either way before, still do. If anything, this will wake them up a little bit.
VT has played Ohio St, Bama, Boise, USC, etc in these types of games before. UT isn't in those teams class. Clearly #9 is too high for a team that is well regarded only for close loses and one quality win last year (a UGA team that fired their coach). In mid-October, the Coaching Carousel type of articles featured potential openings at Miami, USC, VT, UVA and Tennessee. Then UT won 4 in a row over bad teams and beat Northwestern in a bowl.
UT has five swing games before 10/15: VT, UF, @UGA, Bama and @ aTm. Then they don't play anyone who can beat them after that. Look for them to be sitting 3-4 or 4-3 after losing to Bama and Butch Jones to be on the hot seat again and for them to win out. UT's schedule has always been front loaded going back to the Manning-loses-to-Florida again games. And it makes them look better in preseason than they are.
I think Tenn comes prepared next week. This game will serve as a wake up call for them. Not saying they are going to win but I think they will play a lot better next week. However I think the game will be a lot closer than I originally thought and right now it's a coin toss.
I also thought I saw they had three players suspended for the game last night but don't know if they were starters or not.
Honestly, I think the App State game hurt us more than helped us. I kinda got the feeling we were being overlooked a bit and they might be sleeping on us. Ain't nobody asleep when you're in the top ten, and you almost give away a game to App State.
That game last night also showed that you don't win just by showing up, regardless of your ranking. We have our own issues to resolve, and I just hope we're not caught looking at Bristol when we should be TCofB with Liberty. My initial reaction is not fear, but a little trepidation hoping that we don't get that "entitlement" attitude and end up in a close game ourselves tomorrow. Still and all, there were reasons enough from that game last night to have a bit more hope for Bristol.
Agree 100%. I live in TN - SEC and UT country. And trust me, UT's fan base has been completely overlooking their first 3 games....looking ahead to Florida. I believe this is likely true of the team also.
I believe last night wakes them up and we get their A game next week. Hopefully we bring ours.
I disagree, while you are probably right that this "woke them up", the game did reveal some weaknesses to the team, awake or not. Between the game last night and the game tomorrow I think we'll have a pretty good picture of what to expect in Bristol
I agree with DK here. Although this game and a week of correcting mistakes will "wake up" and sharpen TN, weaknesses are still weaknesses that we'll need to find a way to exploit. Hopefully, we'll roll against Liberty, and come into Bristol confident and fired-up against the Vols.
I'm sure UT also believed, "hopefully we'll roll" against Appy State
I was actually hoping Tenn would whoop up on App State and sleepwalk into Bristol. I think our chances of beating them were actually better before this scare at home vs App State. Now I think Tenn is going to go through an absolute hell week in practice and come to Bristol fired up and pissed off and determined to make a statement. I feel less confident now than I did.
Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines while watching the game. Likewise, if we win big against Liberty, I hope the team doesn't get over confident.
Overconfident against a top 10 SEC team? Never
they won't be top 10 on Monday
That's not necessarily true. There are at least 3 big games on Saturday that top 10 teams could fall in not accounting for major upsets. At the end of the day, UT may fall but they still won and may stay above other teams enough to stay in the top 10. Plus, SEC and votes will play the whole "overcome adversity" card methinks.
Honestly based on how voters do their ballot with a team or 2 above the, maybe losing they could actually move up in the rankings.
Agreed. While watching, I began to think back to a dream I had years ago where we actually lost to JMU, haha as if, amiright? But then after that loss we got strapped in and ran the table from there. Hopefully that won't be the case here.
This. I wanted them to come in overconfident, but I think they're aware of their issues now. They clearly aren't firing on all cylinders, and I think our DL and #DBU will be tougher than what they faced yesterday. I expected a close game and I still think it will be a close game. We'll have to see how we look against Liberty.
Maybe our DL and Secondary are better. But, I'd take Appy's LBs in a heartbeat.
yep...and their cb Duck was pretty game too.
