Maybe its just the alcohol or maybe I'm just feeling soft, but i feel like this game was a net positive.
We all knew werent going to be a contender this season. We certainly knew it after losing to ODU.
We played a team that was ecpected to beat us and was ranked 6 in the country. Yes, I know we meme a lot about ND, but they are a blue blood and when tbings fall together for them it falls together in a big way. They were clearly the better team tonight. They were exceptionally disciplined and took advantages of our numerous mistakes.
But I honeslty felt like we played well. We mkved the ball well on offense. Our WR make me really excited. We wont play another team bearly as good as ND this season. The defense can only improve from here.
Im optimistic about this season still. We have a lot of winnable games left. Take advantage of my moment of weakness, it doesnt happen often.
Comments
Bud Foster calling out some players in the post game interview (Farley in particular).
Kinda deserves it... tough love
Yeah, he has been a net negatove sinve the FSU game. He just doesnt have the intuition yet as a DB. Really has let us down. Hopefully he is capable of learning amd improving.
Should be on offense. Not a natural DB. He is there because of recruiting misses and overall athletic ability. Sad reality, but true.
Well hopefully next year we can either replace him or have coached him into it.
I remember when Stroman was getting torched by every receiver he guarded and he turned out to be a pretty damn good DB. Farley is a r-fr who missed his whole redshirt year recovering from a torn ACL. He will be fine. He's young and gonna make mistakes, just like other cb's we've had that went on to have good careers. To the people saying he should be on offense, where on the depth chart do you think he would be? Hazleton, Kumah, Turner and probably Patterson on the outside would all be ahead of him on the depth chart, so he would be our 5th outside receiver? He is where he needs to be, have patience.
Roc Carmichael was another not natural DB. He did well too.
+1 Stroman, Roc, Bonner, Whitley... All mediocre as freshman, dependent leaders by the end of their career.
In terms of a true DB, I feel like Roc had that on lock over the others.
a r-fr who was likely reviewing O related info and sitting in the WR position meetings, while in rehab, not D related, would make his learning curve, this summer very steep. This is compounded by not being in the position room with guys like Stro, AA, Edmunds and Facyson, where he could also learn from them.
Good. He played terribly tonight. Maybe it will light a fire under his ass.
ODU is able to get a hard fought big time win but god forbid we get one.
OSU?
I don't think team "goodness" is linear. The teams near the top are far more loaded with Talent than even the next tier of teams. It's almost exponential or logarithmic.
Having said that, the young teams who have talent still lack consistency. It's kind of like being an amateur musician (of which I am one). On any given day I am talented enough to be a pro but I'm not talented enough everyday because I am not consistent. If I were to dedicate eight hours a day to practicing and honing my skills maybe I'll get there. These young players are in the same boat. They are raw and at any given time will not consistently apply their talents.
This year will be what it will be. We're on schedule for our preseason expectations, although we have a win we didn't expect to have and a loss NO ONE expected to have, so it's a wash. I said before the season started that I'd be ok with 2 losses after ND and that's what we have.
Wallow in your beer/bourbon/Gatorade tonight and don't post/say something you may regret in the morning.
We're all Hokies. "Win or lose we'll greet you with a glad returning".
And call/hug your mom tomorrow.
Im not that drunk haha. Like i said, im overall happy with the game. Losses dont really affect me like They did when i was a student. You just move on and loom forward to the next game.
I wasn't commenting to you specifically, more in general. I was pretty devastated after our collapse vs UGA and my mom's coworker's brother actually went missing for a few days because of it (he was nearly 50 if I remember correctly) and I realized then that I never wanted to be that tied to the results of a game.
I think from a talent standpoint, we weren't outclassed by any means. We just made way too many mistakes to beat a team like ND, who since they made the QB switch to Book, and getting their best RB back (D. Williams), are pretty much firing on all cylinders right now. Take away our mistakes, most of which were based on inexperience more than anything, and we're in this game to the end.
I've played and watched football all my life, and never really understood how far downfield an o-lineman has to be to get called for an illegible player downfield penalty, but I sure as hell thought it would have to be more than 5 yards. I believe we got robbed on that TD play.
