I think it's safe to assume this is over...this isnt a meltdown and this isnt a rant but jesus weve gotta clean up the fumbles. The scheming was spectacular I have zero problem with the coaching. We've gotta clean up the penalties and stupid mistakes though.
I thought evans looked great and I really think there's a ton of promise with the coaching and the penalties and mistakes seem to come from the experienced starters which just makes it worse.
Regardless weve got a lot to build on go hokies and stay positive everyone the sky is not falling
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Can you guys believe that they cancelled the Battle at Bristol?
Bring on BC!
Agreed. Offense is fine when we don't put the ball on the turf. Problem is, that's a huge part of football. You cannot put the ball on the field. Or you simply cannot win football games. Wayyyy too many personal fouls tonight. Coaches need to crack down on that. Defense looks fine. Get put in crappy positions time after time and you're going to give up points. We will be fine. Plenty to build on.
I hope fuente runs them until they can't run anymore tomorrow
Worst part is, I'm in a position to say that maybe if we ONLY fumbled 2 or 3 times maybe we could have had a shot.....smh
Cam's fumble was the nail in the coffin. If he didn't put it on the ground I think we put up 7 on that drive making it a 1 possession game. But it was just a comedy of errors after that.
I've never been so encouraged by a blowout loss. I hate the game went this way after such anticipation, but you can see glimpses of what this team can be.
Completely agree!
If I could give you a thousand legs right now, I certainly would.
I agree. What's going to get lost in all of the post-game talk is that we outgained them in yards. That's a minor victory sure, but encouraging nonetheless. I thought we looked pretty good on offense (sans fumbles), looked very good on defense and caught a bunch of self-inflicted bad breaks. Am I disappointed? Sure. But do I think we match up well against the rest of the Coastal? Yes.
That was a good looking loss for VT and another ugly win for UT. Your coaching staff did the better job. Hat is off to your staff and program. Glad we caught you early. Your going to be a handful in the future.
Congrats to your team and thumbs up for being a good sportsman.
more fans need to be like you. Congrats on the win, good luck in SEC play!
Thanks for the well wishes. I was at the game and as for my experience both fan bases conducted themselves well. Nothing but love for the Hokies. Good luck going forward but I don't think y'all will need much luck once you get this thing hitting on all cylinders
We need to caulk up the hole at LG when Teller is out. Or is it a turnstile?
Pettit was on the ground so many times tonight I thought he was part of the turf.
Maybe Teller shouldn't play like a ducking idiot and he wouldn't leave the game. His 2 stupid penalties hurt us earlier in the game.
It couldnt be worse than the penalty Teller had that cost us a first down and then led to a fumble on our on 5 yard line in a game we are up 14-0 and would end up losing by 3 scores. That was the game right there. Not the fumble, but the penalty.
First penalty was way behind the play. It looked like he just dove at UT player's knees. Really hurt us.
I'll just say I disagree. Yes it was a stupid penalty and Teller can't commit those types of penalties, much less two of them, but it didn't cause the fumble . We had a few close calls with high snaps and the exchange on jet sweeps prior to that and sure enough both of those things caused turnovers at some point. Can't blame those on Teller.
As I mentioned elsewhere, if Teller didn't have that first penalty, we would have had a first down (or at least close to it) at the 41, as opposed to the 16. Even if we still fumble on the next snap, it wouldn't have gotten all the way to the 5.
The bigger issue is that both of Teller's penalties occurred on plays where we earned a first down.
For a good part of the night it seemed like every damn time we had a first down play there was laundry on the field.
I was hoping for neutral ref's, but after they ignored targeting on our QB I knew it would be bad.
I'm not one to complain about refs but it did seem that way.
Also an obvious block in the back when we returned a punt.
And how about that unsportsmanlike conduct flag that they threw, and then picked up the flag saying no foul. Clearly late, clearly shoulda been 15 yds
I was more frustrated by a clear targeting call that was missed early on. Evans was hit in the head by the UT backer, who led with the crown of his helmet.
Concur, that was a textbook targeting call and they flat missed it.
Even worse is that this year the booth officials can call targeting even if they don't call it on the field.
Yep that was the problem with the penalty, field position. If we get that first down, we probably dont run the same play and there is no fumble and I really believe we win the game.
As soon as that happened and we give it to them on the 5 I knew we were in trouble. It was just like the feeling of the BS offensive pass interference on Josh Hyman vs USC. "well we have played good but its over now"
Tennessee had done nothing, We should have been up three scores at that point, thanks to a missed field goal, and we handed them the game right there. I really need to stop watching, I dont think anybody else loses in the fashion and manners that we do. Its maddening and depressing. And think we play WVU to start next year, how many ways will we find to piss that one away?
The sad part is the fact that I believe we are every bit as good as Tennessee. The stupid turnovers and penalties ate us up tonight. And who knows if we'll ever see Teller again.
Same here. It's not like OSU last year when they were clearly the better team.
I can't recall a game where the other team was given field position like that all game.
I think we outplayed them for most of the game, ridiculous to say losing by three scores but penalties were just as bad as the fumbles.
I'm not excusing the fumbles. They're inexcusable. But as you watch this game, it's obvious that they're happening when the ball carrier is fighting for extra yards. Right now, the skill position players on O are trying almost too hard to adapt to the new scheme. They just need to settle in, secure the ball, and carry a ball every damn place they go this coming week. This offense will slow down for these players the more they play in it, and unfortunately you can't simulate game speed. They have to learn how to do this live, and right now they're too into their own heads.
The deal with the snaps just has to get fixed. When we take 95% of our snaps from shotgun, that snap needs to hit Evans in the chest every damn time. Vance Vice needs to address that yesterday.
The scheme is awesome and im excited. We gave away a game tonight, but even after that loss all I can do is dream about what it will look like when we are firing on all cylinders.
Get yourselves right, guys. The future is bright.
I'll feel better after we kick the shit out of Lefty and BC.
drop legs here
Couldn't agree more, and appreciate the post, really helps get through the loss. On to BC
Amen brother!
This is exactly how I feel. The turnovers and extraneous penalties are inexcusable. It was hard to watch but I saw things that Lefty and OcainSpring WISH they could do running an offense.
What I'm lookin at is the growth from week to week and so far its so damn encouraging. We'll get there fam!
A measured post and well said. Game seemed winnable but with errors
here and there, penalties, the momentum got stopped.
There was a figure that UT had 2 drives of 5 yards or less or something to that effect.
That and being given the ball near midfield consistently didn't help matters.
Offense seemed really good and some of the play designs were excellent. If Evans doesn't overhtrow
Phillips on that slant, it's a 1 possession game. Was impressed with Evans and how well
he played given the environment. Ready for ACC games.
hmm...
I'm a glass is half full kind of guy, and I really don't think the season is a waste now that UT made us look pedestrian, but Evans is not a good QB.
This was the one take-away I had that was a major negative.
His deep balls were severely under thrown/over thrown, his timing routes were always high or low. His running ability and his ability to see the field was just non-existant.
He is a big guy and has some feet, but has not shown his ability to put the ball into a spot IMHO.
I know that we have slim pickings for QB but I have to wonder if JJ isnt going to get some starts in a few more weeks.
I can't place blame on Evans, but I also don't see him carrying the team like in the days of Tyrod or Logan.
The ball was tipped on that slant
The scheme is fine but it doesn't look like this staff has control of this team. The O line shuffling is stopping any kind of consistency and the personal fouls are a sign of a lack of discipline. As far as the ball control issues I have no idea what's going on with that maybe we need to bring the boxing glove on a stick back. (jk) But the most telling thing was in the post game interviews when Rogers and Ekanem both talked about the lack of focus during practice this week.
