So it wasn't the main subject of the College Gameday Final, but ESPN's Ivan Maisel actually gave us, or should I say Bud Foster, some love.
Virginia Tech's Bud Foster long ago established himself as one of the best defensive coordinators in the game. He showed why again Saturday. The Hokies packed the box with as many as nine defenders, and Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron struggled to loosen them up with the pass. The Hokies lost 35-10 and gained only 212 total yards. But that was 6 more yards than Foster's defense allowed. The Hokies' offense and special teams allowed more touchdowns (three) than the defense (two). Frank Beamer will be in the Hall of Fame someday, which is also when someone will explain to me why no Halls of Fame recognize assistant coaches.
At least someone acknowledged the defense.
Comments
I think by the end of September a lot more people will be acknowledging this defense.
This defense can be one of the best ever, as long as it plays tough every game like last night. I hope the 2nd string gets meaningful play time against WCU, because then we're in good shape.
Brent musasuckmyassburger actually stated that our D was the second best (to LSU assuming) or possibly the best defense the Tide will play all year long. U dam right bitch!
From what I saw last night, I think our D is better than LSU's honestly.
I can honestly say y'all have an amazing Defense. Y'all exposed so serious issues with our offensive line which Saban better fix before we play A&M. So looking forward to somebody putting Jonny jackass in his place.. VT is a top team and program I'm my book. I believe y'all could compete with any team in the country the way your defense played.
Thanks, and yes please absolutely destroy Manziel. Time to put him in his place.
The part that bothers me the most is I actually like aTm. But Manziel is such a douche. He needs to be put in his place.
Yeah I have nothing against A&M either. Just can't stand Manziel.
I know they had a lot of folks out for the game, and they weren't taking it seriously, Rice was a senior heavy team with lots of experience, yadda, yadda, yadda according to the talking heads, but aTm did not impress me last week. Think y'all will run all over them. Their 'O' finally got rolling midway through the second quarter, but can absolutely get inside Johnny's head and throw off his game. Stuff him a few times and he'll fall apart.
I was just going to write this. Texas A&M is not as good of a team as they were last year and I would be utterly shocked if Manziel played as well this year. Not only does he strike me as someone who would spend his free time doing anything but studying film, but you can bet that every player wants his head after all the stunts he's pulled this summer. I know if I was a player and somebody thought they were above the law, I'd sure wanna put him in his place.
Johnny went 6 of 8 for 3 TDs in less that a half of play. Yes, it was in fact against Rice, but the kid is not slowing down right now. Also. A&M was missing 6 starters (supposedly) on defense, which may help explain the 31 points given up.
Truth. People forget that Manziel began his Heisman campaign under some scrutiny. Last season following his arrest there was controversy there. The thing about Manziel (and UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT - I like Manziel) is he loves the attention. It's selfish but he thrives in it. He's gonna be a threat all season.
I don't know. I think LSU has more depth. For us, any more injuries could cause serious problems. Still good to see the unit cohesion at a high level.
Easy on Brent.
wasnt it actually fowler anyway?
Yeah, I think it was Fowler or they both were saying similar things about our 'D'.
This is actually pretty spectacular. I listened to the ESPNU College Football podcast on Friday with Matt Barre and Ivan Maisel. Maisel and Barre wouldn't even talk about the game, because it was of no interest. So, it will be interesting what they'll say on the podcast this week. Probably still nothing.
"blah blah, offensive line needs time to mesh, blah blah."
They'll talk about how they need time to work together but before the game they would say "They're offensive line will be fine, they don't rebuild they reload."
Close... I listened to the podcast. Essentially, Barre and Maisel said let's not read into one game and Alabama will be fine. Maisel did give Foster credit on the podcast, but did not suggest to any notion that VT was indeed the better defensive team. Barre, only had this to say about VT (and specifically Logan Thomas): "I would bring up and talk about Logan Thomas right now, but I heard he just threw another incompletion."
I think it's safe to say, any national recognition in the media will not come unless Miami and VT meet with 1 loss or fewer. Then maybe, they'll get a blurb about how this will impact the weak Coastal Division in the ACC. If this doesn't happen, then VT will only be mentioned if they make the ACC championship game, but it'll probably be more about FSU/Clemson than VT... But, I digress. Just keep winning boys and win the Orange Bowl.
It's a shame that great defensive efforts continue to let the team down by the lack of offense and poor special team play.
Welcome to Bud's world.
I'm scared to think about this defense when Bud leaves/retires. We truly won't know what he have until it's gone.
Next man up.
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Ah! Got it to work! Thanks Horse. P.S. where were you on Saturday? You weren't in the halftime spot. We need to have a little talk with Weaver.
Seriously! I had forgotten about that. They played it before the game on the video board in the dome. The stadium got quiet and you could feel everyone waiting for it...and it never happened. Probably the worst part of the game experience. Although, some of Alabama's scoring plays stung a little too.
I was chasing this little filly around the pasture, ended up being a waste of time. Parked myself in the barn and watched the game on the big screen with some hay.
Here's some respect. Seth28 sent this over a couple days ago and asked me to post, but I didn't get it until now:
Ugh, no! Go give turkey legs to some of seth28's posts, it's him!
I'm sure there are plenty of seth28 posts over here to upvote!
Some more from CFN:
and from their bowl projections:
Clemson and FSU's offenses are playing lights out, but their defense are suspect.
We owe Clemson a defeat before Tajh leaves. Probably Chad Morris, too.
Hah... incomplete. I appreciate that pun.
I had a Bama fan and alum from work come to me this morning and say how our defense was flat out amazing. He said their offense looked awful but it was because we beat them all over the field on that side of the ball and that our DL controlled them. He also mentioned its more amazing how well we played minus those big gaffs on returns considering how many guys we are down.
He was also going on about the last time someone had a rush TD against them in the first quarter and how rare that is. Also mentioned that Edmunds was damn fast.
Getting a little respect which is nice.
I was listening to a few of the shows on Sirius's College Sports Nation while driving back from Atlanta yesterday. Most of the people on there complimented our defense and said what an amazing job Bud Foster did preparing for this game. The Alabama play-by-play announcer was on and spoke very highly of the Fullers. Nobody would give us props for any other aspect of the game though.
Besides Trey Edmunds coming out party, I don't think any other aspect of our game deserves props. I mean, how many times have you heard an announcer say "I'm really impressed with that offensive line"?
AJ was on point with the punting. #AJHughes4Heisman
#oratleastRayGuyaward
Here's some more acknowledgement, kinda. From Andy Staples's Power Rankings this week:
At least someone in the media entertained the possibility that our defense is good.