Also, I thought the o-line overall played decently. We'll be ok people. ND is a pretty experienced team, and we are very young and/or inexperienced at many critical positions.
I agree with this assessment 100%
What's funny about Darrisaw getting called got that was the fact that he obviously had zero intent to break any rule. At the point he crossed the line into penalty territory, he just looked to me like a spectator trying to get down field in time for the celebration.
Young mistakes were aplenty in this game. I can think of three off the top of my head that totally changes the final score.
And that's why I am bullish on this team's future.
I saw a lot of things that were cause for optimism but I also realize that as young as this team is (8 r-sophomores or younger starting on D, 5 r-sophomores or younger starting on O) we're going to take our lumps. Either way, I agree with you about this team's future, even if this year could be a roller coaster while they work things out.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe the lineman downfield penalty is anything more than 3 yards from LOS
You are correct, college is 3 yards and NFL is 1 yard
I just tell myself that the ODU game realigned my expectations so far downward for the rest of the season, thus making tonight's loss that much easier to take.
Happiness = reality — expectations
I appreciate the positivity, Koastal. I think most of us need it. I definitely do. I said I felt broken after the ODU game, and today reinforced that. But I do think we can take a lot of positives away from this game. I think we just need to let the process happen. Maybe "year 3" isnt as important as a lot of us have been harping
I just really dont have high expectations for VT. Like, not playoff expectations. I just want to get back to the ACCCG. That can happen without being a top10 team.
But we are 2-0 in the ACC rn. I really like what Willis is doing at QB. The WR are having good games. The Oline seemed tk hold up in the first half. We wont be playing as talented a defense as ND again until Miami.
Idk, I'm happy with where we are. To me we are only going to get Better from here.
I agree, mostly.
There seem to me to be some fixable problems. Mental errors on offense (maybe due to the QB change), and whatever the fuck is happening on defense. At some points, there seem to be some big holes that shouldn't be there.
This thread & any agreements will not change or alter my disposition. Anything less than the ACCCG appearance won't change it.
Good thing I dont give a danm about your disposition.
EDIT: maybe a bit rude, but seriously your expectation are a decade in the past
[Doesn't give a damn about disposition. Responds to state about not giving a damn about disposition]
I didn't downvote you, but your response is hilariously ironic. Just letting you know.
No it isn't. I don't care one way or another whether you think this team is a failure.
I'm just offering advice...which I couldn't less if you take or not. It's your life, not mine. I can't tell you how to feel.
You obviously cared enough to respond & comment on it.
If you comment in my thread, you are probably gonna get a response.
Dont think too much into it.
I'm just saying, if you truly don't give a damn, why bother to even comment or say you do? Don't you think not responding or saying anything would make a stronger point/case for not giving a damn than actually saying something? That, historically, what I've found to be true.
Sounds like you need a win man...
Yes, i care a lot about you and your mentality.
Not to mention, this game literally did nothing negative to our chances at winning the Coastal. We're still 2-0 in the conference, and already beat one of our main competitors and the second just struggled mightily with FSU.
The FSU fucked up peoples expectation for this season. Or, some people just have unreaslistic expectations to begin with and live in the past. Regardless, this season can still be awesome. I look forward to getting to finally beat GT and returning an asskicking to da U. IF you watch VT football and can only be satisfied with reaching the mountaintop, you are gonna have a bad time.
Perspective and reasonable expectations are good things.
I know my goal is to enjoy the season of VT Football. I can succeed in this with realistic expectations. Real life has too many issues to allow VT Football to have the potential to have negative effects.
The football coaches, staff and players can have their own expectations and associated failures completely independent of my experience.
Enjoying a season of football is probbaly a foreign concept for many people unfortunately.
In my younger years I remember:
.
This really put a lot of pressure to be a top 5 team or I wasn't having fun with something that I have no control over and really shouldn't effect my life. It is almost impossible to be a consistent top 5 team. Miami didn't last, Florida didn't last, USCw didn't last, LSU didn't last, Texas didn't last. Alabama wasn't prior to Saban and probably won't when he leaves.
Now I enjoy the wins, look for progress (short term and long term) and absolve myself from the losses.
