Right now I'm sitting here pissed listening to El Camino. (For what it's worth, it's a great album.) I'm arguing with other Hokies that are pissed. I'm drunk, I'm sad, I'm depressed and I imagine some of you are sad, drunk or depressed. I wanted to win that game. I want to win every game. I bet you did too. I thought we were going to win that game, but I think we are going to win every game. I thought we were going to win that game going away. I wanted our 4th ACC Championship in the last 5 years, I wanted to brag, I wanted to fly to Miami to watch us play West Virginia. However, my dad used to say, "You can want in one hand and shit in the other, see what fills up faster."
I'm sure French will write a thousand more poignant and insightful words soon enough. But for now you're stuck with me, and here we go --we got our asses kicked. Shocker! In no particular order... The offensive line couldn't handle Clemson's front four. Logan was indecisive. The secondary couldn't cover Clemson's receivers. We were undisciplined. DW couldn't get going. Unbalanced play calls; we overcompensated for the lack of rushing yards with a flurry of rushes at the most obvious times. Defenders in the box got blown off the ball. I could go on, but the point is that was a team loss and Clemson was the better team. That happens in football. I had a hard time swallowing it the first time around, but after tonight, ten beers and some bourbon washed down the conclusion easy. Defensive injuries, an inconsistent kicking game, an offense without focus and a talented opponent caught up to us and bit us in the ass.
This is not the outcome any of us wanted. We wanted Miami. And when I say "we" I mean all of us, the team included. That game fanned out our souls and tore them in half like a big, harry armed, carny making work out of a New York City phonebook. All of them. However, there's still a bowl to win, and a young team with a lot of potential to be proud of for a better than expected season. Today was bad, but tomorrow will be better.
Comments
fuck Clemson
Was it me or was there several obivious calls against clemson that were not called in the first half that could have swung the momentum in our favor. Off the top of my head the bull shit offensive PI on Marcus Davis when that should have been a no call, the uncalled horse collar on Logan Thomas, and the multiple helmet to helmet contacts on DW. This doesnt change how well we played in the game but if a couple of those calls had been made who knows if the Hokies would have scored some more points and changed the momentum of the game. Think of the GA Tech came and the punch thrown on LT3. Anyway may be we have an outside chance at an atlarge BCS bid.
horse collar
You're not going to get that horse collar call in college football. Mostly because it's an NFL rule (the Roy Williams rule).
While there were bad calls, they weren't the reason VT lost. VT was not the better team out there last night.
The game was horribly officiated, and each one of those penalties could have been key. The GT game turned on one penalty. Helmet to helmet on Jayron was huge. Offensive PI, blocked punt, horse collaring, etc were all strangely not called. But that didn't cause us to lose the game. O'Cainspring wasn't ready from the first play of the game. Poor play calling, combined with inexperienced defense doomed us.
I swear Dabo watched the Stanford game tape from the Orange Bowl in January. Last night's game was almost identical in more ways than one: close played first half, 13-12 at the half, then Stanford running away with it in the 3rd quarter. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Our offensive line was quite offensive....again. Where can were get Bruce Smith clones to help?
Hosley
That hit Hosley took to the head looked like it hurt bad and I really hope he doesn't have too serious of a concussion from it. Losing him opened up Clemson's passing game since Bonner just couldn't keep up, but I'd rather see Hosley sit and the team lose then risk permanent damage to the young man.
All in all last night sucked, but we just gotta pick ourselves, brush that dirt off our shoulders, and look forward to the next game/season.
Make that an inconsistent punting game. Journell has been rock solid in October and November and just hit a career long against Clemson.
Db's not good last night
I will say this I sure do hope that our DB's such as Bonner and Kyshoen Jarrett use this game as experience and get better next year. I was disgusted watching this game knowing our DB's were giving Sammy Watkins and other wideouts on Clemson's team 10 yards of cushion in coverage before the snap. I've coached and looked at Defensive Backs before and I understand that was probably the coaches orders, but either the players didnt trust in there technique or for whatever reason they didnt think they could match up with those other guys across from them, but this is just one weakness out of many and its a team game this isn't what cost us the game, there was more things that added up. I would really like to see how we finish recruiting and see if our team has grown from this year.
Give Clemsump Credit
They made adjustments and took advantage of VT's weaknesses. Offense did not adjust to the high pressure D. Thought the play calling could have been a little different. THe Clemson D was going high risk, all in every play. We should have been able to burn them but the play-calling seemed to play right into what they were doing.