Hot takes abound. We will be fine. Realize UT had 2 TD drives of less than 10 yards. That will kill your shot at winning football games. We lost by three scores and literally handed them 2 of those. Everyone needs to take a step back and realize this isn't the end of the world. Fumbles are correctable.
Fumbles and Stupid penalties will haunt you.
Extremely happy with the new look offense. Yeah tonight was rough but we showed a pulse and times and had some good drives.
Defense will be nasty this year as well. They played a ton tonight and it was obvious they got tired.
Ok, I'll be the one to say it. Glove on a stick = no fumbles. No glove on a stick = all the fumbles.
I came here this morning looking for this exact post.
This doesn't really change my expectations for this year. Still expect this team can win eight games in the regular season. This was one I didn't include in those eight.
Same here. UT, UNC, Pitt, ND. Sticking to it.
Am I the only one baffled by the fact that we ran on 1st and 2nd down on multiple drives in the second half while down 14+?
I'd have to see it again to confirm, but it appeared that the defense was playing for the pass heavy so in theory the run game should have picked up chunks.
I'm fine sticking with the run on first down when you are consistently getting 4-5 yards, and we were. We were down 14 but had plenty of time. Of Cam doesn't cough up that ball and we score with 10 minutes left in the 4th to go down by 7, it is a completely different ballgame.
To be honest, there was ONE play call I disagreed with tonight, and it was when we tried to use a jumbo set to convert 3rd and 1.
Same here! I was yelling at the TV on the 3rd and 1 call. However, I can't remember a time when I wasn't yelling over the playcalling in a VT game so one call is pretty phenomenal change.
How about the jet sweep with, I believe someone realatively new, on our own 10, up 14-0? Bad timing, bad snap, and the rest is history.
read my mind
overall, i thought the play calling was very good
Eh, two scores is a manageable margin. Moreover, sometimes you run certain plays to set up other plays. It's possible our o-line issues with Petitt/Teller dictated our play calling more than it should.
At this point our D was tired and getting stuck in terrible situations.
I think the run calls were a chance to slow down the game and allow the defense to get a break, granted we didn't get 1st downs.
That is the problem with the speed spread offense. If you don't move the chains, your Defense is going to be gassed.
except....we were moving the chains...until we fumbled. We only went 3-and-out 3 times and we had 21 first downs. Tennessee also went 3-and-out 3 times but they only had 16 first downs. We converted on just under half of our 3rd down attempts. Tennessee converted fewer than a quarter of theirs. We were moving the chains..that wasn't the problem. We were fumbling. That was the problem.
Whatever the reason of our loss may be, getting blown out and embarrassed in front of national TV in the biggest college football game of all time is not a good look. This was supposed to be a recruiting goldmine. Instead, we made peewee football mistakes.
Yes, there's a lot to be encouraged about, just like there has been a lot to be encouraged about in 2015, and 2014, and 2013...so on. This wasn't an issue of new staff. The offense failed at doing the two most basic things in football: handling the ball and good snaps.
Yeah, we can improve, and we should, but as of right now, we're a below average football team. We *can* be above average, but we're not. It is what it is. This game shouldn't have happened how it did.
Nope big difference...I didnt hear this
i dont think i saw this
remember this problem solving
and for good measures
I was actually happy with the offense. And the defense for the most part. Settle made a couple nice plays which I liked. Man, that Cam fumble killed us. We were down 14 and driving in the redzone. Them just mind blowing mayhem. Next three times we touched it we turned it over.
We score on that Cam fumble drive and I think we tie the game up next possession. That hurt. Bad.
Yep. If you take away the bad snap fumble at the beginning of the 2nd, we're within 3 or tied in the 4th.
But. On to the next. Have to have a short memory as a Hokie fan.
If and buts. . . 10 fumbles (9 lost) in 2 games is a systemic issue. Ball security was not emphasized as much as it should have been. I agree the offense is promising, but we are negative 6i on the season. Isn't the general stat 4ish points per turnover on average? Remember all of those 1 score games last year? Gonna cost us if we can't fix it.
Systemic. That is a great description of the problem. I fully expect to see fumbles go down as Fuente's system is installed. If it doesn't, we suddenly have some bizarre issue on our hands that was not a problem last season.
I'm willing to bet it was emphasized too much. When it's harped on consistently, one mistake can be disastrous for confidence. And confidence is all that matters.
9 fumbles in 2 games isn't a systemic issue, it is a statistical anomaly. There will be a regression to the mean, regardless of who the staff is and how they're coaching
Not really. 4 of the turnovers are based on snap issues. Either get a new center or fix it immediately. Also timing issues which may get fixed over time. I still didn't see any depth at WR which is concerning.
Two of the fumbles were based on snap issues, but your point still stands. Not sure why Gallo wasn't in at center.
Gallo's snaps didn't look great last week. Fuente and Vice are probably figuring out what they've got at center.
And two of them are on short punts that hit people. That's as random as random gets.
You can see why Frank loved AJ Hughes
i think they hit the same guy, Curtis Williams, both times. bizarre
I mean I'm no statistician or anything but in two games we have 10 fumbles, 9 lost, 5 per game.
The mean is 5. The standard deviation is 0.
Thus far, there is no evidence to suggest that we will ever fumble less than 5 times per game.
The confidence interval on our number of fumbles per game is centered at 5 with a width of 0.
Playing a football game is highly correlated with losing 5 fumbles.
The reality is that at this moment, 100% of Fuente-coached Virginia Tech teams fumble the ball 5 times per game with a measured rate of 90 percent of those fumbles lost to the other team.
This IS the mean.
Snark level is high here.
Is two data points statistically significant?
You're also assuming independence of the two observations. But it's possible that it's in their heads at this point.
Sorry, yes, snark is high here. But at this point the two-game sample is the whole population
Not really. The fumbles that already happened, are mutually exclusive of the fumbles the future,* and thus don't have an impact on future fumbles. Second, there are only 12 games in the regular season (small sample size). Thus, even if VT averaged the average fumble rate from here on out, because it's only 10 games they average for the year will still be pretty high above the mean.
*It's true, that due the crazy amount of fumbles, the Hokies will work harder now on fumbling. Thus, fumbles are not completely mutually exclusive, but they are completely independent acts that, for the most part, do not have an impact on the other.
...So? Mutual exclusivity and regression to the mean have nothing to do with each other. One might say they're...mutually exclusive. If I flip a fair coin 10 times get 9 heads, the next 10 flips won't be influenced by the first 10, but I can still say with a pretty high degree of confidence that the odds of getting heads isn't 90%.
This is true, but if VT averages the average fumble rate from here on out, I'd be okay with that. If you prefer, we can call it a regression to the median? The salient point is, the fumble rate we've seen for the first two games is absurdly high, and there's no way it's sustained for the rest of the season. If you doubt this, let's set the +/- on fumbles lost per game for VT at the end of the season at 4.5, bet $1000 on it, and give me the under.
MOOK is a fucking PRO! I'm glad he's on our side.
We had over 70 yards more of offense, most of their score came on the short field because of either fumbles or penalties. For most of the second half, it seems like we forgot we could throw the ball.
cough*Cornelson*cough
Cornelson called a better game tonight than Stiney or Lefty ever called during their careers at VT. Everything that went wrong on offense was because of mental mistakes and execution errors tonight.
I agree, but I also felt that Cornelson got very soft, conservative and vanilla for the 2nd-3rd qtrs when then needed to respond with a score. Yes I agree, but I felt like playcall was a contributing factor.
I think they wanted to turn it up in the fourth. Almost like the Rocky 3 strategy. Slow the pace I the 2nd and 3rd and then turn the speed back on in the 4th when Tennessee didn't really see it coming. Then more fumbles happened and it became a comedy.