None of our losses have affected that goal.
As said above, we're actually in a better position for that goal at this point in the season than anyone expected.
Yeah. We'll see how long that holds up against GT, da U, BC & even loluva
Still not out of the realm of possibility
Neither of our losses have happened in conference play.
Again you'll understand mine & others' skepticism. I'm currently, & for the remainder of the season, at a "prove it mentality".
Well said brother, I agree!
I was impressed with Willis, even though he made about five bad mistakes. His first two starts were against a ranked team on the road and a playoff contender, and at no point did I get the impression that he was struggling under the pressure. The dude needs to learn to let a bad play go and live to fight for another down, though. It seemed like ilwe saw more of that emerge in the second half, but I swear to God he's gotta stop throwing fades to Savoy in the end zone against tight coverage.
Peoples and McClease aren't Suggs and Jones, but they give us more of a run threat than we've had in recent years. They're good for a couple big runs a game each. And Willis was surprisingly okay in the run game tonight, which is a nice addition.
I know our defensive backfield is young, but add to that the fact that some of those young guys also just don't look very good, beyond just being inexperienced. I'm worried we're locked into a post-Torrian Gray regression.
For as well as we've recruited the positions lately, mike and backer play has left me lukewarm.
Seriously. I look forward to seeing him against UNC next week. So far he has been thrown into the fire and imo he has responded very well.
I stand with willis
Yeah, I have been impressed with Willis, too, but he's got to play within himself, and not try to do too much when nothing is there. That's when his mistakes are happening. I think he'll figure that out in time. Also, I know Hazalton is his guy, but he needed to spread the ball out a little more than he did. I mean, I don't think Keene had a ball thrown his way the entire game, and after targeting Hazelton repeatedly, eventually ND knew where he was going with the ball, resulting in the INT towards the end of the game. His game against Duke was better, but then again, Duke doesn't have ND's D-line or overall talent and experience levels.
He had completions to eight different receivers, so it's not like he wasn't distributing the ball. I'm okay with him favoring Hazelton so long as he doesn't lock on and not ever check down. I just think it's great that our backup QB has such great chemistry with one of our more talented receivers. I'm way more concerned that he tries to throw to Savoy in the end zone against tight coverage.
Small note, I think Ashby has been good overall this season.
Yeah, absolutely. I really should have elaborated on this more, but by bullet point four I was just kinda meh. What I should have said is that outside of the play of Rashard Ashby, ILB play this season hasn't been very inspiring.
post-Torrian Gray regression
You know the irony is that on that great catch by Boykin...Quillen had actually turned to look for the pass and it slowed him down just a little bit...I know we got on Torrian about Coaching his DBs not to look for the ball, but I thought it was interesting that you brought this up..
We were in this game until we gave up the backbreaking 97 yarder. We then let that one turn into two TD's and it was over after that momentum-wise. It happens. We squandered many opportunities before that with penalties, failing to score from the 1, and a tackle drifting downfield 60 yards from the TD that got called back on the reverse pass.
We were in that game, with a team that is all around more talented, deeper, and just objectively better than us. The defensive busts were incredibly frustrating and they've happened throughout the season. Young players, particularly in the secondary are making big mistakes and it's tough to watch. It does not mean we are doomed to have these busts every season moving forward in perpetuity.
As others have said we still have our conference goals ahead of us and two road conference wins. We might not win the Coastal but it won't be because we lost to Notre Dame.
This post covers most of my post game thoughts. I'd add to this one point:
We aren't in that position with bad coaching. I'm not saying I agree with every decision but I feel like the game plans are almost always solid. Everyone needs to chill rather than trying to sound the alarm to warm Fuente's seat.
I actually think the defensive call on 97 yarder was too aggressive. I know Bud does this a lot when he has the opposing team backed up against the goal line, but with the young team, and the way the defensive had been playing in the second quarter, i would have played more conservative. You can give up a 15 yarder and they still have to go 80 yards.
So easy to say that after the fact. It could be a similar outcome on a different call as well.
This game became an exhibition game when we lost to ODU. The sooner you accept that the better you'll feel.