I was saying the same thing to my 14 year old last night while watching the game. He responded by saying that if this were the NFL, that might be the case (the scare motivating their players more), but his viewpoint was that these are teenagers we're talking about...they're more likely to think the opener was a fluke than use it as motivation in their prep for us. He may have a point.
I for one hope they come in fired up and pissed off, as I do the Hokies. Let's do this. No sense in being scurred now.
I have to reluctantly agree.
I'm actually glad App didn't win because then Tennessee would be pissed off next week, and that would not be good for us.
They were still embarrassed. I'd expect them to play angry. But Butch is a bad coach so I don't know if he can harness that anger
damnit
I'm a great coach Sunday through Friday. In game decisions are tough, but selling your team vision and say hi to all the mothers is easy. I'm good at that. One of the best, really. If they'd just give me more timeouts or maybe a 145 second play clock I could have some time to think for once!
Bless your heart, Butch
Huh, who knew Butch Jones and Mike London were the same guy?
Hey, I know how to manage the clock almost as well as that Satterfield guy.
Let's not hate on a coach that beat us at FedEx field a few years ago.
That Cinci dude was down at the one.
Nothing has changed, especially since we haven't seen Tech play yet.
Mind if I tag along? This is pretty much what I was going to type, except louder.
WE HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN THE HOKIES PLAY YET, PEOPLE!!
Exactly my thoughts. Until we see the Hokies take the field Saturday then I'll (hopefully) feel more confident about Bristol
I was expecting a lot more from UT. However, I expected a close game then and still believe it will be a close, hard fought game. UT is not #9, but are still a difficult team to beat. Reeves-Maybin will be back. His suspension happened so early, I do not think he will miss any time from the Bristol game. There is still concern for the fan split at the game. Hokies will be heavily outnumbered, but I do believe we will be louder. For now though, #BeatLiberty.
Speaking to their (fan) overconfidence, or delusion, I mentioned elsewhere a fan was expecting a split of "160...no...150k to 10k" UT fans to Hokies at Bristol.
Here's the thing about the fan split...this is NOT a college football stadium. It was NOT built to hold in noise and pack people close to the action. Even though there will be 160K UT fans there or whatever, it likely won't be any louder than playing tough road games VT has played before at anOSU and Bama in the Georgia Dome.
I've never been to Bristol but my co-woker told me that he has been and the stadium and area holds in noise....could get pretty freaking loud there especially cause it's a bowl design kinda like Penn St
Never been to Penn State, but I always thought it looked shallow on television, which would lessen the noise, no?
Best friend went there, gets really loud. Probably helps that they have 110000 fans or something though. Architecturally speaking, no idea
Penn State is flippin loud when they're into it. Was at the PSU-Nebraska game in (I think) 2003. A night game, which JoePa basically never did, and PSU was not expected to win, but did. Never heard a louder stadium. And that was before they expanded that ugly erector set.
I dunno man 160k people in any facility is going to be pretty loud.
You'd think - but it really depends on how shallow the stands are to the playing surface. Look at the Final Four in basketball the last few years. Yes, they play in football stadiums that can get loud, but for basketball, it just sounds hollow and relatively quiet compared to the cramped quarters of a Cameron Indoor or even Cassell.
Sure, Bristol might get loud, but who knows if that noise will be focused on the field where it needs to be. My guess is that it won't.
This is dumb. Let's stop trying to lie to ourselves. This game is going to be tough. UT is gonna play better. It's going to be loud. We have a new offense. I just don't see the point in coming up with all these narratives on why this game is going to be easy for us. Look at the game from a real perspective.
The hell?
I said the stadium isn't going to be as loud as we think. Don't know where the hell you are getting all this shit about whether or not the game itself will be hard.
I would think 150,000 people, with a majority as Tennessee fans, would be pretty loud.
Not after the first half with all them looking like this
RedditCFB has collectively dubbed this the "give-up gopher," which despite biological differences, is closely related to the "surrender cobra"
This year's UVaDrape?
It looks like that UT polo is giving birth to that man. The miracle of life is a beautiful thing.
The only thing I see.