I found the old play calls we were going to use
#freewyatt Petitt isn't getting the job done. I don't care if he "is practicing better", he isn't playing better in games and thats what really matters. Either come clean on whats going on with wyatt and the coaches so we can understand or play the man.
30 yards in boneheaded penalties wasn't enough for you?
I never saw the replays to see how good or bad those calls were. At least he is making an effort and not missing blocks or standing around while the play is getting blown up. Petitt looks lost. Find someone in the opposing jersey and hit em.
Even if it costs your team fifteen yards.
Anyone gets benched with the night Wyatt Teller had.
I would have loved to see either of the two blocks to tell if it was just an effort thing, an egregious mistake, or just "one of those things"
This! Teller killed us tonight just as much as another turnover would've.
It's pretty obvious what at least one issue is, inability to channel his talent and need to hit someone to do so within the guidelines of football.
Teller started and got benched due to penalties. I am going to need French's review to tell me if they were real or not. But multiple 15 yard penalties are going to get anybody riding the pine for a while.
I'm not French but IMO the first one was absolutely legit, he was well beyond the bubble. The second one was tough but probably the right call, and unfortunately totally unnecessary; he could have let his man have the outside and McMillian could have cut it back for basically the same result.
I could of swore that pettit started the first series and wyatt came in on the second. I could be misremembering, things are a little fuzzy.
Just watched Trayvon's TD run again and noticed Teller served up a nice pancake on the play.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=17516260&ex_cid=espntw
I'm just gonna watch this over and over again until it is the only memory of the game I have left.
Yep, Teller is all kinds of nasty. He was bulldozing UT lineman when the play called for it...If only he could get his stupid mistakes under control.
WADR, Teller picked up 2 personal fouls that really hurt. Yeah one was close and maybe forgivable but he can't cost us 30 yards like that, even if he is the better player. #hard and #tough aren't in question but #smart apparently needs work.
On an unrelated note, wtf was the personal foul on #85? Did the ref give the wrong number or did they blow that one? I sure didn't see a penalty. Maybe that's the bourbon the talking I dunno.
Getting blown out sucks, but getting blown out when you outgain the other team in yards, first downs, TOP, etc. feels even worse.
On the bright side, I am very excited about the offensive scheme and playcalling. If we clean up most of the fumbles/penalties, we should win 8+ games this year.
In the words of Bill Belichick, "On to Boston College!"
I wish we outgained them in points........
LOL. Fixed!
The fumbling is now a trend through two games, and it's been multiple players. I'd expect it to continue to be a problem for the rest of the season. It's especially frustrating because the potential appears to be there on offense.
Now looking at the rest of the schedule, I'm not sure this team goes bowling. There are still potential losses to ECU, UNC, ND, Miami, and Pitt.
Eh, luckily the only thing we have to really work on that is keeping us from being a good team is fumbles and penalties. If those see improvement, we will be bowling.
Narduzzi's guys are legit. They handled Penn St. yesterday.
They won by three...offensively they looked great. No defensively though.
Correct.
Not including the fumbles and penalties, I think our "O" is better and, of course, our D is legit.
We can beat any of the teams on our schedule if we can get the fumbles and dumb penalties worked out.
That's looking like a big if right now.
Lose some fumbles per game by training on shotgun snaps by getting your best snapper playing center.
That's some reduced right there.
Let's hope. And some get Cam a glove on a stick for goodness sake.
He has got to stop switching arms in traffic, and two hands when you go for more yards.
First: thank you eshiben5 for making a more accessible thread. No, this isn't a meltdown. My hot take (and likely knee jerk)
Bud was Bud. We had some breakdowns but he did enough to win the game.
Fu (hold onto your seats). Absolutely disappointing play calling. We can't control the fumbles, but this game told me one thing tonight: Fuente doesn't trust Evans in the passing game. We waited far too long, and it bit us.
This is a 6-6 team, folks. If Fu doesn't trust Evans to throw deep, I'm fully onboard with Jackson and taking our lumps. The offense was full on turtle mode for most of the game.
Wholeheartedly disagree. Tennessee was playing two deep safeties to take away the pass, and Cornelson and Fuente responded by gashing the Vols defense with sweeps, counters and options. I thought it was an excellently called game that used Tennessee's defense against them.
The fumbles beat us tonight, not the Vols.
Fumbles and really stupid penalties.
Agreed, we beat ourselves more than Tenn beat us.
As I said, the fumbles are out of our control. But watch the game again tomorrow: our passing game was very limited, and it cost us the game. I honestly don't think they trusted Evans in the passing game.
I feel like they needed to get the ball in th hands of Ford more often in the second half. He is our best player and was invisible for too much of the game.
I really don't think Ford not seeing the ball was due to a lack of trying. UT took him away. Their secondary is good enough to do that and that's what they did.
I think you're just wrong about this one. Trying to force a passing game when the defense is clearly playing against the pass is something Bryan Stinespring would have done. Fuente and Cornelson were taking what the Vols gave us and exploiting it to fullest potential.
Look at this another way: how many of our drives ended with a Vols defensive stop vs a fumble? The Vols did not have much of an answer for our offense tonight, and if we hadn't unraveled with the turnovers I think we win. And not by a little.
Evans completion rate was 74%. That's pretty damn good, guys. Dude throws a good midrange ball. I agree wholeheartedly. I think win by double digits if we just hold on to the football. No joke. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Clearly playing the pass? Tell me how many rushing yards we had after the first quarter.
I just think our gameplan didn't involve Evans throwing a lot downfield.
Well considering we only had about 200 yards total after the first quarter, the total rushing yards after the first quarter isn't going to be impressive. But that's more because we gave the ball away too damn many times.
We had more drives end by lost fumble than by punt. That really says it all. We were moving the ball effectively, and Tennessee didn't have any real answers for what we were doing. We handed the game away.
I'm not disagreeing, fumbles killed us. But our downfield passing was very limited. Cost us the game.
Downfield passing was nonexistent. But it didn't cost us the game. I would probably say the 5 lost fumbles did that.
When our running game was nonexistent in the second half, and we have no downfield passing threat to counter, it really limited our offense.
Evans finished the night with 212 yards passing. That's not a worldbeater, but it's healthy contribution by the passing game.
Greater than 10 yards per completion is good enough to open the field up for the running game. On your side here, play calling was nowhere near the issue tonight.
And no INTs. He is doing well with his passing decisions thus far. (Knock on wood)
Lobbing up the long ball was not the reason we didn't win. Some people are still caught up in the Liberty game. We took what UT gave us and made most of it. The offense was fairly consistent. A few plays were kind of off, but we were getting yards. No big drop backs were called because of the pressure from talented Vol defensive front and poor O-line play. Penalties and turnovers cost the game. Good teams will pounce on those mistakes.
At some point of the second and third quarters, the play calling was geared to get yards, not a quick score just so the defense could rest. Calling long pass plays is a desperation move. We were only down 17 at one point and driving for what I thought was a td drive when a fumble occurred.
Remember Fuente's comments about taking foot off the gas? Personally, I think it was a great called game for the mistakes we were making. That first quarter was a near perfect start. Waiting to watch the dvr and see French & Co.'s film reviews.
133
Fumbles are one aspect of the game that is 100% in our control.
IMO, play calling for the most part was excellent and the game plan overall was outstanding.
5.5 yards per play v. Tennessee is excellent (ASU got 4.4)
VT had three 3-and-outs...6 of those 9 plays were pass attempts.
-4 in turnovers was the difference in the game, +40 in penalties didn't help.