Hard to see how this program is making progress...at best we're stagnating. I hope all the big time recruits wont read too much into that performance
I mean, we lost to a top5 team. Hard to take too much out of a game we had like a 25% chance of winning.
What i got was we arwmt at ND level, but we all knew that going into the season.
Respectfully...we went to to toe on the first half...got absolutely smoked in the second half- that's not good no matter how you slice it...end of rant.
It's good in that we can hopefully expect to be competitive or better than most of the teams we play for the rest of the season.
Boom! Sliced your rant up like a piece of brisket.
If 9-10 wins a year is stagnating, we are in a pretty good place.
Here's my perspective.
We only got three Saturday Night Football games (talking about the ABC broadcast since 2006) under Beamer. Two of those were regional broadcasts, and the third was a neutral site kickoff.
We've gotten five SNF games under Fuente. Granted, you can discount the two in 2016 because they were chosen due to venue (Bristol) or championship (I don't think ESPN had the rights to most of the P5 conference championship games in 2016, so ACC got primetime by default). That's still three regular season games in the last two years that were chosen based on merit. And we know how close we were to not having the game tonight.
Right there is a step up.
I love VT football no matter what. This loss sucks but we have so much to build on. We're not a bottom feeder by any means and we will hit our stride. Every teams has its flows and I feel that we're gong to start going upwards with the depth and talent that we have. We still have a lot to play for this year. Experience is so important in every aspect of life and every game is more of that for our young players.
Post Game interviews
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2259196680970511&id=12477832...
Thanks for the link dump
Since this thread has been mainly about expectations, just remember since 1872 we have 0 (zero, none, nada, zilch) NCAA recognized national championships in anything. Whatever we've been doing wrong, we've been doing it wrong for 150 years. At least we're consistent.
It's alright. I have zero national championships in the last 36 years, and people still love me.
I didn't really expect Tech to win this game just like I didn't expect them to beat Clemson last year. Recruiting really started to slip under Beamer at the end of his tenure, and we are still feeling the effects now. Look up and down the rosters of these teams that beat Tech like clockwork, and there is NFL talent everywhere. Now look up and down Tech's roster. The guys with a good shot to make the NFL are mostly too young to have a game-changing impact yet.
Recruiting is trending upward under Fuente, our offense is light years ahead of what it was under Beamer, and we still have Bud Foster. While I don't think we'll ever be able to recruit at a top 10 or even top 15 level year in and year out, I do believe that our coaches are good talent evaluators who can sign a top 25 class and get the most out of those players. We're going to have a shot at the College Football Playoff one day. That day is not now though.
Remember how "Clemsoning" was a thing in the first several years of Dabo's tenure? Remember that one Florida State game in Death Valley where ESPN hyped the whole thing up only for Clemson to lose by like 50 points? Well look at Clemson now. It wasn't overnight, but it happened. These things take time, especially given the state of the program talent-wise when Beamer left.
Given the youth and inexperience throughout the roster, I can stomach losing this game to a clearly more talented and prepared team. The opportunities were there and we failed to capitalize, but that should get better with experience.
What I can't stomach is that decision to attempt a 50 yard field goal on 4th and 8 down 15 points in the fourth quarter. Especially when Notre Dame was so caught off guard by the stupidity of it that they called a timeout to regroup and let us think it over. Great way to potentially destroy Johnson's confidence for the remainder of the season for no reason at all.
They won't be erecting a Fuente statue outside of Lane if he continues to make decisions like that...
Clearly you don't remember Frank's fake punt call against Michigan in the Sugar Bowl
Really? I remember a coach (with a statue) attempting a 67 yard field goal a few years back against Duke.
Agreed, that was an equally shrewd decision. I've edited my post to better clarify my intent.
Well, when you're down by 15, it's essentially a 3-score game. Johnson definitely has the leg, and is pretty accurate considering his experience level, so why not? Your chances of getting a 4th and 8 aren't very good.
Hey, wasn't Johnson supposed to be our short to mid-range kicker, with Stout used for the longer chances? Well, Johnson has a NFL-type leg, in my opinion. What, is Stout there to attempt the 70-yard despiration kicks? I think we have a better than average ACC kicker that will make a difference for us in many a game. Even though he missed on the long ones, they weren't bad misses by any means. Like Fuente, I would have had confidence sending him out there to make those kicks.