I just feel like people are trying to twist every little element of the game into a reason why VT is going to win and it looks dumb.
War, I respectfully disagree. The thing about Bristol (and I've spent many hours in the place, full and empty) is it REVERBs. The place is an ice-cream cone of concrete and aluminum/steel. You can hear conversations at 100 yards. Its the one place we truly enforced hearing protection as an employer. I used to describe races in the infield this way: Have someone place a steel drum over your head. Get 3 friends, have one blow a shop vac exhaust mixing in hot air, CO, dust and rubber bits. Have the other two hit the drum with aluminum baseball bats for 4+ hours. Yes, I know racing and da' foozball is different but I still expect the environment to be very different / louder than people might expect.
BMS and the staff there were among my favorites to work with, and I have no doubt they will pull out all the stops for both teams and their fan bases. Going back to Jeff Byrd (RIP), former GM of the place - they truly 'get it'. BMS doesn't put on just a
racefootball game. It's an old-fashioned southern "happenin"!I agree. BMS is marketed well, but it is mostly backed up. It will be loud. We are talking the biggest college football experience ever, until it is topped.
Side note: Budweiser is building a two story bar inside the fan zone outside BMS. It is a brand new thing for 2016 and Bristol is stop #1.
We may be outnumbered 2:1, but we know how loud Hokie Nation is. We will be the loudest fans at the biggest game.
I was hyped before reading this, but now I'm like
(I would never wear that jersey. Poor kid doesn't know any better.)
I didn't watch the game last night, but a game like that usually results in one of two things. It either exposes the team as being overrated, or it pisses off a good team that goes out to prove it was a fluke. I'm hoping for the former, concerned it may be the latter.
Yes. No doubt about it. Cautious/optimistic fans say they were very vanilla. But playing vanilla doesn't mean losing 13-3 going into the half. It wasn't like they turned on a switch at any point. Honestly, if they didn't play NCAA overtime rules (starting on opponent 25) and went to NFL overtime rules (normal play play with KO) Tenn would of been 0-1. App State moved the ball, Tenn couldn't keep a drive going. Besides one big pass play App State was the better team last night. Going into our game, as long as we don't try to be to flashy and players stick to their lanes I am way more confident now. App State was a good team, as mentioned very "Senior" but our talent pool is better and hopefully Fuentes has them coached well enough to run smooth quick plays.
You have good reason to be confident. UT should have handled App State with no problem. I don't see how a rational UT fan could excuse the performance. I feel thankful and lucky to come out with a win. I see it as a one game fluke where the players got caught reading their own newspaper clippings and looking ahead. It's been a few years since UT was favored to win anything. I think there will be an entirely different beast this Sat. (at least I hope there is) It's gonna be a long year if there isn't.
Short, boring story:
Before and during Ole Miss/FSU I was texting an FSU friend of mine. He was really worried because, obviously, he is invested in their success. I am not, so I could handle being objective.
Fast-forward to 28-6 and he was freaking out. I told him not to worry. First game, freshman QB, it was going to take time to come together. When it became 28-13 just before half, Francois took a big hit as he delivered a TD pass and I told him, "See? It took him a while to get acclimated to college ball, but he just got rocked and made the play. He'll remember now that it's just football. I'm going to bed."
Lo and behold, the third quarter was a massacre for the Seminoles and they won. The Vols didn't play well in the opener, and might not play well in the first half of Bristol. But y'all have already faced a challenge and will find you're up to the task. We are in the same boat. The first half this week will be ugly but we'll both Settle in and the second half will show both of us who we are. Bet.
Good luck, good health...and hopefully a VT win
The only thing that I feel is different about the game is that I'm hoping their fans have had their ego deflated a little bit. Lots of first half surrender cobras on TV, so I hope they are brought back down to Earth. Then I remember that with UT fans, that's not a possibility and most of them will just come up with an excuse rather than look at the fact that they won because the opposing kicker missed a PAT.
Secondary feeling is that if we blow out Liberty then tailgating at Bristol is going to make it more entertaining for us!