Cornelson is the play caller. But your point stands. Not sure why we aren't throwing the ball downfield. Those mid-game passes are nice but occasionally you have to take a shot. But I disagree about the win total. This team wins 8 games this year assuming we clean up the fumbles. We continue to fumble the football like this and all bets are off and we will not win more than 5 games. As you said, Bud is Bud. UT had 330 yards total offense. That's a top 20 defensive effort. The Offense put up good numbers even with the horrible turnover problem. Take just a couple of those away and I think we were knocking on the door of 500 yards offense tonight. Like I said, clean up the fumbles and we will be just fine and could potentially compete for the coastal. Don't clean it up....game over.
Were we watching the same game? Everyone who is trashing play calling I don't think understands the difference between the play call and the execution of the play. Our execution was poor,because it resulted in 5 or 6 fumbles. But I strongly disagree with the idea that our offense was bad. It wasn't. We moved the ball VERY well against a (supposedly) good defense, but turned it over at very inopportune times (see, inside their 15 yard line, end of a gashing 15 yard run by McMillian)
Preach on!! Amen!
I don't think everybody (or even the bulk) is trashing the playcalling, I think a lot (myself included) felt that it got very conservative, vanilla, somewhat soft from 2nd-4th. I agree, fumbles and execution. But I also felt some quick slants and hustle by the offense would've helped.
Just about every throw I saw was a quick slant...
I think some of it was to use some time to give the defense a rest. We needed longer drives and they were getting pressure most of the game.
I hear what BOTH (and others) are saying (and in general along with most points I agree, but I'm talking about quick inside slants to Ford, Philips, Hodges, Rogers. Getting rid of the ball quicker and keeping Tenn on their heels. Plus, we needed points, not yds.
I think we took advantage of what we could get versus a fairly good front seven. Plus, with the shuffling and penalties on O-line, we did a decent job. We did need points, and I think we would have scored if not for turning the ball over.
I agree AND would have scored more if we had implemented more passes.
I agree with MOST of what you posted, except the fumbles and that we're a 6-6 team.
I think we need to work on that whole hardSMARTtough thing...
Beat OSU and have a terrible rest of the season or lose to UT and have a great rest of the season? The worst is over, we will grow and measure our growth down the road against Notre Dame. Until then we have ECU, UNC, Pitt, GT, and Miami to battle against and hopefully some decent wins against Duke, BC, UVA, and Syracuse. This could be a 6-6 season but I am hopeful it is better than that.
What's encouraging is the offense looked pretty impressive against one, if not the most, talented defenses we will play all year. I see BC and Pitt as the only two other defenses that could rival UT's and Pitt gave up almost 40 points today.
The penalties and flags statistically have to go down and are correctable from a coaching standpoint.
Lots of short fields for Penn State today. Pitt also lost 2 starters after week 1 to injury. Starting LB and Defensive End did not play vs Penn State and are gone for year. May take a week or so to get backups up to speed, but if anyone can I think its Narduzi.
More on Chung for Gallo at center tonight
yeah. Gonna have some explaining to do there.
Sounds eerily similar to the Wyatt Teller explanation to me. Time will tell I guess.
Understand that all Fuente had to go off of coming in was practice and four quarters against Liberty. I think it's very possible Chung was outperforming Gallo and simply wilted under the immense spectacle of this game. I would want to write my name with 156,000 people watching me.
Played smart in the 1st quarter, dumb for the rest of the game. You saw the results. Most of those fumbles are preventable. Stop running with the ball so damn loose! Three points of contact (hand, forearm, chest) or use both hands. Some bad defensive fouls. Teller absolutely killing us getting himself benched. Add it all up and you get a big loss. If we play smart, that's a winnable game. Not saying we win, but we'd beat the spread (11) for sure imo.
And from what I've seen for two games, just leave Teller in the damn game. Petit got wrecked out there and the offense only looked alive with Teller in. Yes, he makes boneheaded plays but find another way to punish him. Make him run hills all practice, chain a bolder of shame around him and make him run laps around the drillfield, I don't care. Make his life hell outside of the game, whatever. If it were close in talent, by all means bench him, but its drastically hurting everyone with him not out there.Find some other way to discipline him
This^^^^ You can say what you want about wyatt's 2 penalties and the yards he cost us but how many yards, points, drives and momentum were lost to piss poor LG play by pettit.
Am I the only one that thinks Fuente was in over his head? I like the dude but I think it will take years to fix all that is wrong with our offensive and recruiting philosophy.
My name has nothing to do with the word "Chill". You figured that out about as fast as a zone blitz.
Nothing is wrong with the offensive philosophy. Recruiting remains to be seen. Fumbles have nothing to do with scheme. That offense hangs 500 yards on a damn talented UT defense tonight if we don't put the ball on the field every other drive.
I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the philosophy. But I think it requires much more than a couple of weeks to right. I don't expect us to be competitive with lauded P5 teams for a couple more years. Tonight showed that it's going to be a process with ups and downs - like we should have expected.
Takes longer than a couple of weeks to right what? The fumbles? Not trying to be combative, but you literally just said their was something wrong with the offensive philosophy. I disagree. It will take some time to get the execution down but that's expected with a new system, especially a system such as this one.
I specifically said there was nothing wrong with the philosophy. But I think this game in particular was a little bigger than we were ready for. I think that's obvious. I also said exactly what you said at the end. What exactly are you disagreeing with?
Your original post. Unless I'm reading it wrong, it says you think there is something wrong with the offensive philosophy. If you do not, then I've read it improperly. I agree with your other assessment.
Yeah? Before he got here. He's fixing it. It will take time. Tonight confirmed that. What is your argument? Please enlighten. Here all night. Drinking bourbon. Would love to share and discuss.
Clearly a misunderstanding. Wasn't aware you were talking about the previous regime. I think he's made some pretty impressive strides scheme wise already. The only issue to this point is fumbling.
I think fumbling is a big part of it but that shit can disappear in a week. I think the personnel needs to better match the schemes. I think that will take some turnover to fix. I like our current roster but it might be a few seasons before we realize the offensive blueprint. I think this game was too much too soon for a rebuilding offense. That's all I'm trying to say. Down legs be damned.
I don't think we have the exact ideal blueprint for this offense, but the personnel out there is plenty versatile and talented enough to run this offense successfully. Heck, 400 yards on offense against a very talented defense is nothing to scoff at and that's with limited possessions due to turnovers. It's a bummer it didn't work out tonight. We will have to wait and see at least one more week what this offense looks like when we stop dropping the damn ball.
Can't disagree with that. Halfway hoping some offensive success can breed better defensive recruiting. I feel like Bud is loading his gun with blanks sometimes and we overstep our abilities with brave playcalling.
Bud's defense with good linebackers is a terrifying thought to those who oppose the Hokies. Even with inconsistent play at the Mike position we gave up only 330 yards after coughing the ball up 60000 times. I still think this years defense is top 25.
That is scary when you really think about that. I'm not 100% sure but I think their defense may have actually stopped our drives only a handful of times. Tenn is a decent team but we beat ourselves with the fumbles. No turnovers and I think we win big.
More lost fumbles than punts.
Says it all.
Maybe it's our thing now - instead of arm punts, we have.... I don't know,somebody come up with a clever name for fumble as our way of punting.
I tried, they can't be repeated on a public forum.
More lost fumbles than fans at the UVa Spring Festival? Too soon?
I don't know if it intensifies the pain (because we lost so many fumbles) or lessens it (because LOLUVA forever).
Yes.
The offense relies on timing and putting the ball into spots.
I think the philosophy is fine, and is similar to what other college teams are doing.
It's almost like the Armed Service teams that run the option. It's an attempt to make athleticism less important and rely on sound fundamentals.
Unfortunately the fundamentals are not there. This team is having a hard time gelling, and it starts with getting guys that want to play in this type of system.
