My analysis that pales in comparison to any work by the real TKP staff is a day late (I know everyone is asking why) because I was drinking in fatty mugs of happiness at Hokie House last night. As Loeffler said, I'm not going to apologize for winning.
Guys we're 5-1.
Throw away the lack of running game, Logan's early troubles, and kicking derps, and we're still a 5-1 team. It's fantastic. As for this game, the first half was a really fun half of football to watch. I was wrong about us probably being able to run the ball well, as Carolina tried the same strategy ECU and GT did, which was eliminate the run game and make Logan beat them. And so Logan did Logan and he beat them. 230 yards in the first half alone pretty much put a wrap on it. Also, my theory still stands that if we can score three offensive touchdowns in a game, we will win. I refuse to believe the defense will allow more than 21 points.
Takeaways from the game:
Ok NEXT WEEK We Will Be Able to Run the Ball. I've got to believe that at some point, teams will finally respect Logan's ability to win the game by himself. Pitt's defense isn't what I would call good, so if they leave themselves vulnerable to the pass in order to shut down Trey Trucking & Co., they're gonna have a bad time. Here's to hoping we surpass the 70 yard rush mark for the first time in three games.
We Are Still Going After Punts and It Will Win Us Games in the Future. For the past 5 years I, as well as many of fellow Hokie fans, got exasperated watching us play for the returns. This season it's not only changed, but we're going after punts all the damn time. Kyle Fuller gets within a yard of blocking pretty much every punt, and I have a strong feeling we'll be seeing more blocks this season. Meanwhile, the return game sucks, but it's not entirely Kyshoen and Kendall's fault. While Ky makes questionable catches, the blocking on returns suffers because of the blockers going for the block, which is how those plays are designed, but you'd still like to see returns that go for more than -3 yards. Seriously.
The Antone Situation Will Be Very Interesting Next Week. Everybody says it's a good problem to have, but I'm personally worried about it. Having Ru, Evans, and Wilson in the same backfield was supposed to be great, but we could never seem to get them all enough carries or get them in the right situations to be the most successful. It's ludicrous to bench the nation's INT leader. But it's also insanity to not start your All-ACC senior corner. I'm most worried about Facyson and Exum being consistent, with each splitting reps and with Brandon possibly getting work on offense as well (stupid). Let's hope Foster handles the cornerback carousel better than O'Cainspring handled the running back rotation.
Ok back to Hokie House for me.
Comments
In Bud we Trust vs that O'CainSpring debacle. In theory and stats we should be able to run better on Pitt. If they figured out the Oline blocking issues. But I'm no expert. I just hope. And trust Bud forever.
The lack of a running game has to be combo of issues. Lots of injuries on the O-line causing a lack of continuity. The size/quality of our O-line, especially on the interior is not overwhelming, though I believe those guys are playing their hearts out. Our RB's either lack experience or do not have great vision at finding the cutback lanes. Our style of running with so many read options is slow to develop and therefore maybe easier to defend. I am not sold on Shane as a RB coach either, hope he and the staff can find some answers soon. Just my opinions, but obviously the excuse that "the other team is always crowding the box" has got to be wearing thin. Hopefully an infusion of talent over the next 2 recruiting cycles will energize the offense and give us some more success in the ground game. Meanwhile, I like the job Lefty, Grimes, et al, are doing running the offense in general, given its obvious improvement over last season.
I think that's been the difference between last year and this year for me. I'm having FUN watching this team compete where last year I was dreading something going wrong every single play. I'd love to see production from the RB's that matches what we've found in our receivers. This year I'm not resigning myself to a muddled and confused 3 and out effort by the offense if we don't hit a huge play on 1st or 2nd down. For now, I'll take it and hope the offense will expand and improve on their performance the 2nd half of the season and next year.
I still just have to believe we are practicing pass protection much more than run blocking. All of your points make a whole lot of sense, though.
I seriously doubt Exum plays this week with a bye next Saturday.
I can see him playing a little bit to try and get some rust off and then having the bye week to rest and recover. I'm sure that knee is gonna be sore after his first game action in over 9 months.
Agree 100% on RBs lacking vision. It comes with experience, but that is exactly what made Ryan Williams so great, coupled with his balance of course.
Sometimes I lie awake at night just thinking about how good RMFW would have been in this offensive system.
I like the fact that we are going after more Punt Blocks, but it seems we are completely sacrificing any punt return opportunity. Jarrett has been completely ineffective and lets to many punts drop. He needs to fair catch it every now and then to save the 10 yards they gain on the bounce. Overall, I have been very disappointed with our punt and kick return game so far.
I noticed that Kendall Fuller was returning the punts later in the game. I wonder if that's just a rotation thing or if Beamer & Co. were tired of the high risk / low reward style of Jarrett.
Given that it came late in the game, I'd say it's probably just rotation. Kendall can be a serious playmaker.
Jarrett was out with cramps during that part of the game. I wasn't able to watch, but kept up on twitter, and that was per Bitter and others on twitter...
I have a feeling that is the only reason why, and assuming he stays healthy, we will keep seeing Jarrett back there. Maybe he houses another against Pitt? Sam Rogers with the monster double block this time, probably, given RVD is out...
Good call. I forgot about his cramping issue.
Kendall came in for Jarrett when Jarrett was injured on a drive. Der'Woun Greene was in at safety for that drive at well, so it wasn't a rotation thing.