This will probably be one of many of these types of posts. Oh well.
We all know how well the defense played, and how mediocre the offense played. Offense points alone, Bama only outscored us 14-10. Many fans will be calling for Leal I'm sure, and Logan didn't look great, but his team didn't help him. Here's some of the problems with what I saw in the offense:
DROPS. DROPS DROPS DROPS DROPS. Demitri Knowles had at least four, a couple of them on deep balls that could have really opened up the run game more. DJ Coles, who was supposed to be the number one guy, had multiple drops himself. This has to stop, starting with the Western game. Loeffler can't expect the run game to get big runs consistently if the defense isn't scared of the pass.
PASS SELECTION. I'm not positive if Logan was throwing so many deep balls because nothing was open underneath, or if those were his #1 reads and we had 8-10 plays designed to go deep. As Mason and French both pointed out, it's impossible to beat Bama deep unless you're getting short completions and first downs on the ground first. It baffled me why there were so many passes intended 20+ yards downfield, and how few passes Logan attempted across the middle in the 5-10 yard range. More of those passes equals a completion percentage higher than 19%.
IT WILL GET BETTER. Coleman is coming back. Exum is coming back eventually. The NINE true freshmen that played vs Bama will get better, and alot of them looked pretty damn good in this game (Facyson, Fuller, Williams, McLaughlin). Our schedule is relatively weak, and even though the special teams played like the scum of the earth, the defense is phenomenal. Once Exum comes back, I think secondary depth is the only other concern, as defensive line depth didn't stand out to me as a weakness against Bama.
Even though we didn't even cover the spread, I was encouraged by alot of things I saw. The defense and Truck 'Em Trey are certainly things to be excited about, especially with so much youth.
What other glaring issues did you see?
Comments
Raw unit with many miles to go. Need to do 8-count push-ups.
That Trey Edmunds TD run - he brought back visions of Ryan Williams' freshman year. Catch me if you can type of run. :-)
But the defense MUST NOT SLACK OFF.
Is anyone else wondering just what the we lost because of Joel Caleb's suspension and Kevin Asante being dismissed?
I'm wondering the same thing. If Caleb is as good as I've heard, we really missed him. Hopefully Moorehead will point at the guy and say, "Look. Look how much we needed you." Whatever he did, hopefully he gets his mind right.
Kinda hoping after last nights performance by DJ, that Caleb comes back and takes the H-Back, jack of all trades role from him.
Thank god for our defense and special teams cause our offense was doin to well.. It was a hard fought game though. If any of y'all are here at the game be safe traveling back. As much as I would like to see the people who excepted this bet pay up I'm not gonna hold my breath. Good luck in your season. I'll be pulling for y'all when I see y'all playing! Best of luck to y'all
Overall encouraging. O-line played better than expected, which is great. Coles was a huge disappointment, Knowles too. Didn't see any tight end passes; could they have been worse? D was terrific but got no credit. Per ESPN it was because Alabama didn't execute or their O-line was "decimated" by the draft. No mention of our youth or injuries, just Alabama didn't play well. F'em! The coaches just need to say "what could have been" if the whole team showed up, and challenge them to do just that.
We won't get credit. We honestly dominated their offense. 14 pts and that most likely would be 7 if our o could've sustained a full drive. Defense may be elite this year. And bama is going to need to get MUCH better if they wanna sniff that 3rd title
I think it would have been 7 had Jarrett not been in the locker room for the Christion Jones 38 yard touchdown. I like Desmond Frye, but Jarrett was playing otherworldly tonight and I think Jones would have been his responsibility on that play. Our defense, otherwise, only gave up the early touchdown on the short field (if I remember correctly, Alabama started on our side of the field). Once Bud saw what they were going to do, we stopped them cold most of the game (or maybe it was just early game jitters needing to get worked out, who knows).
All Frye had to do was get a hand on Jones to jam him and he at least would've had a play on the ball.
Drops drops drops drops drops drops drops drops drops. Think how we could have moved the ball if everytime I said drop was a catch. Special teams needs work but those drops were so frustrating
Beamer needs to replace the "special teams coach". He has lost his touch the last few years and hurt us tonight. Also, the look on the "special team's coach's face" after the kickoff off return tonight was the look of a man that showed a face that no recruit could get excited about playing for.
Man I thought that too.
I turned to my wife and said 'It's time to hire a special teams coach.'
To quote Frank Beamer-'I'm not saying the other coach(es) were bad coaches, but sometimes change is good.'
A new special teams coach would not have tackled better on the kickoff return. Two guys had Jones wrapped up and he wiggled free. And what coach do you get rid of to bring in a special teams coordinator? It's easy to say bring in a new one but NCAA rules do limit the number of coaches.
VT fought valiantly. VT fought nobly. VT foughty bravely. And VT died.
You had me until that last part...
Game of Thrones quote.
Ah that explains it. Unfortunately I only got 50 pages into the book and have never watched any of the show
Receivers will get better. This D will be something special. Edmunds is going to be amazing and even better yet, it seems as if he has a good O-line.
Don't you think Demitri Knowles has had enough time? He's a redshirt Soph that still plays timid, very underwhelming, his speed is a non-factor because his isn't aggressive. Josh Stanford should overtake him for the starting spot.
Josh Malone, Noah Brown, and other WR recruits:
Come to VT!
That was something I thought of last night. "Dear Noah Brown, Want immediate playing time? Come to VT!"
So....Fender, Gibson?
Main axe is a Fender Strat. One day I will buy a Gibson SG, though. It's a must for my (small) collection.
Les Paul
I'd like one of those too, one day. The first electric I ever played was a buddy's Les Paul and it was slick. The body was a bit clunky to me, but it played well and of course sounded great.
All of mine are Hamers.
Mine, too. 99 USA Strat with Lace Sensors (Neck/Gold, Middle/Blue, Bridge/Red). Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. Cranked through a Marshall JCM200 TSL602. Punk rock holy grail
I can only play power chords, though, with these clunky hooves.
Super Slinky FTW. My favorite set of strings, though D'Addario are nice, too. And there's nothing wrong with power chords - lots of people have achieved fame and fortune with a simple chord shape.
I never really experimented with strings. When I found Super Slinky I stuck with it, and when I found Elixirs for the acoustic I never looked back. Makes my crappy Takamine sound superb. Haven't picked up a guitar in about a decade though.
Strats are a workhorse.
I've got a Rick, but I mainly play bass.
I finally found mine.....I found a beat to crap 1966 Precision that plays like butter.
just another day at the office for bud
Maybe he can fertilize some growth for the offense.
not with that o the tide brought to atl