Right now, WR's aren't blocking, the O-line is inconsistent, and the QB can't put the ball into the spots it needs to be.
Also the RB by committee never works well, especially when no groove can be felt by the back.
There is a laundry list of reasons this offense looked bad, but at least there is hope for the future in that we will be able to get system guys and don't have to recruit our faces off to be a consistent offense.
TMac had 127 yards on the ground. We totaled 186 yards rushing (and that factors in the sacks and lost yardage on the bad snap fumbles). The running game isn't as bad as you're making it out to be
Oh man its coming 1 more week until the RB Comparison- Carousel or Workhorse ?
PS someone had 14 carries the next closest back had 5...
Not to mention Sam was killer in the pass game. So maybe he's a little less dynamic than the other guys. Giving him carries and having him on the field sets up great passing situations
Sam can be used as a weapon all day long with Travon and or Shai or McClease
Sam's massive 30 yard gain and then TD catch is exactly how I would love to see Fuente continue to use Sam.
Frustrating game but our offense and defense will be better this year. Hard to win a game where Tennessee needed 8 yards to score two TD's because of fumbles inside our 5. The fumbles and the penalties killed us. Game looks much different without all those back breakers. That said, we need to be addressing ball security this week. 9 lost fumbles in two weeks is ridiculous.
On to the next one, let's win lots of games this year and learn from this one.
So after this game I'm walking out and a UT fan turned around and sucker punched a woman in the side of the head. Me and some other guys tried to pin him down but he ran, Between that trying to start fights in the stands and being rude I'm glad I'm not a VOL fan tonigt. I know some VOL fans and they are cool but this was disgusting. My wife is an Alabama student and I've never pulled for them regardless, but UT fans made me an Alabama fan tonight.
Sorry to hear that. I had a run in myself after the game. Horrible fans. Not kids either. They seem to have a knack for picking on and disrespecting women.
Tennessee fans disrespecting women? Color me shocked.
Three other questions: anyone curious as to why Philips got more receptions/looks than Ford & Hodges, or why Murphy didn't get a ton of looks or action? Also, anyone here think Shai should kinda supplant Travon??
Didn't hear or see anything from Murphy all night. After hearing about his speed being an X Factor, that was kinda surprising. But until you mentioned him, I totally forgot he existed cause everything is about Ford and Hodges.
Ford and Bucky were drawing double coverage much of the night.
Wiggins has basically said Murphy is not a complete receiver right now.
And Shai looks great, but did you fall asleep during Dragon's 69 yard TD run?
Idk if Dragon was an autocorrect, but I move for Travon's official nickname to be Dragon.
LOL yes an autocorrect, and it's totally staying.
Yep, I'm using it from here on out so I hope everyone is ready.
I'm in. Will be one of the few TKP generated inside thingies I've seen happen in real time.
Yes, a million times yes.
Why can't it be Dragon McMillion?
or Dragon MyMillion?
No I was privy to that. But, I also witnessed the fumble. Also, I thought he's McMILLION
Dragon also averaged around five ypc on his other carries and had a couple long ones called back by penalties. The Dragon stays but can be spelled fairly regularly by Shai/Captain America
Edit: that's around 5 ypc excluding his 69 yard TD
Also had a fumble, but honestly, who didn't?
Uh, Shai, Ford, Hodges, Rogers.
Glad to see you've completely overlooked his fumble (something Shai didn't do).
We lost the 2009 UNC game off of a RMFW fumble, do you think we should have drastically reduced his carries after that?
Wait, are we seriously comparing McMillion to RMFW??
Are we seriously considering removing our most proven rb and home run threat because of a fumble?
Did you seriously not read my previous response (look down)?
I was making a counterpoint since you had already mentioned the fumble. Given that it was a reply, I found it fairly obvious I had conceded that the fumble was a knock on his game.
Yep all in for Dragon/Shai two headed monster. Fumbles suck, but no need to remove a weapon because of it unless it becomes a consistent issue for one player.
Not saying remove him, but do take a serious look at giving him more carries over McMillion.
It's McMillian btw, or Dragon. I'm all for Shai getting some more carries but I don't think we need to drastically reduce Dragon's.
Uh huh, and what's your definition of "drastic reduction"
Perhaps I am missing what you're suggesting, but he's already not getting many carries, and I don't want him to get less.
Quick question though... Is Dragon pronounced like the fire-breathing beast (k-EH-vihn) or like Travon (k-EH-vihn)??
I'm undecided, but luckily it doesn't matter while in text form, so we have time to deliberate.
No excuse for Ford and Bucky concerning doubling, that is what #1 receivers and projected 2nd 3rd round draft guys do, they get doubled and face the #1 guy on the other side. They must still find ways to beat coverage and make plays. BUCKY is not a running threat! Ford needs more versatility in his game to get more looks. He has to start returning kicks or running those jet sweeps. Dont know if he can but something will need to be done to get your best player the rock.
Bucky had a 5.5 yd rushing avg last night, I'll take that.
That is a nice average for a RB but not for a guy running misdirection/gimmick run plays designed to explosive plays.
I may be mistaken but that's how Fuentes offense works. Get very consistent plays to keep the chains systematically moving and occasionally a big play will pop e.g. Dragon's TD. Those sweeps are not supposed to be explosive
Yes, but they're supposed to LEAD to bigger and more explosive plays (and points).
Bucky was locked down. He had a few sweep runs to get him the Ball.
Maybe because he was open? Get used to Ford not making a lot of plays. He is not an unknown entity any longer. He will get more attention and draw teams number 1 corners. Dont know if he can consistently beat top corners and double teams. He will have to do it because WR depth is not great. Please inform the coaches that Bucky is not a running threat. sweeps etc are waste of time and snaps. He like Ford must step up and Play up to the hype or the offense will show flashes but lack consistency.
I agree on all accounts about Ford. However, Bucky ran the ball for about 5 yards a pop and he didn't get stuffed on any. Not a bad chunk of yardage to keep the chains moving.
I want the VT football I grew up with back. Underdogs with big egos that never quit. I want a mean defense and an offense that punishes you in the trenches. I don't mind losing games every now and then but if we're going to lose at least make the other team pay for beating you. Am I asking for too much?
I mean, probably. I think the days of us being off the radar are gone. That's what Houston is doing. We're in the ACC now, we're capable. We just haven't executed. We will - it will take time. Just need to be patient.
With no fumbles tonight we win that game ....offense looked solid...moved ball well.....TN way over hyped......SEC schedule.will kill them......too bad we could not hold in to the ball and pull it out ......worse in my opinion than the fumbkes was the penalties.......Funte...run them till they puke , then, run them some more.
You're drunker than me. Fumbles be damned, I think we still lose. But it's definitely much closer. The fumbles just took away the hope.
Wasnt drunk at all and I'm 99% certain we win that game handily if we don't put the ball on the turf. Three touchdowns a direct result of turnovers, two more promising drives cut off by turnovers. A 5 touchdown swing makes it an easy 48-30 win for VT. The only thing that consitently stopped us last night was ourselves.
I agree with this. The TOP after Q1 was staggering. Those drive killing fumbles and penalties not only gave UT very short fields to score, but also got their defense off the field. Those UT d-linemen would have been just trying to breathe in Q4 instead of batting down Jerod passes.
New coach, same death by self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the foot.
Old habits die hard. Seriously though, Fuente isn't a one season fix-it-all. We need to be patient-er.
No, these were entirely different self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the foot.
If I had to guess, gunshot wounds were to their hands tonight.
Five turnovers. I'm likely wrong but off the top of my head, the only other times I can remember us turning the ball over five times are:
The Marcus Vick/Miami game where we turned it over six times, I believe. Marcus might have been personally responsible for four of those.