Hopefully this means they are more like 2015 Auburn and actually are as bad as they played (Jacksonville State terrible OT win) and not like 2015 WSU who were actually a good team despite losing to FCS
Their weak Oline gives me a little more hope, but last nights result doesnt really change much. You never know how a team will react after a game like that. Tennessee is still decent enough.
Doesn't change the way I'm thinking about Tennessee, but probably changes the way they're thinking about VT.
I agree with those who say the game planning might have been a bit Vanilla. I think we'll see some different looks from Tennessee.
Tennessee showed some vulnerability, but I think we'll see an improved team in Bristol. VT can beat them, but should absolutely not come in over confident.
Plus, VT's next game is Liberty, and as someone else put it, the bell tolls for them.
Before the game started last night, my dad reminded me of two years ago when Ohio State struggled with Navy in the season opener before we whooped them in the horseshoe...
I'm certainly not more worried than before last night, but I always thought UT was over-hyped this off season. The only reason I wasn't expecting us to beat them is I have ZERO idea about how good we will be.
Interesting you brought this up because watching last night's game actually made me think the defensive game plan we used against Ohio State (bear or whatever you want to call it) might be appropriate against UT. I actually didn't like that we ended up using that defensive formation so often the last two years but this might be a time that it is advantageous. Here's some reasons why:
Personally I think UT depends on their running game to have success and open things up. While Dobbs is a talented athlete, he doesn't have a great arm or accuracy and can be forced into making poor decisions. We probably don't have the same quality of personnel in the secondary that we did in 2014 but bringing pressure and making Dobbs uncomfortable could lead to lots of poor decisions. Furthermore, Dobbs running ability seems more dangerous on designed QB runs than scrambling as he doesn't seem to have special elusiveness. Dobbs succeeds in the running game when opponents key on Hurd/Kamara. The bear front attacks the offensive line and would force Dobbs to evade tacklers behind the LOS rather than running downhill. Forcing their backs and QB to evade in the backfield should give our LBs an advantage to swarm to the ball handler and make the tackle.
It is still a risky tactic since we could get burned on the deep ball but I think forcing UT to play behind the chains will allow the defense to sit back on 3rd down and keep the play in front to prevent 1st downs.
The alternative is betting on our DL to outplay their OL without the extra men at the LOS. The risk I see in that is putting our LBs in one on one matchups against their skill players with more space to operate and hoping they can make the tackle. I'm interested to see what Foster comes up with and if his strategies will differ with Mitchell as DB coach.
A lot of people are saying what you are and it sounds reasonable. On the other hand, some Tennessee fans are saying they are confident that what we saw last night is not representative of their team and their playbook. They're saying Dobbs is a much better runner when unleashed and we'll see two back sets with Hurd and Kamara and more misdirection and that will open up the field. The poor OL play was surprising and I think is key. I'm hoping that we, like them, haven't been drinking cool aid and our conditioning is superior. I was most surprised at how listless they looked. First game blahs or poorly prepared? I don't know for sure, except next week we better take nothing for granted and come ready in every facet. It's going to be a battle. That is, after taking care of business tomorrow against Liberty
#BeatLiberty
Avoiding any emotional response to what happened to the Vols. GOTTA GO 1-0 first before Bristol!!
As someone who picked the Hokies to win at Bristol, no this doesn't change my mind. I think it helps Tech that Appy State exposed Tenn in two ways though. First, it gives CJF the point of reference to get the team to focus on Liberty and not look down the road as it shows that in college football, any team can win under the right circumstances. Also, it helps the team draw confidence that they can play Tenn well and it can be a favorable outcome for us. You know, the DLine is tugging at the chains and #DBU is salivating. On the Ofennsive side, everyone will all be feeling better about their chances too. And you know Slye is shaking his head and sayin .... "No OT if we get the same chances">
For Tech, the worst case scenario would've been if ut lost. The best game scenario is if they won barely (as opposed to destroying them). All things considered I think it's a win-win.
By the way, I guess you guys noticed that Tulane got Wake Forested last night 7-3? That Clawson offense is a juggernaut, indeed.
