They had this stat on the Roanoke Times off on the side of the Josh Jackson article.....looks very bright:
First starts for Virginia Tech QBs since 1999
Jerod Evans, 2016 vs. Liberty: 221 passing yards, 46 rushing yards, 4 TDs (won, 36-13)
Michael Brewer, 2014 vs. William & Mary: 251 passing yards, 21 rushing yards, 2 TDs (won, 34-9)
Logan Thomas, 2011 vs. Appalachian State: 149 yards 16 rushing yards, 2 TDs (won, 66-13)
Tyrod Taylor, 2007 vs. Ohio: 72 passing yards, 52 rushing yards, 1 TD (won 28-7)
Sean Glennon, 2006 vs. Northeastern: 222 passing yards, 3 TDs (won 38-0)
Marcus Vick, 2005 at N.C. State: 108 passing yards, 31 rushing yards, 1 TD (won 20-16)
Bryan Randall, 2002 vs. Marshall: 101 passing yards, 36 rushing yards, 0 TD (won 47-21)
Grant Noel, 2001 vs. UConn: 267 passing yards, 3 TDs (won 52-10)
Michael Vick, 1999 vs. James Madison: 110 passing yards, 54 rushing yards, 3 TDs (won 47-0)
Comments
This is pretty cool, although WVU is probably a better team than all of these others. Hope JJ can keep the trend going
That 2005 NCSU team might have something to say about that. Despite the 7-5 record, that was a pretty talented team "Chuck the Chest" had.
That Marshall team went 10-1 against everybody (including victories over Big Ben's Miami of Ohio team and two ranked teams) but VT - with Byron Leftwich at QB.
That was also a night game at Carter-Finley stadium. Pretty raucous crowd.
I got banned for life from their for trying to sneak in without a ticket. Good times.
You gotta like all those game results.
Also, Brenden Motley vs. Furman is 2015 was a Win for VT
233 passing yards and 2 TDs
Wow!!! Who would've pegged Grant Noel as having one of the better first starts?
Remember, that team had Lee Suggs and Kevin Jones. I'd key on the run all day and make Noel beat me through the air.
God
That 01 team (and 02) could've had Vick, Andre Davis, and the Untouchables
Yeah, but he still had to make the throws to get to 267 yards and 3 TDs. Granted, they were probably more softly covered because of Suggs and Jones.
And to your other comment, that team would have been unbelievable.
I know it didn't come about until later, but can you imagine running a zone read triple option out of the shotgun with Vick, Jones, and Suggs lined up in the backfield with Davis, Wilford, and Slowkowski as receiving threats?
Dear opposing defenses, hahahahahaha
Exactly, if memory serves his first pass was like a 50 yard TD on a screen to Davis. He had a ton of help around him.
You are correct. Noel had a loaded team around him that year - a senior Andre Davis, Ernest Wilford, loaded backfield in Suggs, Jones, Burnell, and Ferguson at FB. If only we had Vick for one more season, I think we beat Miami in that final home game and possibly head to the Rose Bowl over them for the big trophy.
I think we beat Miami in that final home game and possibly head to the Rose Bowl over them for the big trophy.
You think? You KNOW
I was half expecting Glennon to be the only one up there with an L next to his name...
I was in the stands for that Northeastern game. People were shouting to put in Ike from the get go.
Also gotta remember that back then, UConn was FCS, and probably a tier below JMU, App State (from when we played them, not now), among others.
Technically, UConn was FBS that year. It was the second year of the transition. (Although looking at their W/L over the decade before, I'm not sure why they thought they were ready for the big time, unless it was a knee jerk reaction to their 10-3 record with a playoff appearance.)
Right, had my timeline confused. I forgot they spent 3 years as an FBS independent before joining the Big Least in 2004.
And I'd imagine the reason they made the jump was because they could tell that basketball alone wasn't going keep them relevant through the 21st century, and that the Big East (including teams like a Virginia Tech that was fresh off a MNCG appearance and a Miami who seemed like they'd always be relevant) would be a good home down the road.
I gotta say, though, I feel like they're worse off now than if they'd stayed in the FCS, since without the football team they probably would have been invited into the "New Big East",
They were looking at the long-term big picture. At the time, it looked like the Big East would stay viable as a football conference with the addition of Louisville, Cinci, and USF to offset the losses of VT, Miami, and BC. They were banking on still being able to collect major conference paydays in football, and with their competition for success mainly being WVU, Pitt, Syracuse, and Louisville, it looked like they would be able to build up quickly. But then the ACC double dipped with Pitt and Cuse, and set off the chain of events that bombed the conference, screwing the football playing members, and bumping everyone down to mid major status.
It would be a very interesting thought experiment to play a game of what if the ACC never expanded. I suspect the Big East would have been regarded as not only a dominant basketball conference, but also one in football as well. And I suspect the ACC might have imploded.
Was there a reason they didn't jump directly into the Big East in 2001/2002?
The Big East didn't want to expand past 8 teams for whatever reason, and the plan was to wait until Temple was kicked out after the 2004 season.
VT and Miami leaving a year early accelerated that schedule a bit.
That's right, 12 game regular season didn't fully take effect until 2006. So only having 7 conferences games wasn't that big of an issue prior to that.
Even so, the ACC had 9 teams since the early '90s, and many of them had annual non-conference rivalry games against other BCS teams. Having only 3 non-conference games never used to be such a huge issue, not entirely sure why that's changed.
I'd love for Jackson to be added to that list of quarterbacks who won their first college game.
The one that popped out was BRandalls stats in 02 and how many points we put up despite them
That's because he had these two guys in the backfield...
That was an awesome game. VT's rush offense couldn't be stopped that night. The Marshall fans really thought they were going to win that night.
That scene where KJ7 makes Nick Saban so angry.... priceless.
Always forget just how great Jones was.
I still rock my Suggs 22 jersey for every game day. Fits much better now that I'm not 10.
That play at 0:40 by Jones.. wow. that never works. especially against an SEC defense.
**Cut do David Wilson nodding as he thinks about the Sugar Bowl run **
I used to have a Suggs t-shirt from either 01 or 02. I really wish I could find it. I was a chunky little fucker, I could probably still rock it.
1997: Al Clark 7/10/149 2 td + 119 on ground with a TD vs Rutgers
The defense allowed only 9.9 points per game in these contests. I'd say the biggest takeaway is the one constant throughout this period...lunch pail defense under Bud Foster!
I firmly believe Brewer would have had a great year in 2015 had Adolphis Washington not made him into a pancake. Watching that hit makes me cringe everytime. The kid was pretty smart and had a decent arm, but that dude just never gave up.
I feel like the line from Rudy is appropriate, would have been nice to have his heart in a Football Players Body.
You ain't kiddin. His attitude, character and heart in a body like Jerod Evans'.... would have been damn near a dream
Hey, Jerod was one tough hombre too.
No kidding. A few times I thought "fuck, he's done for sure" ...only for him to finish up the series, or come right back the very next series like nothing happened.
Yes, he was determined.
I call him, the DETERMINATOR.
If you knock him down, he just gets back up. He dug deep.
Only Druckenmiller and Chapman lost their career openers during the Beamer era.