The Grant Noel/Miami game in 2001 where he had more interceptions (5) than completions (4)
The UGA bowl game where Glennon turned the ball over four times by himself and we gave them an onsides kick.
I think this game most resembles the UGA game. One where we probably should have won, but you're not going to win squat when you turn it over so much.
Yeah, lots of turnovers in this game. On the plus side though...
My quick takes when I should be going to bed:
-Snapping the ball. At first, I thought the shifts and running behind the line had something to do with it, but after the second fumble, it was the snap.
-Teller. I know he's our best O-lineman, but that damn penalty was the first half of the 1-2 punch that included the fumble that giftwrapped UT's first TD. If we didn't have that penalty, even if we fumbled, it would have been up around the 30 or so.
-The fumbles: Not counting the snap fumbles, it seems like most of them came from good defensive plays. I didn't see any of the ball carriers showboating or holding the ball in obvious bad positions.
-The last couple of years, it seemed like we had bad luck with punts landing at the 5 yard line and not rolling in the end zone. This year, it appears to be the lack of fumble recoveries.
I think the two fumbles that were forced by the defense this week were from guys fighting to get more yards. Cam was trying to get first down yardage and so was Travon.
Why do I have to live with these tennessee fans in Bristol? *sobs*
I'm sorry it turned out this way, especially for you.
It's all your fault.
It's spelled MacGruber.
Just do what they did after 2009 and deny it ever happened.
They have the Lane Kiffin excuse and now you have the fumbles excuse. lol or just do what I do and ignore them. They just want attention after years of mediocrity.
St Augustine is a great place to live
We are going to need to find a place to watch the games together.
Hey, I'm in St Johns!
We are looking at making the move down there within next next 18 months. Looking in northern St. John's county.
I'm sure we can work something out!
Shew... tomorrow isn't going to be fun.
I know man. Cowboys without Romo. Not looking forward to it. Hey, when is Battle at Bristol?
No mercy, French. No mercy.
Didn't really see the cut blocks but the one I thought I saw didn't look that bad. Teller was engaged in a block... I think they through it because the ball was no longer in the vicinity or some kinda rule change? Confused. It looked decent enough to me. Certainly the guy he did it to was expected nothing less than what Teller was giving him.
More lawyers telling kids they can't play to the whistle?
I'm too drunk to honestly read through these posts but this one hurts guys. I've been there for Boise, I've been there for bama, I've been there through anything the hokie nation has asked me to be a part of. Way too many fumbles (Cam Phillips), way too many turnovers, but what hurts is the idea that if our game plan, minus the turnovers, stayed the same we would be looking at a W and not an L. I know thats easy to say but it kills me to my core as a hokie fan to see us take these devastating losses publicly, when I know we are so much better than this. We will get through this and eventually prosper......................I hope.
Miami 2015. ECU 2014. ECU 2015. Maryland 2013. BC 2014.
Just listing some games where I believe we had more total yards but still shit the bed because of our mistakes. This has been the story of VT football since 2012. I'm starting to believe we are not much better than this.
2013 Duke was the worst. We out gained them 400-200 yds, held the ball 40:00 to 20:00, Duke only completed 7 passes (and I think 0 in the second half), and didn't convert a 3rd down the entire game!
Not to mention we were 6-1 and ranked #14 going in to that game. This game sucks but I remember feeling worse after that one. So I guess we got that going for us
I remember that one. That was my senior year. As soon as I saw the team trot out in all orange, I had a feeling that they'd lose. But the one that really made me feel terrible was the UMD game. It was senior day and seeing CJ Brown get that TD in OT was sickening.
I still have to go with Michigan. We outgained them 377-184 and over 1/3 of their yards came on a deep ball where we had two defenders in position to intercept the ball only to collide in mid air resulting in a long TD and a Michigan botched FG attempt where the holder threw the ball up for grabs near the end of the first half. They had about 5 offensive lineman illegally downfield on the latter.
The fact that our game plan offensively could have produced a win without all the fumbles is a huge step in the right direction in comparison to past years. Games like Bama, Stanford, Ohio State, were games where we never knew if we would be able to score enough points. In those games, if our offense failed to convert one time, we lost our shot at winning the game. Last night, we had fumbled the ball 4 times, and were driving with 10 minutes to go down 14, and still had every chance in the world to make it a game. That really is a completely different story than in years past.
Yes, we made a lot of mistakes tonight, but they are correctable. The system clearly has the potential to put up a lot of points, and that is really a welcomed new addition to this team. It's no longer requiring perfect defense to win football games (although that can't hurt)
I agree 100 percent. This is why I keep repeating that Tennessee didn't beat us, turnovers did. Because we were steamrolling through that defense for much of the game, and when our defense wasn't totally worn out from being sent out one or two plays after they left the field, they were absolutely owning the LOS. Ekanem, Mook, Motu, all those guys played lights out.
Minus the obvious penalties and turnovers and from a preparation and execution standpoint, I thought we played very well. We missed a long TD on the first drive that was open and Evans underthrew, other than that, offense did enough to win. (ran the ball, got 3rd downs, not counting fumbles) Defense was put in bad spots, and minus the second quarter played plenty well to win.
Fumbles are part of the game, but 5 is just an anomaly hopefully. We were prepared, have a good QB, and the running game showed up.
That being said, it is going to be painful watching ACC games. Nothing about playing Pitt, UNC, and Duke, Boston College, Syracuse, and Miami and whoever the hell else is on our schedule is exciting. Other than Notre Dame, this was our season. We will play in noon snoozers where we will get beat more times than not. We dont have the talent, especially on defense that we had 10 and 15 years ago. Hell, we beat Ohio St 2 years ago and ended with a shitty season. I really dont see much difference. We play our best when we have to get up for a game. I really hope I am wrong, but the past few years we get out played in conference games when the target is on our back.
There is a big hole in this defense and the way to beat it is right up the middle. I see Pitt and Carolina running all over us. Im dreading watching that shit on tv
New coaching staff might change that culture so that we get up for every game. Not saying definitively, but I have a good feeling about it. Check back with me at mid-season.
Damn, maybe I just have higher threshold for "boring" games, but I'm pumped for ACC play. I think we have a real shot at winning a lot of football games if practice right and work on shoring up the fumbles.
Three words: ball security.
Third word is made irrelevant.
Fuente e Foster en Fuego.
Would have been nice, but this is a sea change from last year. The kids are gonna get better at this system. Its gonna be "lit" or whatever the kids say this year. Might not be what we were, but the future for VT Football is certainly bright.
Pick an offensive line and stick with it! The nonsense of changing out players game to game and in game has got to stop. Beginning to think Mr Vice is out of his league. Rant concluded.
Game 2 of a new coaching staff and new methods. We aren't false starting like crazy, we are gaining yards. I feel we are improving and this will take some time.
In regards to why more inexperienced players are playing over more experienced ones, i have some speculation:
Looking over what Fuente did at Memphis he took the long approach on overhaul. The main thing he wants to see is that players do "exactly" what he wants them to do. Exactly.
He foremost believes that execution will equal points when everyone does as they are required. I think we saw that in the 1rdt quarter. Then it broke down.
Teller had bad penalties, which is probably the most fristrating for Fuente. He knows he is the best lineman they have, but Teller's aggression gets him into situations where he is doing more than whats asked.
Fuente strikes me as a sticking to his guns on getting the execution he wants. And is willing to play younger inexperienced players now to mold them for the future.
Last night hurts. It was a sloppy, bad loss.
But if the execution of the 1rst quarter kept up even half of what they produced we would have run away with that ball game.