OT, but Wake's DC seems to be pretty damn good. I'm surprised he hasn't been snatched up by a bigger program yet.
wake forested. lol
UT may have had a vanilla game plan and not shown their hand, but that doesn't change the fact that their O-line looked horrible. If they did bring a simplified game plan, I would have expected a top-10 team to execute it much better than they did last night. They've got problems deeper than simply overlooking an opponent. They have a week to figure out how to block VT's defense, which I assume will be more complex than what App State brought at them.
I think if anything, this result makes both the UT players' and coaches' confidence waver. Coming into the game, this is exactly what I was hoping for: something to make UT reconsider their strength going into Bristol, something that went against what they probably expected the game to be. We also need to consider the shot Dobbs took at the end of that game. He was struggling after that.
I was expecting VT to lose Bristol. Some sort of "respectable loss" (if there is such a thing) where we have some outstanding statistic, like we did in 2013 against Bama when we held them to Saban's second-lowest offensive total ever. With all that said, and we really need to see VT play first, I'm gonna just go ahead and jump on board. 31-23 VT.
I still think that UT is a top ten team in terms of talent. I just don't think Butch Jones is very good in game coach at all. Regardless of what happens next week, his coaching is likely to cost them a few games this year.
If I just had more time I could think about what I'm doing. We need 7 timeouts per half and a longer play clock. 3x longer.
Tennessee might have called it vanilla, but they have to be downright terrified by their OL and really their DL play for the majority of last night. That DL got pushed around early and often by App St, and only when they fully sold out to stop the fun did they start to really prevent the Mountaineers from doing anything. And their OL was straight Stinespringesque. Absolutely terrible play last night, and if they don't get a whole hell of a lot better real fast, they very well could be looking at a season of around .500 ball. Our DL could give them fits, and they'll get eaten alive in SEC play.
So I am definitely more confident going into the game. I think its probably closer to a 40% chance we win, whereas I thought it was probably somewhere between 10%-20% before.
I'm not sure about this..they have the benefit of being in the much weaker East side of the SEC. SEC West is undoubtedly the best division in college football. the SEC East, however, is grossly overrated as a result of being paired with the West. We saw that last night. Tenn.'s overrated top ten ranking is a direct result of having the SEC name-tag despite being in a much more average division than people realize. Tenn. will win 8 games this year but Florida or Georgia will take the East Crown. My money is on Florida just because I'm not sold on Smart as a HC yet. IMO, the jury's still out on the Dawgz.
Think UT wanted to keep it as vanilla as possible but App ST held their own..
However looking at that O-Line if/when VT gets pressure with 4 Dobbs seems to make horrible decisions so we should be able to capitalize off of those.
UT defense really didn't get tested much, but they seemed to over play a lot of the jet sweeps and some throwback plays. Have to think Fu and Corn saw this and will make sure to put some of that in the game plan.
VT needs to get through Liberty healthy and then focus on the FOOTBALL GAME, not the EVENT as a whole.
Scott Loeffler reading this....
Scot Loeffler is probably reading this because he's in Dublin and we know he doesn't sleep.
Between French and an Inside the Pylon article about fuente and his use of the jet sweep, this makes me all sorts of giddy.
It just reinforces my thoughts that we're going to beat them. I saw an unprepared team last night, not for just the game but it looked like they slept through fall camp riding the coat tails of their ranking. Dumb penalties, muffed punts, poor timing etc etc. You will not see that with Bama, Clemson and other legitimate top 10 teams. I foresee Dobbs having a lot of dirt on his uniform next Saturday and Vol nation very depressed.
It makes them seem more beatable and less of a powerhouse.
There were flashes though like the long touchdown pass.
But don't know if the game was a result of a vanilla game plan
on their part.
I have mixed emotions. On one hand, after watching the game. I feel like our DL should get penetration on their OL. That being said, Dobbs makes bad decisions under pressure. All of this raises my confidence level significantly.
I worry about this game giving us a false sense of security going into Bristol. I think UT will definitely work out some kinks in game 2 and come into Bristol ready to play, and I hope we still go in with the mindset that we're playing #9 even if they drop. I also hope we aren't looking past Liberty.