I would say the odds of converting a 4th and 8 are as good if not better than making a 50+ yard field goal by a relatively unproven kicker. Missing the field goal gave ND even better field position than a turnover on downs would have barring a huge sack.
The odds were certainly slim at that point, but a 4th down conversion puts us near the red zone. The passing game had been somewhat effective to that point. If we could string together a few plays without shooting ourselves in the dick for once, a touchdown certainly wasn't outside the realm of possibility. All of a sudden it's a one score (+2 point conversion) game and the crowd is back into.
Best case scenario as it was called is we make a field and are now down 12. So we would have shrunk the lead down from a two score game to a two score game...in the fourth quarter...when ND would obviously be milking the clock for all it's worth. I will never understand that playcall. I thought that his decision to punt on a 4th and 5 in ND territory earlier in the game was questionable, and Bradburn ultimately booted that one into the endzone for a net gain of about 20 yards in field position. The FG attempt was inexcusable and a white flag.
I don't get why people are discounting that a FG there takes us from two TDs (and a 2pt conversion) to tie to 2 TDs to lead. One is a more desirable position to be in than the other, and the relatively unproven kicker in question made a kick from that distance in warmup.
If it's 4th and 2 at that field position, you go for it. 4th and long, you try the FG.
You are looking at it in a vacuum. Yeah getting three more points is going to ve better than none.
But there are other variables that affect the decision. Time left in the game. The fact that ND was going to get great field position. Us scpring a TD there gives it back to ND only being up 1 score. Retaining the two score deficit means we would have to play perfectly or else its ovee in an instant, which turns out to have happened.
Most importantly is the momentum we would get if we convert and score. The crowd would be 110% back in the game at that point. Idk about you but scoring a field goal wouldnt do shit in terms of momentum. In fact, im sure ND would have been fine giving that up.
I understand people disagreeing with me on this, but I'm definitely not looking at it in a vacuum. If anything, I think the argument to go for it there is looking at the situation in a vacuum. There was 13:51 left in the game at that point; we were going to have at least two more possessions. The defense had been gashed on two big plays, a 97 yard run and a 40 yard pass. Our defense wasn't gassed at that point, we'd just had two really dumb plays on defense. There's no reason to think another ND score is a guarantee. At the ND 35, you don't punt; atouchback nets you 15 yards in field position. Going for it on 4th and 7 reeks of desperation. Situationally, a FG try is the smart call.
The fact that the defense wasn't tired was the less important aspect to me. It was the fact that clearly they could not be relied upon to stop the ND offense multiples in a row to allow us to score two more TDs, which would probably have to happen in three possessions.
I also understand why you think it is a decent call, I just think it allowed for a much smaller margin of error. I personally had lost confidence in the defense at that point.
FG or TD in that spot, the defense was going to have to stop ND multiple times if we were going to win.
Technically they would only have to stop them once if we score a TD there. Then we could just take turns scoring.
KK this is your best post/comment in a long time, man. And honestly, I think you're right. It's hard for me as a fan to keep some levity because of "big game loss" fatigue, but I think you're right.
Alcohol makes me soft. Also losses just dont really hit me like they used to.
I'll be honest, I wasn't that upset about this game. I thought that this team could have been more competitive had they not made the avoidable mistakes (offensive line penalties, defensive players being out of position, WIllis being inexperienced).
I liked the fact that the defense was aggressive. Yes, Farley had a rough game, but he is still learning. Willis was pretty impressive in being able to extend plays, he just needs to be smarter and learn to give up on a play when there are still plays remaining in the game.
I'm hoping that the offense becomes more effective over the season. One of biggest disappointments to me this season has been the lack of receiver success from someone other than Hazelton. The running game is not a big surprise, but absolutely needs to improve.
I left the stadium feeling like this was a coachspeak classic 'two or three plays away' game. We were a scoop and score, one yard short run, and 97 yard run away from a ball game that could have played out very differently through the late 3rd and 4th quarters as a result of those plays.
It's true.