Finally, its game 2 of Fuente era. We fianlly have an offense that has identity and can be brutal if executed. Short term pains for long term gains
Which quarter is the 1rdt'd one?
the one right before the 2nt'd .... what's that?
why yes officer I'll hold this tape.
Watch, in year 2 or 3 we will look back to this game as Fuente being a genius for playing inexperienced players to mold to his offensive philosophy on that elusive 15-0 run. Book it.
I just want us to be able to get a 3- or 4-year starter again at QB. I like Evans, but if he plays well enough to go pro this season, which he very well could, he probably will not stay and we'll be back to square one. I'd like to see him play well this year and come back, hopefully with Ford and a few other weapons. If that doesn't happen though, I hope Jackson gets his shot and plays for 4 seasons for us.
I just don't like the high turnover rate at the most crucial position on the team. Really, I'm just aching for another Tyrod and 10+ win seasons.
Dont worry he is not going PRO! Definitely not this year.
This^^^thank you.
I bet you were one of the ones saying that Lawson would be gone to the NFL after 3 years and that he would probably be winning the Heisman all three years.
No?
Well to look at the bright side, we're on pace to throw 0 interceptions on the year.
We are dead last in the country in fumbles lost though. We have 9, Duke has seven, and the next closest only has 4. I'd say the fumbles are not going to continue though, there's no way they can.
Well I'm not wondering why Teller isn't starting anymore. Penalties.
The fumbles are very concerning but overall I'm not disappointed with the performance/play calling. Tennessee has talented players and a lot of depth.
Our Dline got pressure on Dobbs. Honestly Mook's size concerned me but he has impressed me with defending the run.
On offense the team moved the ball against a very big, physical Tennessee defense. Yes the fumbles killed them but the ball got in the hands of our playmakers in space to allow them to make a move. The coaches are still trying to figure out the OL and the players are not making it easy. Sure Teller is a beast but he really needs to embrace the mental part of the game. Someone should make him a custom doghouse because he is going to be there a while.
Special teams was a disappointment. A missed field goal, a bad punt and a fumbled punt (in traffic).
To be fair that punt didn't get fumbled by Stroman. Williams, a walk on, was hit by the ball and Stoman say it about to happen and tried to get to the ball first.
Both fumbles on punts have come from the ball hitting somebody in the back. I am not sure anything could have been done about either. Maybe Stro could have tried to punch it out of bounds rather than catching it.
Gotta teach the blockers to locate the ball after they get 30+ yards upfield from the punt. Also gotta reinstill the value of the Peter call. Stroman should have come in screaming Peter at the top of his lungs.
i think they hit Williams both times
Wasn't trying to imply that it was stroman's fault. Just that special teams needs to be better. That specific play there needs to be better communication.
Also can the coaches please run the fumble drill in practice. It would be nice to recover some of these fumbles.
Alright. The preseason is over! Let's go dominate the ACC and all will be well.
These exhibition games don't count at all. /s
One positive note through two games -- few to no stupid offensive pre-snap penalties like false starts. That right there shows that we've improved something in the offense.
Disappointed but somewhat encouraged. You can see where we will be when the little things get cleaned up. This will be a very good football team in no time, possibly by the end of the season.
But we lost this game very of a comedy of errors that should never happen at this level. We looked like a high school jv squad with those penalties and turnovers.
There is a lot to like with this squad. They will wreck shit in the ACC Coastal once the issues are resolved.
Slept on it and I just wanted to say: watching French's reviews of Fuente's offense really made me feel like I understood the philosophy last night on most plays. I really, really want to see more of this offense over the next three months and beyond.
What I find funny is that watching the game, during the second and third quarter, it felt like I hardly saw the offense. They would get the ball, and then piss the drive away, and it'd be right back to Tennessee.
But TOP shows that second quarter was dead even, 7:32 to 7:28. Third quarter was a bit more leaning towards UT 6:01 to 8:59.
Heard from #sauces that the refs threw Teller out of the game after his second personal foul in the first quarter.
So that's why he didn't play the rest of the game.
Good thing they picked up the flag on that Tennessee linebacker who took the cheap shot at the back of our O-lineman after a play. I'd hate for him to have to miss another half a football game, how could the announcers talk about how great a player he is then?
That literally happened right in front of two officials. Instead of a first down in Tenn territory we have a short punt and a personal foul on People's that is never shown.
I have never seen a game where that many personal fouls fail to garner a replay.
- Didn't see either of Teller's.
- Cunningham's PF, which was a huge play in this game was never shown. On that play we had a long first down run plus a PF on UT. Instead we replayed the down.
- Didn't see the People's play on punt team.
Motu's and Baron's were both legit but both paled in comparison to the Reeves-Maybin play.
I'm sounding like a broken record but Motu needs to KEEP HIS FEET ON THE GROUND! Jump to block a punt; jump to break up a pass; jump for joy. DO NOT EVER JUMP when approaching someone you might have to tackle.
He gave up a winning TD last year doing it; he did it last week; and he did it again last night. Unreal.
The tune would be different if he had been able to jump and tip the ball to himself for an INT. That's why he jumped, trying to get a hand on the ball
oh, i know why. problem is that it's fundamentally unsound...like spending your entire paycheck on a single lottery ticket.
Oh gosh, another victim complex comment claiming the announcers are against us and biased towards the opponent. Literally Herby was saying that that was a cheap shot by the Tenn LB. He was saying that it was unnecessary and didn't accomplish anything and even mentioned it again when we had the personal foul the next play. Really getting sick of the constant victim complex I keep seeing.
Except that flag was picked up. I don't care what herbie thinks, but it's unacceptable that a play like that doesn't get penalized.
And yet you still mentioned that the announcers want to talk about how great he is? Even though you know that they have nothing to do with who the refs call the game? Weird.
Wow, what got up your britches today? Do you disagree that what he did was egregious and should have been penalized?
Of course not, but that's not a part of the prevalent victim complex in this site. All too often I see people complaining about how we don't get attention, how ESPN only cares about the SEC, how the announcers give credit to the other team and disrespect our team. It's mostly in people's head and isn't a good look at all. I think people need to quit caring about it.
I rather enjoyed the announcers take on that. A couple plays later when Shai trucked maybe-Reid, they said "yep it's a lot harder to tackle someone when he sees you coming and the play's not dead". Or something to that effect
What is even going on with that guy
No way. They would have discussed the refs ejecting him. You could see JF say "pull him" on the sidelines right after the second one.
Do Bucky Hodges and Tremaine Edmunds still play for the Hokies? They were very quiet in the game. I expected them both to have big games against the Vols.
Hodges carried the ball a bunch and averaged 5.5 yes per carry.
^ What the above guy said, plus other posters remarked that Hodges (and Ford) were double-covered for most of the game.
Does anybody else cringe every time we have to punt ? Ludwig's punts don't have much hang time or distance .
So what exactly happened with the first punt foul up? They snapped the ball, and the camera panned back as it usually does on a punt, and then I lost the ball. Next thing I know, it's back almost where it started, and they're saying something about a fumble.
To start I didn't get to see how it came off his foot but thinking he just didn't come off his foot well which caused the short punt which hit a Tennessee player in the back of the leg being a fumble which caused the ball to go further back . Ended up being like a 20 yard punt if that
I was at the game and saw that horrible punt pretty well (binoculars). He sort of rugby-punted it, and I swear it didn't get more than 5-10 feet off the ground. It basically hit a guy in the back and ended up recovered for what equates to a 5-10 yard punt, tops. Just horrible.
In Andy Bitter's post-game wrap, there's more than one mention of bad practice habits on the part of the team. I don't like the sound of that.
I noticed this too during the post game interviews and it had me very worried.