You can work out kinks, but you can't really completely change bad decisions overnight. When Dobbs gets pressured his instincts have him making horrid decisions. We know all about QBs who make horrid decisions under pressure, we've been there and we know once it shows, it ain't going away overnight. And I'm sure the playcalling on their end will be a lot better than what we saw last night, but that doesn't take away from the fact their OL was routinely getting whipped by the App St DL on a 4 man rush. Guys were getting to Dobbs even when they were double teamed. Seriously, if App St was able to do that, guys like Mihotra and Settle are going to eat them alive.
The biggest worry I had going into this game was our LBs vs their offense and their DL vs our OL. App St kind of had their way with the Tenn DL until they sold out to stop the run last night. I don't know what our OL is going to look like this year, so that's probably the biggest unknown. That said, if we're going to lose this game, its because of the situation at LB for us.
Admittedly, I didn't go into this detail, but did I not just say the same thing?
Why do people always thing I'm trying to correct them? I actually agreed with what you said, and felt like following up and expounding on it.
Fair enough, but your opening sentence made it seem more like a retort.
No offense meant at you alum, but unbiasedly, your "but," in your sentence did kind of seem like a retort. Reading it with positive inflection is obviously better, but opening with a counter point to your own opening statement could read like it was countering the previous posters.
I have no idea why I felt like writing this much
Definitely. I wasn't entirely on the Tenn Hype train, but I did think they were a better team and a top 25 team for sure. Now I think we have a 50/50 of winning, assuming we perform well against Liberty.
I think last night was a combination of a couple things. UT completely overlooking an App State team that won 11 games last year, and running a very very vanilla play book so as to not reveal too much.. which almost killed them.
My confidence for week next is still shaky at best, at least until I see how we do against Liberty tomorrow. My only thing is,does Tennessee really open up the playbook on us, or continue playing this dangerous game until they play their hated Gators.
Overall, yes, the game last night did change my outlook for the 10th...I think it'll be a bit tighter than I initially imagined.
It changes my outlook on the game but not necessarily on how the actual game will go. Tennessee has effectively turned this into a lose/no respect win situation for us. The country at large, especially around the ACC, which already jumps at any opportunity to claim the SEC is overrated, has now decided that Tennessee is complete garbage. So if we beat them, who cares, they were SOOOOO overrated. If we lose, it's no longer a quality loss.
Here's why I don't feel much different about the actual game. Playing app state didn't make Tennessee any less talented. They got off to a slow start with a running based offense and made lots of huge mistakes. If they start hot against us we might be looking at a completely different game. When a team like Tennessee gets behind, their inability to consistently throw the ball becomes extra apparent, but if they get off to a hot start and are able to set up the pass they can come up with long plays off play action. We should certainly look at what worked for App State to some degree, but they also benefitted from a pretty perfect storm of miscues and weird plays.
I always thought we had a good shot at winning this game, and their offense and defense showed some chinks in the armor, but I am not confident we will get the same out of sorts Tennessee team that played last night.
Healthy with Bud, Brewer, Beamer and SL? 50-50.
This staff and QB? Who knows. I hope to see few penalties and many points vs. Liberty, even if vanilla. I want to see the D be ahead of the O, and treat Liberty like an FCS should be treated.
Yea, before I thought we were gonna win by 10. Now I think we're gonna win by 30 and set some kind of team single game rushing record. Their lines SUCK!
Also, Josh Dobbs isn't very good at football.
Tennessee wasn't a good offense last year, and they don't appear to be again this year. Dobbs threw for 2,200 yards last year, and yes they can run the ball but they are absolutely one dimensional. They had the 92nd ranked passing offense in 2015. The Hokies you ask? With a backup for much of the season, they were 64th.
The Hokies have more weapons on offense that App State, so even though Tennessee's defense is legit I'm not sure they can hang-on the way they did last night. Without their Defense and a lot of luck, they lose that game.