The real question is whether they can fix the issues that allowed for those plays. We seem too thin on defense when Deablo is out.
I feel like the offense will improve as Willis settles in.
I mean, defensively the mistakes are absolutely correctable. Don't overrun/overcommit to the ball carrier when he's still ten yards away (Farley on 97yd TD and the pitch and catch TD when the QB was scrambling), and just game experience for DBs in coverage. And aside from shooting ourseves in the foot a ton of times, the offense did well all things considering.
Not just that but we should have been comfortably leading at halftime.
They should have had one touchdown less (the fumble) and we should have had 8 points more.
Should have been leading 24-10.
With that kind of lead I think at a minimum it would have been a game until the last possession.
So the good news is we could have won that game.
But at the same time it made being there all that much more painful - the whole second half thinking what it could have been had we taken advantage in the first half.
It's easy to say that, but consider 'two or three plays' from NDs perspective. They had wide open WRs running behind our secondary on multiple occasions that were missed throws. Easily could have had 2 more TDs on their end, too.
If you are a hokie fan this morning who is pissed off we couldn't knock off Notre Dame this message is for you. the only person that could have set that kind of expectation is yourself. I will say it slowly, VIRGINIA TECH IS NOT A TOP TEN TEAM. Anybody thinking it should be has not been following the roster notes the past six months.
Pros:
Willis came back from a fumble to score a TD.
WRs are ballers, Kumah, Turner, Grimesly, Hazelton, Savoy
Ashby
Cons:
we are young, very young, Farley is an athlete at this point. A freakish athlete. His run support needs work.
Another Con is we didn't run the ball more...I've seen Willis get up under Center...at the 1 yard line, you dont line up in the shotgun...I feel like they were close enough to do a QB sneak from there...after that big run by Peoples..you get down there and smash it in...we saw the same thing happen against OK state last year...why are you trying to run the option on the 1 yard line? You got all the Olinemen..do a QB sneak and get the touchdown...
Sorry..rant over..:)
I'm with you 110% on that comment, but it's just the mentality that offenses have now. 1st and goal from the one, it would have taken Willis one, maybe two tries to punch the ball into the end zone. Or better yet, why not have a package for Hooker to run it in behind the interior of our o-line, since he seems to be a better runner? There's no excuse to not get the TD in that situation, unless you're playing the 85 Bears or the 2000 Ravens, and ND is nowhere close to either of those defenses.
unless you're playing the 85 Bears or the 2000 Ravens, or the 2017 Hokies ,,,
i'm done not being able to win big games at home. all the money being flown though this program and all the hype to lose by 22, come on.
The money flowering through this program is pennies compared to the money flowering through South Bend.
This! Fuente is the 24th-30th in pay ranking (not all schools report all pay so the rankings in USA Today report aren't complete), in terms of revenue Tech sits 44th !!! In revenue!!! And 44th in expenses. So based on money coming in and out Tech is hitting it out of the park.
In previous years when VT faced top ten opponents, the talent difference was very apparent. Notre Dame was absolutely beatable last night. The VT fans show out, but it seems the players have the deer in the headlights look and make some terrible mistakes (penalties and missed assignments). Is it the culture, lack of preparation, experience, bad play calling, lack of leadership, or mix of all the above?
Yes, I know, VT is young but I will say the talent is there. I just wish Hoyt and Chung would be more aggressive and get them some pancakes but overall there are some great athletes that can make some big plays on both sides of the ball. I really hope the VT staff identifies the missing ingredient and fix whatever is causing this hype train from going warp speed!
Yes .....this .....well said
Clemson replaces eight guys on defense and thrives. We replace eight guys on defense and tank.
Clemson returned Eight Starters to defense.
One thing that worries me going forward is Caleb Farley vs GT. With the way that he gets out of position frequently, I foresee GT just running at him all game long and making him miss badly.
This is not going to just be a Caleb Farley problem. Lots of our young defensive players have a tendency to over pursue and get out of position. That's exactly what sprang the 97 yard TD run. This will be the first time a lot of these starters have seen the flexbone first-hand. Fuente's GT curse might continue if the offense doesn't ball out.
Tired of disappointment and let down
Tired of not being able to win ANY truly big games or even compete against bluebloods
Tired of middle of the pack .....