Evans, Rogers and Ekanem all mentioned practice issues. WTF!?! Are there any leaders on this team? Rogers is probably going to ripping guys up at practice this week.
On a side note I loved the punishment in Last Chance U where the coach made the guy barrel roll the length of the field. I think they should try that on Teller.
That punishment is enough to make any man cry.
I think the worst part for me is that we all (thanks to French and others) can look at the game and say wow, the plays were there that fit the system we just didn't execute and made boneheaded plays. But to all my buddies from back home who go to other ACC schools, we just looked like ass. All of us key players who lurk on TKP 6 hours a day trying to understand the methodology know what could have been. But to everyone else who was watching the biggest game in college football history. We just looked like a cluster fuck who couldn't get anything together and show any discipline or toughness in the face of adversity and pressure. Being down 14 in the beamer era was game over usually. Being down 14 with fuente at the helm should not be cause for giving up and making boneheaded plays out of frustration. Not a good look for recruiting and for national rep.
We hadn't given up when we were down 14. We were driving and about to score after Cam made a catch and gained 12 yards inside the red zone and fumbled the ball away. He was fighting for extra yards and the ball was popped loose. Those plays happen and are frustrating, but are no where near as bad as fumbles resulting from snaps and special teams errors. Recruiting is far bigger than one game. Especially when it's the 2nd game in a coaches career at a school. As far as national rep, we have been mediocre for a 4-5 years now. Even the average college football fan knows that. The national rep is set until we change the status quo. Nothing wrong with saying we looked bad last night because from an execution standpoint, we certainly did. But the offense moved the ball well when we weren't fumbling it away and the defense only gave up 330 yards of offense despite having their backs repeatedly placed against a wall. There are positives and negatives to draw from the game.
One thing we confirmed, in case anyone was unconvinced, Sam Rogers is the Master of Wheel Routes.
Sam had a few good catches, and that one awesome run he got a key first down run for us .
I was the lone VT fan among a group of 8-10 VOLS fans who went to the game from Nashville. The tailgating and general spectacle of the event was fun to be a part of. The opening with flyover and national anthem was powerful. And then, the 14-0 start by the good guys, to silence the 65-70% UT fans in attendance, was amazing. Unfortunately, we all saw what happened in Q 2-4. I have never witnessed a team self-destruct in SO many ways. It was almost laughable, if not so painful.
And all the while, I'm surrounded by UT fans. Though my UT friends were gracious enough, it still just sucks.
If you live in SEC country like I do, it was worst case scenario. The perception of VT in this area of the country -- it's bad. And, last night's game will only further that perception. No one will remember that we shot ourselves in the feet - all night. They will only see the final score and minimize VT football even more.
You may say, who cares? All I can say is -- try living in SEC and UT country and listening to what I listen to year round. It sucks to have everyone you live around condescend about the team you love and take such pride in.
On the bright side, I saw SO many things last night that give me hope in this coaching staff and our offensive side of the ball. And the defense played very solid last night (which I almost take for granted -- thanks to Bud). I'm optimistic about the team we can become, even this season, once we get the fumbles and penalties cleaned up. We have the pieces, and I am very impressed with how Evans is coming along.
This too shall pass. On to conference play, where we still have every opportunity in front of us. Go Hokies!!
The only thing that cures a bad perception is winning. Until we do that, you don't exactly deserve to be seen as a good football team.
The problem is not SEC territory it is UT territory. Like many of the UGA fans I live around and work with they are complete homers who have their blinders on when it comes to college football. I have had fans from many SEC schools tell me stories about their run ins with VT fans. They almost always comment on how knowledge they are about college football and how interested they were in discussing other teams. I supervise a GT fan and even she commented on how much she enjoyed talking football with some VT fans at a random bar.
Pardon me, but I have 23 years experience living in Nashville, so I know what I'm talking about. The perception issue I'm referring to is an SEC territory issue/comment. It's not just UT. Nashville is the SEC "melting pot", not just UT and Vandy fans.
Your experience may differ, and that's great.
Yeah, even if you talk a UT fan in a corner, the back up is the "we play in the SEC" speech.
Even last night, sometime in third quarter, Tennessee fans were chanting "S-E-C" over and over. Aside from FSU and Clemson, no one thinks much of us or the ACC.
Toward the end of the game last night, a UT fan to my right started chanting "SEC, SEC..." I was so used to it, that I didn't even think anything of it. But, a VT fan 4-5 rows down absolutely lost his (drunk) mind over this. He did his best to start a fight with the UT guy. It went on and on....honestly, the VT guy came off looking like an idiot.
But to your point, yes, SEC fans love to toot the SEC horn. It's very annoying.
Everyone is over sensitive today. Wasn't trying to belittle your years of experience.
Have a Coke and a smile...
Even though what you said is 100% correct, I doubt that's gonna make it any better.
No worries -- didn't mean to be sensitive. But, I promise you, if you lived here and put up with the SEC love-fest and condescension toward all other football conferences (and VT specifically), you'd probably have a better understanding of my sensitivity on this subject.
To be clear - I love living in Nashville for many many other reasons. College football just isn't one of them.
I'll take a Coke Zero, but close enough. :-)
I have been living in Atlanta for over 6 years so I understand what it is like to be surrounded. However, the GT fans are worse than all the SEC fans put together.
I miss watching my Giants and going to Mets games. The rest of my week will be listening to complaining about how bad the Falcons are. The only joy will be hearing other people say f Matt Ryan.
Have a leg -- simply for having to put up with ATL traffic. Cheers!
ATL traffic is awful but I do love Atlanta.
Its not so bad for me being in Alabama. They tend to focus on each other so muchuch that about all they say is that Tech is a decent team. Plus I can't wait till Bama plays TN and wipes the floor with them.
Offensive line exchanges have given me an ulcer. I get the penalties but just sacrificing a part of the interior, I don't get it. I'm hungover.
At least I don't have to put up with PSU fans rubbing this in my face. I gained immunity from ridicule thanks to Pitt for one week.
Can we take a moment to appreciate how great the kickoffs have been. Slye has put almost everyone not just into the endzone but out the backside of it.
A couple were through the uprights.
I think what Tennessee's kickoff team was able to do may have been more effective regarding opponent's starting field position. Kicker with a leg that could boot it through the endzone but instead put some air under it, forcing the returner to field the kick inside his 5 yard line with coverage men already swarming him.
Hate to play devil's advocate but the punting has been pretty bad thus far
Skye is the kicker not the punter.
Although his FGs of late have been off. He used to be pretty automatic.
I realize that I was just talking special teams in general
Could Slye not try punting? How much worse can he be?
A thought for all those who are calling for more passes to ford and Bucky.
Realize that the opposing team has a say in what happens. If they take those players away it does no good to throw at them all night while they are double covered or just not open. If they had done that the Leal Reuters would be put in force calling for Motely to be put in because of all the interceptions that would have occurred. Instead we went with what the defense gave us. Pretty well I might add. Now I can understand asking why we didn't get another shot or two down field but other than that I thought the game was called really well. Everyone knows the issues from last night. It wasn't talent, or play calling or scheming or whatever. It was down right ball handling and discipline.
And as posted above this team was constantly able to love the ball. Our offenses in the past couldn't. UT didn't stop us we did.
Thought the coaches called a great game. On offense, Fuente took what the defense gave us. Unfortunately our guys gave it right back, but that's a more fixable issue than being flat out ineffective like the past. Fuente knew exactly what he was doing. I think this O can win 6 to 7 ACC games.
Defense looked good too. Mook is a nickle monster. Dline is a bad bad group. Can only do so much then you get handed a short field time after time.
That was the absolute worst way to lose a game (any Oklahoma State fans in here) but the future is bright for sure.