Didn't UT have a player ejected for targeting last night? Doesn't that mean that that player will have to sit out one or both halves of the next game? If so, losing a defensive starter should help us, right? I don't remember which player it was.
He was ejected in the first half, so he sat out the second half. It has no impact on the Bristol game.
He was ejected in the first half so he served his 2 half suspension. He'll be back next week.
Tennessee has the athletes it don't have the coach! If the game is close Jones will blow it.
I was really surprised by the UT offense. Their defense looked great though. I was predicting a high scoring game next week, but now I think it's going to be a defensive battle.
I don't want to toot my own horn or anything, but we did just beat the three time FCS national champions.
lol...where did you dig this up? He doesn't look like a future football coach in this picture.
http://www.knoxnews.com/sports/vols/football/a-trip-home-to-saugatuck-ne...
Game exposed them to be very beatable. If our offense is able to have a legitimate passing threat their defense could be even more exposed. Their offense does not seem nearly as explosive as they were thought to be and dobbs is going to throw some picks if we can keep him in the pocket and get some pressure without creating lanes.
As people have said ut is gonna have some rough practices this week because even though they won that was an embarrassing home opener. Between that and the fact that they will fall out of the top 10, I think they come out firing against us unfortunately.
Doesn't mean those weaknesses that got exposed will go away, but I think theyll be much better focused and angry next weekend.
If we can avoid falling on our face to open the game (think bama 2013 or Boise 2010...ugh) then we will have a shot. But they will be looking to hit us in the mouth early on after almost losing to app st and if we let them do it then we are going to be in trouble
My concern is that UT will come out fired up from being embarrassed at home despite the win. Tenn has a lot to fix on their end though in the next week. Their OL struggled especially in pass protection against a very undersized DL from App State. The center was beat a few times 1 on 1 with their NT. Their running game did not impress me much either. Some of this might have been due to vanilla play calling for week 1.
Defensively, Tenn was struggling with the jet sweep but contained the read plays very well. App St did not do much through the air so it was hard to tell how their secondary is playing.
I think we have a great chance to win as long as we don't make more mistakes than Tenn.
I expected to see UT control the line of scrimmage and exert their will in the run game against a good but outmatched App State team. Even when they were down at the half, I expected them to get the ball out of the locker room, galvanize their game plan, and use their superior athletes to pull ahead for the win. Vanilla game plan or not, UT looks to have some issues. They have good backs and a good running quarterback, however Dobbs arm appeared to be limited and their recievers weren't getting seperation downfield. App State consistently got pressure with 4 and there should have been two more easy picks in the game. I just was not at all impressed with UT.
Before last night, I thought Bristol was going to be a 65/35 deal on UT winning. Now, I think it's 50/50 if not slanted to VT. UT has some weaknesses and their offense is close to being one dimensional. We have playmakers on both sides of the ball and we have depth that App State didn't have. My body is ready. GO HOKIES!!!
You would hope both teams should/would be coming out fired-up regardless.
You know, Tennessee right now reminds me of VT through the mid 2000s... Good defense, has playmakers on offense, but they have a glaring achilles heel in their OL that is going to prevent them from legitimate success. There will be games they will let get away from them because their OL just gets overwhelmed, and they will get exposed against the legitimate top teams they play.
Lets hope we're one of those teams they allow the game to get away from this year.
They consistently got pressure when they only rushed 3!
I thought we had a decent chance of pulling an upset before last night. I am not sure the talking heads will talk about it being an upset. After we crush Liberty tomorrow, we might even be favored.
I don't know where to post this, but Frank Beamer will be on State Street in downtown Bristol next friday.
I just feel sorry for that Mountaineer Freshman kicker. If everything had played out exactly the way it did, with the exception being that he made that extra point, Boone would be rocking today.
Was hopeful, but now I feel worse, a lot worse. I hoped UT would smoke them. Many predicted App State to be really good this year, but I never want to play a talented roster coming off a near miss in a game like that.
If Appy St could throw the ball at all, they win by 2 TD's.
Silicon valley is hilarious.