Part of this feeling / attitude was that I sat among alot of the irish fans.....I watched the look on their faces when they saw sandman , saw the crowd going nuts, then saw the look of real worry going into half time that VT were for real and may very well end their playoff hope's. ONLY To watch us utterly fall apart after halftime and blow all the momentum. I can take losing to a good #6 football team but not like that. By the end of the game they were laughing at us .....that all the hype pre game was nothing but a show.
I'm beyond ready for us to take the next step up. We should be able to playmore solid than that at home w/ the talent and support we have.
I can't accurately say where my head is after this loss, because the ODU loss is still tainting a lot for me. It breaks my heart to see us labeled as just an entrance.
It's always an interesting exercise for me to log onto this board on a Monday morning. I openly admit to mostly being a lurker and I love the analysis and passion of the fans - it matches my own! But it's always really interesting to see the contrasts between the board and what I experienced around me in the stadium.
I attend the games with my dad and several of his fraternity brothers and their families - and I'm the most positive of the bunch on a general and regular basis. And we were all, in general, not really upset about the game. The atmosphere at the beginning was absolutely LIT and hands down the most incredible that I have ever experienced. Loved it, wish I could relive it about 800 times.
And the game? We actually hung in for a half (if anything it felt like we were leading at the half, even if we weren't.) Mistakes happened - sure. But they kept fighting, and fighting hard. This team is super super young and were playing a top 10 team in an insane environment, mistakes were going to happen. I didn't leave the game demoralized about how the team played - I actually felt super hopeful. This team has so much to learn and they were never going to go into the playoffs this year, nor do I really want them too, because Alabama would have spit them up and chewed them out into tiny little orange and maroon pieces. They aren't ready for all that. This will help them be ready - next year, the year after.
I know we all want them to win, but this wasn't the end all, be all. Expectations for this team before the season were low, I think most of us probably had FSU and ND as a loss, we walked out of those games 1-1 - that isn't half bad. (Yes, yes, I know ODU, play like crap, deserve to lose. Chalk it up as a learning experience for a young team with staff still trying to figure things out as they merge the old regime's talent with their own.)
I felt way less demoralized after this game than I did after Clemson last year. I have hope and damn it I'm excited about this team and what the future could hold.
I just wish more people felt the same.
I feel the same. I feel like Clemson last year, we were never in that game. Less a shoestring tackle (or miscue b/t QB and RB), an ineligible receiver downfield, or an DB falling down after an int, and the ND game goes a completely different way.
The two things that come with experience are knowing for sure what you're supposed to do each play, and the ability to be pumped but keep it in check (or conversely, to be down, but keep it in check and play better). We split games we were supposed to lose.
Let's get out there and win the games we're supposed to win, try to win the ACCCG when we get there, and win the bowl game and go into the 2019 season with an eight game win streak going!
I completely agree. We are close, close in a way that I feel hope instead of hopelessness. We are getting there, we just need a little more time - it wasn't that long ago that we were just barely scraping into a bowl. I'll take the growing pains, because they have been a lot more fun to watch lately with them.
First off, have a leg. Second, I couldn't agree more!
I didn't leave embarrassed by our play at all, I took noticed that a VT offense despite youth and shooting itself in the foot a few times was hanging in there at the half.
We were one yard, one penalty, and one fumble away from leading 24 -10 at the half...and had the other field goal been a TD, it would have been 28-10. I know that's a lot of shoulda, woulda, coulda but two of those should have been TDs. By the way, when I watched the replay at home it sure looked like Peoples got in on the first down attempt.
It wasn't that long ago that offensive play was always, I repeat always our achilles heal.
Our regression on defense through graduation, attrition, early NFL entries, and dismissals is not that unexpected. We will build our depth back up and the experience young guys are getting now WILL pay off down the road.
Thank you!
I agree, there were so many close plays, and I just feel like we are on a precipice of making it happen. We just have to give things a little more time. We aren't that far off from barely scraping together enough for a bowl appearance, I'm willing to give Fuente, Bud & company a little time to build a solid foundation. I've seen enough to think we are moving in the right direction.