Jared absolutely killed it last season
Not until I see how we handle Liberty Tomorrow
As an App alumn, I'm extremely frustrated. I can excuse the missed 42 yd FG, but I can't excuse the missed PAT. As a VT fan, I'm excited for a few reasons.
1. App was able to consistently get pressure on Dobbs with 3 to 4 pass rushers. Their interior DL were doing extremely well taking on double teams from the 2i and 3 techniques. This bodes will for our interior group.
2. App's DBs were able to get a lot of pressure on their receivers. With the exception of the long bomb to tie the game, they were consenting passes, and coming up to turn runs & screens back to the inside. The Vols passing game was horrid.
3. While App is ranked higher in the polls than VT, I would like to think that VT has better athletes as a whole compared to ASU. My heart tells me VT will win by 17, but my head tells me we will eek it out in a 1 score game.
*Pet Peeve*/ PSA
It's App, App St. or Appa"LATCH"ian State. Alumni cringe when they hear "Appy".
Everyone needs to stop calling us V-Tech we are not a fucking children's brand toy company!!
Or the even-more deplorable Vah-Tech.
When I hear V-Tech I think more along the lines of the Honda S2000 variable cam timing system. That being said I hate being called V or Vah Tech too. Just use VT if you're too lazy to say/spell Virginia Tech or Hokies.
Fun drive except my friend had his springs way to stiff so I felt every single bump in the road
I think I used Appy in one or two of my comments. Didn't mean to offend. In my defense, the one App St. alum I know says Appy. I would never say Appa-LAY-shun though. That offends even me.
None taken. I didn't mean to come across as mad at your statements. It was more or less a heads up for future posts. Thanks for the apology, though!
It has made me feel better about a game that I was fairly certain VT was going to lose during the offseason. But last night showed me that maybe even I, an avowed SEC hater, was giving UT the benefit of the doubt for their #9 ranking.
Whether you are running a vanilla game plan or not shouldn't also mean that you forget how to block for the game. Their OL flat out did not look good. I will say a little prayer that Bud treats this game like a debutante ball and introduces one Mr. Tim Settle to society at large. If the guy has gotten his conditioning up, there should be a lot of opportunity against UT's center in particular.
I still think UT certainly has more talent than us overall, but I see an opportunity for our Dl to get pressure and the secondary to do work. If Evans comes out tomorrow and is ready to rock and roll with Travon, Bucky, and Ford, I will feel really good about our chances next week.
In general, most football teams improve significantly from week 1 to week 2. This is usually due to cleaning up execution errors, timing, etc. What makes me rather optimistic is that the improvement doesn't usually solve systemic weaknesses, like bad OL play. I hope somebody sent Bud a drool bucket today, cause I think he's gonna need one when he's game planning for Bristol.
Luckily I've got an extra drool bucket laying around...
changed my mind completely. I had VT by 20, I now realize my mistake. that should be by 21.
silly me.
because we made the extra point, right?
I like Tech by 10. Tenn just doesn't have that much going.
From my perspective, it certainly has become a game of chess. I wonder what Butch & gang are up to this whole week. But, first things first, Lib.
Took a look at the Vol Nation board.....they have some seriously unhappy campers over there. Best comment I saw was "Bud Foster scares the living h#&$ out of me".
This should haunt their dreams
After going through some of the threads on there, one of the common expressions seems to be:
"Last years team would have lost that game last night". As if the measure of them being good or not is how they compare to the 2015 Vols
So basically their argument at this point is that they aren't overrated because they don't suck like last year's overrated squad that sucked
I did think Tennessee was going to beat us pretty badly on the scoreboard but after watching their game vs. App State, things have taken a turn for the better.
1) Outside of that long pass for TD to tie it up in the 4th, Tennessee didn't even think about throwing it long as it seems like they or Josh Dobbs doesn't have any confidence in it.
2) Their offensive line look average to me. App State. was getting to Dobbs just with their 4 down lineman and running game didn't seem to be there either.
3) Defense looked alright but its hard to gauge them with playing again App State. (Same could be said about us though playing Liberty.